The Washington times., 1911-04-30
CHAPTER l.
A Born and Bred New Englander.

NJ Y great-gTandfather was killed
NU in the Revolution; my grand
WI father fought in the war Of
1872; nv father sacrificed his
health in the civil war; but 1, though
born in New England, am the first of
my family to emigrate to this country
the United States OF America. That
sounds like a riddle or a paradox. 1t
isn't; it's a plain statement Of fact.
AS a matter of convenience let me call
myself Carlton. I've no desire TO make
public my life for the sake of notoriety.
My only idea in writing these personal
details is tn" hope that they may help
some poor devil out of the same hole In
which l found myself mired. They are
of too sacred a nature to share except
impersonalIy. Even behind the disguise
of an assumed name l passed some
mighty uncomfortable hours few
months ago when l sketched out for a
magazine and saw in cold print what
I'm now going to give in full. 1t made
me feel as though had pulled down the
walls of my house, and was living my
life open to the view OF the street. For
a man whose home means what 1t does
to me, there's nothing pleasant about
that
lowing that brief article which made
the discomfort seem worth while. My
wife and l read them over with some
thing like awe
They came from Maine and they came
from Texas; they came from the North.
they came from the South, until We
numbered our unseen friends by the
hundred.
Running through these letters was
the racking cry that had once rended
our own hearts-"How to get out"' AS
We read some of them our throats grew
lumpy.
God help them" said my wife, over
and over again.
AS We read others, we felt very glad
that our lives had been in some way
an inspiration to them. After talking
the whole matter over, We decided that
if it helped any to let people know how
We ourselves pulled out. why. it was
our duty TO do so. For that purpose.
Carlton is as good a name as any.
My people were all honest, plodding,
middle class Americans. They stuck
where they were born, accepted their
duties as they came, earned a respect
able living, and died without having
money enough left to make a will worth
while. They were all privates in the
ranks. But they We're the best type of
private-honest, intelligent, and loyal
unto death.
My father seems to have had at first
a bit more ambition stirring within him
than his ancestors. He started in the
lumber business for himself in a small
way, but with the first call for troops
sold out and enlisted
He did not distinguish himself, but
fought hatTleS a
man who came out captain. He did
not quit until the war was over. Then
he Crawled back home subdued and
sick. He refused ever to draw pension
because he felt it was as much man 5
duty to fight for his country as for his
wife. He secured a position as head
clerk and confidential man with an old
established lumber firm, and here he
stuck the rest of his life.
He earned a decent living, and in
the course of time married and occu-
pied a comfortable home.
My mother died when / was ten, and
after that father sold his house, and we
boarded. 1t was dreary enough lie
for both of us.
No one in our family ever married
twice. With the death of the wife and
mother the home ceased, and that was
the end of it.
I remember my father with, some
pride He was a tall, old-fashioned-
looking man, with a great deal of quiet
dignity l came to know him much bet
ter in the next few years, after mother
died, than ever before, for we lived to-
gether in one room, and had rev
friends
I can see him now sitting by small
kerosene lamp after I had gone to bed
clunjsilv trying to mend some rent III
nv clothes. l thought it an odd occu-
patton for a man.. but l know now what
he was about ] think his love for my
mother must have been deep, Tor ne
talked to me a great deal or her ano
na1 ahnl1T
future on her account than on either
his own Or mine. l think it was She
she was a woman of some splrlt-Who
persuaded him to consider sending me
This accounted partly for the mend
ing. although there was some sent:
ment about it, too. l think he hkeo
10 feel that he was carrying out hel
work. for me even in such small mat
ter as this.
How much he was earning and how
much he saved l never knew. l went to
school and had ell the common things
of the ordinary boy. ana ! don't re,
member that I ever asked him for any
pocket money but what he gave 1t to
me.
II WIS toward the end of my senior
year in the high school that l began &c
notice a change in him. He was al
times strangely excited and at other
times strangely blue He asked me g
great many questions about my prefer,
enCe in the matter or collese. anC
hade me keen we'll up in my studies
He began to skimp little, and
found out afterward that one reason he
grew so thin was because ne did away
with the noon meal. It makes my blood
boil now when ] remember where the
fruit Of this self-sacrifice went.
wouldn't recall it here except as hum
bic tribute 70 his memory.
one night I came back to the room
and though it was not yet dark / was
surprised to see a crack Of yellow light
creeping out from beneath the sill.
Susperting something was wrong,
pushed open the door and saw my faith
er seated by the lamp with pair Of
trousers | had worn when kid in his
hands.
His head was bent and he was tryins
TO sew I went to his side and asked
him what the trouble was. He looked
rIn, hut he didn't know me. He never
knew me again. He died few day:
aftcrward. | found then that he had in
vested all his savings in a wildcat min
ing scheme. They had been sWep
away. -. , ,,.t
the only capital that succeeding genera
far1ailN inherited