Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1922-02-09

| Wndt! Inc BOY was aStOunQeQ.
weren't they all just regular ole cow
ards, Grandpa?'
NO" said the grandfather. '"They
were pretty fine soldiers"
"They were? Well, they ran away
whenever you began shootin' at 'em,
didn't they?'
Sometimes they did, but most times
they didn't. Sometimes they fought
| like wildcats-and sometimes we were
the ones that ran away"
But the Johnnies were bad men,
weren't they, Grandpa?"
mo"
The Boys forehead, customarily va
cant, showed some little vertical
shadows, produced by a struggle to
think. 'Well, but" he began slowly.
Listen, Grandpa, listen here! You
said-you said you never got scared
the ole Johnnies were goin' to win"
"They did win pretty Often" said
the grandfather "They won a good
many battles"
II mean, you said you never got
|
"No, we were never afraid Of that"
"Well, but if they were good men
and fought like wildcats, Grandpa,
and KEEP winning battles and every
| thing, how could that be? How could
you help bein' scared they'd win the
warp
The grandfather's feeble eyes twin
killed. brightly. "Why, we knew they
couldn't, Ramsey"
At this, the little vertical shadows
on Ramsey's forehead became more
pronounced, for he had succeeded in
thinking. "Well, they didn't know they
couldn't, did they?" he argued. "They
thought they were goin' to win, didn't
they?"
Eyes; l guess they did. But you
see they were wrong"
well, but" Ramsey struggled.
Listen! Listen here, Grandpa! Well,
anyway, If they never got scared we'd
win, and nobody got scared they'd win
well, 1 don't see
"You don't see what?"
But Ramsey found himself unable
to continue his concentration. ooh,
nothin' much,'' he murmured
II see." And his grandfather laughed
again. "You mean: If the Johnnies
felt just as sure Of winning the war
as we did and kept winning battles,
why shouldn't we ever have had any
doubts we were going to win? That's
1t, isn't it?"
II guess so, Grandpa"
"Well, 1 think 1t was mostly because
we were certain that we were right"
II see," said Ramsey. "The Johnnies
knew they were on the side Of the
devil" But at this, the grandfather's
laugh was louder than it had been be-
fore, and Ramsey looked hurt. "Well,
you can laugh If you want tot" he
objected in an aggrieved voice. "Any-
way, the Sunday school sup'intendent
told us when people knew they were
on the devils side they always"
II dare say, dare say" the old man
interrupted, little impatiently. "But
in this world mighty few people think
they're on the devils side, Ramsey.
The South thought the devil was on
our side, you see."
swell, that kind o mixes it all up
more'n ever"
Suppose you look at it this way:
The South was fighting for what 1t
believed to be it's right to be a coun-
try by itself; but we were fighting for
Liberty and Union, now and forever,
one and inseparable.' There's the rea-
| son we had the certain knowledge that
we were going to win the war. How
plain and simple it Isl"
Ramsey didn't think so. He had be-
| gun to feel bored by the conversation,
and to undergo the oppression he u.s.
ually suffered in school. The earnest
old voice Of the veteran was only a
sound in the boys ears.
Boom" The veterans had begun
low hill, out at the cemetery; ana from
little way down the street came the
rat-a-tat Of toy drum and sounds OF
fife played execrably. A file Of chill
dren In cooked hats made Of newspa-
pers came marching Importantly up
the sidewalk under the maple shade
trees; and in advance, upon a veloci-
pede, rode tin-sworded parsonage,
shrieking incessant commands but not
concerning himself with whether or
not any military obedience was there
by obtained. Here was a revivifytng
effect upon young Ramsey; his slug
gard eyelids opened electrically; he
leaped to his feet and, abandoning his
grandfather without preface or apollo
gy, sped across the lawn and out Of
the gate, charging head1ong upon the
commander Of the company.
"Yon get off that Iocipede, Wesles
Bender!' he beloved. "You gimme
that sword! What rights you got to go
bein' captain o. my army, I'd like to
know! Who got up this army, in the
first place. I'd like TO know. I did
myself. yesterd'v afternoon. and you