"I WANT something to do."This remark being addressed to the world in general, no one in particular feltit their duty to reply; so I repeated it to the smaller world about me, receivedthe following suggestions, and settled the matter by answering my own inquiry,as people are apt to do when very much in earnest.
"Write a book," quoth the author of my being.
"Don't know enough, sir. First live, then write.""Try teaching again," suggested my mother.
"No thank you, ma'am, ten years of that is enough.""Take a husband like my Darby, and fulfill your mission," said sister Joan, homeon a visit.
"Can't afford expensive luxuries, Mrs. Coobiddy.""Turn actress, and immortalize your name," said sister Vashti, striking anattitude.
"I won't.""Go nurse the soldiers," said my young brother, Tom, panting for "the tentedfield.""I will!" [Page 10]
So far, very good. Here was the will璶ow for the way. At first sight not a footof it appeared, but that didn't matter, for the Periwinkles are a hopeful race;their crest is an anchor, with three cock-a-doodles crowing atop. They all wearrose-colored spectacles, and are lineal descendants of the inventor of aerialarchitecture. An hour's conversation on the subject set the whole family in ablaze of enthusiasm. A model hospital was erected, and each member had acceptedan honorable post therein. The paternal P. was chaplain, the maternal P wasmatron, and all the youthful P.s filled the pod of futurity with achievementswhose brilliancy eclipsed the glories of the present and the past. Arriving atthis satisfactory conclusion, the meeting adjourned, and the fact that MissTribulation was available as army nurse went abroad on the wings of the wind.
In a few days a townswoman heard of my desire, approved of it, and brought aboutan interview with one of the sisterhood which I wished to join, who was at homeon a furlough, and able and willing to satisfy all inquiries. A morning chatwith Miss General S.瓀e hear no end of Mrs. Generals, why not a Miss?璸roducedthree results: I felt that I could do the work, was offered a place, andaccepted it, promising not to desert, but stand ready to march on Washington atan hour's notice.
A few days were necessary for the letter containing my request andrecommendation to reach headquarters, and another, containing my commission, toreturn; therefore no time was to be lost; and heartily thanking my pair offriends, I tore home through the December slush as if the rebels were after me,and like many another recruit, burst in upon my family with the announcement?
"I've enlisted!" [Page 11]
An impressive silence followed. Tom, the irrepressible, broke it with a slap onthe shoulder and the graceful compliment?
"Old Trib, you're a trump!""Thank you; then I'll take something:" which I did, in the shape of dinner,reeling off my news at the rate of three dozen words to a mouthful; and as everyone else talked equally fast, and all together, the scene was most inspiring.
As boys going to sea immediately become nautical in speech, walk as if theyalready had their "sea legs" on, and shiver their timbers on all possibleoccasions, so I turned military at once, called my dinner my rations, salutedall new comers, and ordered a dress parade that very afternoon. Having reviewedevery rag I possessed, I detailed some for picket duty while airing over thefence; some to the sanitary influences of the wash-tub; others to mount guard inthe trunk; while the weak and wounded went to the Work-basket Hospital, to bemade ready for active service again. To this squad I devoted myself for a week;but all was done, and I had time to get powerfully impatient before the lettercame. It did arrive however, and brought a disappointment along with its goodwill and friendliness, for it told me that the place in the Armory Hospital thatI supposed I was to take, was already filled, and a much less desirable one atHurly-burly House was offered instead.
"That's just your luck, Trib. I'll tote your trunk up garret for you again; forof course you won't go," Tom remarked, with the disdainful pity which small boysaffect when they get into their teens. I was wavering in my secret soul, butthat settled the matter, and I crushed him on the spot with martial brevity?
"It is now one; I shall march at six." [Page 12]
I have a confused recollection of spending the afternoon in pervading the houselike an executive whirlwind, with my family swarming after me, all working,talking, prophesying and lamenting, while I packed my "go-abroady" possessions,tumbled the rest into two big boxes, danced on the lids till they shut, and gavethem in charge, with the direction,?
