The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1901-09-04
Why Tom CrOwder
Re=enIiSted
BY JOHN H. RAFFERTY,.

.i".. 81 -I ..i-i- .i--l-. .i-,. ..l..l.
Six months of soldering In the Phil
ipplnos had taken all the edge off Tom
Grewdcr's military ardor In year
the sight of khaki uniform hurt his
eyes, and he began to realize that In nll
the world no village WAS 80 fair to look
upon as Sugar Creek, Ills, the home
town where Crowder & Sons kept store
and where the event of each droning
day was "traintime." When two years
Ind almost passed, he began to dream
of swinging under the elms In the old
front yard at home and wondered as he
nlhbled nj the everlasting hard tack how
mnny plttcd cherry pies he could ent ut
one sitting IN the dining room at home.
When n young soldiers mind begins
to dwell on the pies that mother used
10 make. he cannot flourish ON SOW
belly. But when he begins to decorate
his tent wall with the photographs of
rlllle and Sue and the folks he's 1T
for nothing but furloughs and sick
leave and If there's anything of the
guitter about him he's In imminent dan
ger of forgetting 10 answer roll call
SOME dirk evening when the music of
the sen beyond the jungle lures him
with false songs of home. Tom heard
the siren voice NIL right, but he didn't
lure little bit Ills term of enlistment
was almost nj mn end, mud he sntis
fled himself with blotting each duh day
OFF the cnondnr, writing doggerel verse
about Tllllc and making himself nui
sanco generally to his hunhic,
Ito used to swear roundly that he
meant to "hlke bnek' to Sugar Creek
NJ fast as ship and train could carry
him. and hoped by all that was holy
| That once he was mustered out he'd
never see soldier again. He got to
| be the worst "knOckcr" In the com
| pany, and he wrote 80 many letters
that his comrades began to nsk him
why he didn't write n few to himself
"If you rot such II good home aud
swell people, why don't some OF 'em
writ - your" sneered his tent mate
one nil (. You emit be very strong
with lille. or she'd write you at least
once ycnr."
Now the Inter question wns sore
Que with Tom, because nobody wrote
To him except his mother, and her let.
ters seldom reached him during the
final months Of his campaigning In the
interior. lie had quarrclcd with his
brother so many times that no love
was lost between them. and his father
didn't write for the good reason TINT
he didn't know how. Az for fillic, the
young soldier hud no reason TO expect
letters from her. When he left home,
she was only 10, and his affair" with
her was of the long distance, incoming,
mental sort peculiar 10 boys and girls
just out OF high school. If Tom had
been perfectly fair In his Introspectlon,
he must have admitted that there was
nothing very tangible IN his hopes with
regard TO Tillle. He told himself
thousand times that she was "the on
girl" and Coddlcd himself with the
belief That his fealty To her wns little
short Of heroic, and That by some mys
tcrlous tclcpathlc sympathy she must
by this time be plning away for his
return.
ed but hc had her picture and his
mothers, and by natural process OF
longing for home lie developed quite q
fierce and yearnlng passion for Tille.
A hundred times he began a letter TO
her, but lac never had the nerve to
send It. He cut her initials on trees,
fences and tent poles and wrote her
namc n dozen times on every scrap OF
paper TINT he could find. lie sang 1t.
spelled IT and whistlcd IT til his soul
was In II fine frenzy, and he knew by
heart the long speech Of proposal TINT
he meant TO whisper into her little pink
ear tic first time he could get her
alone In the swing or on the narrow
seat Of dads spring wagon.
So when Tom got back to Manlln and
regular mails he was stirred by an
unreasonable hope that there would
be at least one letter from Tillic. lie
was disappointed, but not dishearten-
cd to find nothing but three old mis-
gives from his mother, In which there
was not word of his hearts delight
and volume of motherly advice about
the care he should take OF himself, the
things lie should eat and drink, the
comrades he should avoid and the
prayers he should say. Her latest let
ter was full Of the time they would
give him" when he got home, and II
concluded with the hint of great
surprise" Tat was IN store for him.
or course that put new zest into his
"honing for home" and his hatred for
the army rose In proportion.
The whole town WAS ut the station
when Tom swung Off the train steps at
Sugar Creek The Silver Cornet band,
with old Bill 1ominson, shake ana all,
ut its head, was standing on the plat
form playing See, the Conquering
Hero Comes" Great flngs waved above
the depot, and yards of bunting stretch
ed clear across the street from Crow
der's grocery store TO the town hail.
Tom almost fell into the arms of his
mother. Even his brother Jip seemed
to have forgotten nil differences ana
Rugged him. But. best of all, there
was lille, quite a woman now pref