West Point Colors

by Anna Bartlett Warner

"Liked it?"

"No, sir. At least I liked it well enough, but I didn't enjoy it."

"Why not?"

"Last Fourth was better."

"Oh, was it!" said Magnus ironically. "Did you think to bring home-doings in your pocket when you came to West Point?"

"No, sir," said Renwick, with a sigh. "I suppose not."

"If you had all you wanted at home, why didn't you stay there?"

"I had not all I wanted," said the boy, rousing up. "I wanted an education, and we were too poor for me to get it anywhere else."

"My case precisely. And to-day you think home is worth all the education that ever was heard of. So have I, a thousand times. But it isn't, for all."

"Did you ever feel so, Mr. Kindred?" said the boy, changing his seat for one a little nearer. "Everybody says you've had a clear run of luck, straight through."