The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-01-14
C0fYRIGHT. 1908. BY THE PpBLl
otterbein Kramer. Announces the Choice I
Has Made of His Life work.

|
ment upon Oaerbein Kramer as the greet.
ings were exchanged, introductions made
and he took seat on rocking chair, fac
ing the window, where the strong light fell
full upon his strong ciear-cut, refined face
Their husbands had talked so much oil
Otterbein Kramer, recalling with gusto
the wonderful meals he used to set up
and his pecuiiarities and doings, that the
girls had quite mentally created an en-
tlreiy different personality, which they
could not at all reconcile with this serene
Might be power in the pulpit, if he's
been given grace according to- his looks, y
whispered Maria to her sister-in-law, land
consolation at the mourner's bench But
l shouldn't think he'd know a frying-pan
from setting of buckwheat BATTER
Don't look so, I'm sure" answered An.
mabel. "Mebbe we didn't hear the name
right. Let's listen
| They looked him over carefully again
as he rose to set his silk hat on the brI.
reau, and place his gloves in it. He
scrutlnized the spot before he set il
down, and fiicked off some impercepti-
bic dust. He was ministerially grave, cir
cumspect and impressively deliberate in
every act
Maria and Annabel had been brought
up In the greatest possible respect for the
| clergy, whom they regarded as very su-
perior beings. They could not understand
81 and Shorty's Shaping this man on the
back, or conceive that he had ever occu
pied the lowly position of their cook.
i will, don't be so familiar. What dc
you mean! Maria admof1ished Shorty, in
a whisper, with a little twitch of his
blouse, to inforce her caution.
/ well, old boy said 81, when Annabe
interrupted in a stage whisper.
20, 81, Old Boys the name we give the
Bad Man. You really oughtn't to say thai
to preacher"
"Well, old fellow 81 corrected himself
where in the world did you come from
and how's the regiment?'
i I've just come from New York.
haven't seen the regiment for weeks--al
most as long ago as you left it"
/ You haven't? Why, what happened p
/ Johnston. and your leaving"
Both quite important events" laughed
though"
/ Except" drawled Shorty, "I'm sur.
prised that Johnston surrendered, after we
left. Probably Sherman was careful ia
Iexpeeted. he would. 49, ~
/ will. your rconceit'ii be the death of
me yet" laughed Maria.
Really. / can't see why either hap
pening, important as they were to our
selves and the country, should've taken
you away said ST..
aitsWell r joe Johnston'sl surrender meant
peace, and no more real business for the
1army, and therefore my interest in it
/ faded.at once'to nothingness. Your going
had taken most of'my heart out of it.
/ Complimentary to us. Thank you,''
said ,Si. .sBtt I|can't see why you were
in such lmrTyffto get away before the
regiment did, 3ag +o-te ar~~ 1e~y.ti 4
us'PossiblyI wasn't attached to the regi,
ment as much as you were. The regiment
had become apart of your very, lives. /
can understand that. It was no more to
of good mem assembled to do a righteous
work. When their work was done was
done with them1as q body. A camp be-
came hateful tonne
"a camp isl shorrid. hateful thing, any.
way" interjeeted Maria. 81 never want
Will4or Si toBet foot in one again.
| No, indeed, y echoed Annabel
| We've had, a pile of good times in
camps" said ST, speaking softly in defer
ence. TO his sisters and wife's pronounced
opinions. Il want to say that for them,
though l never see one again"
"Yes, and you've been starved and froz-
| en-, aandt eaten up by-by-bugs, and sick
nigh unto death in them, retorted Maria
fhotly. None Of your family ever had a
inmates. peace of mind as lbng"u arg you
were in them. Now, 1 want you and
/ WnIto keep out OF them-especially Will"
| Eyes, Maria answered Shorty, "As
soon ms Uncle Sam says the jobs finished,
and turns us off, I'll shake the camps for
ever But I'm not going to fly the coop
until the President opens. the door"
| But. Kramer, I should've thought
they'd tried to keep you,''Ssaids 81. "Such
daisy cooks as you are are not to be picked
up every day."
| ITO be certainly calculated Shorty.
you're just the best cook that ever lived,
Except Mother corrected Maria.
"Yes, indeed. Except Mother" added
'sOf course, except Mother" admitted
Shorty. "But she runs in a class by
herself. Nobody else dares appear ON the
track when she enters. / should've thought
that they all wanted you SO. badly that you
couldnt've got away"
s'They did, - answered Otterbein Kramer.
''The Colonel was determined / should
stay with him. The Brigadier- General out
ranked him, and required me for himself,
and then the Major General heard of the
row. and butted in, with his double-starred
into the old camp-slang I've been trying
hard to forget it for the last few weeks.
I've been with godly men up there on the
Board who have horror of it. But / told
them all had detail from higher head
quarters than any of theirs, and call to do
the Lords work in another field. They
had now ceased to be soldiers in His army,
and were merely men out of employment,
waiting for dismissal. was going where
the harvest was white for the reapers.
They offered me big pay, if would stay,
but told them that money was the last
of my thoughts. / was not sent into t:,is
world to make money, but to do my mis-
sion. Nothing could turn me aside from
| that"
/ what are You going to do?" asked Si.
'I'm going to devote the rest of my
life to the uplifting of the poor, ignorant
freedmen. whom the war has set adrift as
actually as the Children of Israel were set
adrift in the Wilderness"
/ II hear some of the boys talking about
/ going down South and settling, and, or
ganizing the nagroes into parties to protect
themselves hndIheir rights" said ST.
Nothing sit6 That kind for me. shall
have nothinU TOO do with politics. The
negro is notsftD ODE uplifted by voting or
running for. qfihts. nor are the men to up
i lift him those who are seeking their own
j selfish endsebw getting into Office"
''WhAk- tl,ahI DC Going to build churches,
4 and start sckDolAg'' 5. -, 5.f
Certainly. Bnt 1 am not going TO rely
~wAoIly. on thaaa- They win be efficient.
but not sufficient. The people Of the
North do not understand the negro at all.
They think h4,ss1n be brought up the same
4 as we do the Ignorant foreigners who come