'
" 'I wish you would,' he answered, his face lighting up with
evident pleasure. 'Everybody calls me Frank at home, and I am
tired of being called Grover.'
"So our compact was made. I shall feel a warm interest in this
brave boy, and I fervently hope that the chances of war will
leave him unscathed.
"I must give you a description of Hiram Marden, another of our
small company, a very different kind of person from Frank Grover.
But it takes all sorts of characters to make an army, as well as
a world, and Marden is one of the oddities. Imagine a tall young
fellow, with a thin face, lantern jaws, and long hair 'slicked'
down on either side. Though he may be patriotic, he was led into
the army from a different cause. He cherished an attachment for a
village beauty, who did not return his love. He makes no
concealment of his rebuff, but appears to enjoy discoursing in a
sentimental way upon his disappointment. He wears such an air of
meek resignation when he speaks of his cruel fair one that the
effect is quite irresistible, and I find it difficult to accord
him that sympathy which his unhappy fate demands.
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