"To see your mother, Theo, anybody would think you were a fragile
invalid just out of the hospital rather than a husky young camper
returned from the woods," growled the Doctor. "My dear," he
continued, addressing his wife, "Theo hasn't had as much attention as
this in all the time he has been ill. Croyden and I have not pranced
round after him, I assure you. He has had to brace up and bear his
troubles like a soldier; and he has done it, too."
"I suppose soldiers do have to be pretty patient," remarked Theo
meditatively. "I never thought before how hard it must be for them
when they are hurt."
"It is one of the great tests of courage," said Dr. Swift. "We all are
liable to think of soldiers only when the drums are beating and the
flags flying. Then it seems a very easy and pleasant thing to be a
soldier. But there is much more to it than that. A great deal of
drudgery is attached to a soldier's life, and frequently a great deal
of suffering. One of the tests of a hero is to be patient when there
is nothing to do but await orders, or perform some menial and
uninteresting task, or lie tossing on a sick-bed. Then you find out
very quickly the sort of stuff your man is made of.
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