The National tribune., 1902-04-03
THEIR MEETING In THE SNOW.
A Veterans Peculiarities in the Use of
Shovel, Results III 9 Happy Reunion.
New York Sun.l

within touch of an old comrade," said the
retired army officer. II am living out IN
Jersey for the present with my daughter
and her husband, and there l found this
old soldier friend of mine, thanks to the
snow 1t was rather an odd circumstance.
Il was sitting in the bay window on the
second floor watching the snowflakes and
putting my after-breakfast cigar. The
flakes became fewer and presently ceased.
Then | heard the clatter of shovels and
the shovel brigade deployed through the
street While | was watching them,
| glancing across the street, noticed man
busily at work clearing u path from
house set back quite distance from the
street.
1T struck me as l watched this shov
eler that he had a pretty large contract
on his hands. The path he had to make
to the sidewalk was long and the side
walk space was considerable. He was
solidly built chap and he kept right at his
work as if he meant business. But he
wasn't very young; | could see his white
hair below the cap he wore and when he
| took it off once in while to mop his head
there was a generous bald spot.
| TOO bad an old man like that has to
get out in this snow and do such back
breaking work. | mused, thinking what
time | would have with my rheumatism
after half hours session with snow
bank.
But the next moment / had como to
the conclusion that the man wasn't show
cling for money. He was too well dressed
and he had an easy, prosperous air about
| him that you never find over an empty
stomach. He would stop every now and
then to straighten up, feeling his way
gradually to the perpendicular and explor-
! ing his back with his hands. Then he
/ hnad hack and sniff the
clear air.
..Then | began to realize there was
something about this solid citizen who
shOveled his own snow that was family
| familiar. He had certain odd motions
! that | felt were not new to me. He put
his back on to the shovel when he plunged
| it into the snow and as he tossed the load
off he gave an indescribable flip to the
handle. But when, after every third or
| fourth shoyelful, he would turn the shovel
over and with the back of it go pat, pat,
| pat along the top of the little heap OF up
turned snow he had just made, L began
| to feel sure there was only one man in the
world who did that odd little trick in just
that way, and that | had seen him do it
nearly 40 years ago.
! Il went into the civil war with n Mas
sachusetts regiment. | was n Lieutenant
| to begin with and | came out Major
with Il Coloners brevet, although | had to
| begin at the LieUtenancy again when L
Joined the Regulars in &c. In my COM
pany in the Massachusetts regiment was
fellow named Hooper-Tom Hooper.
He was a natty little chap who always
| contrived to look slick and clean, even
when his shoes had no soles to speak Of
| and his curly black hair felt its way
| through the holes in his rain-rOtted cap.
| He was as precise and methOdical as Il
down-country district school-teacher, al
81 hn ,Lat tua nnTpinu nd
didn't squirm. FI
I'VE did lot of digging early in the
war. When in doubt dig was the maxim
the boys put into the mouths of our COM
manding officers, and as there was any
amount of doubt floating about headquar-
tiers we fellows down the line had to do
a tremendous amount of digging
| Trenches! We made enough of them to
have carried us into Richmond, if they
had only been dug in a straight line and
due south. ,z Il
Walking up and down behind my com
pany | got to know the chaps who shov-
eled to the best advantage, as well as
those who shirked. and particularly l got
to know Tom HOOper's peculiarities with
the shovel. Do you remember Fair Oaks?
No? Well, one part of our line of earth
works ran through the yard OF a farm
house. / remember as if it were yester-
day that there was clump of flower
bushes of some sort in that yard.
Tom Hooper had to dig among these
bushes, and he had to do his own shovel
| ing to suit him as he did everything else.
Forward would go that back of his as the
shovel bit in and every time the earth
| fell from the blade came that jaunty lit
tie flip, sort of half salute to the APP
preaching foe. Then there was a pat,
pat, pat;' the final touch of an over-con-
scious workman.
h., ntIa how mot tn for
could hear it for some little distance up
and down the line. On it was a sound en-
| tirely different from all the other scrap
| ings and grindings, gruntings and puff
| fings. They got to singing derisiyely,
patty cake, patty cake and ali that. but
it didn't bother Tom.
That day we were halted suddenly.
The Jonnies were coming down on us in
hurry. The shovels were peddled out
and at it we went, some of us digging our
own graves. For two or three minutes
before we got orders to cease digging the
| bullets were spanning and spatting through
| the leaves and into the tree trunks be-
! hind us, and some got mighty cautious
how they did their shoveling. 1t was
wonderful how careful we were to unload
our shOyels without putting our heads
above the bank we had raised.
But there was ToOm Hooker sticking
at it just as if he were digging a drain in
| his fathers backyard at home. lie hung
| to it after nearly everyone else had
stopped, until the order came along to
cease shoveing and start firing.
Il happened to be coming up from be
| hind the line just then and / saw Hooper
start back to throw his shovel j" the heap,
then pause, turn back and going up to
the trench, begin smoothing off the top of
his section Of the embankment. This was
too much for me; the strain was hard
enough anyway, although it wasn't our
first battle by a jugful.
Hooper, | bawled out, stop that
damn foolishness; cease shOvelingr AL
ready he had hole through his shovel,
and when he was down in the trench
noticed red mark along one cheek.
"Of course Hooper never heard the last
of that business. 1t followed him all the
way to AppomattOx, and when we got
back to Boston and the people gave us a
big supper in a large hall as sort of fare
well, Hooper, who could always eat a
square meal when il was set before him,
got a roundup that set the whole hall
III n roar, for there wasn't man in the
regiment who didn't know the story.
While Tom was putting away the eata-
bles at a great rate, someone with Il fog
horn voice shouted out: Hooper, stop
that damn foolisliness; cease shovclingr
"Al this and a good deal more of the
same sort came back to me as | watched
that old fellow shoveling and pattng the
snow until | couldn't contain myself any
longer.
, MARY | asked my daughter, who is
that man across the street there digging