diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:49:08 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:49:08 -0700 |
| commit | 2091b76ad03c4953edc67634e5ae6057f6798ed6 (patch) | |
| tree | b2e7279b97fc7549109da213fffc50062a9c0b81 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 16552-8.txt | 5438 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 16552-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 109555 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 16552-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 116306 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 16552-h/16552-h.htm | 5774 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 16552.txt | 5438 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 16552.zip | bin | 0 -> 109515 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
9 files changed, 16666 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16552-8.txt b/16552-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..895bdf7 --- /dev/null +++ b/16552-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5438 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Next of Kin, by Nellie L. McClung + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Next of Kin + Those who Wait and Wonder + +Author: Nellie L. McClung + +Release Date: August 19, 2005 [EBook #16552] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEXT OF KIN *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The Next of Kin + + _Those who Wait and Wonder_ + + By + + Nellie L. McClung + + Author of "Sowing Seeds in Denny," "The Second Chance," + "The Black Creek Stopping House," and + "In Times like These" + + + TORONTO + THOMAS ALLEN + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + 1917 + + + + + 1917, BY NELLIE L. McCLUNG + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + _Published November 1917_ + + +HOPE + + + Down through the ages, a picture has come of the woman who weepeth: + Tears are her birthright, and sorrow and sadness her portion: + Weeping endures for a night, and prolongeth its season + Far in the day, with the will of God + For a reason! + + Such has the world long accepted, as fitting and real; + Plentiful have been the causes of grief, without stinting; + Patient and sad have the women accepted the ruling, + Learning life's lessons, with hardly a word of complaint + At the schooling. + + But there's a limit to tears, even tears, and a new note is sounding: + Hitherto they have wept without hope, never seeing an ending; + Now hope has dawned in their poor lonely hearts, + And a message they're sending + Over the world to their sisters in weeping, a message is flashing, + Flashing the brighter, for the skies are so dark + And war thunders crashing! + And this is the message the war-stricken women send out + In their sorrow: + "Yesterday and to-day have gone wrong, + But we still have to-morrow!" + + + + +Contents + + + FOREWORD 1 + + I. BEACH DAYS 22 + + II. WORKING IN! 35 + + III. LET'S PRETEND 46 + + IV. PICTURES 53 + + V. SAVING OUR SOULS 58 + + VI. SURPRISES 70 + + VII. CONSERVATION 92 + +VIII. "PERMISSION" 112 + + IX. THE SLACKER--IN UNIFORM 142 + + X. NATIONAL SERVICE--ONE WAY 154 + + XI. THE ORPHAN 171 + + XII. THE WAR-MOTHER 193 + +XIII. THE BELIEVING CHURCH 210 + + XIV. THE LAST RESERVES 227 + + XV. LIFE'S TRAGEDY 241 + + XVI. WAITING! 247 + + + + +The Next of Kin + + +FOREWORD + + +It was a bleak day in November, with a thick, gray sky, and a great, +noisy, blustering wind that had a knack of facing you, no matter which +way you were going; a wind that would be in ill-favor anywhere, but in +northern Alberta, where the wind is not due to blow at all, it was +what the really polite people call "impossible." Those who were not so +polite called it something quite different, but the meaning is the +same. + +There are districts, not so very far from us, where the wind blows so +constantly that the people grow accustomed to it; they depend on it; +some say they like it; and when by a rare chance it goes down for a +few hours, they become nervous, panicky, and apprehensive, always +listening, expecting something to happen. But we of the windless +North, with our sunlit spaces, our quiet days and nights, grow +peevish, petulant, and full of grouch when the wind blows. We will +stand anything but that. We resent wind; it is not in the bond; we +will have none of it! + +"You won't have many at the meeting to-day," said the station agent +cheerfully, when I went into the small waiting-room to wait for the +President of the Red Cross Society, who wanted to see me before the +meeting. "No, you won't have many a day like this, although there are +some who will come out, wind or no wind, to hear a woman speak--it's +just idle curiosity, that's all it is." + +"Oh, come," I said, "be generous; maybe they really think that she may +have something to say!" + +"Well, you see," said this amateur philosopher, as he dusted the +gray-painted sill of the wicket with a large red-and-white +handkerchief, "it _is_ great to hear a woman speak in public, anyway, +even if she does not do it very well. It's sorto' like seeing a pony +walking on its hind legs; it's clever even if it's not natural. You +will have some all right--I'm going over myself. There would have been +a big crowd in if it hadn't been for the wind. You see, you've never +been here before and that all helps." + +Then the President of the Red Cross Society came and conducted me to +the house quite near the station where I was to be entertained. My +hostess, who came to the door herself in answer to our ring, was a +sweet-faced, little Southern woman transplanted here in northern +Canada, who with true Southern hospitality and thoughtfulness asked me +if I would not like to step right upstairs and "handsome up a bit" +before I went to the meeting,--"not but what you're looking right +peart," she added quickly. + +When I was shown upstairs to the spare room and was well into the +business of "handsoming up," I heard a small voice at the door +speaking my name. I opened the door and found there a small girl of +about seven years of age, who timidly asked if she might come in. I +told her that I was just dressing and would be glad to have her at +some other time. But she quickly assured me that it was right now that +she wished to come in, for she would like to see how I dressed. I +thought the request a strange one and brought the small person in to +hear more of it. She told me, + +"I heard my mamma and some other ladies talking about you," she said, +"and wondering what you would be like; and they said that women like +you who go out making speeches never know how to dress themselves, and +they said that they bet a cent that you just flung your clothes +on,--and do you? Because I think it must be lovely to be able to fling +your clothes on--and I wish I could! Don't you tell that I told you, +will you?--but that is why I came over. I live over there,"--she +pointed to a house across the street,--"and I often come to this +house. I brought over a jar of cream this morning. My mamma sent it +over to Mrs. Price, because she was having you stay here." + +"That was very kind of your mamma," I said, much pleased with this +evidence of her mother's good-will. + +"Oh, yes," said my visitor. "My mamma says she always likes to help +people out when they are in trouble. But no one knows that I am here +but just you and me. I watched and watched for you, and when you came +nobody was looking and I slipped out and came right in, and never +knocked--nor nothin'." + +I assured my small guest that mum was the word, and that I should be +delighted to have her for a spectator while I went on with the process +of making myself look as nice as nature would allow. But she was +plainly disappointed when she found that I was not one bit quicker +about dressing than plenty of others, even though she tried to speed +me up a little. + +Soon the President came for me and took me to the Municipal Hall, +where the meeting was to be held. + +I knew, just as soon as I went in, that it was going to be a good +meeting. There was a distinct air of preparedness about +everything--some one had scrubbed the floor and put flags on the wall +and flowers in the windows; over in the corner there was a long, +narrow table piled up with cups and saucers, with cake and sandwiches +carefully covered from sight; but I knew what caused the lumpiness +under the white cloth. Womanly instinct--which has been declared a +safer guide than man's reasoning--told me that there were going to be +refreshments, and the delightful odor of coffee, which escaped from +the tightly closed boiler on the stove, confirmed my deductions. Then +I noticed that a handbill on the wall spoke freely of it, and declared +that every one was invited to stay, although there did not seem to be +much need of this invitation--certainly there did not seem to be any +climatic reason for any one's leaving any place of shelter; for now +the wind, confirming