WAR
"Can't you come?
Oh, yes, I kin—
Same as any other thing—
Pulling off the green corn!"
Such foolishness! I'd have got mad at any body but Dave. And just then he was so handsome and ruddy that I was glad of him—glad that he was alive—happy—my son! Every time I looked at him I am reminded of David in the Bible. And I thought what a pity it was that such gay and handsome young fellows were going to war, North and South, to get shot, or cut with sabers or bayonets, maybe killed, maybe left to lie, bloating in the sun, like dead cattle. North or South—it was horrible.
"Dave," I says, thinking, too, of that night and Jon and Evelyn, "don't you think of going to war on either side. I want you here."
And Dave answers, smiling and soft:
"All right, daddy. I ain't in no hurry, if you ain't. I'll stay with you till I grow up."
72
