The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-10-04
Why Tom Crowder
Re=enlisted o.
BY JOHN H. RAFFERTY,

Six months of soldering In the Phil
| Eppines had taken all the edge of Tom
| Crowder's military ardor In year
the sight Of a khaki uniform hurt his,
eyes. and he began to realize that in all
the world no village was SO fair to look
upon as Sugar Greek, Ills, the home
town where Crowder 4 Sons kept store
and where the event of each drOning
day was "traintime." When two years
had almost passed, he began to dream
Of swinging under the elms In the old
front yard at home and wondered as he
nibbied at the EVERLASTING bareback how
many pitted cherry pies>he could eat at
one sitting In the dining room at home.
When Il young soldiers mind begins
to dwell Oh the pies that mother used
to make. he cSlnot flourish OH SOW
belly. But when he begins to decorate
his tent wall with the photographs of
Tlllic and Sue aud 'the folks he's 1it
for nothing but furloughs and sick
leave, and il there's anything Of the
duOul llllIl lie III huh
ger of forgetting to answer roll call
some dark evening when the music Of
the SEA beyond the jungle lures him
with false songs Of home. Tom heard
the siren voice all right, but he didn't
lure little bit. His term Of enlistment
was almost at an end, and he salts
fed himself with blotting each dull day
off the calendar, writing doggerel verse
about 1tllie and making himself nui-
sance generally 10 his bunkie.
He used to swear roundly that he
meant to "hike back to Sugar Creek
as fast us ship and train could carry
him, and hoped by all that was holy
that once he was mustered out he'd
never see a soldier again. He got to
be the worst "knocker" In the COM
pany, and lie wrote so many letters
that his comrades began to ask him
why he didn't write few to himself
''If you got such good home and
swell people, why don't some Of 'em
write to you?' sneered his tent mate
one night. You can't be very strong
with Tillie, or she'd write you at least
once a year.
Now the latter question was sore
one 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 quarreled with his
brother so many times that no love
was lost between them, and his father
didn't write for the good reason that
he didn't know how. As for Tillie. the
letters from her When he left home,
she was Only III, and his affair." with
her was Of the long distance, incoming,
mental sort peculiar to boys and girls
Just out of high school. If Tom had
been perfectly fair in his introspection,
lie must have admitted that there was
nothing very tangible in his hopes with
regard to Tillic. IIc told himself a
thousand times that she was "the one
girl" and coddled himself with the
belief that his fealty to her was little
short of heroic, and that by some mys-
tcrious telepathlc sympathy she must
by this time be pming away for his
return.
He wasn't ''in love- when he enlist
cd, but he had her picture and his
mothers and by natural process oS
longing for home he developed quite a
fierce and yearning passion for Tillle.
A hundred times he began a letter to
her, but he never had the nerve to
send II. He cut her initials on trees,
fences and tent poles and wrote her
name dozen times on every scrap of
paper that he could find. He sang IT.
spelled 1t and Yhistled 1t till his soul
was in fine frenzy, and he knew by
heart the long speech Of proposal that
he meant to whisper into heriittle pink
ear the 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 Manila aud
Irregular mails" he was stirred by .an
unreasonable hope that there would
be at least one letter from Tillie. lie
was disappointed, but not dishearten-
cd, to find nothing but three old mis-
slves from his mother, In which there
was not a word of his hearts delight
and volume Of motherly advice about
the care he should take of himself, the
things he should eat and drink, tho
comrades be 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 It
concluded with the hint Of great
surprise" that was in store for him.
OF course that put new zest into bis
~honing for home" and his hatred for
the army rose In proportion.
This whole town cwas at the station
when Tom swung on the train steps at
Sugar Creek. The Silver Cornet band,s
with old Bill Tohlinsen, shake and all.
at its head, was standing on the plat
form playing "See, the Conquering
Hero Comes" Great flags waved above
the depot, and yards of bunting stretch.
ed clear across the street from Crow
ders. grocery store to the town ball.
Tom alpost fell into the arms of his
mother. Even bis brother Jim seemed
to have forgotten all differences and
hheged him. But best Of all there