our worst suspicions of it, began to drive frozen +splinters of sleet against the windows. + +By three o'clock the hall was full,--women mostly, for it was still +the busy time for the men on the farms. Many of the women brought +their children with them. Soon after I began to speak, the children +fell asleep, tired out with struggling with wind and weather, and +content to leave the affairs of state with any one who wanted them. +But the women watched me with eager faces which seemed to speak back +to me. The person who drives ten miles against a head wind over bad +roads to hear a lecture is not generally disposed to slumber. The +faces of these women were so bright and interested that, when it was +over, it seemed to me that it had been a conversation where all had +taken part. + +The things that I said to them do not matter; they merely served as an +introduction to what came after, when we sat around the stove and the +young girls of the company brought us coffee and sandwiches, and mocha +cake and home-made candy, and these women told me some of the things +that are near their hearts. + +"I drove fourteen miles to-day," said one woman, "but those of us who +live long on the prairie do not mind these things. We were two hundred +miles from a railway when we went in first, and we only got our mail +'in the spring.' Now, when we have a station within fourteen miles and +a post-office on the next farm, we feel we are right in the midst of +things, and I suppose we do not really mind the inconveniences that +would seem dreadful to some people. We have done without things all +our lives, always hoping for better things to come, and able to bear +things that were disagreeable by telling ourselves that the children +would have things easier than we had had them. We have had frozen +crops; we have had hail; we have had serious sickness; but we have not +complained, for all these things seemed to be God's doings, and no one +could help it. We took all this--face upwards; but with the war--it is +different. The war is not God's doings at all. Nearly all the boys +from our neighborhood are gone, and some are not coming back----" + +She stopped abruptly, and a silence fell on the group of us. She +fumbled for a moment in her large black purse, and then handed me an +envelope, worn, battered. It was addressed to a soldier in France and +it had not been opened. Across the corner, in red ink, was written the +words, "Killed in action." + +"My letters are coming back now," she said simply. "Alex was my eldest +boy, and he went at the first call for men, and he was only +eighteen--he came through Saint-Éloi and Festubert--But this happened +in September." + +The woman who sat beside her took up the theme. "We have talked a lot +about this at our Red Cross meetings. What do the women of the world +think of war? No woman ever wanted war, did she? No woman could bring +a child into the world, suffering for it, caring for it, loving it, +without learning the value of human life, could she? War comes about +because human life is the cheapest thing in the world; it has been +taken at man's estimate, and that is entirely too low. Now, we have +been wondering what can be done when this war is over to form a league +of women to enforce peace. There is enough sentiment in the world in +favor of human life if we could bind it up some way." + +I gazed at the eager faces before me--in astonishment. Did I ever hear +high-browed ladies in distant cities talk of the need of education in +the country districts? + +"Well-kept homes and hand-knit socks will never save the world," said +Alex's mother. "Look at Germany! The German women are kind, patient, +industrious, frugal, hard-working, everything that a woman ought to +be, but it did not save them, or their country, and it will not save +us. We have allowed men to have control of the big things in life too +long. While we worked--or played--they have ruled. My nearest neighbor +is a German, and she and I have talked these things over. She feels +just the same as we do, and she sews for our Red Cross. She says she +could not knit socks for our soldiers, for they are enemies, but she +makes bandages, for she says wounded men are not enemies, and she is +willing to do anything for them. She wanted to come to-day to hear +you, but her husband would not let her have a horse, because he says +he does not believe in women speaking in public, anyway! I wanted her +to come with us even if he did not like it, but she said that she +dared not." + +"Were you not afraid of making trouble?" I asked. + +Alex's mother smiled. "A quick, sharp fight is the best and clears up +things. I would rather be a rebel any time than a slave. But of +course it is easy for me to talk! I have always been treated like a +human being. Perhaps it is just as well that she did not come. Old +Hans has long generations back of him to confirm him in his theory +that women are intended to be men's bondservants and that is why they +are made smaller; it will all take time--and other things. The trouble +has been with all of us that we have expected time to work out all of +our difficulties, and it won't; there is no curative quality in time! +And what I am most afraid of is that we will settle down after the +war, and slip right back into our old ways,--our old peaceful +ways,--and let men go on ruling the world, and war will come again and +again. Men have done their very best,--I am not feeling hard to +them,--but I know, and the thoughtful men know, that men alone can +never free the world from the blight of war; and if we go on, too +gentle and sweet to assert ourselves, knitting, nursing, bringing +children into the world, it will surely come to pass, when we are old, +perhaps, and not able to do anything,--but suffer,--that war will +come again, and we shall see our daughters' children or our +granddaughters' children sent off to fight, and their heart-broken +mothers will turn on us accusing eyes and say to us, 'You went through +all this--you knew what this means--why didn't you do something?' That +is my bad dream when I sit knitting, because I feel hard toward the +women that are gone. They were a poor lot, many of them. I like now +best of all Jennie Geddes who threw the stool at somebody's head. I +forget what Jennie's grievance was, but it was the principle that +counts--she had a conviction, and was willing to fight for it. I never +said these things--until I got this." She still held the letter, with +its red inscription, in her hand. "But now I feel that I have earned +the right to speak out. I have made a heavy investment in the cause of +Humanity and I am going to look after it. The only thing that makes it +possible to give up Alex is the hope that Alex's death may help to +make war impossible and so save other boys. But unless we do something +his death will not help a bit; for this thing has always been--and +that is the intolerable thought to me. I am willing to give my boy to +die for others if I am sure that the others are going to be saved, but +I am not willing that he should die in vain. You see what I mean, +don't you?" + +I told her that I did see, and that I believed that she had expressed +the very thought that was in the mind of women everywhere. + +"Well, then," she said quickly, "why don't you write it? We will +forget this when it is all over and we will go back to our old +pursuits and there will be nothing--I mean, no record of how we felt. +Anyway, we will die and a new generation will take our places. Why +don't you write it while your heart is hot?" + +"But," I said, "perhaps what I should write would not truly represent +what the women are thinking. They have diverse thoughts, and how can I +hope to speak for them?" + +"Write what you feel," she said sternly. "These are fundamental +things. Ideas are epidemic--they go like the measles. If you are +thinking a certain thing, you may be sure you have no monopoly of it; +many others are thinking it too. That is my greatest comfort at this +time. Write down what you feel, even if it is not what you think you +ought to feel. Write it down for all of us!" + +And that is how it happened. There in the Municipal Hall in the small +town of Ripston, as we sat round the stove that cold November day, +with the sleet sifting against the windows, I got my commission from +these women, whom I had not seen until that day, to tell what we think +and feel, to tell how it looks to us, who are the mothers of soldiers, +and to whom even now the letter may be on its way with its curt +inscription across the corner. I got my commission there to tell +fearlessly and hopefully the story of the Next of Kin. + +It will be written in many ways, by many people, for the brand of this +war is not only on our foreheads, but deep in our hearts, and it will +be reflected in all that our people write for many years to come. The +trouble is that most of us feel too much to write well; for it is hard +to write of the things which lie