The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1899-02-09

gone INTO II ulun nave 10, tldt al
there was to it. / cabled to mother after
the fight. | told her about Jack. You
never got it?' She shook her head.
''Then | wrote on my birthday, July
twenty first
"Ye s; the day you were twenty-five.
We got that two days ago. You said you
were lying in you tent with nothing to do
but watch little green lizard playing i'll
the sum-
''lnteresting news, l hope" he said,
erimiv. s'But | was sick when | wrote
it."
Blanche was lost in contemplation of
the thin, sunken face and the gray eyes
that looked twice their real size
Your hair looks blue she said.
Yes" he nodded. "They shaved my
head; it's my skull that you see. 1t makes
my hair look queer
''Did they shave your hair on account
of the fever and the heat?" she asked,
putting her hand gently on his head.
PARTLY" he said, ''but chiefly on ac-
count Of bugs
''Goodnessn' she exclaimed, taking her
little white hand away. He laughed. 1t
was delightful. He hadn't seen a squeam-
ish little girl for-well, it was only two
months but what a long two months!
He could balance that two months against
the whole twenty one years aud ten
months he had lived before he went
s'down there She looked out of the
screened door and up the long, shady
lane. Some one was coming. She turned,
with her finger on her lip.
''Mother's coming" she whispered.
''Now, keep very quiet and We il surprise
her -
OF no
drama in prospect
''Now,' she whispered, "Ill say as
soon as she is near enough, Mother,
here's some one waiting to see you-a
gentleman, and she'l come in and"
mo, no, he said i'll languid protest:
''that ism the best way. Go and tell her
l am here, and that l am very thin and
that you didn't know me"
"And that your hair looks blue?'
YES; then she won't be too shocked.
Tell her ! am back, ana ugly and dirty"
But you re not, she SAID Indignantly.
Very we'll, i III not; but whatever |
am, am not the dandy dough boy once
was. He leaned back, his head droop
ing YEARLY on one side. II can't chuck
a front now.
'SYou can soon. :" she said YOU Il look
just as nice as YOU did 1t yeaI ago when
you and Jack put on your full-dress uni
forms The first time tor mother TO see.
And youl sv old-N hele'sy III sNpG?''
/ "I.ost-lost down thele," he said,
''And, anyway, if it WASH t | shuultln'
y have it with me. don't travel sword
and pistol by my side,' like the man in
/ the song. But now run and tell mother, .
! She ran out of the dool and he beard
lei rush across the grass Then lie heard
rapidly approaching footsteps and hur-
ried, broken voice, saying:
4 'tWhere is he9 Where is hep"
4 He pulle d the collar OF his blue flannel
4 shirt nelvously, and regretted once mere
! that he had let them shave his head a
second time He would at least have liked
to have the top of his head look familiar
to his mother.
4 The door opened. He struggled to
/ rise, but his excitement and his WEAKNESS
overpowered him He leaned back in his
chair, holding ont both hands, while she
came towards him saying, brokenly
Don't get up; don t get up! Tnen she
held his thin face between her hands and
kissed him, and gazed tor one long mo-
ment into eyes that Lad seen SO much of
misery, and horror, and suffering that the
boyish light in them had entirely died out.
''And you are really homer she said.
| She seemed frightened by her happiness
by this realization of her hopes.
The meeting was far too quiet for
| Blanche's pronounced dramatic taste.
/ She was distinctly disappointed in her
mother, who stood there perfectly dry
eyed and quiet by Jummie's chair, as
though he had just come back from a
walk
"Would you like to see Norah?'
| Blanche asked. Norah had a capacity foI
rising to an occasion on the crest Of a
wave of tears.
Yes" he said, ''but she's not to cry
! tell her that"
''Well," said Blanche, elf she can help
it. She cried right along from July LIST
until Santiago surrendered, and she had
| an awful dream about you IN the trenches,
too. She told it me, and it made me cry.
She told me not to tell mother, and
didn't, but when you get really well and
strong, II tell you"
81 shall enjoy hearing it, he said.
Presently Blanche returned. "Norah
has gone up to change her dress,' she
announced. ''She was scrubbing the
| kitchen She's crying like anything now,
but she'll sto before she comes in
'tYou saw Faith to-day?' he asked his
mother.
eyes, I was just thinking of her.
"And of my coming home, and Jack S
being down there, forever"
| YES she said
Soon there was rustic of starched
skirts through the DINING room, and
Norah appeared, her old eyes red, her lips
trembling. He held out his thin brown
hand, and she took it between her own
rough work worn ones as reverently as
though it were sacred relic.
"Home again, Mr.. jimmie" and she
choked down rising begging
your pardon for that-the saints be pras-
ed. Ma am, ism it enough to wiring your
soul to see the thin face of him and the
eyes of him? Not that he's not looking
better and as well as might be expected
| leave it to you, ma am, if he ain t..
And poor young Mr.. Jack Cary, rest his
soul! The two b'ys of we, and one took =!
Bad luck to them that would have war;
say And what would be your wish for
to- night? It's lobster, L m thinking, Mr..
Jimmie?'' and she gave him an arch look.
Mrs. Holiday uttered an exclamation
over this unorthodox suggestion for con-
valescent's bill of fare.
''Soldier down there" began the vet
eran languidly "took care of me in tent
when got sick. l didn't go to hospital
thought l might get mixed up with yellow
favar-Sn I stood better chance to have