Evening star., 1898-12-17
AN ECHO OF THE WAR

! responsible boy said an officer of the reg
ular army new on. leave here, who was
wounded In tho SamtJuan fight, Il was one
of the pupils'Iof parochial school In a
small town in western Missouri. 1 fear
was a pretty hard NIT of kid, as boys go.
I was caned -more-than any boy. in the
school. but the canings never had much ef-
feet upon me- was under the immediate
instruction of.a Sister of Charity, but when
1 was due for thrashing for some bit of
devilment or 6ther-and 1 was due, on an
average, about fourstimes week--the Sis
ter would reluctantly turn me over to the
principal of the school, clever and mus
cular young fellow, who was also organist
of the Catholic church and instructor OF
the choir. He always austed and polished
me off artistically on these occasions, nut,
as l say, thrashlugs didn't stick with me
very long. 1t got so that L used to be call
ed UP by the principal whenever any body
Of the boys had been up to mischief, and
TOOK many a welting that didn't properly
belong to me. No matter whether was
doing a little long-eared-boy act and be-
having myself up to the handle, If a gang
of the kids got into mess l was summoned
flrst and hammered with the half OF a
broom handle cut down fiat just Tor luck
l at length ceased to extract amusement
from this sort of a game and took to the
plan of playing hockey for month or SO
at stretch, hiding my books under plank
sidewalk in the morning and picking them
up again when l went home in the after
noon. When 1 finally turned up at school
again, again, with clumsilyforged excuse for
Sister Raphaella, l was always fool boy
enough to fancy that l had succeeded in
pulling the wool over her eyes: to imagine
that she accepted the penciled, bg-lettered
mlsSpeIt excuse as the legitimate article
and the real thing. I know now, of course
that she saw through me like a book. and
L blush now at the remembrance of my
bland impudence. However, Sister Rapha-
ella always accepted these excuses She
never gave me away to my people at home
She knew that my father was big-boned
and husky, and she didn't want to bring
calamity upon me- She certainly was good
TO me IN the face Of difficulties that little.
quiet, -soft-voiced Sister of Charity, when
gave her even half a show. She used to
ofter forbear to report me to the principal
when became involved in thrashab BILE af
falrs. ana IT was never her fault when
got licked. This Sister Raphaella was then
a woman of about twenty-five and a thor
oughbred to her fingers ends-a genuinely
accomplished woman. She had q pale and
exceedingly lovely face, and 'gentlewoman
was inscribed all over her. BY the time
was ready to leave school to take a job as
a bundle-carrier for dry goods store at
the salary of S15O a week she had made 4
pretty decided hit with me and changed me
heap from the ruffian had been when I
hrst came under her gentle, non-coercive
figh-grade guidance. I had little talk
with her on the quiet on the day / quit
school to go to work, and | remember tell
ing her then that when l grew I'D and got
to be rich man was going to buy her
several hundred thousands of acres of fine
land somewhere or other and build a pala-
tial convent for girls on it, and then put
her. Sister Raphaela. in charge Of it. She
smiled with pleasure when I told her this
anu an patted me on the head and told me I'd
be al! right some old day. She was trans
terred away from the town soon after that,
and didn't see her again until
wei, when got plugged with a Mauser
down on the heights of Juan. they trans
ported me over to Key West on the
OHvette in short order, and I had a monkey
and-parrot time of it. between life and the
other thing, until the latter part of August.
when l picked up SO rapidly that they de-
clded to ship me home to Philadelphia 1
arrived there about the middle of Septem-
Der, walked around for week or so and
then keeled over with a bad dose of ma
lara that worked itself into me down in
cuba L told my folks l was going to a
Catholic hospital that l knew something
about in Philadelphia, and, after some
kicking on their part, I was taken over
there. had a pretty nifty dose of the
fever, and / went wrong in the head as
soon as L struck the hospital. ! did a
delirious act for a week, and when I came
to l was pretty much down in the mouth
and not caring dickens of a lot what
happened-for this malaria thing is surely
a morbid affair. Anyhow, when 1 opened
my eyes and WIS right in the head there
was a young 1rishman sitting at the foot
OF my cot, watching over me. We had a
little talk, during which he told me how
long l had been delirfously talkative, and
then he said
g Do you happen to have Sister named
Raphaena?
Nope [ replied But there was an all
right little woman. Sister Raphaella who
used to have all kinds of trouble with me
in school when was kid
rs that So? inquired the young Irish
man. and his eyes opened so wide that
asked him.
why do you ask me thatY
Well he replied, you've been getting
off a heap of CAB during your delirium
about Sister Raphaella," and-just wait a
minute, I've got to run into the next ward
He was gone so long that L fell into a
sort of a doze. The light sound Of ap-
preaching footsteps got me awake, but
didn't open my eyes-was too tired and lazy
TO open EN-. But knew that the footsteps
had stopped at the foot of my cot. Then
l heard soft voice-so low that it didn't
seem to be intended for other ears-saying:
"'Yes, that is my bad boy of nearly
twenty-five years ago, and what huge
well, | opened my eyes then. L thought
it was about my finish when I saw Sister
Raphaella standing at the foot of my cot
=! felt quite positive that 1t was my last
dream. She stood with folded arms,
thoughtfully sizing me up. l could make
out silver lock of hair that had slipped
down from beneath her white bonnet
Otherwise, she was quite unchanged-the
same pallid, bedutlful, MadOnna-like face,
not wrought upon at all, II seemed to me,
by the mpar tial hand of Time. She even
had her old habit of blushing. She blush
ed scarlet when l opened my eyes.
"'Well, Sister Raphaella? said l. just as
If 1 had seen her yesterday afternoon In
the old school-room-I was sure l was
dreaming, but 1 wanted the dream to
finish itself out.
"'Well, bad boyY she replied, and then
l rubbed my eyes and looked at her.
was all right, and she was actually there
the little white-hooded geutlewoman that
I had thought of a million times after
breaking out into the world. She was now
the mother superior of the hospital
Cae sar what a glorious old talk we had
AS she arose to leave-(oh, yes, she came
back many times after thaD-she smiled
reminiscently and said:
"'And that beautiful site of many, MANY
thousands of acres. and the white marble
convent for girls of which l was to be the
superior-where are they. son?'
"And I could only smile at the thought
of the promises of glib boyhood and the
performance of manhood"
Times Have Changed.
From the Detroit Journal.
Fired with zeal to emulate great and
good man A1fre5 ont down the cberr,, +roe