so heavy on our hearts; but the +picture is not all dark--no picture can be. If it is all dark, it +ceases to be a picture and becomes a blot. Belgium has its tradition +of deathless glory, its imperishable memories of gallant bravery which +lighten its darkness and make it shine like noonday. The one +unlightened tragedy of the world to-day is Germany. + +I thought of these things that night when I was being entertained at +the Southern woman's hospitable home. + +"It pretty near took a war to make these English women friendly to +each other and to Americans. I lived here six months before any of +them called on me, and then I had to go and dig them out; but I was +not going to let them go on in such a mean way. They told me then that +they were waiting to see what church I was going to; and then I rubbed +it into them that they were a poor recommend for any church, with +their mean, unneighborly ways; for if a church does not teach people +to be friendly I think it ought to be burned down, don't you? I told +them I could not take much stock in that hymn about 'We shall know +each other there,' when they did not seem a bit anxious about knowing +each other here, which is a heap more important; for in heaven we will +all have angels to play with, but here we only have each other, and it +is right lonesome when they won't come out and play! But I tell you +things have changed for the better since the war, and now we knit and +sew together, and forgive each other for being Methodists and +Presbyterians; and, do you know? I made a speech one night, right out +loud so everybody could hear me, in a Red Cross meeting, and that is +what I thought that I could never do. But I got feeling so anxious +about the prisoners of war in Germany that I couldn't help making an +appeal for them; and I was so keen about it, and wanted every one of +those dear boys to get a square meal, that I forgot all about little +Mrs. Price, and I was not caring a cent whether she was doing herself +proud or not. And when I got done the people were using their +handkerchiefs, and I was sniffing pretty hard myself, but we raised +eighty-five dollars then and there, and now I know I will never be +scared again. I used to think it was so ladylike to be nervous about +speaking, and now I know it is just a form of selfishness. I was +simply scared that I would not do well, thinking all the time of +myself. But now everything has changed and I am ready to do anything I +can." + +"Go on," I said; "tell me some more. Remember that you women to-day +made me promise to write down how this war is hitting us, and I merely +promised to write what I heard and saw. I am not going to make up +anything, so you are all under obligation to tell me all you can. I am +not to be the author of this book, but only the historian." + +"It won't be hard," she said encouragingly. "There is so much +happening every day that it will be harder to decide what to leave out +than to find things to put in. In this time of excitement the lid is +off, I tell you; the bars are down; we can see right into the hearts +of people. It is like a fire or an earthquake when all the doors are +open and the folks are carrying their dearest possessions into the +street, and they are all real people now, and they have lost all +their little mincing airs and all their lawdie-daw. But believe me, we +have been some fiddlers! When I look around this house I see evidence +of it everywhere; look at that abomination now"--She pointed to an +elaborately beaded match-safe which hung on the wall. + +It bore on it the word, "Matches," in ornate letters, all made of +beads, but I noticed that its empty condition belied the inscription. + +"Think of the hours of labor that some one has put on that," she went +on scornfully, "and now it is such an aristocrat that it takes up all +its time at that and has no time to be useful. I know now that it +never really intended to hold matches, but simply lives to mock the +honest seeker who really needs a match. I have been a real sinner +myself," she went on after a pause; "I have been a fiddler, all right. +I may as well make a clean breast of it,--I made that match-safe and +nearly bored my eyes out doing it, and was so nervous and cross that I +was not fit to live with." + +"I can't believe that," I said. + +"Well, I sure was some snappy. I have teased out towel ends, and made +patterns on them; I've punched holes in linen and sewed them up +again--there is no form of foolishness that I have not committed--and +liked it! But now I have ceased to be a fiddler and have become a +citizen, and I am going to try to be a real good spoke in the wheel of +progress. I can't express it very well, but I am going to try to link +up with the people next me and help them along. Perhaps you know what +I mean--I think it is called team-play." + +When the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa were burning, the main switch +which controlled the lighting was turned off by mistake and the whole +place was plunged into darkness, and this added greatly to the horror +and danger. The switch was down a long passage through which the smoke +was rolling, and it seemed impossible for any one to make the journey +and return. Then the people who were there formed a chain, by holding +each other's hands--a great human chain. So that the one who went +ahead felt the sustaining power of the one who came behind him. If he +stumbled and fell, the man behind him helped him to his feet and +encouraged him to go on. In this way the switch was reached, the light +was turned on, and many lives were saved. + +Over the world to-day roll great billows of hatred and +misunderstanding, which have darkened the whole face of the earth. We +believe that there is a switch if we could get to it, but the smoke +blinds us and we are choked with our tears. Perhaps if we join hands +all of us will be able to do what a few of us could never do. This +reaching-out of feeble human hands, this new compelling force which is +going to bind us all together, this deep desire for cohesion which +swells in our hearts and casts out all smallness and all +self-seeking--this is what we mean when we speak of the Next of Kin. +It is not a physical relationship, but the great spiritual bond which +unites all those whose hearts have grown more tender by sorrow, and +whose spiritual eyes are not dimmed, but washed clearer by their +tears! + + + Sing a song of hearts grown tender, + With the sorrow and the pain; + Sorrow is a great old mender, + Love can give,--and give again. + Love's a prodigal old spender,-- + And the jolliest old lender, + For he never turns away + Any one who comes to borrow, + If they say their stock is slender, + And they're sorely pressed by sorrow! + Never has been known to say,-- + "We are short ourselves to-day,-- + Can't you come again to-morrow?" + That has never been Love's way! + And he's rich beyond all telling, + Love divine all love excelling! + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BEACH DAYS + + When a soldier's watch, with its luminous face, + Loses its light and grows dim and black, + He holds it out in the sun a space + And the radiance all comes back; + And that is the reason I'm thinking to-day + Of the glad days now long past; + I am leaving my heart where the sunbeams play: + I am trying to drive my fears away: + I am charging my soul with a spirit gay, + And hoping that it will last! + + +We were the usual beach crowd, with our sport suits, our silk +sweaters, our Panama hats, our veranda teas and week-end guests, our +long, lovely, lazy afternoons in hammocks beside the placid waters of +Lake Winnipeg. Life was easy and pleasant, as we told ourselves life +ought to be in July and August, when people work hard all year and +then come away to the quiet greenness of the big woods, to forget the +noise and dust of the big city. + +We called our cottage "Kee-am," for that is the Cree word which means +"Never mind"--"Forget it"--"I should worry!" and we liked the name. +It had a romantic sound, redolent of the old days when the Indians +roamed through these leafy aisles of the forest, and it seemed more +fitting and dignified than "Rough House," where dwelt the quietest +family on the beach, or "Dunwurkin" or "Neverdunfillin" or "Takitezi," +or any of the other more or less home-made names. We liked our name so +well that we made it, out of peeled poles, in wonderful rustic +letters, and put it up in the trees next the road. + +Looking back now, we wonder what we had to worry about! There was +politics, of course; we had just had a campaign that warmed up our +little province, and some of the beachites were not yet speaking to +each other; but nobody had been hurt and nobody was in jail. + +Religion was not troubling us: we went dutifully every Sunday to the +green-and-white schoolhouse under the tall spruce trees, and heard a +sermon preached by a young man from the college, who had a deep and +intimate knowledge of Amos and