Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1884 — THE BAD BOY. [ARTICLE]

THE BAD BOY.

j*What you doing that money up in a gamer lor.” 6aid tliegroceryman tothe bail boy, as he. came in with a two-dol-lai bill, and wrapped it up in a half sheet of noth paper, and asked lor an envelope. “That’s some April fool business i’ll bet $5.” “I’ll take the bet, and when I convince you that it 13 no April fool business, wc will put your *5 in with this and send it. lam going to sent that $2 tothe Confederate G rand Army fair, at Richmond, Va. Yon see, there are lots of private soldiers who fought in the Confederate army, who are destitute, some of them on the verge of starvation, with families to support, and they nave uo government to give them pensions, .and ttieir neigliliors are poor, so their comrades are getting up a fair to raise money to help support them, and perhaps build a home for them like our soldiers’ home, and the Confederates ask tho Northern people to chip in a little towards it. 1 sympathize with the old boys if 2; how much do you sympathize?” and the boy looked at the grocery man as though he expected a contribution. “Not a darn sympathize,” said the grocery man, as he picked up the cUeese-kuite and raised it over his head as though he wanted to cut a slice of cheese off a Confederate soldier. “No, sir, I won’t give a nickel. Serves them right if they suffer and starve. What 3l did they want to raise a row for ? They were wnipped, and now they must submit to tapir defeat, and live the best to rebels! No; never! You are a fooL” “You are a heartless old cuss, that’s what-you are. You never was a soldier, or you would have some little charity concealed about your carcass. The Union soldiers are giving cheerfully toward helping their old old opponents, and it comes with a bad grace for a stay-at-home coward like you to go back one soldiers. Union officers shake hands with Confederate officers, and the Government gives offices to them, and when they come up North everybody is glad to see them, and when our people go South in the winter everybody treats them splendid, and they forget all about the terrible war, but here is a chance to do something kind for the old crippled and sick private soldiers of the Confederate army, who have hearts and souls and everything but money, and you refuse to give a nickel, eh?” “Yes, X refuse,” said the grocery man, as be went off down the counter to get away from the boy. “I don’t want nothing to do with men who tried to break up this Union. Condemn them, they shot a brother-iu-law of mine in tho back, and for a year after the war ho couldn’t sit down, except on his knees. When I think oi what that uian suffered for want of rest it makes me wild, and when I thiiik of the Government refusing my brother-in-law a pension on the riimsy ground that he was running away from the enemy in the lield, mv blood boils. He had to get back to the rear at Gettysburg, because he had left his knapsack with his w riting materials in, about a mile back, and lie wanted to write a letter to bis parents. By gum! 1 won’t give a cent.” “Those who wore shot in the back, and their friends, are the most bitter against the Confederates,” said the bad boy, sarcastically. “The Union soldiers who were shot in the breast, or had an arm or a leg shot off' while at the front, and who fell with their faces toward the boys in gray, are the ones who appreciate bravery, and they don’t kick on chipping in a little to belli their old enemies, who are friends now, out of a tight place. You would treat our misguided neighbors worse than England treats the /ulus. You are worsp than a cannibal. You do not seem to appreciate the fact that these old Confederate soldiers are white; that they are brothers, belonging to the same country that we do, speaking the same language, and ready to fight for ouv Union at the drop of the hat if over occasion requires. You would see them starve, and not raise a helping hand. You would not see a dog starve if he came to jour door and plead mutely for food, arid yet you will see a Confederate soldier, who for three years fought lit: cause he thought he was right, and went to his desolate homo.with a bullet in him, suffer for the necessaries of life, arid you refuse , i hel}>,«bin> that his children are as dear to him as yours are to you, and that it breaks his heart to see their pitiful faces pinched with hunger. and that their voices asking for bread from tho father who is unable to earn it for them, sotted to him like a death knell ? Can’t yon imagine that the Confederate soldier feels crushed to know the need of the price of a sack of flour, when millions of dollars are squandered every day, in.foolishness, by rich people who are no better, than he is? 1 should think, if you could picture to yourself old Veteran Confederates in rags, with children around them, climbing on their knees, and looking np into their bronzed or pale faces with wondering eyes, asking by their looks %rhy it is that they have no homes, nonfood, and precious little clothes, if you TSavo a soul in you, yon would reach down in your pocket and find something that you. would be glad to givo to them. Try and realize that tboso men are human, and as good as we average, up North here,- that their Children are handsome and loving. and need educating, and need words of cheer instead of curses, and think IIOW rich our .people are at the North, and how poor they are, and how mnph good a few dollars, that we would not miss, will do them, 'and how far a‘little money would go towards making them comfortable, and making them feel that thopgh opr people were hard ffgliferS, and shot from the shoulder, the recoil of the guns did riot callous the hearts of the victors. How much better you would feel if yon knew the $5 you are gding to give me, to pnt in this letter with my/$2, would .reach a Confederate soldier who was so despondent as to almost wish lm were dead, and change ins countenance from despair to smiling hope, and cause him to thank his God rind your-God that the darkest hoqr is always ' just before day, and day had dawned, and bis babies would now,

laugh on a lull stomach, while the soldier papa and the patient Southern mamma would cry for joy, and say God 1)1 esg 'our Northern brother and shield him from all harm. What do you think about this scheme, any way ?” and the boy took an envelope in a business way and began directing it to the Confederate Grand Army at Richmond, while his tongue was run out on one side just like a boy when writing a letter- “ Now look a-liere, you dry up this kind ojl talk or you will have me bellering,” Said the grocery man, as he wiped j his eyes on the sleeve of his slnrt. i “Here, don’t send that letter by mail. ; Send it by express, and put in $lO for me, and pnt on a postscript and tell the boss Confederate soldier that the $2 comes from the best-hearted boy in Wisconsin, while the $lO is from the almightiest condemned fool that ever abused a white man behind , his back. That orat'ion of "yours settles me, boy. You can teach me more sense in ten minutes than all the ministers can in a year. Shake, you young villain,” and the grocery man came from behind the counter and hugged the bad boy as though he were a girl. “Another county heard from,” said the bad boy, as he put the sl2 in the envelope and started down to the express office. “It’s a cold day when Hennery can’t get in his work for charity,” and be went off whistling “Away Down South in Dixie,” while ,the grocery man looked out the window at him with a big smile, and began humming an old Southern tune that he had almost forgotten.—Peck’s Sun - ". —— " —: —