EBOOK THE DESERTER ***
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THE DESERTER
BY
RICHARD HARDING DAVIS
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
JOHN T. MCCUTCHEON
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1918
INTRODUCTION
When Mr. Davis wrote the story of "The Deserter," he could not
possibly have foreseen that it was to be his last story--the last
of those short stories which gave him such eminence as a
short-story writer.
He apparently was as rugged and as vigorous as ever.
And yet, had he sat down to write a story which he knew was to be
his last, I do not think he could have written one more fittingly
designed to be the capstone of his literary monument. The theme is
one in which he has unconsciously mirrored his own ideals of
honorable obligation, as well as one which presents a wholesome
lesson to young soldiers who have taken an oath to do faithful
service to a nation.
It is a story with a moral so subtly expressed that every soldier
or sailor who reads it will think seriously of it if the
temptation to such disloyalty should enter his mind. This story of
the young man who tried to desert at Salonika may well have a
heartening influence upon all men in uniforms who waver in the
path of duty--especially in these days of vast military operations
when a whole world is in arms.
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