Elisha and other great men long dead, +and sometimes we wished he would tell us more about the people who +are living now and leave the dead ones alone. But it is always safer +to speak of things that have happened long ago, and aspersions may be +cast with impunity on Ahab and Jezebel and Balak. There is no danger +that they will have friends on the front seat, who will stop their +subscriptions to the building fund because they do not believe in +having politics introduced into the church. + +The congregations were small, particularly on the hot afternoons, for +many of our people did not believe in going to church when the weather +was not just right. Indeed, there had been a serious discussion in the +synod of one of the largest churches on the question of abolishing +prayers altogether in the hot weather; and I think that some one gave +notice of a motion that would come up to this effect at the annual +meeting. No; religion was not a live topic. There were evidently many +who had said, as did one little girl who was leaving for her holidays, +"Good-bye, God--we are going to the country." + +One day a storm of excitement broke over us, and for a whole +afternoon upset the calm of our existence. Four hardy woodmen came +down the road with bright new axes, and began to cut down the +beautiful trees which had taken so many years to grow and which made +one of the greatest beauties of the beach. It was some minutes before +the women sitting on their verandas realized what was happening; but +no army ever mobilized quicker for home defense than they, and they +came in droves demanding an explanation, of which there did not seem +to be any. + +"Big Boss him say cut down tree," the spokesman of the party said over +and over again. + +The women in plain and simple language expressed their unexpurgated +opinion of Big Boss, and demanded that he be brought to them. The +stolid Mikes and Peters were utterly at a loss to know what to do! + +"Big Boss--no sense," one woman roared at them, hoping to supplement +their scanty knowledge of English with volume of sound. + +There was no mistaking what the gestures meant, and at last the +wood-choppers prepared to depart, the smallest man of the party +muttering something under his breath which sounded like an +anti-suffrage speech. I think it was, "Woman's place is the home," or +rather its Bukawinian equivalent. We heard nothing further from them, +and indeed we thought no more of it, for the next day was August 4, +1914. + +When the news of war came, we did not really believe it! War! That was +over! There had been war, of course, but that had been long ago, in +the dark ages, before the days of free schools and peace conferences +and missionary conventions and labor unions! There might be a little +fuss in Ireland once in a while. The Irish are privileged, and nobody +should begrudge them a little liberty in this. But a big war--that was +quite impossible! Christian nations could not go to war! + +"Somebody should be made to pay dear for this," tearfully declared a +doctor's wife. "This is very bad for nervous women." + +The first news had come on the 9.40 train, and there was no more until +the 6.20 train when the men came down from the city; but they could +throw no light on it either. The only serious face that I saw was that +of our French neighbor, who hurried away from the station without +speaking to any one. When I spoke to him the next day, he answered me +in French, and I knew his thoughts were far away. + +The days that followed were days of anxious questioning. The men +brought back stories of the great crowds that surged through the +streets blocking the traffic in front of the newspaper offices reading +the bulletins, while the bands played patriotic airs; of the misguided +German who shouted, "Hoch der Kaiser!" and narrowly escaped the fury +of the crowd. + +We held a monster meeting one night at "Windwhistle Cottage," and we all +made speeches, although none of us knew what to say. The general tone of +the speeches was to hold steady,--not to be panicky,--Britannia rules +the waves,--it would all be over soon,--Dr. Robertson Nicholl and +Kitchener could settle anything! + +The crowd around the dancing pavilion began to dwindle in the +evenings--that is, of the older people. The children still danced, +happily; fluffy-haired little girls, with "headache" bands around +their pretty heads, did the fox-trot and the one-step with boys of +their own age and older, but the older people talked together in +excited groups. + +Every night when the train came in the crowds waited in tense anxiety +to get the papers, and when they were handed out, read them in +silence, a silence which was ominous. Political news was relegated to +the third page and was not read until we got back to the veranda. In +these days nothing mattered; the baker came late; the breakfast dishes +were not washed sometimes until they were needed for lunch, for the +German maids and the English maids discussed the situation out under +the trees. Mary, whose last name sounded like a tray of dishes +falling, the fine-looking Polish woman who brought us vegetables every +morning, arrived late and in tears, for she said, "This would be bad +times for Poland--always it was bad times for Poland, and I will never +see my mother again." + +A shadow had fallen on us, a shadow that darkened the children's +play. Now they made forts of sand, and bored holes in the ends of +stove-wood to represent gaping cannon's mouths, and played that half +the company were Germans; but before many days that game languished, +for there were none who would take the German part: every boat that +was built now was a battleship, and every kite was an aeroplane and +loaded with bombs! + +In less than a week we were collecting for a hospital ship to be the +gift of Canadian women. The message was read out in church one +afternoon, and volunteer collectors were asked for. So successful were +these collectors all over Canada that in a few days word came to us +that enough money had been raised, and that all moneys collected then +could be given to the Belgian Relief Fund. The money had simply poured +in--it was a relief to give! + +Before the time came for school to begin, there were many closed +cottages, for the happy careless freedom of the beach was gone; there +is no happiness in floating across a placid lake in a flat-bottomed +boat if you find yourself continually turning your head toward the +shore, thinking that you hear some one shouting, "Extra." + +There were many things that made it hard to leave the place where we +had spent so many happy hours. There was the rustic seat we had made +ourselves, which faced the lake, and on which we had sat and seen the +storms gather on Blueberry Island. It was a comfortable seat with the +right slant in its back, and I am still proud of having helped to make +it. There was the breakwater of logs which were placed with such feats +of strength, to prevent the erosion of the waves, and which withstood +the big storm of September, 1912, when so many breakwaters were +smashed to kindling-wood. We always had intended to make a long box +along the top, to plant red geraniums in, but it had not been done. +There was the dressing-tent where the boys ran after their numerous +swims, and which had been the scene of many noisy quarrels over lost +garments--garters generally, for they have an elusive quality all +their own. There was also the black-poplar stump which a misguided +relative of mine said "no woman could split." He made this remark +after I had tried in vain to show him what was wrong with his method +of attack. I said that I thought he would do better if he could manage +to hit twice in the same place! And he said that he would like to see +me do it, and went on to declare that he would bet me a five-dollar +bill that I could not. + +If it were not for the fatal curse of modesty I would tell how eagerly +I grasped the axe and with what ease I hit, not twice, but half a +dozen times in the same place--until the stump yielded. This victory +was all the sweeter to me because it came right after our sports day +when I had entered every available contest, from the nail-driving +competition to the fat woman's race, and had never even been mentioned +as among those present! + +We closed our cottage on August 24. That day all nature conspired to +make us feel sorry that we were leaving. A gentle breeze blew over the +lake and rasped its surface into dancing ripples that glittered in the +sun. Blueberry Island seemed to stand out clear and bold and +beckoning. White-winged boats lay over against the horizon and the +_chug-chug_ of a motor-boat came at intervals in a lull of the breeze. +The more tender varieties of the trees had begun to show a trace of +autumn coloring, just a hint and a promise of the ripened beauty of +the fall--if we would only stay! + +Before the turn in the road hid it from sight we stopped and looked +back at the "Kee-am Cottage"--my last recollection of it is of the +boarded windows, which gave it the blinded look of a dead thing, and +of the ferns which grandma had brought from the big woods beyond the +railway track and planted all round it, and which had grown so quickly +and so rank that they seemed to fill in all the space under the +cottage, and with their pale-green, feathery fringe, to be trying to +lift it up into the sunshine above the trees. Instinctively we felt +that we had come to the end of a very pleasant chapter in our life as +a family; something had disturbed the peaceful quiet of our lives; +somewhere a drum was beating and a fife was calling! + +Not a word of this was spoken, but Jack suddenly put it all into +words, for he turned to me and asked quickly, "Mother, when will I be +eighteen?" + + + Gay, as the skater who blithely whirls + To the place of the dangerous ice! + Content, as the lamb who nibbles the grass + While the butcher sets the price! + So content and gay were the boys at play + In the nations near and far, + When munition kings and diplomats + Cried, "War! War!! War!!!