Explore "The Soldier Boy" by Oliver Optic on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Tom Somers was not very well satisfied with his situation, for the soldier / who had been left in possession of the house was armed with a musket, and / the prospect of escaping before night was not very flattering. The / patriarch of the family, who had such a horror of recruiting officers, was / approaching, and in a few moments there would be an exciting scene in the / vicinity.
Independent of his promise made to the woman to help her husband, if she / would not betray him, Tom deemed it his duty to prevent the so-called / Confederate States of America from obtaining even a single additional / recruit for the armies of rebellion and treason. Without having any / personal feeling in the matter, therefore, he was disposed to do all he / could to assist his host in "avoiding the draft. " What would have been / treason in New England was loyalty in Virginia.