Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-09-03
WHY HE ENLISTED.

As the recruits commenced to scatter
around in the shade the journalist and
the Hancock volunteer proceeded toward
the headquarters of the colonel of the
regiment. After the salutations had
been exchanged before the tent of the
commanding officer the volunteer adj
dressed the colonel, saying, "Cap'n, if
you need any more Of Hancock county
boys I'll get'm for you"
"If they're all as fine looking physical
specimens as yourself" the colonel an
swered ~jovially, "l'd like to have a
whole army Of them. Our regiment will
be filed up in a day OF SO, but I'll let
you know in time"
After they had left the quarters of
the colonel and were stretched upon the
grass in the shade the newspaper man
took occasion to put his favorite ques-
ton, "Why do you enlist?" Sometimes
this question ELECTS an outburst Of pa
triotic ardor which fills the air with
stars and stripes and eagles, sometimes
(most frequently it calls forth q hard
luck story, which paints in glowing
colors the virtues of the victim, but on
this occasion the answer was merely,
"Well, I have nothin to lose" But"
protested the newspaper man, "there's
no telling how long you'll have to be
from home, and there's no man that will
take the same interest in running your
plantation that you do, for I presume
you are a farmer.
CHATS true, sir; that's true" was
his deliberate response, "but You see
things amt just as they was Before
Mary left I took interest in everything,
but now-I jes' turnt the farm ove to
q couple of fellows al thought 7
nights we'll to come to the front an
fight for my country. I'm 81 years old,
an I amt never done nothin but farm,
an I thought I'd take d little fightin
in mine jes' at this stage"
Here a forced smile played over his
rugged, careworn features. The CORE
spondent wished to follow the clew
just thrown out about the desertion Of
Mary, but didn't know just how to pro-
coed. "Well, 1 don't want to discourage
your patriotism, F." he said, ''but you're
giving up the peaceful leisure Of rural
life for the dangers and excitement Of a
campaign in which disease is as much
to be feared as Spanish bullets"
Stranger, said the volunteer,
chats jess it. From the way you talk
bout peaceful leisure I see you amt
never lived in the country. Farmin's a
good thing If a mans got money OF don't
mind workin, an | don't, but that
was jes' the whole trouble. / bl'eve
now when / think Of it that if l had a
had more time to make her happy she'd
a been contented to stay, but it seemed
to me we was married at the busiest
time of the year, an then afterward it
looked like | had jes' as much to do at
all times. l always had to look after
the milkin at daybreak, an then be-
sides the regular work there's enough
chores and the like to keep a fellow
hustlin all the time. Even on rainy
days there's harness to mend all such.
But, friend,'' and here his face bright
ened up until it was radiant with the
recollection, ''if you could have seen
that little wife of mine in the dairy
you'd a seen the prettiest sight you ever
saw. In a little speckled calico, skim
min the milk an washin the crooks,
singin the whole time, jes' as happy as
a lark. She looked like a little pink
rosebud. Sometimes it seemed to me
she was more like a angel than a wom-
a But I beg your pardon, sir, he
concluded, refilling his pipe, ''you said
you wanted to meet all the HANCOCK
boys here, All I guess I'd better go make
you 'quainted with EN- stead of telliu
you all my personal affairs, which ISM
the right things to tell to strangers"
This sudden halt in the narrative al
noyed the journalist, who had inter.
viewed woman suffragists, heard the
| confessions Of criminals, synopsized the
| y Of ministers and even invaded
the sanctity of the home for the purpose
of publishing to the world the secrets OF
private life. The story had somehow
placed him in that supersympathetic
condition from which tact takes flight;
but, summoning the little skill which
remained, he determined to make the
man lay bare his heart.
"No," he said, "don't apologize fol
anything you say to me. I'm interested
In it all. When a man is manly and pa
t~riotic, his life is always interesting tc
me. We all have our sorrows, and It'll
= relief to tell them occasionally. Die
you ~ your wife is no longer with
yoAss'
laundering as this speech may seen
10 . mind which seeks and finds hidden
motives, it was sufficient to satisfy tht
simple son Of Hancock county, SO ht
continued:
Eyes, six, it's over three months sinct
IL saw her. Understan, now, / ain,
blamin her at all. She was young an
pretty an full Of life, All SO I'd jes' rath'
or to think Of it all as a big mistake
For a little time after we was married
she seemed to be happy, but then ! no
ticed that she didn't pear to take thu
same interss' in things. 1t was jes' aft
or she had spent the day at Sulphdl
Springs with . lot of young folks. ]
L A--AZ a.8u- -L.--.n 49, L. 49,