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WORKING IN! + + +The day after we went to the city I got my first real glimpse of war! +It was the white face of our French neighbor. His wife and two little +girls had gone to France a month before the war broke out, and were +visiting his family in a village on the Marne. Since the outbreak of +war he had had no word from them, and his face worked pitifully when +he told me this. "Not one word, though I cabled and got friends in +London to wire _aussi_," he said. "But I will go myself and see." + +"What about your house and motor?" he was asked. + +He raised his shoulders and flung out his hands. "What difference?" he +said; "I will not need them." + +I saw him again the day he left. He came out of his house with a small +Airedale pup which had been the merry playmate of Alette and Yvonne. +He stood on the veranda holding the dog in his arms. Strangers were +moving into the house and their boxes stood on the floor. I went over +to say good-bye. + +"I will not come back," he said simply; "it will be a long fight; we +knew it would come, but we did not know when. If I can but find wife +and children--but the Germans--they are devils--Boches--no one knows +them as we do!" + +He stood irresolute a moment, then handed me the dog and went quickly +down the steps. + +"It is for France!" he said. + +I sat on the veranda railing and watched him go. The Airedale blinded +his eyes looking after him, then looked at me, plainly asking for an +explanation. But I had to tell him that I knew no more about it than +he did. Then I tried to comfort him by telling him that many little +dogs were much worse off than he, for they had lost their people and +their good homes as well, and he still had his comfortable home and +his good meals. But it was neither meals nor bed that his faithful +little heart craved, and for many weeks a lonely little Airedale on +Chestnut Street searched diligently for his merry little playmates and +his kind master, but he found them not. + +There was still a certain unreality about it all. Sometimes it has +been said that the men who went first went for adventure. Perhaps they +did, but it does not matter--they have since proved of what sort of +stuff they were made. + +When one of the first troop trains left Winnipeg, a handsome young +giant belonging to the Seventy-ninth Highlanders said, as he swung +himself up on the rear coach, "The only thing I am afraid of is that +it will all be over before we get there." He was needlessly alarmed, +poor lad! He was in time for everything; Festubert, Saint-Éloi, Ypres; +for the gas attacks before the days of gas-masks, for trench-fever, +for the D.C.M.; and now, with but one leg, and blind, he is one of the +happy warriors at St. Dunstan's whose cheerfulness puts to shame those +of us who are whole! + +There were strange scenes at the station when those first trains went +out. The Canadians went out with a flourish, with cheers, with songs, +with rousing music from the bands. The serious men were the French and +Belgian reservists, who, silently, carrying their bundles, passed +through our city, with grim, determined faces. They knew, and our boys +did not know, to what they were going. That is what made the +difference in their manner. + +The government of one of the provinces, in the early days of the war, +shut down the public works, and, strange to say, left the bars open. +Their impulse was right--but they shut down the wrong thing; it should +have been the bars, of course. They knew something should be shut +down. We are not blaming them; it was a panicky time. People often, +when they hear the honk of an automobile horn, jump back instead of +forward. And it all came right in time. + +A moratorium was declared at once, which for the time being relieved +people of their debts, for there was a strong feeling that the cup of +sorrow was so full now that all movable trouble should be set off for +another day! + +The temperance people then asked, as a corresponding war measure, +that the bars be closed. They urged that the hearts of our people were +already so burdened that they should be relieved of the trouble and +sorrow which the liquor traffic inevitably brings. "Perhaps," they +said to the government, "when a happier season comes, we may be able +to bear it better; but we have so many worries now, relieve us of this +one, over which you have control." + +Then the financial side of the liquor traffic began to pinch. Manitoba +was spending thirteen million dollars over the bars every year. The +whole Dominion's drink bill was one hundred millions. When the people +began to rake and save to meet the patriotic needs, and to relieve the +stress of unemployment, these great sums of money were thought of +longingly--and with the longing which is akin to pain! The problem of +unemployment was aggravated by the liquor evil and gave another +argument for prohibition. + +I heard a woman telling her troubles to a sympathetic friend one day, +as we rode in an elevator. + +"'E's all right when 'e's in work," she said; "but when 'e's hidle +'e's something fierce: 'e knocks me about crool. 'E guzzles all the +time 'e's out of work." + +It was easy to believe. Her face matched her story; she was a poor, +miserable, bedraggled creature, with teeth out in front. She wore +black cotton gloves such as undertakers supply for the pallbearers, +and every finger was out. The liquor traffic would have a better +chance if there were not so many arguments against it walking round. + +About this time, too, the traffic suffered a great bereavement, for +the personal liberty argument fell, mortally wounded. The war did +that, too. + +All down the ages there have been men who believed that personal +liberty included the right to do what one wished to do, no matter who +was hurt. So, if a man wished to drink, by the sacred rights for which +his forefathers had bled and died he was at liberty to do so, and then +go home and beat up his own wife and family if he wanted to; for if +you can't beat your own wife, whom can you beat, I'd like to know? +Any one who disputed this sacred right was counted a spoil-fun and a +joy-killer! + +But a change came over the world's thought in the early days of the +war. Liberty grew to be a holy word, a sacred thing, when the blood of +our brightest and best was being poured out in its defense, and never +again will the old, selfish, miserable conception of liberty obtain +favor. The Kaiser helped here, too, for he is such a striking example +of the one who claims absolute liberty for himself, no matter who is +hurt, that somehow we never hear it mentioned now. I believe it is +gone, forever! + +The first step in the curtailment of the liquor traffic was the +closing of the bars at seven o'clock, and the beneficial effect was +felt at once. Many a man got home early for the first time in his +life, and took his whole family to the "movies." + +The economy meetings brought out some quaint speeches. No wonder! +People were taken unawares. We were unprepared for war, and the +changes it had brought;--we were as unprepared as the woman who said, +in speaking of unexpected callers, "I had not even time to turn my +plants." There was much unintentional humor. One lady, whose home was +one of the most beautiful in the city, and who entertained lavishly, +told us, in her address on "Economy," that at the very outbreak of the +war she reduced her cook's wages from thirty to twenty dollars, and +gave the difference to the Patriotic Fund; that she had found a +cheaper dressmaker who made her dresses now for fifteen dollars, where +formerly she had paid twenty-five; and she added artlessly, "They are +really nicer, and I do think we should all give in these practical +ways; that's the sort of giving that I really enjoy!" + +Another woman told of how much she had given up for the Patriotic +Fund; that