Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-10-09
"P0OR OLD PETE"

Out on West Main street the other
street car on an old soldier who stag
gered almost as much from weakness
as from the drink with which he was
obviously affected Poor Old Pete
said one He'll be full as long as his
money lasts"
1t was forty-sx years ago. Pete
was 10. a husky commonplace enough
farmer boy, able to swing an axe or
bind his station" with the best of
grown men, skilled at 'sideholt" and
arms length wrestling. able 10
cipher in common fractions and very
much In love with the girl who sgt
before him at school. The scene was a
country school house. Hank came to
the meeting that night because she
would be there He was just big.
honest, ignorant boy when he entered
the door He went away man and a
patriot.
For the meeting at the school house
was the turning point of his life. 1t
| was in g. The war had been on since
the attack on Sumpter and Pete hadn't
given it much attention. But the dead
had begun coming back wrapped In the
I flag. i'm that awful train of corpses that
J,a al mi
The wounded and manned had begun
| coming home to die or limp feebly
| along the lanes. The north had sensed
| the real struggle. An earnest man with
| the gift of expression was speaking
| at the school house. In flash Pete
awoke Back in his sub-consciousnass
| famed up the spirit of ancestors VINO
| had fought against the king with
| Cromwell of others who had charged
with the Cavaliers and of still others
who had cuddled their cheeks against
gunstocks at Kings Mountain and the
| Cowpens. and OF the grandfather who
| had died in front of the stormers at
Chepultepec. When Pete took the lit
/ lie girl home that night she cried on
| his shoulder and told him how truly
she would wait; for Pete had en-
listed.
They were waiting eagerly for him
and those like him at the front In
thirty days Pete was soldier. In sixty
| DAYS he was a sergeant for conspic-
uous bravery in battle and soldierly
conduct lin camp. When a mimic ball
shattered his shoulder and he was fur
/ ,oughed home from the hospital offic-
ers and men missed him. For Pete was
a type. of the American volunteer sol
| der.
When Pete came back to the regi-
ment he was different. 1t was whisp-
cred that the girl who promised to wall
| had tired and married a stay-at- home
Something had spoiled Pete. He patron
lied the poker game and drank whisky
when he could get 1t. That time he raj
l
company after every commissioned Of
ficer was down he should have been g
lieutenant He refused it. He didn't
| care what became of him. He did his
camp duty, fought like hero, secuted
like an Indian and got drunk occasion
ally. 1t helped him to forget.
He came back from the army ant
married a better girl than the one
that cried and promised and forgot
They went west and made farm. Chill
dren came aud they grew old together
/ Theirs was just Il type OF the American
farm home. Then the oldest boy died
The other Went wrong, il cost the farm
10 save him. After a while his bod,
! came back from another state to- thu
father and mother, Mother soon fol
lowed the boys and Pete broken now il
body and purse came to live at the sol
diers' home.
! Always, always he remembers