Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/59

Rh and hurried away. It did not take him long to reach the house in which he lived, and rushing in, he found his mother hard at work in the kitchen.

"Mother, I am going to enlist," he said.

"Enlist, William?" she said slowly, and dropped her broom.

"Yes. They need soldiers to fight the South and put down this rebellion. The others are enlisting, and I don't want to hang back."

"But you are so young," pleaded the mother. "And you are not very strong."

"Oh, I'm stronger than I was. Of course, if they reject me, I'll have to stay home."

The mother demurred, for she loved her boy greatly; but at last, when she saw that his heart was set upon going, she consented. Back to the tavern he rushed, and put down his name on the list of volunteers.

"Hurrah! we'll have great sport," cried one of the young volunteers. "We'll soon show those rebels how to behave!"

"It will not be sport to kill people," replied McKinley. "And the sport, as you call it, may be on the other side. In the