Copyright, 1897, by Harper & Brothers. All Rights Reserved.
| published weekly. | NEW YORK, TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 1897. | five cents a copy. |
| vol. xviii.—no. 906. | two dollars a year. |
HOW TOM RODMAN JOINED THE GERMAN ARMY.
BY POULTNEY BIGELOW.
"Thomas," said Professor Schinkel, as they were in the midst of supper,"run down and see what all the noise is about."
Tom Rodman was only fifteen years old; but like most Yankee boys of hisage, he was pretty quick at getting news. He knew that the FrenchEmperor had declared war against the Germans; he knew that soldiers werebeing marched from every village of the father-land, and he knew alsothat the Rhine was near to the frontier of France. He was justthen—this was in 1870—living in the family of Professor Schinkel, atSlaugenstein on the Rhine, and quickly made up his mind that the noisehe heard in the street was made by troops marching to the war. So, witha big piece of brown-bread in his hand and another in his mouth, hesprang down stairs two steps at a time, and opened the front door. Thestreet was full of soldiers who wore helmets of black leather on theirheads, and who looked very brown and strong. They all seemed to belooking for something; they had been marching all day, and each soldiercarried a knapsack that weighed quite as much as a very heavy child.
As Tom Rodman was wondering what these soldiers[Pg 450] wanted, a big corporalwith a straw-colored beard and blue eyes came up, measured the housewith his eyes, counted the windows, then pulled