Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1899-12-15
A BRAVE COWARD !
-~~~~~~~~~-~
BY II. 1. Cleveland.

aat by the big window at the west end OF
the dining room. Mary Carr was at the
door, her hand upon the knob. She was
speaking to John:
"Of course, if you have got to be made to
90, there's no heroism in it. The Tenth
Pennsylvania don't want that class OF men.
But if you love me-if you think anything
of the old flag-if you go because you ought
to go--why, you can come and say good-by
10 me tonight"
The latch clicked and she was gone. Sloan
looked at the troubled face of his mother
and left the house. Mechanically he wan
dared to the great red barn and the stalls
where sleek horses stamped There he bat
tied with himself.
The Sloan farm in Pennsylvania, on the
banks of the Juanita river, has been worked
for a hundred years by men of the same
blood. / think the Irvings, the McClellands,
the Curtins, and last the Sloans-all inter
married-have been the possessors OF the
acreage since the battle of Brandywine.
Each generation of this family down to the
Sloans had a fighting man in the nations
service
II is not to be wondered then that the
Sloans suffered in their pride to find that
they W re the first of the race to be with
out military representative. John Sloan,
their only son, heir to their goodly estates,
was a physical coward. He knew it, anVso
did his gray,haired father and kindly'taced
mother.
Morally, he was a clean, wholesome boy.
Physically, he was tall, ruddy-faced, well.
muscled and more than good looking. Yet
il was a matter of horror and shame to him
that he feared firearms, dreaded the blow
given in friendly contest with other boys,
and was in a tremble if bodily harm
seemed imminent.
But if the suffering had bean a sore trial
to him in his earlier days. John Sloan never
realized its full agony until following the
operations of the American army in Cuba
and the war with Spain there came the
call for troops to serve in the Philippines,
and the Tenth Pennsylvania regiment was
ordered to prepare for service in the field.
The destination of the regiment was Manila.
Word had gone out from Pittsburgh that
recruits would be accepted by the regiment.
This message reached the settlement about
the Sloan farm in the Juanita country.
Several young men promptly came forward
and declared they would enlist. The girl
that John Sloan loved and wished to be his
betrothed-NIary Carr-asked him if he
did not intend to Join. His answers were
evasive. Then she called at the Sloan home
and asked him directly to enlist. And it
was after this scene that John Sloan fled
to the red barn to hide his misery.
A woman's will is stronger than mans
when that man loves the woman. John
Sloan won a partial victory over his fears
and decided that he would join the regiment.
AT evening time the young man crossed the
fields to the Carr homestead. He expected
that Mary would be watching for him, but
she was not at the gate nor on the front
nnrrh Har m har Urneta5 him with the
words:
'We had a sudden telegram from Iowa,
John, that Mary's sister was i'll, very i'll.
Pa hitched up at once and Mary left on the
afternoon train. She's gone to Cedar Rap
ids, cause none of the rest of us could 60.
She left this note for you"
The lines within ran like this:
John, mother will tell you about my
hurried going. 1 have prayed every min
ute since left your house that you would
see your duty clearly. If when you receive
this you have decided to enlist you will know
that you have made your best friends very
happy and done your duty to your country
and the flag. Mary"
1t is making long story rightfully short
to say that the next day he left for Pitts
burgh, passed through the test of enlist
ment, was accepted and assigned to COM
pany A, of the Tenth Pennsylvania. A let
ter which his father had written to Col.
Hawkins, commander of the regiment, Sc
cured him some courtesies he otherwise
would not have received.
He wrote to Mary Carr at Cedar Rapids,
the date his regiment would leave Pittsburgh
and its route to San Francisco, and it was
after this letter was gone that he was seized
with an inspiration. He made his way to
his captain and told him frankly that he
would like to leave Pittsburgh several days
ahead of the regiment and meet it at Cedar
Rapids as it travelled west. He said frankly,
also, that the reason for his going to Cedar
Rapids was woman. Ten hours later he
was on his way to Chicago, dressed in his
regimentals, and marked by all who OBJ.
served him as recruit for the Philippines.
His peace of mind did not increase as the
North Western carried him from Chicago
to Cedar Rapids, across the Mississippi into
the fertile fields of Iowa.
1t is not necessary to go into the details
of Sloan's meeting with Mary Carr, nor the
inevitable pleading or his part that before
he left she would give him her plighted
word. When the moment Of final separa.
tion was at hand, she said to him:
You know, and know, that | care for
you-how much it is not necessary to tell.
Let the way you do your duty at the front
prove to me how much or how little am to
care for you in the future. am not send
ing you to greatness, but, oh, John, want
you to come back a proven man, and-and-
the day you do l will give you my final an,
swer. Go, now, and God be with you, till
we meet again."
Sloan joined his regiment, crossed with
them the historic Union Pacific and Central
Pacific railroads, and came at last to the
Presidio at San Francisco, where the reg
ment was stationed for a short time.
The sailing was on June Is, and as the
transport passed out of the Golden Gate on
her long journey to the orient, he leaned over
the rail of the troop deck until the land had
entirely faded from sight, sick at heart, un
manned, pitisble object to himself if not
to his companions. One of them threw hi.
arms about the neck of Sloan and sang out
in gleeful tone:
"Then stand to your glasses steady
And drink n Inb,