Boy Soldier

There lived a boy once, a very long time ago, whose name was Joshua. He grew up in the country, on a small farm far from the noise and close air of the city, and though he was a boy, he worked a man's day, so he was quite strong…

Part I
In which Joshua comes to a very big, very important understanding.

One day, this Joshua was at work in the fields loading bundles of grain onto a wagon when a peddler, leading a mule that pulled a wagon piled high with all manner of things, stopped at the fence...