Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1904-09-17
The Promotion of Private Jones.


/ ]. y, out Of the service he was covered
with glory and scars. Otherwise he had
| little TO show for his experiences as Il
soldier
/ He lad blstclei at Durham, his teeth
had chartered in the rain which swamped
! the Neldt, and when he and his fellows
with a ringing cheer drove the enemy
away from the blockhouse bullet whose
| billet was Jones, l. y" had found its
destination and the young volunteer lay
many parehed hours under a pitiless sky
before the stretcher bearers found him
where he fell.
When they did pick him up most Of
! Private Jones' life had oozed through a
hole in his right breast and it seemed
hardly worth while to carry what re.
manned of it to the big tent which served
as a field hospital
But out of sense Of duty they bore
him III, perfunctorilyr for at each new
step TIE stretcher men suspected they
were Juggling "a dead 'un." Is for Jones,
his pleasure had not been consulted. lie
had said just one word when they found
him-"water" after that he tainted
quietly and gently, and lay quite still
and white.
Now the leak in Private Jones' side
had moistened much soil with rich blood
and had very nearly done for poor Pri-
waite Jones, but the whole pharmacopeia
holds 10 remedy for gunshot wounds
cutie equal to youth. and when it comes
TO doctors tho best in all the profession
is Dr.. Hope
These two pulled Jores around. After
some burning weeks they bundled him
roughly aboard an overcrowled trans
psrt, on which he got precious little that
was tit for an invalid 10 eat, and put
him ashore at Southampton.
Only the constitution of draucht
| horse could have survived this double in
tliction, but Jones shut his teeth tight
anC stood It as best he could. He seemed
even to pick up a bit.
The truth is that the hope which had
drawn It's bow across lhe thrilled strings
OF his eager heart was the hope that in
the dear homeland Private Jones would
see Mary Farrell.
lie thought of her soft voice and the
balm bearing touch of her dear lips If
only these could be his to know once
more, Just orce, why then ne could lie
| happy. 1t wouldn't matter so mueh-at
least, not to him,
How Mary would feel about it ne
never paused to think The fever had
| him most of the time, you know, and
fevers and calm thinking are not close
bed fellows
! The big minute hand of the big clock
in the hospital dragged slowly around its
Roman dial many weary times before
| Private Jones parted company with de-
! lirium and pain. Perhaps this battle
against odds might have been sooner won
had not youth fought alone.
! Hope became deserter early in the
action,~far Mary did not come. When
| i'll his sane moments Private Jones real
lied her neglect his heart grew bitter
within his bosom and rosy life looked
gray as ashes.
He obeyed his nurses sullenly, and
once his feeble hands tore off the ban.
dages of his wound After that they
watched him closely, which was quite
! foolish for when one doesn't care to live
it is we'll to let him die The bees and
the ants and humble savage people under
stand these things much better than we.
However, one sunshiny day he changed
his mind and determined to get well for
/ spite, He would grow strong; he would
arise and walk. The faithless fair one
/ he would hunt and he would ilaunt his
unconcern in her chagrined face There
We're other girls-and he was hero, was
/ he not?
/ There came Il morning in September
when Jones. l. y, was babe to 90 and
return no more. In addition to a
Heaven bless YOU they gave him an
/ honorable discharge. his fare to the dis
! tant village which had been his home.
and certain few and stingy sovereigns
which didn't aggregate Il penny a drop
/ for the blood he had she'd
/ He was pale and not too strong, SO
that a stout stick stood him in high
stead. but the brilliant sky and the glor-
! lous saitct air wooed him, and he said
goodbye to his cot and his comrades. his
doctor and his nurses. without a pang,
albeit ono of the latter dropped an un-
seen tear behind a furtive apron after
young Private Jones had pressed her
hand IN parting.
80 Jones went home. At any rate he
called it home. 1t was where he had
ilved As boy and young man. where he
mad gone to school and learned his trade,
where his only kindred slept well in the
little graveyard beyond the chestnut
grove in the lap OF the hill
There Mary lived, too. lie drew a
long breath As he thought of Mary.
Queer. wasn't it? Not Mary alone, hut
jail his old friends had failed even to
write To him while he lay 80 long in hos
/ pital. No one had cared.
Not even Milford, ,he farmer. for
whom he hal worked ever since he could
bride q horse.
Not even Pete Kellar. the friend of his
bosom, the only fellow in all Glenhavep
/ Who participated in the secret that pretty
Mary Farrell had promised to wed study
! John Jones, when the latter came home
] from the war.
/ Wen, lie would soon know what it all
meant Then he could determine what to
do II Mary had married or WAS keep.
/ ing company" with some one else. never
/ should she see the wound she had leff
ul~n his heart
He would he the gayest of the sav--
the most carc.f,ee daredevil who ever
0 f..as So, II