Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-01-06

reaching in it's results that he was
decorated with a gold medal.
The war ended and Fitz Hugh was
4 hero to the world for all time. o.
castonally he would overhear some
! one say: That's he: the man over
there. They say he doesn't know what
rear Is" At army reunions, when he
arose to say few words. he was SO
violently cheered that he often gave up
the attempt. He-Was the pet of the
pett1coats and the admiration Of men.
The world Of adulation in which he
lived became the only world he knew.
| that which he had inhabited before his
honors being forgotten. Yet his mod
esty never suffered. He would only
wear his medal at social gatherings
with the little band who had helped
him earn it and to whom he always in
sisted 1t belonged.
Thirty years passed. Fitz Hugh met
with reverses that brought on nervous
prostration. he was obliged to break
away and 60 on trip. When he re-
turned he was still weak, melancholy
and inclined to study his symptoms
m1nutely, consulting doctors, besides
doctortng himself. He recovered, but
was not the man he had been a few
years before.
| One day while he was at the seashore
with party Of friends. among whom
was lady who had consented to be a
comfort to the old hero for the rest Of
his days, he was walking with her
through the town when a rough fellow
passed them, purposely brushing
against the lady. Fitz Hugh remon-
strated, whereupon the man took him
by the collar and showed him up
against wall. where he held him for
some time, then released him with the
remark that next time he'd better
mind his own business. Fitz Hugh,
mortified beyond measure at such treat
ment, tried to muster up courage to
strike the man, but his enemy looked
30 ugly, so strong, so brutal, so unmer-
ctful, that the ex-hero did not dare
touch him.
That night, when all were asleep,
Fitz Hugh, clutching something tightly
in his hand, emerged from his room
and went to an ocean pier. There he
stood for awhile, looking out on the
black expanse Of water, vainly endeav-
ortng to muster strength Of will to
plunge. He could not. The waves fill
ed him with terror. Then he threw
what he held in his hand out into the
water and, turning, went to his room.
The next day he did not appear. His
fiancee sent for him to go down with
her to the beach. He went down
looking pale and haggard. She guess.
ed his trouble, but said nothing. They
were sitting on the beach, lower than
they were accustomed to do. for the
tide was out, looking. at the bathers
the gulls, the waves glittering in the
sunshine, the ships far out at sea
The lady was thrusting her hand into
the sand, grasping it and letting II
slip through her fingers. Suddenly
they closed on something round anG
fat and heavy.
1t was the hero's medal.
He confessed to her that he hat
thrown it into the water the night be
fore, and she knew why.
1T is better to have been brave" sh'
said, land lost 1ne's bravery thar
never to have been brave at all"
When the ex-hero returned to tn
city he married his aancee and settle<
himself in home, which he resolute|!
declined to leave, eschewing especial.
fsrmy reunions. One reunion night hi
comrades came and took him ava.
bodily, his wife before he left pinnlnl
his medal to his coat without hi
knowing it. Arriving at the room
where dinner was in progress, b
was placed amid cheers in the seat .
the commander-president
"Comrades," he said when the tn
mutt had ceased, my general ono
told me that bravery is purely phys
lcal. have learned he was right.
have been weak enough to think my
self what you think me-a hero. al
no hero and never have been one"
The words, attributed to modesty
: drew forth a burst of applause. Th
\ captain dropped his eyes and for til
f]rst time discovered the medal on hi
breast. Again he glanced at his con
rades with q mortified expression tbs
told the story Of its having been place
e there surrephtiously.
n Then there was tumult that rivale
- The din Of battle.
- r. A. Mitchell.