she had determined not to give one Christmas present, and +had given up all the societies to which she had belonged, even the +Missionary Society, and was giving it all to the Red Cross. "I will +not even give a present to the boy who brings the paper," she declared +with conviction. Whether or not the boy's present ever reached the +Red Cross, I do not know. But ninety-five per cent of the giving was +real, honest, hard, sacrificing giving. Elevator-boys, maids, +stenographers gave a percentage of their earnings, and gave it +joyously. They like to give, but they do not like to have it taken +away from them by an employer, who thereby gets the credit of the +gift. The Red Cross mite-boxes into which children put their candy +money, while not enriching the Red Cross to any large extent, trained +the children to take some share in the responsibility; and one +enthusiastic young citizen, who had been operated on for appendicitis, +proudly exhibited his separated appendix, preserved in alcohol, at so +much per look, and presented the proceeds to the Red Cross. + +The war came home to the finest of our people first. It has not +reached them all yet, but it is working in, like the frost into the +cellars when the thermometer shows forty degrees below zero. Many a +cellar can stand a week of this--but look out for the second! Every +day it comes to some one. + +"I don't see why we are always asked to give," one woman said +gloomily, when the collector asked her for a monthly subscription to +the Red Cross. "Every letter that goes out of the house has a stamp on +it--and we write a queer old lot of letters, and I guess we've done +our share." + +She is not a dull woman either or hard of heart. It has not got to her +yet--that's all! I cannot be hard on her in my judgment, for it did +not come to me all at once, either. + +When I saw the first troops going away, I wondered how their mothers +let them go, and I made up my mind that I would not let my boy go,--I +was so glad he was only seventeen,--for hope was strong in our hearts +that it might be over before he was of military age. It was the +Lusitania that brought me to see the whole truth. Then I saw that we +were waging war on the very Princes of Darkness, and I knew that +morning when I read the papers, I knew that it would be better--a +thousand times better--to be dead than to live under the rule of +people whose hearts are so utterly black and whose process of +reasoning is so oxlike--they are so stupidly brutal. I knew then that +no man could die better than in defending civilization from this +ghastly thing which threatened her! + +Soon after that I knew, without a word being said, that my boy wanted +to go--I saw the seriousness come into his face, and knew what it +meant. It was when the news from the Dardanelles was heavy on our +hearts, and the newspapers spoke gravely of the outlook. + +One day he looked up quickly and said, "I want to go--I want to help +the British Empire--while there is a British Empire!" + +And then I realized that my boy, my boy, had suddenly become a man and +had put away childish things forever. + +I shall always be glad that the call came to him, not in the +intoxication of victory, but in the dark hour of apparent defeat. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LET'S PRETEND + + Let's pretend the skies are blue, + Let's pretend the world is new, + And the birds of hope are singing + All the day! + + Short of gladness--learn to fake it! + Long on sadness--go and shake it! + Life is only--what you make it, + Anyway! + + There is wisdom without end + In the game of "Let's pretend!" + + +We played it to-day. We had to, for the boys went away, and we had to +send our boys away with a smile! They will have heartaches and +homesickness a-plenty, without going away with their memories charged +with a picture of their mothers in tears, for that's what takes the +heart out of a boy. They are so young, so brave, we felt that we must +not fail them. + +With such strong words as these did we admonish each other, when we +met the last night, four of us, whose sons were among the boys who +were going away. We talked hard and strong on this theme, not having +a very good grip on it ourselves, I am afraid. We simply harangued +each other on the idleness of tears at stations. Every one of us had +something to say; and when we parted, it was with the tacit +understanding that there was an Anti-Tear League formed--the boys were +leaving on an early train in the morning! + + * * * * * + +The morning is a dismal time anyway, and teeth will chatter, no matter +how brave you feel! It is a squeamish, sickly, choky time,--a winter +morning before the sun is up; and you simply cannot eat breakfast when +you look round the table and see every chair filled,--even the +five-year-old fellow is on hand,--and know that a long, weary time is +ahead of the one who sits next you before he comes again to his +father's house. Even though the conversation is of the gayest, every +one knows what every one else is thinking. + + * * * * * + +There is no use trying--I cannot write the story of that morning.... I +will tell you of other troop-trains I have seen go. I will tell you of +another boy who carried off all the good-byes with a high hand and +great spirits, and said something to every one of the girls who +brought him candy, telling one that he would remember her in his will, +promising another that he would marry her when he got to be Admiral of +the Swiss Navy, but who, when he came to say good-bye to his father, +suddenly grew very white and very limp, and could only say, "Oh, dad! +Good old dad!" + + * * * * * + +I will tell you of other troop-trains I have seen go out, with other +boys waving to other women who strained their eyes and winked hard, +hard, hard to keep back the tears, and stood still, quite still until +the last car had disappeared around the bend, and the last whistle had +torn the morning air into shreds and let loose a whole wild chorus of +echoes through the quiet streets! + + * * * * * + +There was a mist in the air this morning, and a white frost covered +the trees with beautiful white crystals that softened their leafless +limbs. It made a soft and graceful drapery on the telegraph poles and +wires. It carpeted the edges of the platform that had not been walked +on, and even covered the black roofs of the station buildings and the +flatcars which stood in the yard. It seemed like a beautiful white +decoration for the occasion, a beautiful, heavy, elaborate +mourning--for those who had gone--and white, of course--all +white,--because they were so young! + + * * * * * + +Then we came home. It was near the opening time of the stores, and the +girls were on their way to work, but their footfalls made no sound on +the pavement. Even the street-cars seemed to glide quietly by. The +city seemed grave and serious and sad, and disposed to go softly.... +In the store windows the blinds were still down--ghastly, shirred +white things which reminded me uncomfortably of the lining of a +coffin! Over the hotel on the corner, the Calgary Beer Man, growing +pale in the sickly dawn, still poured--and lifted--and drank--and +poured--and lifted--and drank,--insatiable as the gods of war. + + * * * * * + +I wandered idly through the house--what a desolate thing a house can +be when every corner of it holds a memory!--not a memory either, for +that bears the thought of something past,--when every corner of it is +full of a boyish presence!... I can hear him rushing down the stairs +in the morning to get the paper, and shouting the headlines to me as +he brings it up. I can hear him come in at the front door and thump +his books down on the hall seat, and call "Mother!" I sit down and +summon them all, for I know they will fade soon enough--the thin, +sharp edge of everything wears mercifully blunt in time! + + * * * * * + +Then I gathered up his schoolbooks, and every dog-eared exercise-book, +and his timetable, which I found pinned on his window curtain, and I +carried them up to the storeroom in the attic, with his baseball +mitt--and then, for the first time, as I made a pile of the books +under the beams, I broke my anti-tear pledge. It was not for myself, +or for my neighbor across the street whose only son had gone, or for +the other mothers who were doing the same things all over the world; +it was not for the young soldiers who had gone out that day; it was +for the boys who had been cheated of their boyhood, and who had to +assume men's burdens, although in years they were but children. The +saddest places of all the world to-day are not the battle fields, or +the hospitals, or the cross-marked hillsides where the brave ones are +buried; the saddest places are the deserted campus and playgrounds +where they should be playing; the empty seats in colleges, where they +should be sitting; the spaces in the ranks of happy, boisterous +schoolboys, from which the brave boys have gone,--these boys whose +boyhood has been cut so pitifully short. I thought, too, of the little +girls whose laughter will ring out no more in the careless, happy +abandonment of girlhood, for the black shadow of anxiety and dread has +fallen even on their young hearts; the tiny children, who, young as +they are, know that some great sorrow has come to every one; the +children of the war countries, with their terror-stricken eyes and +pale faces; the unspeakable, unforgivable wrong that has been done to +youth the world over. + + * * * * * + +There, as I sat on the floor of the storeroom, my soul wandered down a +long, dark, silent valley, and met the souls of the mothers of all +countries, who had come there, like me, to mourn ... and our tears +were very hot, and very bitter ... for we knew that it was the Valley +of Lost Childhood! