The Panola Watchman. (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 51, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 22, 1917 Page: 2 of 8
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he’ll grow up
Protection and
ACCOMMODATION
are what yo^i want when you use a
bank.
They are what you get when you use
this bank.
JT V, «’
Open an account today and watch
Soldier 01
see a lively
it grow
T—'
Jjt
1
LIFE STMT Of GEIEIUL
i
JOHN J. PERSI
•fa
Little John y Perak in* peered
arouud the end of the work
tram. "Dad,” he called, his
shrill child’s voice sounding
abWe
the "thud. thud, thud!”
of the picks veiled by the con-
struction gang, "ok dad. kia I
stay frosu school today? Com-
pany H is gain’ to have a drill,
and I want to see them."
John Pershing, construction
foreman, wiped the prenpira-
fron his brow and climbed
boa fr
Inhere the new aide track was
being laid. He appnoached (he
boy, laid his hand on bin should-
er amd naked. "What does
mother any?**
....."She told me to run over and
nek you."
"Well if mother don't any an.
With n whoop of delight and
evidently anticipating his moth-
V» consent, little Johnny ran
for home ns fast as his little
bare brown feet would carry
him. His mother stood in the
doorway of n neat little white
cottage. She smiled, knowing
that father had usual plan of
“leaving it to mother.**
“Father says I kin stay if you
don't care, mother. Please let
me see the soldiers drip!”
"Well. I guess one afternoon
from nschool won’t make much
difference, and you do love to
watch the soldiers, don’t you,
Johnny?**
“I sure do mother.**
y “Well, get your face and
hands washed and come in to
After lunch Johnny hied to
the village square of the little
town of Laclede, Mo., and took
UP his point of vantage on the
band stand, where he could see
all operations.
The drill over, Catpain John-
son, attracted by the keen inter-
est with which the barefooted
little urchin had follewed every
movement, said, “Well, sonny,
what do you think of my sol-
diers?'*
“They’re pretty good drill-
mps, captain, they don’t step out
iffnart enough.'*
“By Jovet Bight you are,
boy I That’s just what I was a-
l.lll.l il___ A__________i__a.
be a seldisr when you
up?”
That’s what I want to
dad says he has other plans.’’
"Maybe he will change
mind when you get big. sonny.
Plans doa’t alius work out
expected.”
But even little Johnny Persh-
ing's (dans, way back there in
Missouri ia toe sixties, were not
formed with poaitivness. as is
the case with the plans of so
many yowagshers. True, he
wanted to he a soldier. What
live lad in the years after the
•mi war dad not have
thoughts ired by the stories of
fighting ia the grant struggle?
In his dream he aew himself
leading desperate charges
against (he enemy? But he al-
so had driegs of being a law-
yer sad standing like
Webster or Henry Clay, with
one and thrust into his coat,
moving judges and juries with
his eloquence. He and
Bother and father just knew,
of course, that Johnny would
make a fine lawyer, because he
always stood well in his studies
in the town school.
“Mother,” said the elder Per-
shing one day, “I feel I’m get-
ting a bit too old to work on the
road much longer. Old Brain-
ard passed me on the
street today and stopped tochat
with me. He wants me to buy
out his general store and thinks
I could make it pay. What do
you say?”
After much planning be-
tween Mr. Pershing and his
wife and weighing of possibili-
ties the step was decided upon,
and Johnny Pershing’s father
became a merchant. Johnny's
part in the matter was that of
active partner—very active, in-
deed, for to him fell the wark
of assisting in the store after
school and running on such er-
rands as were not beyond his
strength.
“Johnny's a good boy and
helpful to father and me,” said
Mrs. Pershing, “but sometimes
it is a little hard to get him
away from his books. Seems
like he wants to spend most of
his time studying. But I reckon
well, for he can
JK3SSfESE2r‘p5E
*xm god reresnck tiruneamerf, raw
ggood<*f*faapr<
run and jump as well as any of
the lads hereabout. Fights
sometimes, too. Why 'twas on-
ly last week that he pitched in-
to that Simmon boy for making
fun of father. You know, fath-
er kept the Union flag flying
here when some of our favored
neighbors favored the South,
he was “little Johnny” no more,
Johnny Pershing grew aa^
grew until he outgrew the little
village school in Laclede. The
little store paid well enough to
warrant the expenditure of
money on John's education, and
a family conference resulted in
sending him to the normal
and it seems that Mr. Simmons school at Kirksville, one of (he
spoke about it and Bob Sim- noted schools in that part of
mons laughed at Johnny on ac-
count of it. But Johnny says
Bob won’t laugh any more.
They do say Johnny made him
holler ’quit’ in just a few min-
utes. I reckon I don’t want
Johnny to flght, but if he must
fight he might as well do it de-
fending his own father.”
