an find out where he is and get
leave. Tell his folks that he fought like a hero. I never saw a
braver man in battle.

"You will be glad to learn that since the engagement on the fourth
I have been made a sergeant, 'for conspicuous bravery in action,'
the order read.

"I suppose the flag is flying on the school-house staff these
days. How I would like to see it. If I could only see the Stars
and Stripes over here, and our own troops under it, I should be
perfectly happy. The longer I fight here the more I'm convinced
that the cause we're fighting for is a just and glorious one, and
the more willing I am to die for it.

"Give my dear love to Aunt Milly. I have just written to mother.

"Your affectionate grandson,
"Penfield Butler."

Colonel Butler looked up from the reading with moist eyes and glowing
face, to find a dozen of his townsmen who knew that the letter had
come, waiting to hear news from Pen.

"On Independence Day," said the colonel, in answer to their inquiries,
"he participated in a gallant and bloody assault on the enemy's lines,
in which many trenches were taken. Save for superficial wounds, easily
healed in the young and vigorous, he came out of the melee unscathed."

"Good for him!" exclaimed one.

"Bravo!" shouted another.

"And, gentlemen," the colonel's voice rose and swelled moderately as
he proceeded, "I am proud to say that, following that engagement, my
grandson, for conspicuous bravery in action, was promoted to the rank
of sergeant in the colonial troops of Great Britain."

"Splendid!"

"He's the boy!"

"We're proud of him!"

The colonel's eyes were flashing now; his head was erect, his one hand
was thrust into the bosom of his waistcoat.

"I thank you, gentlemen!" he said, "on behalf of my grandson. To pass
inherited patriotism from father to son, from generation to
generation, and to see it find its perfect fulfillment in the latest
scion of the race, is to live in the golden age, gentlemen, and to
partake of the fountain of youth."

His voice quavered a little at the end, and he waited for a moment to
recover it, and possibly to give his eloquence an opportunity to sink
in more deeply, and then he continued:

"I regret to say, gentlemen, that in the fierce engagement of the
fourth instant, my grandson's gallant comrade, Master Alexander Sands,
was severely wounded both in the shoulder and the knee, and is no