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PICTURES + + Nothing is lost that our memories hold, + Nothing forgotten that once we knew; + And to-day a boy with curls of gold + Is running my fond heart through and through-- + In and out and round and round-- + And I find myself laughing without a sound + At the funny things he said that time + When life was one glad nursery rhyme. + + +It should not be so hard for mothers to give up their children. We +should grow accustomed to it, for we are always losing them. I once +had a curly-haired baby with eyes like blue forget-me-nots, who had a +sweet way of saying his words, and who coined many phrases which are +still in use in my family. Who is there who cannot see that +"a-ging-a-wah" has a much more refreshing sound than "a drink of +water"? And I am sure that nobody could think of a nicer name for the +hammer and nails than a "num and a peedaw." At an incredibly early age +this baby could tell you how the birdies fly and what the kitty says. + +All mothers who have had really wonderful children--and this takes us +all in--will understand how hard it is to set these things down in +cold print or even to tell them; for even our best friends are +sometimes dull of heart and slow of understanding when we tell them +perfectly wonderful things that our children did or said. We all know +that horrible moment of suspense when we have told something real +funny that our baby said, and our friends look at us with a dull +is-that-all expression in their faces, and we are forced to supplement +our recital by saying that it was not so much what he said as the way +he said it! + +Soon I lost the blue-eyed baby, and there came in his place a sturdy +little freckle-faced chap, with a distinct dislike for water as a +cleansing agent, who stoutly declared that washing his hands was a +great waste of time, for they were sure to get dirty again; which +seems to be reasonable, and it is a wonder that people have not taken +this fact into account more when dealing with the griminess of youth. +Who objected to going to church twice a day on the ground that he +"might get too fond of it." Who, having once received five cents as +recompense for finding his wayward sister, who had a certain +proclivity for getting lost, afterwards deliberately mislaid the same +sister and claimed the usual rates for finding her, and in this manner +did a thriving "Lost and Found" business for days, until his +unsuspecting parent overheard him giving his sister full directions +for losing herself--he had grown tired of having to go with her each +time, and claimed that as she always got half of the treat she should +do her share of the work. Who once thrashed a boy who said that his +sister had a dirty face,--which was quite true, but people do not need +to say everything they know, do they? Who went swimming in the gravel +pit long before the 24th of May, which marks the beginning of swimming +and barefoot time in all proper families, and would have got away with +it, too, only, in his haste to get a ride home, he and his friend +changed shirts by mistake, and it all came to light at bedtime. + +Then I lost him, too. There came in his place a tall youth with a +distinct fondness for fine clothes, stiff collars, tan boots, and +bright ties; a dignified young man who was pained and shocked at the +disreputable appearance of a younger brother who was at that time +passing through the wash-never period of his life and who insisted +upon claiming relationship even in public places. Who hung his room +with flags and pennants and photographs. Who had for his friends many +young fellows with high pompadours, whom he called by their surnames +and disputed with noisily and abusively, but, unlike the famous +quarrel of Fox and Burke, "with no loss of friendship." Who went in +his holidays as "mule-skinner" on a construction gang in the North +Country, and helped to build the railway into "The Crossing," and came +home all brown and tanned, with muscles as hard as iron and a luscious +growth of whiskers. Who then went back to college and really began to +work, for he had learned a few things about the value of an education +as he drove the mules over the dump, which can be learned only when +the muscles ache and the hands have blisters. + +Then came the call! And again I lost him! But there is a private in +the "Princess Pats" who carries my picture in his cap and who reads my +letter over again just before "going in." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SAVING OUR SOULS + + O work--thrice blessed of the gods-- + Abundant may you be! + To hold us steady, when our hearts + Grow cold and panicky! + + I cannot fret--and drive the plough,-- + Nor weep--and ply the spade; + O blessed work--I need you now + To keep me unafraid! + + No terrors can invade the place + Where honest green things thrive; + Come blisters--backache--sunburnt face-- + And save my soul alive! + + +No wonder that increased production has become a popular cry. Every +one wants to work in a garden--a garden is so comforting and +reassuring. Everything else has changed, but seedtime and harvest +still remain. Rain still falls, seeds sprout, buds break into leaves, +and blossoms are replaced by fruit. + +We are forced back to the elemental things. Horses and cattle look +better to me every day. Read the war news--which to-day tells of the +destruction of French villages--and then look at the cattle grazing +peacefully on the grass which clothes the hillside, and see how good +they look! They look like sanctified Christians to me! + +Ever since the war I have envied them. They are not suspicious or +jealous; they are not worried, hurried, troubled, or afraid; they are +oblivious of public opinion; they have no debts to pay; they do not +weary you with explanations; they are not sorry for anything they have +ever done; they are not blaming God for anything! On every count the +cattle seem to have the best of us! + +It is a quiet evening here in northern Alberta, and the evening light +is glinting on the frozen ponds. I can see far up the valley as I +write, and one by one the lights begin to glimmer in the farmhouses; +and I like to think that supper is being prepared there for hungry +children. The thought of supper appeals to me because there is no +dining-car on the train, and every minute I am growing hungrier. The +western sky burns red with the sunset, and throws a sullen glow on the +banks of clouds in the east. It is a quiet, peaceful evening, and I +find it hard to believe that somewhere men are killing each other and +whole villages are burning.... The light on the ponds grows dimmer, +with less of rose and more of a luminous gray.... I grow hungrier +still, and I know it is just because I cannot get anything. I eat +apples and nut-bars, but they do not satisfy me; it is roast beef, +brown gravy, potatoes, and turnips that I want. Is it possible that I +refused lemon pie--last night--at Carmangay? Well--well--let this be a +lesson to you! + +The sunset is gone now, and there is only a brightness in the western +sky, and a big staring moon stands above the valley, shining down on +the patches of snow which seem to run together like the wolves we used +to see on the prairies of Manitoba long ago. The farmhouses we pass +are bright with lights, and I know the children are gathered around +the table to "do" their lessons. The North Country, with its long, +snowy winters, develops the love of home in the hearts of our people, +and drives the children indoors to find their comfort around the fire. +Solomon knew this when he said that the perfect woman "is not afraid +of the snow for her household." Indeed, no; she knows that the snow is +a home-developing agency, and that no one knows the joy and comfort of +home like those of us who have battled with cold and storm and drifted +roads all day, and at nightfall come safely to this blessed place +where warmth and companionship await us! Life has its compensations. + +Across the aisle from me two women are knitting--not in a neighborly, +gossipy way, chatting meanwhile, but silently, swiftly, nervously. +There is a psychological reason for