the others had gone on crept away and hid himself. He found it was not
impossible to disappear altogether and reappear in another place. The
draft went into effect and many men not liking the notion of war were
willing to pay large sums to the men who would go in their places. Jim
went into the business of enlisting and deserting. All about him were
men talking of the necessity of saving the country, and for four years
he thought only of saving his own hide. Then suddenly the war was over
and he became a farm hand. As he worked all week in the fields, and in
the evening sometimes, as he lay in his bed and the moon came up, he
thought of his mother and of the nobility and sacrifice of her life. He
wished to be such another. After having two or three drinks out of the
bottle, he admired his father, who in the Pennsylvania town had borne
the reputation of being a liar and a rascal. After his mother's death
his father had managed to marry a widow who owned a farm. “The old
man was a slick one,” he said aloud, tipping up the bottle and
taking another long drink. “If I had stayed at home until I got more
understanding, the old man and I together might have done something.”
He finished the bottle and went away to sleep on the hay, or if it
were winter, threw himself into one of the bunks in the bunk house.
He dreamed of becoming one who went through life beating people out of
money, living by his wits, getting the best of every one.
Until the night of Clara's wedding Jim had never tasted wine, and as
it did not bring on a desire for sleep, he thought himself unaffected.
“It's like sweetened water,” he said, going into the darkness of the
barnyard and emptying another half bottle down his throat. “The stuff
has no kick. Drinking it is like drinking sweet cider.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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