Oakland sunshine., 1915-06-05

~ -
since that which first told you Of.
I For your mother. when l dared thinl
OF her tcould think of her, | shoul(
say. ! never ,Enew anything but love
l. was not so grief stricken when
+ heard Of her death as / thought
should have been. have loved he]
better and been more at peace sine.
then.
i Your father never let me know q,
her death; / heard of it from a casua
1 friend. SO instead Of possible recon
ciliation between ysur father end me
thing which would have almost
welcomed then over her grave, / thinh
| I hated him more. They say love car
! only turn to hatred, never to friend
ship. and so that chance passed.
It is midnight now.
Well the next thing I must tell you
b that the man In my regiment whom
killed was-as they said at the court
martial today-an enemy Of mine.
His name was Williams, and he wa
anti recently employed in our firm in
comparatively subordinate position.
kse was troublesome, self opinionat-
ed man. Of no great value to the bust
ness. and not long ago he was gotten
rid OF, largely at my instigation and
thoroughly as he deserved.
However, he belonged to the militia.
and when the war broke out he was
given commission In this regiment.
volunteered for service, and |. too,
was put into this regiment as private
and thus 1t came about that he so soon
found himself In position to take his
revenge upon me, and well did he do
1t, the blackguard. That's fmmaterial
now, but it Is necessary that you
should understand that the whole regi-
ment knew these facts. and knew, too,
that although had supported his bul-
lying for long time without a mur-
mur 1t was not unlikely that should
try to get even with Vim II had an
opportunity.
Our regiment was almost In the
center of the first line the day before
yesterday at the storming Of the big
redoubt, and we had had the brunt Of
the fighting all day. The enemy had
thrown up some very strong earth
works In front of the main defenses,
and our artillery, aided by the In
fantry, had had lot of work to do
in demolishing them and driving the
enemy from them.
We had stormed the earthworks
twice already and had lost at least
third of our officers and men. had
two minor wounds only.
The captain Of my company, Frank
lin, was killed in the second assault,
and Williams took his place in COM
mand,
Then the big assault was ordered on
a weak point In their main defenses
where our heavy artillery had made a
breach, and we were hurled at It, regi-
ment upon regiment
There was surge and a roar of
fighting. One was conscious of nothing
but explosions and shouts and screams,
blood everywhere and men struggling
and men fallen. At last I was on the
slope at the foot of the breach, STUN |
bling over bodies and fighting my way |
blindly, half ehoked by smoke and |
lust
And then suddenly I saw yor IA
her.
I cannot explain what happened |
within me at that moment. was half |
mad and dazed from wound In the |
read and perhaps half child again. |
cannot explain, but | saw him as |
;hough he were the only man before !
me- Despite all the years since / had
asst seen him and the state he WAS I'm.
With blood and CRIME on his face and |
n his grizZled hair, | saw him al
hough we were at home together In |,
he old days.
1t was as though vision flashed On /,
ne and made me unconscious Of the
,hastly holocaust around us. Perhaps
7our mother was near.
But 1t was only to be an instant. He
Jaw me also, and whether the same
ceilings were in him ! do not know,
,ut he stood as if turned to stone with
lis gaze full on me.
The next instant some one In front
# me and to my right, could not see
Who it was, dashed forward anc buried |
/ sword half its length in his chest.
/ can see Georges face now. His
aw dropped, but his eyes remained
ixed ON me till he fell.
Then / went quite mad, think.
'elt choked. and things swan before
ne. / killed that man. do not actual.
y remember how. but men behind me
Jaw it.
He was Williams, of course, the man
Who killed your father and for whom
am to be shot in an hour or two.
am tired and will stopa have said
! think.
But I am not sorry. | believe abso-
utely in the hereafter, and ! think
hat I shall find Helen and George In
! very little time Eow.
Goodby, my boy. and God bless you'll
Sphere.