Connecticut western news., 1910-08-11
HUMAN
 INTEREST . STORIES By William Henry Spear.
By William Henry Spear.
The Worlds w Way.

"He's only bum,'' they oynically said, as an old man passed along the street. shabby and ill-kept. An empty coat sleeve Tapped by his side, and he walked with limp.
 "Only bum " Yet, when the heart of the nation was convulsed, and trea- son was in the air, and father looked with suspicion upon son, and son eyed the movements of father, this man, in the flush and vigor of manhood, bade farewell to his sweetheart. pressed 8 kiss upon the lips of mother, shouldered a musket and answered the drum-beat at his country's call.
 At Bull Run, at Fredericksburg, at Antietam, he fought brayely, and the minnie ball that causes his limp was the reward at Gettysburg received for sav- ing his regimental colors. They thought him dead, but he lived-lived to endure the horrors of Belle Isle and the hell of Libby prison. Exchanged, he went home on furlough, Commissioned a lieutenant, for bravery on the field of battle.
 He was welcomed hero. The village children Spoke with pride of Lieutenant Jim Anderson, and the neighbors hon. ored him for what he had done.
 With wound healed and health re- stored, he returned to the front and in the van of battle again faced the foe. He left his right arm on the battlefield. They thought he would die, but he pull ed through and went home with the mastering out of the troops, . cripple went home to find his sweetheart mar ried and his widowed mother dead. While he was in the hospital, lowering between life and death, mothers life passed out, and he knew it not until he reached home.
 Men say that from that hour he was a changed man. He had won a cap tainoy, but had lost all interest in life. He became misanthropic. He developed into a pessimist. He saw no good in the world. His love dream had been shat tered, his physical life wrecked. What cared the world for the arm left upon the red field of battle? What cared it for the minnie ball that caused his lame ness? AS 8 mark of distinction now they called him "Old Limpy."
 Finally he left home; left it for all time; shed tears like child over the grave of mother and went out into the unknown and the nntried, changed man, to gain livelihood among strangers, friendless and unknown.
 Who wanted man with one arm He tried to sell his services, but found them depreoiated one-half. He was hand l icapped in the race with other men. What though he did save the flag in its hour of peril? Saving flags possessed no monetary value in the business and industrial world where now sordid greed and human selfshness were dominant factors.
 Do you wonder Encouragement filled his heart, or that passing years in such environment whitened his hair and bow. ed his form? That empty sleeve was a handicap that never downed. In the twilight of the past he saw himself as once he was, and realized with sorrow to what he had come.
 To drown his troubles he took to drink but. alas he found that troubles swim Haunting memories stirred his soul ane swept life's chords, until weird harmo nies attuned themselves to his waking thoughts. He sank low in the scale o1 life, and the mantle of poverty hid tho glow of an heroic heart. He took the road and drifted hither and yon.
 He stood one day in the city cemetery It was the thirtieth of May. Flower decked the mounds around him; a banC played funeral dirge. Crowds of well groomed men and handsomely attireC women passed all was animation, fo was not grateful nation expressing ap preciation of loyalty, by laying flower upon the graves of it's heroic dead?
 A band of veterans passed, each witl bouquet of flowers. Around tai flagstaff, on mound raised to the un known dead, they deposited the flowers
 As the oolnmn passed, tatterdemalian
 standing by the waySide, raised his eye to his country's flag and inYoluntaril, gave the salute.
 No one knew him. Few cared who h
 was. "He's only bum " remarke
 & man to @ companion. Waiting for