"If I never come back, make a bonfire of them."Then I choked down a cup of tea, generously salted instead of sugared, by someagitated relative, shouldered my knapsack璱t was only a traveling bag, but dolet me preserve the unities環ugged my family three times all round without avestige of unmanly emotion, till a certain dear old lady broke down upon myneck, with a despairing sort of wail?
"Oh, my dear, my dear, how can I let you go?""I'll stay if you say so, mother.""But I don't; go, and the Lord will take care of you."Much of the Roman matron's courage had gone into the Yankee matron'scomposition, and, in spite of her tears, she would have sent ten sons to thewar, had she possessed them, as freely as she sent one daughter, smiling andflapping on the door-step till I vanished, though the eyes that followed me werevery dim, and the handkerchief she waved was very wet.
My transit from The Gables to the village depot was a funny mixture of goodwishes and good byes, mud-puddles and shopping. A December twilight is not themost cheering time to enter upon a somewhat perilous enterprise, and, but forthe presence of Vashti and neighbor Thorn, I fear that I might have added a dropof the briny to the native moisture of?
"The town I left behind me;"though I'd no thought of giving out: oh, bless you, no! When the enginescreeched "Here we are," I clutched my [Page 13] escort in a fervent embrace,and skipped into the car with as blithe a farewell as if going on a bridaltour璽hough I believe brides don't usually wear cavernous black bonnets andfuzzy brown coats, with a hair-brush, a pair of rubbers, two books, and a bag ofginger-bread distorting the pockets of the same. If I thought that any one wouldbelieve it, I'd boldly state that I slept from C. to B., which would simplifymatters immensely; but as I know they wouldn't, I'll confess that the head underthe funereal coal-hod fermented with all manner of high thoughts and heroicpurposes "to do or die,"璸erhaps both; and the heart under the fuzzy brown coatfelt very tender with the memory of the dear old lady, probably sobbing over herarmy socks and the loss of her topsy-turvy Trib. At this juncture I took theveil, and what I did behind it is nobody's business; but I maintain that thesoldier who cries when his mother says "Good bye," is the boy to fight best, anddie bravest, when the time comes, or go back to her better than he went.
Till nine o'clock I trotted about the city streets, doing those last errandswhich no woman would even go to heaven without attempting, if she could. Then Iwent to my usual refuge, and, fully intending to keep awake, as a sort of vigilappropriate to the occasion, fell fast asleep and dreamed propitious dreams tillmy rosy-faced cousin waked me with a kiss.
A bright day smiled upon my enterprise, and at ten I reported myself to myGeneral, received last instructions and no end of the sympathetic encouragementwhich women give, in look, touch, and tone more effectually than in words. Thenext step was to get a free pass to Washington, for I'd no desire to waste mysubstance on railroad companies when "the boys" needed even a spinster's mite. Afriend of mine had procured such a pass, and I was bent on doing likewise, [Page14] though I had to face the president of the railroad to accomplish it. I'm abashful individual, though I can't get any one to believe it; so it cost me agreat effort to poke about the Worcester depot till the right door appeared,then walk into a room containing several gentlemen, and blunder out my requestin a high state of stammer and blush. Nothing could have been more courteousthan this dreaded President, but it was evident that I had made as absurd ademand as if I had asked for the nose off his respectable face. He referred meto the Governor at the State House, and I backed out, leaving him no doubt toregret that such mild maniacs were left at large. Here was a Scylla andCharybdis business: as if a President wasn't trying enough, without the Governorof Massachusetts and the hub of the hub piled on top of that. "I never can doit," thought I. "Tom will hoot at you if you don't," whispered the inconvenientlittle voice that is always goading people to the performance of disagreeableduties, and always appeals to the most effective agent to produce the properresult. The idea of allowing any boy that ever wore a felt basin and a shoddyjacket with a microscopic tail, to crow over me, was preposterous, so givingmyself a mental slap for such faint-heartedness, I streamed away across theCommon, wondering if I ought to say "your Honor, or simply "Sir," and decidedupon the latter, fortifying myself with recollections of an evening in acharming green library, where I beheld the Governor placidly consuming oysters,and laughing as if Massachusetts was a myth, and he had no heavier burden on hisshoulders than his host's handsome hands.
Like an energetic fly in a very large cobweb, I struggled through the StateHouse, getting ............