"Do you know what the war was?" I asked, by way of reconnoissance.
"Oh, yes," said Budge, "papa was there an' he's got a sword; don't you see it, hangin' up there?"
"WE'VE GOT AN UMBRELLA"
Yes, I saw it, and the difference between the terrible field where last I saw Tom's sword in action, and this quiet room where it now hung, forced me into a reverie from which I was aroused by Budge remarking:—
"Ain't you goin' to tell us one?"
"Oh, yes, Budge. One day while the war was going on, there was a whole lot of soldiers going along a road, and they were hungry as they could be; they hadn't had anything to eat that day."
"Why didn't they go into the houses, and tell the people they was hungry? That's what I do when I goes along roads."
"Because the people in that country didn't like them; the brothers and papas and husbands of those people were soldiers, too; but they didn't like the soldiers I told you about first, and they wanted to kill them."