the boy's bedroom door. He paused awkwardly on
the threshold. The boy turned his face toward the wall. The action cut
the father to the quick. He walked to the bed and bent over the child,
touching a father's rough-bearded face to the soft cheek. He found the
soft hand--with a father's large hand--under the sheet, and he held
the little hand tightly as he said:

"Well, Harold"--there he paused for a second. But he continued, "Do
you think you'd a-licked that boy--if--if--I hadn't a-come?"

Then the two laughed, and a little throb of joyous pain tingled in
their throats--such as only boys may feel.

A RECENT CONFEDERATE VICTORY

A LITTLE DREAM-BOY

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
And wake up a little man lying forlorn,
Asleep where his life wanders out of the morn.

Little Boy Blue, blow a merry, sweet note,
Over the pool where the white lilies float,--
Fill out the sails of a little toy boat.

Blow on my dream of a little boy there,--
Blow thro' his little bark-whistle, and snare
Your breath in a tangle of curly brown hair.

Blow and O blow from your fairy land far,
Blow while my little boy wears a tin star,
And rides a stick-horse to a little boy's war.

Blow for the brave man my dream-boy would be,
Blow back his tears when he wakes up to see
His knight errant gone and instead--only me.

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn,
Blow for a little boy lying forlorn,
Asleep where his life wanders out of the morn.

[Illustration]

A RECENT CONFEDERATE VICTORY

In a small town, every man who has been in the community long enough
to become thoroughly known to the townsmen has a place in the human
mosaic; that place seldom changes. Occasionally a man is a year in
finding his place. The town of Willow Creek located Calhoun Perkins in
two days. Wednesday he arrived in town with his son, whom he called
"Bud;" Thursday night it was reported that he had been fishing the
second time. That settled it. After that the boasting of Perkins about
his family in Tennessee and his assertion that he expected to go into
business only made the men laugh when Perkins left a group of them.
They were not interested in Perkins by the following Saturday; and
Monday every man in the town felt that his judgment of a man who would
go fishing every day had been handsomely vindicated, when it was
learned that Perkins had served in the Confederate army. When Perkins
had been in t