Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1899-08-05
.o07 ES, Mary" said the old farm


It's from William. You take the lines
and I'll read it."
AS they drove out Of the village and
over the bridge and up the long hill
the husband and father slowly read
aloud the words written by the soldier
son-now at the front 1t was a gloomy
letter. 1t told of hardships and suffer
ings and privations, and not one brave
word was to be found from beginning
to end.
poor boy! sighed the mother, as
the reading was finished and she re-
linquished the lines.
"Wall, | don't like it!' replied the
father. "He was bound to go in spite
of everything, and now he ought to put
up with things and not be a baby.
Them Spicer boys don't send home no
such letters as this"
II wish he hadn't gone"
"But he did go, and now he's got to
grin and bear it, same as the rest.
Don't you let on to nobody that he's
homesick and ready to cry. If the nay
burs got hold of it they'd poke all man
ner of fun at him and be sneering at
u.s."
"But we can sympathize with him"
said the wife.
"A little, mebbe, but we amt goin' to
say very much. I'm going to write him
that he wants to take things as they
come and be man. There's them
Spicer boys and Tom Johnson and
Henry Doolittle and Ben Smith. and
nobody ever hears a whine from them"
Its cause William is homesick to
see u.s."
"Wall, he must get over it then. |
didn't want him to go, but bein' he's
down there he mustn't play baby and
make us ashamed. Id feel like hang
in myself if our William fiunked out
| Of fiqht n" deserted his colorS. You We
bin dom the writin', and guess you We
writ too softly"
Down on the Rapidan, in the old Six
teenth, Private William Hopkins
wasn't making a good record for him
self. For the first four weeks of army
life he was cheerful and enthusiastic,
but after that a change had come.
Inconsistencies is worse than a fever
or a wound for a soldier. Every man
with a home had had a touch of it, but
most of them had thrown it off Per
haps he tried to, but if 50 he didn' t
succeed. The boys got onto him, and
though they felt to pity him, they did
not spare him their gibes and taunts.
He was the BOBBY of Company G, and
even his terminate had feeling of con
tempt for him. One day the orderly
sergeant dropped in on him to say:
Look here, Bill Hopkins, this thing
has gone far enough! You are making
a tirst-class fool of yourself, and if you
don't brace up the boys will give you
away at home. Get out and chase
yourself and fling this inconsistencies
off. A boy 10 years old would be
ashamed to NOPE around as you dor
Private Hopkins was hurt by these
remarks, instead of being braced up,
and turning his face away from the
sergeant he then and there resolved on
a desperate deed. He would desert at
the first opportunity. He wouldn't ad-
NIT that Inconsistencies had anything to
do with it. He had been ill-used.
They had given him extra guard
duty-eXtra work around camp-had
bullied and jeered him in place of Civ
ing him fair show. He could figure
out that the captain and both lieuten-
ants were down on him, and of the
ninety men of the company he was the
martyr. He had given no cause for
this, and he wouldn't submit to such
indignities. He was certain of sym
pathy from father and mother, and
once more back at home he would stay
there, even if he had to hide in the gar
ret. Every soldier who lets the feel
ing of sOmesickness get the better of
him follows the same train of thought
and arrives at the same conclusions.
An opportunity to carry out his plan
came to Private Hopkins much sooner
than he had hoped for. Company G
was ordered out on a night reconnois-
ance and, pale-faced and weakened,
the homesick boy took his place In the
lines. No one expected any fighting,
but it so happened that small force
of the enemy was in the neighborhood
and there was a skirmish and the COM
pany was driven back. At roll call 1t
was found that five men were missing.
Two Of those had been left dead in the
road and two others were believed to
have been wounded and crawled into
the bushes. The fifth man was Private
Hopkins, and it was altogether likely
that he had been taken prisoner. At
any rate, he was thus recorded on the