The younger boys and their parents began to
complain that he was unreasonably standing in the way of their
promotion, and a fiery mustache gave signs to the world that he was now
something more than a boy. Still he could not bring himself to
relinquish the uniform and the white plume. A life without military
trimmings was not to be thought of, and there was no militia at
Homeville. Consequently he remained in the Boys' Brigade as long as he
could. When at last he saw that he must resign--he was now
two-and-twenty--he felt that there was only one course open to him, and
that was to join the army; and he broached this plan to his parents.
His mother did not like the idea of giving up her only son to such a
profession, but Colonel Jinks took kindly to the suggestion. It would
bring a little real militarism into the family and give a kind of _ex
post facto_ justification to his ancient title. "Sam, my boy," said he,
"you're a chip of the old block. You'll keep up the family tradition
and be a colonel like me. I will write to your Uncle George about it
to-morrow. He'll get you an appointment to East Point without any
trouble. Sam, I'm proud of you."
Uncle George Jinks, the only brother of the Colonel, was a member of
Congress from a distant district, who had a good deal of influence with
the Administration. The Colonel wrote to him asking for the cadetship
and rehearsing at length the young captain's unusual qualifications and
his military enthusiasm.
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