W. A. G.'s Tale

Excerpt

UNCLE BURT'S BILLY

My name is William Ainsworth Gordon, and my initials spell W.A.G. That is why Aunty May and I call this book "W.A.G.'S TALE." If it was about a dog it would be "Tail Wags." So it's true and a joke too.

I am ten years old and my father and mother are in Heaven, and I have only Uncle Burt to take care of me. Uncle Burt isn't my real uncle, but he was my father's chum when they were at West Point, and he promised father to take care of me. And he does, only he had to go to the Philippines with his soldiers; so his sister, Aunty Edith, is taking care of me until he comes back. Everybody else calls me William, but he calls me "Billy," so I am the one this chapter is named after.

Aunty May says I can begin with the very day Aunty Edith brought me down here. That was the day Uncle Burt went away to join his regiment, and everybody was sort of quiet, and even the big people cried a little. I cried a good deal, when nobody was looking, and when Uncle Burt caught me at it in the corner of the room, he didn't say a word, but just picked me up and held me so tight that one of his buttons got stamped on my cheek like a seal. He said he'd give way and cry, too, for it was good for the eyes, only his Colonel had expressly ordered him not to, saying he would leave all red-eyed men home, which would be terrible for a soldier. So I begged him not to give way, and he said he wouldn't if I'd stop, because one fellow bawling makes it hard for the other fellow not to. So I stopped and we laughed a little, and then he showed the mark on my cheek to Aunty Edith, and said, "This shows that this young man belongs to me, so be careful of Uncle Burt's Billy and return him in good condition, for there will be a dreadful time if I find him chipped or broken, when I come back."

Then the lady I call Aunty May, though she isn't any relation to me either, but is just Aunty Edith's friend, laughed and said she would be careful to treat me nicely. And she has. I like her best next to Uncle Burt. She didn't cry. She laughed a lot, and every time Uncle Burt got sad and tried to talk to her, she laughed more, and she took me on her lap and kept me there all the time Uncle Burt was saying good-bye to her.

He looked more like crying then than any other time. He said, "Good-bye, May; won't you change your mind?" and she said, "Oh, no, Burt, I can't." Then he was going to say something else when I said, "Remember the Colonel, Uncle Burt, and don't get your eyes too red to go," and then they both laughed. Uncle Burt said, "Look after Miss Heath for me, Billy, while I'm gone," and I said, "Sure I will. I'm going to adopt her as my Aunty, too." She put her arms round me and hugged me and Uncle Burt said, "Lucky Billy," and then the door closed, and Aunty Edith began to cry and Aunty May looked queer for a minute and went to the door. I thought she'd run after him, but she stopped and said, "Come along, Sir William, and we'll pack our bags, 'cause we're all going to the country on the 3.10." And I took hold of her hand, and we went upstairs together, and packed my bag and put in my gun, my soldiers, my books and my paint-box....