Show 4 i the tb e war i I A Story tor of Decoration e oration Day by P Y Black 4 f c f Abel went ot war one dav daI d t Dropped hs his gun and tran na 8 I The children cried after aft him 1 the tf jin jingling gling doggerel went w nt on his road rond and would not look at them nor sem to hear them The insult was a avery av avery very v ry old one to his hi ears These were not the first children to molest him in inthe inthe inthe the village streets ts as a the schools sch were dismissed The parents Of some of them had yelled at him ago parents woh won rene er ere the first fir t of the The elder brothers and sisters of t fee present babes had bad haunted it iti t i 4 You run fast enough now to I get away vay safe Best s stay at home h me I Abel went to wa war one day Dropped his gun and ran aW away I Is that true the asked coldly looking up and iUd down the t tI mans manslank manslank lank form with a sneer why I 1 want w nt to join said Abel with pathetic appeal I want a chance to wipe it out Can I 1 see the I officer No good the soldier answered i turning sharply away The captain I speak to you He never lets I up on a deserter Abel with a white face and down I looking shamed sh med eyes slipped away way f 1 i ut fI fIS S 91 f 1 i 4 HE GUIDED THE Or G PACK MULE HE E CHARGED THROUGH THE HELL IN FRONT 0 F in their turn and still the mocking words vord were relished by b the urchin mob For nearly thirtyfour years ye rs the now and solitary man had been the butt of his had in that time walked with him or danced with him although h he had been a 11 straight and handsome youth nor had he been a sharer in the sports of the young men As he grew ew older he was allowed no part art in the councils of the village If he ne desired to vote at a presidential election le tion he did it only by running the gauntlet of a thou thousand thousand thousand sand sneers Manifestly it seemed ab absurd absurd absurd surd tah a man who had deserted in inthe inthe the face of or his hi enemy should have h ve a say in the th choise of his coun chief executive Hd H was tabooed I he was ostracised he was outside thee camp campAs campAs campAs As the lonely years ye passed by and many of the soldiers who ho had fought fou ht while he ran dropped out of life lif his punishment became softened soft ned to a great extent He lived so consistently apart I and was so long suffering under torture and also so many new and interesting I events happened that people Ie began to forget if they never forgave For a large part of oe o the year therefore Abel Tutt could now come into the markE place from his patch of a farm and be contemptuously ignored But on one day of each year even of those years when a new generation was was springing up his humiliation was freshened and complete his agony of shame peculiar peculiarly ly acute This always happened happ ned on Decoration day When the schools were closed and flags were limped when the veterans limped to fife and drum and rosy cadets claimed their fathers cheers when wreaths of laurel and the best loved flowers were piled on heroes graves and anti the modest monument monument monument ment on the green was surrounded by bythe bythe bythe the swaying crowd who listened to the orators then Abel hid himself away May and springtime were to him no season for rejoicing but a period of and remorse remor e Then the story of his shame wag was wa certain to be retold and if he dared dar d to tp go O abroad his ears must hear the old refrain Abel went o 0 war one day Dropped his gun and ran away J He was young he had been been called coward a lad ladof of 18 Now he was stooped and grayer r yer than some men older than han he but his hard work workIng woi wo k king Ing life in the open and almost necessitated necessitated abstention from all revels had kept 1 I i strong and active He had i 1 soul but not in body Now when h was Vas over 50 an old familiar call came to his solitude a call can unheard for many years a Call au which rang out until every citizen from the tIie Atlantic to the Pacific heard it the bugle call to arms Abel heard in the store and saw in the paper what had occurred and he i fell on h i knees in his lonely house and i and prayed If I am permitted another trial he i cried give me strength oh Lord give me courage t I There was a recruitIng station in a large town not far from the village j jand and there gathered many of the region who desired to enlist for the war j against Spain Thither went Abel Tutt telling no man of his mission A ser sergeant sergeant sergeant geant selected for the service because of his smart and prosperous figure stood at the door of the offices and to him Abel applied Many young fellows were hanging about and when he gray beard arrived his presence occasioned curiosity and smiles The sergeant t however was sufficiently cordial c in his manner Ive come c me to Mist said aid Abel straightening up upI 1 I guess said the sergeant not un unkindly Unkindly I kindly this war can be e fixed without at calling on the veterans The doctors only passing young men and hearty How old are you 7 Fifty odd Grand Army No uNo sir Thought maybe YOV db been en in the fhe war si iI iIII I II I was in the army a aWell Well Its ifs great eat to see the way you veterans are eager to fight again the sergeant said with