XXV “Killed in Action: Corporal Alonzo—”

The day ’fore thet thar awful telegram From Washin’ton fer Bill was brung t’ the house By Viny—she’d be’n up ter town; an’ Gene The operater, lookin’ kind o’ white Hed handed her the yeller envelope An’ sez: “It’s jes’ some bizness fer yer Paw”—— Me ’n’ Bill was talkin’ ’bout the Lib’ty bonds. We’d thrashed the matter over, ’n’ both agreed The only thing ter dew, ’f a feller hed The price, was git a bond, an’ ef ’e hedn’t, Ter git one ennyhow; an’ thet’s how ’twas. Bill he’d suscribed with Charlie Buck, who runs The Farmers’ Gild (an’ nuthin’ much besides), While I’d went up ter Sims’ an’ teched a chap I knowed fer five, an’ trusted Proverdunce Ter see me threw. (Bill sez thet Proverdunce Is mos’ly what ye dew yerself, with p’r’aps A dash o’ luck throwed in ter help along.) Then come the stunnin’ news.... Things wa’n’t the same, ’N’ I reckon never will be ’gain. The farm Seemed empty like, ’n’ I stopped good menny times Ter look whar Lon hed carved ’is ’nishuls on A crib door slat.... It give me ’n awful thump Inside ter see how sort o’ closter Bill An’ Laury was; she hed ter lean on him, An’—God, I tell ye he was suthin’ wuth A-leanin’ on, a human staff o’ oak. Yew ’member them blue little lakes or ponds— Most ev’r’y country deestric’ hez ’em—whar Fokes sez they ain’t no bottom tew ’em ’t all, Nobody never reeched it tho’ they’d tried Fer years an’ years with ev’ry kind o’ line? Wal, thet’s the way Bill’s eyes looked at ye then: Great dep’s o’ shinin’ feelin’, purplish blue; An’ dogged ef I could tell which from the t’other A father’s greef, or father’s pride. At five One mornin’ not long arterwards, ez I Was pitchin’ silage down ter feed the steers, I seen Bill ridin’ out the yard on Belle. He waved ’is hand an’ yelled he’d be ri’t back. At bre’kfas’ time he sez jes’ cazhool like: “I ketched thet ’ar Buck feller ’fore ’e’s up, An’ taken out another Lib’ty bond. ’Pears like I gotta back them boys that’s left In France jes’ twict ez strong now’t Lon has went.”