Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1904-12-16
SA6Ss' ~ 49, :. .
+ 4 CHRISTMAS GRANDPA !;
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AhoSIIt'lI.
The bullet had plowed its WAY A,
scalp and skull, and for Tina tSa '
was uncertain; but finally the stS
care of surgeon and nurse won ta
but John Fairfax arose and Went
into a world of strangers
He knew no one. His own nam,
gone from him. The past was ~
Ills mind saw only a blank wall E~
as John Doe, of Nowhere, the nsms
which a merry clerk had entered hin
the hospital records, he was told S,
might go home.
Homer" said he, simply 4Vv
is with the army. l don't rpns,
ever being anywhere else III
handle a gun let me drive one
wagons, or cook for the soldiers
got to stay with the boys. | womb
know where to go if you tuDsI
away"
And so. not being able to get "A
him, John Doe was allowed to ru
with the army. He had been renal
missing, and his name had been dn7
from the muster roll of the regimen
which he had belonged, and he was
assigned to a regiment from am
State. His former comrades believed
dead.
The mind of John Doe was Of d
recent birth, so unframed in the vi
of the world, that It's owner soon ba
the standing butt and jest of the ar
John Doe submitted to it all with All
tient forbearance tlat was pathe.a
witness.
That was John Doe during the
day of the terrible battle Of the VIII
ness. when a soldier, whose cantea
had Just filled with water. dropped
in the act of raising it to his lips-a
through the brain. The victim Ta
young soldier who often had beffa
poor stricken John Doe, and when /
water carrier saw his friend and lEt
tor shot down the many kindly ii
deeds of which he had been the pdF
flashed swiftly through his brain
Springing t. his feet, he graslG
rifle which had fallen from the M
Of his dead friend. wrenched belt
with cartridges from one of the men
ing about him, and plunged into
thickest of the fight
And during the rest of the batth&
Doe loaded and fired in fren2iel bad
sprang from tree to tree as the line
vanced or retreatcd, and fought liz
hero till the sun went down
The men made sport of John IN
longer. From the by-word of the
he had grown to the hero, bnt a MOI
one. for when the colonel offered to
mote him for bravery on the field d
tie. he simply said:
NO: give the place to one Of
boys. l don't deserve it-llI i'm:
for is to cook and carry water
Cook and water-carricr he renl
and when Appomattox came andt1P
non ceased their growing John Doe
swept northward with the naH
wave of soldierv. And by some Sa
irony of fate he was left STRANDED
PENNSYLVANIA village scarcely &N
miles distant from the home from
he had gone forth to do battle ta
country.
His once dark hair and beard
now silyery white, and the DEf
through which he had passed naa
so great an alteration in his appa1
there was small probability of bis
RECOGNIZED
And here within 4 few hours NIB
distance of the wife and daushe
mourned him as dead. the ez-TaH
rier and hero lived and toiled q,
teen wears, a cherries. lonely map
strange indefnabIe longing for
fling he scarcely knew what.
AZ last one week before Chds
John Doe, no longer able to worn, Il
less and forlorn, went forth into '4 .S'
ways a homeless tramp, clad III y
tered uniform of the count!
helned TO save.
And in his wanderings he came
little white cottage. As he stood a., T
at its inviting porch sudden ia
cama over him and he reeled an
When he recovered he was lying ai
on his hack and by his side So,
orod Aaven-ho;red girl, artlessI!
t ill., - n@ HIM nan
Poor soldier man. did it hurt ~. y