an approving n smile You shame lots lot or Of the young chaps But you did h i th the trade have had your fill fiU of glory g r so dont grudge the new boys their chance Glory cried a voice In the little crowd and a youngster from Abels township pushed forward rd with a loud laugh Him Great Scott but good tood Its Abel Tutt the deserter who would have been shot for running away if It President P r Lincoln panned him when his mother went to Mat crying Him want tb enlist good goode ti t as spry on your fejt t f as you used Sed tobe to 10 be Abel through the jeering crowd and aid went back to his farm farms He sat there ther silent s lent and sorrowing until lon after dark and then sprang to his feet i I must go he dried cried I can cah bear it no longer lo er It is my only on y chance I must go From many transports the American soldiers poured into Cuba The regu regulars regulars regulars lars and volunteers white and black paused but a little while and then plunged into the interior to do speedy battle But besides there were others to be landed With shouts houts a anti and yells y the neighing of horses and the our brays of mules Uie th d fol followers fo lowers of the army ar were forced over overboard ov overboard er board and guided g ashore swimming With them were their immediate immedi te mas masters masters masters and attendants the necessary but far from ornamental muleteers mul These wore no smart uniform nor did they march on shore to sound of band or bugle They were to the casual man of notes a disfiguring blot on the picture They were rough and l undisciplined and and rude of tongue The trained battalions drew out in orderly columns as though leav leaving leaving ing lug the familiar home parade The mules followed a tumultuous herd ready to stampede stamp de and in front of and behind them and watching their flanks rode the whackers whacker every man plan an I garbed and equipped as he thought i best The inexperienced observer would have their unwarlike and vagabond looks but the passing officers who knew their value watched them I anxiously and with as lively an inter interest I Iest est eat as they did the th troops for each I mule was laden down with ammunition amm and upon these coarse looking coarse 1 tongued mule whackers depended per perhaps perhaps perhaps haps the fate of the army should that ammunition not be on hand at a critical moment These also therefore took their lives in hand Not all heroes are dressed for the part Among them doing his hard work silently and without complaint under undera a glaring sun rode the coward Abel Tutt All hi his efforts to enlist in the ranks had been absolutely vain De Dc Despairing Despairing of carrying a rifle r te then but buti 0 v 5 i t ci i I L 1 ir 1 J j J I Abel Went to War One Day Dropped His ms Gun and Ran Ban Away determined to wipe out his disgrace by some means he had gone gc ne down to Florida and there at Tampa T pa he had at last found means to follow the army he had once deserted lIe He knew little of the special work of a mule packer but he was accustomed to horses and mules and his hs persistency gained him hima a n place as assistant No one knew the m mIry the man an was in No one knew of try tt fr r which oppressed him The villa e bbs were quite right in their t judgment j of ot him hl him Il IlAbel Abel was vas asa a coward as people judge cowardice His flesh shivered at the mere thought of a wound He shrank and cowered Instinctively at the crack of ofa a rifle or the he distant r bar r of heavy guns In his boyhood he had not real realized realized the peril and carried away by the contagious enthusiasm of com corn comrades comrades rades had enlisted only to run run panic stricken at the first gleam of theene the ene mys bavone Now ow ne was as walking up to deaths domain with his hs eyes open oien o m knowing and understanding the imminent danger dauger and he was afraid horribly afraid Yet he followed on ona and a d closed his teeth and prayed The soul of the man had bad at last succeeded in ruling the body m III The spurred his horse and rode at a wild gallop down d wn the th forest f rest road There the shells were fall falling falling falling ing and bursting among the trees tres when I they had finished their shrieking flight from the guns on the hill As the staff officer rode on his life Ufe was momentarily I threatened by Spanish sharpshooters in inI bushy tree tops I The battle had stubbornly raged all the morning and now when the trop ical sun was at height the weary per perspiring perspiring invaders of the isle were pray ing for night or else the command to tor rush r sh the trenches As Jt t was they were only grimly holding their own scat scattered scattered scattered in long lines of skirmishers hug hugging hugging hugging ging shelter rained on by bullets and shocked by shattering shell The broke out of ot the jungle strip again and gained the open Here he found himself several hundred yards y from his objective a battalion i of o regular infantry who were slowly advancing up a hill pouring in a hot fire on the Spaniards who held the en entrenched entrenched entrenched trenched ridge Their fire was heavy but the Spanish h fire backed by artil artillery lery was a deadly one and here h re and there lay many soldiers stiffening in the long grass