The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1898-09-14
| ACUBAN VOLUNTEER
By LAWRENCE BOONE.
ii IVES, Sammy, I'm back from the

me how many Spaniards L killed, like
The rest of them. That's mean. You
know you wanted to go just as much
as / did. OF course, Inever-quit laugh
ing. will you, and I'll tell you all about
it.
"Only be fair and honest, Sammy. |
You remember how we used TO meet
evenings down'by fathers sugar shan
tv. and build fire and sit round and
talk and read the papers, till we all
got crazy about Cuba. And don't you
recollect that silly little company of
Cuban Lberators' we organized. You
ought to, Sammy; you were first lieu
tenant. A lot of the fellows were in II,
and don't see how you've got any call
10 kid me just because l was the only
one that had sand enough TO start.
81 know, sammy was the biggest
fool in the gang, and nobody's trying
TO deny it; I've learned thing or two
since. I'd saved up S11.33 cents, and
thought maybe that would do to begin
ON. At first / meant TO use part OF II
to buy six-shooter, but l was afraid
they'd be suspicious at the store, and 1
decided to wait till got to New York.
| thought most likely they'd furnish me
arms and things for nothing when they
found out why I'd come. You see,
had a notion they were going TO see
me. Oh, yes! it's all right for you to
smoker now.
81 was afraid to get on the train here
\ L a1 N
and got on there-not from the plat
form, either; ! climbed up from the
further side of the track for fear some
BODY would see me. When the con-
ductor came along l told him l wanted
| 10 90 TO Cleveland. He looked sur
prised, but when 1 told him / had an
aunt living in Cleveland he said AL
right And so l have, you know, but
I guess it wasn't much different from
a lie Just the same, and l felt pretty
cheap It took q lot of my money, too
Do YOU know, Sammy, $11.33 cents ISM
very much money nowadays?
at was night when we got TO Cleve
land. and l had to hang round the biz
depot there till morning. | got some
doughnuts to eat. After awhile | go
so tired / crawled In under the iron
arms of the benches and went to sleep
but fellow with a broom came aroun'
and made me wriggle out. Just a
soon as the train was ready sneake'
on board and lay down ON one of tn
seats. Those cushions felt good, | ca
tell you.
"When the conductor walked me NJ
we were going the fastest | ever saw
l showed him my money and said
was going TO New York. He said
hadn't near enough, and his train onl
went 10 Buffalo anyway. Then l sal
I was going to stop over in Buffalo, an
told him a nasty little lie about III
uncle meeting me there. l couldn
seem to help II. but j felt sick; /
started out 10 be a patriot and not
liar. You don't know, Sammy, ho'
much meanness there is in you till yo
begin running away.
. AT Buffalo l got banana and SON
more doughnuts. l don't like banan;
, much-they taste so soapy-but
> thought Ia better be getting used
them. | handn't much money left, bl
| got on another train.
: This time, though the conduct
J.. wasn't half so goOd-natured as tho
others. When he found | couldn't p;
t he seemed to get pretty mad. l hea1
i him say TO the brakeman not TO fl
me till they got to Rochester, and The
to put me in charge of the police. Tn
scared me, and | slipped off the ca
at little bit Of a station, don't kno
N just where.
at was dark, and they locked up Il
depot right away. Only one man h;
got off, and he drove away in WACO
u There were hardly any houses, and
ol looked like rain; but at last l found
a. straw stack in field, with holes whe
III the sheep had eaten in at the bottol
d. so l crept under and made sort
{ nest-and it really wasn't so bad
- you'd think.
- early in the morning l was wax
;, up by somebody yelling. crawled o
=, in a hurry, and saw IL was an awf
- looking tramp with his clothes on fl
- He'd got off his coat and helped h
70 rip away part of his shirt; but
- shoulder was burned SOME, and
whiskers. Then I noticed the sta
,a was smoking.
IN 'Ketched in under from me piI
90 he said, an we two better be scootil
We And that same minute the whole thi
he blazed up with a kind of roar a
% burned like tar barrel. Just fan
sb if / hadn't been walked by his sque
ce ing!
n He'd started for the nearest woo
by he ran pretty much like camel, |
,ly he got over the groundLand l cha'
he after him. When we looked back
on saw a lot of men around the stack,
they couldn't do the first thing. Gu
they'd have done something, though
-, they'd caught us there.
=, "But we went on through the wo
=. till we came out on the other side.
" vas cold and dr-izzlv and we were h