So, studying and working—
and Aghting sometimes—until
Missouri. Throughout the
years which he spent there—
years of happiness, with plenty
of hard work at his books and
plenty of outdoor recreation—
way,
“Why not?” asked the teach-
er quietly.
“ ’Cause I don’t feel like it/'
was Billy’s impudent reply.
“You'll stay after school and
study it!” The words of judg-
ment came with a snap from
John Pershing's square jaws.
“Won’t neither!” said Billy.
And in a moment, as the teach-
er reached for his collar (this
wss long before the days of
“morsl suasion”), there was a
lively mixup in the country
the idea of becoming a lawyer; school; but, of course, the
persisted in the lad’s mind, teacher won, and the thorough-
Many a time he spoke of it to |y thrashed end cowed Billy
boyhood friends, and it seemed
that he would surely become an
attorney after passing through
the stage through which so
many of our American country
bred lawyers have passed, that
of schoolteacher.
“Mother,” said he one day on
of his visits home from
Kirksville, “I’ve oeen appoint-
ed teacher at Prairie Mound. 1
feel as though I ought to do
something to help dad and you.
So I’m going to teach school
and try to earn enough so that I
can study law, I did want to be
a soldier, but 1 don’t believe
there’ll ever be another big,
war, and I don’t want to be a
soldier all my life uniesa I can
see active service,”
or not, John was to
bit of fighting be-
fore he had been a schoolmas-
ter very long.
“Billy,” said he one day to
one of his bigger pupils, “did
you study your spelling les-
” “No, and I ain’t a-goin’
to,” was ths sullen reply of the
big boy. The entire class look-
ed up with sudden, keen inter-
est Billy hnd “allowed” be-
fore them all at recess that day
that hs was tired of “Jehnny
Pershings bullyln’ ’’ and fcf
“goin’ to dhow him that a toacfc-
stayed in.
The next day the school had
a visitor. He was Billy’s fath-
er, and every hair In his red
side whiskers bristled with an-
ger as he drove up to the school.
From his mouth came a stream
of curses on Johnny Pershing.
He’d show him whether he
could lick his boy or not. In
his hsnd a big army revolver.
It looked pretty serious for
Johnny Pershing. The young
fellow did not scare. In a quiet,
even tone he said to the angry
farmer:
“Get off your horse, put up
your gun, take off your coat
and flght like a man!”
With all his bluster, the man
was not a coward. He accept-
ed John's invitation, and there
was the finest scrap ever seen
in that part of Missouri. John
was then only a lad of seven-
teen or eighteen, but he whip-
ped ths grown man to a fazzle.
“John,” said Mr. Pershing to
his son not long after this flght,
“Mr. Burroughs Is going to ap-
point a young mat from this
congressional district to West
Point You’ve always had a
sort-of idea that you waatod to
be a soldier. Why don’t you
try for the appointment.?”
Tl) do it ffUMF” *aJd John.
give ac permission to try. I'll
go and see him today.”
So “Towhead” Johnny Per-
shing went to call on Congress-
man Burroughs and obtained
permission to enter the exami-
nation for the great, wonderful
Military academy at West Point
which had turned out so many
famous soldiers. It wss a nar-
row streak for John, since he
won the appointment by only
one point. A difference almost
too small to be measured would
have sent another man to “the
Point,” and John would in all
likelihood have become a city
lawyer instead of a general.
Whether a man remains in
the army long enough to win
his general's stars on whether
he leaves the service before he
even finishes the course at the
Military academy, he never for-
gets the day that sees him en-
roled at “the Point.” It la one
all so new and strange and
there are so many rules to be
observed and customs to be
learned and things to be seen
that it is Uks beginning a new
life. Many a country lad enters
the academy raw, green and
untrained, and if he has pluck
and stamina, mental and physi-
cal, to finish the course he em-
erges a finished product—“an
officer and a gentleman”—fit to
command men.
So it was noth John Pershing.
*TU<>elt. father,” said J
But he did more than finish the
course; he went through it with
honor. He was graduated as
ssnior cadet captain, which
means that in military affairs
hs ranked above all hip class-
mates. Others topped him in
some of the studies which make
up of curriculum at the United
States Military academy, but
it was his voice that rang out
the commands for his class-
mates on the widespread and
beautiful parade ground on the
proud day when the eadatoe
wete revpfcmd by top sacratary
of wm Thto was ia Juaa. IBM,
(Gont’d. on Page Six.)
a1'** t r.g *
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Park, R. M. The Panola Watchman. (Carthage, Tex.), Vol. 44, No. 51, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 22, 1917, newspaper, August 22, 1917; Carthage, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1073478/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sammy Brown Library.