Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1900-06-12
"A TROOPERS
SECRET !;
It Was Only Revealed After
He Had Fallen.
cOpuf0ht, 1900, bu Erwin Wardma

o*e*o*e*e*O*e*o*o#o#o*e&o*
Maybe you have served in the ranks
and know all about it; but, if not, lei
me tell you that war develops strange
things in men. In company of 10C
men you will find more love, romance
AND sorrow than you would hear OF
among 1000 men at home. 1t was a
comrades pleasure and duty to share
these things with comrade. At home
man would not have talked of his
love. his hopes and fears even to a
brother. Down there in the enemy's
country, in hui or tent or lying under
the same blanket after the days fight
or march. man turned to man and whis
pered his secrets 1t was because we
marched together. fought together, ate
together and the shadow of death GOV.
eredsus all alike.
You like man who has shared your
hardships; you love him when he has
shared Your dangers. So it was that
one might sit down with tile company
roster before him and tell of those who
had left wives behind them. and those
who had left sweethearts, and those
who had found correspondents and
were mingling romance with war.
1t was known, as If it were family
matter, that he,orderly sergeants wife
had died since he left home, leaving
four children motherless; that Private
Hayes had quarrcled with his sweet
heart; that Corporal .Iohnson's farm
listed. We heard these things and a
thousand others, and we stood always
ready to congratulate or sympathize
with each other. have known the big
sergeant to come rushing into a winter
hut occupied by six men and wake
them all up that he might read letter
from home telling that the baby actu-
ally had taken three whole steps all by
himself. We were men as to war, wo.
men as to gossip, children as to trifles.
1t was SO with all of Company G ex-
cept in one single Instance. Trooper
Haskins was stranger among us
when he enlisted. He continued TO be
stranger to his last hour When we
sized him up. as men size up each 9th.
er. we knew that he had some secret in
his life which he did not care to lay
bare to the world One could see by
the stoop of his shoulders, by the look
in his eyes and by the wrinkles on his
face that he had been hard hit and
would suffer to the end.
AS men we respected his secret and
praised his courage in bearing up un.
der his sorrows, but as soldiers we felt
that his lack of confidence in us was
an imputation. We stood ready to con-
dole and sympathize, but he kept us at
arms length. We felt sorry for him at
first that he received no letters-that
there was not one single person in all
the world to write word of cheer-but
his careless Indifference soon provoked
our Indignation We gave each other
the gossip of country and village as we
marched; we read each others letters
as we smoked at the campfire; we
whispered our condolences in the dark
ness-aI except Private Haskins. He
had no friend He had comrade, but
only in the sense that he shared the
same fly teEt and the same rations.
When the comrade had failed to dis
cover whether Haskins was married or
single. divorced or a bachelor, n man
who had been deeply wronged or a
cynic-wben he could get nothing what
ever from him as to his past-he turned
away from him and said to us:
Boys. l can't make him out. and I'm
not going to try any further. If he
don't want to be one of us, let him
slide"
We got down on Private Haskins to
the extent that he was socially out-
lawed- That meant more than / can
explain to you. We gave him credit
for his sOldierIy qualities-and it. was
useless TO deny that he was brave
man-but lie was forced to live alone,
as it were. In the midst of thousands.
BE noted every move made against
him. and many of them must have hurt
his feelings and added to his burdens,
but no one ever heard him complain.
believe he secretly was glad of his iso-
lation. 1t gave him time to think and
mediate. and be would do this by the
hour. We didn't misjudge the man. l
am glad TO recall. but we simply ostra-
eized him in a social way. just as socie-
ty crowds out the man who uamples
on the conventionalities. On his part
he must have felt that no words of
sympathy from us could have made his
case better, or he would have "cilum-
med up" and been one of us.
BY and by. after two or three bat
ties. strange whispers were circulated
about regarding Private Haskins. He
courted DEATH He had gone down into
the fray with shut teeth and flashing