The aide Charged through the hail and drew up beside the major in The brigade generals compliments sir he panted It is vital that you keep the enemy busy at this poi t for forat forat forat at least another hour when the rein reinforcements reinforcements reinforcements coming up will permit a general advance The general desires to know if you can do this with your present force He can ill spare the themen themen themen men men but if necessary you can have another company What shall I 1 tell h Tell ITell him said the major coolly that a company will make no differ difference difference ence once Ive men enough I 1 guess but wait vait a moment ulease He walked along the rear of the skirmish line as calmly as if drilling on the target range and asked cities c of a number of noncommissioned officers and men while bullets spat spattered spattered spattered round him Please ask the general to not mind sending men he told the aide but for heavens hayons sake to send me ammunition We Wc dont average twenty rounds left per perman perman man If he cant why I must fall back backI HI I can promise it in half an hour said the aide The pack mules have arrived The rhe he battalion continued Its dogged as assault ass assault sault s creeping up by inches the men throwing aside one by one everything dared dard to lighten them and make the heat less intolerable The minutes passed until nU ten fifteen twenty had gone and at last the half hour houn The major chafed Easy Eay boys easy esy he cried ored Dont throw away a shot Wats wrong Cor Corporal Corporal Corporal Eads Not a cartridge left sir The he major fumed Hl If I fall fail fal back he lie groaned those beggars eggars will wH charge us and ah Is that them Yes 50 it boys here comes come more ammunition Noncommissioned officers tall fall t U out and make ready to distribute am ammunition ammunition At the thc edge of the jungle strip appeared two iwo pack mules mutes Two men mounted on other mules drove them forward The Americans cheered but the sharp eyed Spaniards also saw the newcomers and at once realized on what errand they came The fire fre of three t ree guns on the hill hm was directed instantaneously gns upon the mules who were at once crazed by the shell shel and shrapnel which screamed at them while every ever rifle rife In the trench I seemed tem to be aimed at the devoted mule whackers whacker One of the muleteers a man was wa white with wIt the agony of his fear but the other a adark adark adark dark cannon young fellow of I the bulldog type t pe was wa aroused by his dan danger danger danger ger to passionate wrath wath and utterly un unthinking unthinking thinking recklessness As the tornado of iron and lead broke upon him he yelled to his comrade with wit a clatter cater of crowded oaths to come on You ou dummy cried he I What are you shaking about Round up that mule get a move on you them cart cartridges cartridges I ridges have got to get to the major see got to Ram Barn your heels into that I brute of yours ours and follow me or by the saints saint Ill Il plug you so full fun of holes folks 11 1 take you for foran an a open door Come on The cowards weaker part was nearly the conqueror Every Ever nerve in his body every instinct prompted him to turn tur and run ever to shelter sheler He was in exactly the same deplorable physical condition as he hews hews ws was when years year agone he slipped away from the ranks unnerved by the roar of guns His face was wet with wih cold per perspiration perspiration gns his hands were shaking his knees gripped his hi mounts flanks fanks con convulsively convulsively kees In another moment he would have abandoned his hi trust and added greater disgrace to his name when a good goodan angel an el whispered to him He saw saw by the light of one clear flash fash of memory his village street He saw himself passing viage through more than thirty years cars a dis dishonored honored h life He felt fel again agin the slow tor torture turn ture nore of shame He heard herd the mocking voices voi es of the children Abel went to war one day Dropped his gun and ran r n away Abel Tutt cried out aloud aoud Tut cred Anything but that tat Sooner death Give me strength oh Lord Give me cour courage courage courage age The fhe incident passed in less than a min minute minute minute ute Then the two muleteers lashed hashed on the pack mules The distance to the te battalion was but a few hundred yards but battlon these wa yards were each black with the shadow of grinning death The pack mules also were so mad with wih the noise I and the clouds of earth shot up by shells that they ran here and there and made the distance twice as a long The younger muleteer was wa aflame with wih rage and ex cx excitement e i He rode l 1 a He circled like an Indian He kept his i pack mule pretty straight shouting I cursing cheering with wih every breath Abel I followed silently but he was no expert expert II His charge broke hither and thither and every moment the bullets seemed to fall fal faster fater ever At last the young man rose in his stirrups with a triumphant yell yel and waved his hat at the Spanish with a gesture of contempt Too soon he crowed He was wa but seventy or eighty yards from froma a bluff which would shelter sheier him where the soldiers were eagerly waiting and |