The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-10-26
EVERYDAY BOYS"


I'm sick of being just an everyday
boy" said disconnected Tom Brennan.
There's no chance here for fellow
to do anything great, Just going to
school and grubbing in old gardens.
Aunt Hannah looked her nephew
over thoughtfully. Even from the
piazza she could see the weeds in the
garden, and the gate hanging by one
hinge.
1T doesn't seem to me, Boy, that
the size Of the job matters so much"
she said. ITS the way we do it. Out
in Des Moines, Iowa. there was en-
everyday boy who couldn't even go to
high school, but he grubbed along so
well that his story was told in the
papers. | read it in Saint Nicholas"
.'What'd he do? Did he get to be
an ace?" .3
"One question at time,~s SON. Mar
vim Dunn didn't loom very large in
the life of his home city. He was
only a chore boy and plugged away
at anything he could get to do, from
digging and planting to running an
elevator. And when his work was
done, he went home to his grand
mother He was an orphan, just like
a dear boy l know who has only his
old aunt"
Tom settled back bit on the piaz-
"a, so that he could rest his head
against Aunt Hannah, but he didn't
say anything.
"All the time Marvin worked he
had a plan in mind-a very beautiful
plan. Some day he would take grand
mother to a house of their own, with
a garden and hens. 1t was not very
big ambition, you would think, but it
was quite an undertaking for an every
day boy.
Marvin was almost a man before
he had saved enough to buy a lot
away out in East Des Moines. 1t
was in the spring, so he put up a
.ent, and grandmother and he camped
there all summer. In his leisure
hours, Marvin built his house, few
boards at a time, but by fall he had
quite a snug little home, boarded in
and rooted, rain-tight. Later he would
plaster and paint it, lay out the
ground, and spade up the garden.
Then came the war. Marvin en-
listed in the National Guard, which
was one of the first contingents to be
sent to France, one of the first in the
trenches, and to go over the top.
Marvin was MORALLY wounded, but
before he died the honor cross was
pinned to his breast. He left grand
mother the house, the cross and the
memory of having had such son.
For all that, grandmother must
have been sad and lonely, particularly
when she looked at the bit of ground
COR which Marvin had made such
plans. She would never see him work
ng in the little plot. 1t must just go
untitled, for she could not do such
hard work. - .. .-
Just there was where the Junior
Red Cross stepped in. This is what
one Of the boys said: The eighth
grade boys of the Phillips School
'aked the yard, spaded it and planted
grass seed. The sixth grade boys
planted a garden, WHICH Henry Sc
crest, who is in the" seventh grade,
slowed The sixth grade girls plant,
ID the flowers, and are taking care
Of them. The children all wanted to
help paint the house. The eighth
| grade will take care of the grass. We
want to do for her all that Marvin
| would have done. We want to keep
her from missing him. " ...
Aunt Hanah stopped talking. The
gloom had gone from Toms face, but
all he said was: ..
That's a pretty decent bunch OF
| kids, Aunt Hannah"
But later in the day Aunt Hannah
| noticed that the gate hung on two
| hinges, and Tom was down y,on his
knees wedding as if that was the big
! gest business in life.
| Sacred Heart ReDieU