The daily Alaskan., 1907-06-20
A Stain Washed Away.
llag.Ea.

John CIough sat smoking his pipe be fore fire of blazing logs, while his wife cleared the supper table. The door opened. and a yuuugster of sey- entceu. clad in the army blue of ISGI-G5. pale and rmurLared, staggered ln. The woman flew Co him, caught him as he was ubout to fall and held hIm tightly rIusped in her arms. The man arose and stood regarding the boy with look Of mingled pain and SC. yrrtty.
 "Sick leave. Johuuy:' he asked.
 "Nu. father" fulterel the young sol dIrr .I couldn't get a sick leave. It WAS chance for life with me if l came and certain death with me if ] stayed there. The surgeon knew it, and yet he wouldn't recommend me for a furlough"
 Without a word the father returned t1 his seat before the lire The moth pr supported her boy to au adjoining
 room: he sauk upon bed. and she bent over him and kissed him again and again
 John CIough still sat mououIess and in silence. He knew that in leaving
 the front without permission his boy had deserted and that desertion was punishable with death And this vision the man saw in the flames: A little child toJdIcd toward him with 0utstretched arms Us he came home The same child was going to his first school His mother and fa- ther kissed him and followed him with ! their eyes tiII be came to a bend In the road. when he turned and waved his hand to them. Again as a half grown
 boy he was reading by that same fire light Robinson Crus0c' and Swiss Family Robinson" Recently passing from boyhood to youth, he had gone for a soldier.
 And now the father sees another sfghL-his boy iisgraced kneelIug be- side his collin, about t1 br shot for de l sertfou.
 An hour passed. The wife and moth l locked into the room where John ! ulou-n sat an1 SAW him still meek and r,,G.u,,s~ Gutms to him. she hent r,cr nim aud whispered. -.IH. .... m'r, than 8 rnild Johu" -.'s r.. .uu-aWru.rs ur his uct %
 .nH .uu father "Ihry take lads ur war and place them where mature u.. .uf lr hamI Go stand" ..n..n. {. .nn fHvg'.a. lhe woman lI urr uauN .a his heluu- forehead
 ~la.s father blame mr:' he asked. .stun
 ~N.. G.a- n,y. but"
 "Yas. se&" And he fell back "u hIa tIluw.
 Wha midnight came the woman ..al,ra in where she had left her hus .sim He had gone
 
 The army had breu fighting for ten
 .UusrcuGlp days when one morning d nan ou.tc o.l enough Jo be cNemp: from military service reported at the l headquarters of the general command | lug under tue name oi John tiouEu. He admitted that he had deserted from a regiment that had since been trans ] ferred tu another field. He found the l general in a bad humor. There had 1 been many cases of deseruou. His pre- sented an opportunity for an example. | He was tried and sentenced to be shot At this time the Army of the Poto-
 mac descended from the heights on the northern bank of the Rappahan-
 mock, laid their pontoous, crossed and commenced a march over a gently slOp
 ing plain to the heights a mile away, l where the Coufederates were ready
 with their artillery to sweep them as they advanced. Some got halfway, d
 less number nearly reached the objeC-
 tive point, while a few remnants of
 regiments marched to the guns. Those
 who lived went b8G5 again