The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-19
IN MEMORY OF BILL SIMPKINs,
DEAD FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY.
Honour to His Name. and to All Brave
Soldiersi

We could not get In what we meant to at
! first. so we had to give up the poetry. We
| fixed il up when it was dry. We had to
dig jolly deep to get the posts to stand up
but the gardener helped US. Then the
girls made wreaths of white flowers, white
/ lilac, peonies, white tuplips. and parcissus.
and many other things. and put them over
the posts like you see IN the picture. And
/ think IL Bill Simpkins had known how
sorry We were. he would have been glad.
Oswald hopes If he falls on the battlefield,
which is his widest ambition, that some
body will be as sorry about him as he was
about Bill That's all.
When all was done. and what flowers
there were over from the wreaths scattered
under the tombstone between the posts.
we wrote a letter to Mrs. Simpkins. and
said:
Dear Mrs simpkins; We are very very
sorry about the turnips and things. and We
beg your pardon humbly. We have put up
a tombstone to your brave SON.
And we signed all our names.
The soldiers mother read 1t and said
thing about our oughting to know
better than to make fun Of peoples trou-
bles with our tombstones and tomfoolery
Alice told me she could not help crying
She said: IT'S mott Dear. dear Mrs.
simpkins, do come with me and see. You
don't know how sorry we are about Bill
Do comeland see. We can go through the
churchyard-and the others have all gone
away, SO as 10 leave it quiet for you. DO
come .a- 3..
And Mrs Simpkins did And when she
had read what we had put up, and Alice
had told her the verse we had not room
for. she sat down by the graye-l mean
the tombstone-aud Alice hugGed her, and
they both cried bitterly. The poor SOL
dier's mother was very very pleased, and
she forgave US about the turnips, and We
were friends after that but sac always
liked Alice the best. A great many people
do.
After that we used to put fresh flowers
on Billis tombstone. and l do believe his
mother was glad. though she got us to
move it away from the churchyard edge
and put IL in a corner Of our garden IN
der a Iaburnum. where people could not
see Il from the church But you could
from the road. though think she thought
they couldn't. She came every day to
look at the new wreaths. When the white
flowers gave out. we put colored, and she
liked that as well
About a fortnight after the erecting OF
the tombstone the girls were putting
fresh wreaths on it. when a soldier in a
red coat came down the road and he
stopped and looked at US. He walked
with a stick. and he had bundle in a
blue cotton handkerchief. and one arm in
a sling.
And he looked again. and he came near
er; and he leaned on the wall so that he
could read the black printing on the white
paint And he grinned all over his face
and he said well. / am blessed"
And he read it all cut in a sort of half
whisper. and when he came to the end
where it says and to all brave soldiers
he said. We'll / really ami"
suppose he meant he really was
blessed
Oswald thought 1t was like the soldiers
cheek, so he said. 81 daresay you aren't
80 very blessed as you think. What's Ii
to do with you Ell, Tommy" Of course,