The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1901-12-31
Why Tom Crowder
Re-enlisted
BY JOHN Il. RAFFERTY,

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Six months of soldering In the Phil
ippines had taken all the edge on Tom
Crowder's military ardor. In . year
the sight Of q 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 & Sons kept store
and Wheae. the event OF each dronins
day was sstraintime." When two years
had almost passed. he began to dream
OF swinging under the elms in the old
front yard at home and wondered a he
nIbbled Sfhe everlasting hard tack how
many pitted cherry pies he could eat at
one sitting In the dining room at home.
When a young soldiers mind begins
to dwell on the pies that mother used
to make, he cannot flourish on sow
belly. But when he begins to decorate
his tent wall with the photographs Of
Tillie and Sue and "the folks he's at
for nothing but furloushs and sick
leave, and II there's anything Of the
Quitter about him he's In imminent dan
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 .homes Tom heard
the siren voice all right. but he didn't
lure q little bit. His term Of enlistment
was almost at an end, and he salts
fed himself with blotting each dull day
on the calendar. writing doggerel verse
about Tillie and making himself Q null
sance generally to his bunkie.
He used to swear roundly that he
meant to ''hike back" to Sugar Greek
as 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 q soldier again. He got to
be the worst -knocker" In the CON-
pany, and he wrote so many letters
that his comrades began to ask him
why he didn't write a few to himself,
IF you got such q 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. He had Quarreled with hii
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
young soldier had no reason to expect
letters from her. When he left home
she was only l6. and his AFFAIR" with
her was OF the long distance, incoming
mental sort peculiar to boys and girl
Just out of high school. II Tom hat
been perfectly fair In his introspsotion
he must have admitted that there wal
nothing very tangible in his hopes will
regard to Tillie. He told himself ,
thousand times that she was the on
girl" and ceddled himself with tn
belief that his fealty to her was uttl
short of heroic, and that by some mys
terious telepathic sympathy she mus
by this time be pining away for hi
return.
He wasn't 'in love" when he enlist
ed. but he had her picture and hi
mothers, and by natural process o
longing for home he developed quite
fierce and yearning passion for Tlllie
A hundred times he began q letter I
her, but he never had the nerve I
send II. He cut her initials on treet
fences and tent poles and wrote he
name a dozen times on every scrap @
paper that he could find. He sang 1
spelled 1t and whistled 1t till his s0r
was in fine frenzy, and he knew b
heart the long speech of proposal ths
he meant to whisper Into her little pin
ear the first time he could get he
alone In the swing or on the narro'
seat OF dads spring wagon,
So when Tom got back to Manila an
Irregular mails he was stirred by a
unreasonable hope that there woul
| be at least one letter from Tillie. p
, | was disappointed. but not disheartel
: | ed, to find nothing but three old mi
. siyes from Ills mother. In which the
; | was not word of his hearts deligl
/ and a volume of motherly advice abo'
: tue care he should take of himself. Il
, things he should eat and drink, Il
: comrades he should avoid and Il
: prayers he should say. Her latest le
: ter was full of the time they wou
l give him. when he got home. and
? concluded with the hint of gre
I surprise that was In store for bill
: OF cour.se that p,s new zest into b