Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-12-16

! never DSiOIE DeEH LlIllu III ueI pres
| ence, but that night l was positive
| Iy bashful before her. l can hardly
| tell now, at my sober old age, just
/ what had wrought the transforma-
! ton. II may have been partly her
mothers DEMONSTRATING NeH's dress
down a tuck or two; and there may
| have been one or two other tricks
| in the matter Of dress that made
! her look so much different. Women
! have wonderful tact in such matters.
made the difference, and I didn't
| care. | knew that she was fasCin-
! ating, and that was all I cared. One
| thing did annoy me; because OF ner
! looking SO trig and neat, ] became
| all at once uncomfortable conscious
were only jeans, short at the ankles
and awkward in every way. And this
| fact made me keep my distance.
| Well I soon left home for the
| summer, but l carried with me in my
| bOyish heart the picture Of Nell Mar
|
! other girl friends, and during the
summer some Of them wrote letters
| TO me and l TO them I was still so
| scared Of Nell that | dared not write
/ to her. But | was not afraid to think
Of her as I worked alone in the field,
Or to dream of her at night look.
ed ahead with something akin to
! yearning to the time when | should
return home in the fall and go to
school again. l thought that with
my larger experience in life, my six
months out among other people, |
might become brave enough to get
alongside of Nell with a feeling near
equality, and that in her smile my
life would be all sunshine, and balmy
| and roseate, and-welI, all that sort
CT thing.
But the war had begun, and
had slowly, yet reluctantly, come
into the conviction that it was my
duty to go to war rather than back
to- school. Do you blame me, Com
rade, for the feeling that I'd a great
deal rather go back home and to
| school? Old veteran that | am now,
l cannot myself blame the boy
! Nell had all the time had
sort of silent influence over me that
may have been good for me ever
since. After something of a strug-
gle with myself I gave up going back
to school, my good mother, NeTl and
/ OF +n
derstand why I never wrote to her,
but / think it may have been the
! impression she made on me that ev-
ening before I left home. I thought
She had suddenly gone away above
me, and that I could not approach
her-even by letter.
In the spring of 1864, l came nome
on veteran furlough,' having re4en-
! listed. / expected, Of course, to see
! Nell. and I hoped that, in my new
! dress uniform, and with my added
years and soldierlv bearing, I might
dare approach her; and, perhaps,
! please her. But | found, to my great
| disappointment, that she was not at
home. She was at Madison, in the
state university. Well, that clUUded
all my hopes of ever approaching
| her on terms of equality, whether
| in new uniform and soldierIy bear
! ing. or blue jeans all baggy at the
knees. But the girls of my school
! days gave US sOId1er7boys a most
/ hearty welcome in every way they
could. They gave parties in our
| honor, kissing bees'-and the girls
kissed us all over and over again as
the best way they knew of bestow-
! ing their favor. 1t wa sa great time
we had during those bIissfui three
| weeks with our mothers, brothers
and sisters, and school-mates.
When it was all over and l had
| got back to Camp Randall, I could
| not help feeling the nearness Of that
one girl. I thought about her and
wondered if l could get up the cour-
age to call on her. Oh, you know,
COmrade, there are times when a
young fellow has need of more cour-
age of a certain kind than when
cannon are in front of him, can
non TO the right of him, etc One
ay I got to thinking how much or
coward l was for the sake of just
one girl, and l declared that I'd SIC
Nell. SO now! And l did. I found
her and another young lady of our
home neighborhood rooming on what
l think was called Sttae street.
Had she changed since that even
ing back home three years before?
Well, l was not prepared for any
| thing like it She had become
beautiful young Iady,-not a girl any
more. I could hardly believe my
eyes. She had a plump, well-round-
ed form, a wealth Of golden hair,
big blue eyes, rosy cheeks, a lady
like bearing, was becomingIy dressed.
and-well, to me she was vision
of brightness and beauty. Soldier
that l was, used to hardship and
some denger,--not yet twenty. vet
having had such experience as makes
men out of boys, l was nothing to
myself in the sight of pretty Nell
Martin but a big bashful boy nau
supper with the ladies. and got on
fairly we'll when Miss Johnson was
present. Supper over, Nell asked me
to go to the lower room with her
while she washed the dishes was
in heaven down there, as 1 had a
right to be, and we had really good