Killed in Action: Corporal Alonzo-

The day 'fore thet thar awful telegram / From Washin'ton fer Bill was brung t' the house / By Viny-she'd be'n up ter town; an' Gene / The operater, lookin' kind o' white / Hed handed her the yeller envelope / An' sez: "It's jes' some bizness fer yer Paw" -- / Me 'n' Bill was talkin' 'bout the Lib'ty bonds. / We'd thrashed the matter over, 'n' both agreed / The only thing ter dew, 'f a feller hed / The price, was git a bond, an' ef 'e hedn't, / Ter git one ennyhow; an' thet's how 'twas. / Bill he'd suscribed with Charlie Buck, who runs / The Farmers' Gild (an' nuthin' much besides), / While I'd went up ter Sims' an' teched a chap / I knowed fer five, an' trusted Proverdunce / Ter see me threw. (Bill sez thet Proverdunce / Is mos'ly what ye dew yerself, with p'r'aps / A dash o' luck throwed in ter help along.) / Then come the stunnin' news. Things wa'n't the same, / 'N' I reckon never will be 'gain. The farm / Seemed empty like, 'n' I stopped good menny times / Ter look whar Lon hed carved 'is 'nishuls on / A crib door slat. It give me 'n awful thump / Inside ter see how sort o' closter Bill / An' Laury was; she hed ter lean on him, / An'-God, I tell ye he was suthin' wuth / A-leanin' on, a human staff o' oak.

Yew 'member them blue little lakes or ponds- / Most ev'r'y country deestric' hez 'em-whar / Fokes sez they ain't no bottom tew 'em 't all, / Nobody never reeched it tho' they'd tried / Fer years an' years with ev'ry kind o' line? / Wal, thet's the way Bill's eyes looked at ye then: / Great dep's o' shinin' feelin', purplish blue; / An' dogged ef I could tell which from the t'other / A father's greef, or father's pride. / At five / One mornin' not long arterwards, ez I / Was pitchin' silage down ter feed the steers, / I seen Bill ridin' out the yard on Belle. / He waved 'is hand an' yelled he'd be ri't back. / At bre'kfas' time he sez jes' cazhool like: / "I ketched thet 'ar Buck feller 'fore 'e's up, / An' taken out another Lib'ty bond. / 'Pears like I gotta back them boys that's left / In France jes' twict ez strong now't Lon has went. "