women knitting just now, beyond +the need of socks. I know how these women feel! I, even I, have begun +to crochet! I do it for the same reason that the old toper in time of +stress takes to his glass. It keeps me from thinking; it atrophies the +brain; and now I know why the women of the East are so slow about +getting the franchise. They crochet and work in wool instead of +thinking. You can't do both! When the casualty lists are long, and +letters from the Front far apart--I crochet. + +Once, when I was in great pain, the doctor gave me chloroform, and it +seemed to me that a great black wall arose between me and pain! The +pain was there all right, but it could not get to me on account of the +friendly wall which held it back--and I was grateful! Now I am +grateful to have a crochet-needle and a ball of silcotton. It is a +sort of mental chloroform. This is for the real dark moments, when the +waves go over our heads.... We all have them, but of course they do +not last. + +More and more am I impressed with the wonderful comeback of the human +soul. We are like those Chinese toys, which, no matter how they are +buffeted, will come back to an upright position. It takes a little +longer with us--that is all; but given half a chance--or less--people +will rise victorious over sin and sorrow, defeat and failure, and +prove thereby the divinity which is in all of us! + +As the light dimmed outside, I had time to observe my two traveling +companions more closely. Though at first sight they came under the +same general description of "middle-aged women, possibly +grandmothers, industriously knitting," there was a wide difference +between them as I observed them further. One had a face which bore +traces of many disappointments, and had now settled down into a state +of sadness that was hopeless and final. She had been a fine-looking +woman once, too, and from her high forehead and well-shaped mouth I +should take her to be a woman of considerable mental power, but there +had been too much sorrow; she had belonged to a house of too much +trouble, and it had dried up the fountains of her heart. I could only +describe her by one word, "winter-killed"! She was like a tree which +had burst into bud at the coaxing of the soft spring zephyrs again and +again, only to be caught each time by the frost, and at last, when +spring really came, it could win no answering thrill, for the heart of +the tree was "winter-killed." The frost had come too often! + +The other woman was older, more wrinkled, more weather-beaten, but +there was a childlike eagerness about her that greatly attracted me. +She used her hands when she spoke, and smiled often. This childish +enthusiasm contrasted strangely with her old face, and seemed like the +spirit of youth fluttering still around the grave of one whom it +loved! + +I soon found myself talking to them; the old lady was glad to talk to +me, for she was not making much headway with her companion, on whom +all her arguments were beating in vain. + +"I tell her she has no call to be feeling so bad about the war!" she +began, getting right into the heart of the subject; "we didn't start +it! Let the Kings and Kaisers and Czars who make the trouble do the +fretting. Thank God, none of them are any blood-relation of mine, +anyway. I won't fret over any one's sins, only my own, and maybe I +don't fret half enough over them, either!" + +"What do you know about sins?" the other woman said; "you couldn't sin +if you tried----" + +"That's all you know about it," said the old lady with what was +intended for a dark and mysterious look; "but I never could see what +good it does to worry, anyway, and bother other people by feeling +sorry. Now, here she is worrying night and day because her boy is in +the army and will have to go to France pretty soon. She has two others +at home, too young to go. Harry is still safe in England--he may never +have to go: the war may be over--the Kaiser may fall and break his +neck--there's lots of ways peace may come. Even if Harry does go, he +may not get killed. He may only get his toe off, or his little finger, +and come home, or he may escape everything. Some do. Even if he is +killed--every one has to die, and no one can die a better way; and +Harry is ready--good and ready! So why does she fret? I know she's had +trouble--lots of it--Lord, haven't we all? My three boys went--two +have been killed; but I am not complaining--I am still hoping the last +boy may come through safe. Anyway, we couldn't help it. It is not our +fault; we have to keep on doing what we can.... + +"I remember a hen I used to have when we lived on the farm, and she +had more sense than lots of people--she was a little no-breed hen, and +so small that nobody ever paid much attention to her. But she had a +big heart, and was the greatest mother of any hen I had, and stayed +with her chickens until they were as big as she was and refused to be +gathered under wings any longer. She never could see that they were +grown up. One time she adopted a whole family that belonged to a +stuck-up Plymouth Rock that deserted them when they weren't much more +than feathered. Biddy stepped right in and raised them, with thirteen +of her own. Hers were well grown--Biddy always got down to business +early in the spring, she was so forehanded. She raised the Plymouth +Rocks fine, too! She was a born stepmother. Well, she got shut out one +night, and froze her feet, and lost some good claws, too; but I knew +she'd manage some way, and of course I did not let her set, because +she could not scratch with these stumpy feet of hers. But she found a +job all right! She stole chickens from the other hens. I often +wondered what she promised them, but she got them someway, and only +took those that were big enough to scratch, for Biddy knew her +limitations. She was leading around twenty-two chickens of different +sizes that summer. + +"You see she had personality--that hen: you couldn't keep her down; +she never went in when it rained, and she could cackle louder than any +hen on the ground; and above all, she took things as they came. I +always admired her. I liked the way she died, too. Of course I let her +live as long as she could--she wouldn't have been any good to eat, +anyway, for she was all brains, and I never could bear to make soup +out of a philosopher like what she was. Well, she was getting pretty +stiff--I could see that; and sometimes she had to try two or three +times before she could get on the roost. But this night she made it on +the first try, and when I went to shut the door, she sat there all +ruffled up. I reached out to feel her, she looked so humped-up, and +the minute I touched her, she fell off the roost; and when I picked +her up, she was dead! You see, she got herself balanced so she would +stay on the roost, and then died--bluffed it out to the last, and died +standing up! That's what we should all try to do!" she concluded; "go +down with a smile--I say--hustling and cheerful to the last!" + +I commended her philosophy, but the other woman sat silent, and her +knitting lay idle on her knee. + +After all, the biggest thing in life is the mental attitude! + + + This was the third time a boy on a wheel + Had come to her gate + With the small yellow slip, with its few curt words, + To tell her the fate + Of the boys she had given to fight + For the right to be free! + I thought I must go as a neighbor and friend + And stand by her side; + At least I could tell her how sorry I was + That a brave man had died. + + She sat in a chair when I entered the room, + With the thing in her hand, + And the look on her face had a light and a bloom + I could not understand. + Then she showed me the message and said, + With a sigh of respite,-- + "My last boy is dead. I can sleep. I can sleep + Without dreaming to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SURPRISES + + When all the evidence is in-- + When all the good--and all the sin-- + The Impulses--without--within + Are catalogued--with reasons showing-- + What great surprises will await + The small, the near-great and the great + Who thought they knew how things were going! + + +Stories crowd in upon me as I write. Let no one ever say that this is +a dull world! It is anything but dull! It is a pitiful, heartbreaking +world, full of injustice, misunderstandings, false standards, and +selfishness, but it is never dull. Neither is it a lost world, for the +darkest corners of it are illuminated here and there by heroic deeds +and noble aspirations. Men who hilariously sold their vote and +influence prior to 1914, who took every sharp turn within the law, and +who shamelessly mocked at any ideals of citizenship, were among the +first to put on the King's uniform and march out to die. + +To-day I read in the "paper from home" that Private William Keel is +"missing, believed killed"; and it took me back to the old days +before the war when the late Private Keel was accustomed to hold up +the little town. Mr. Keel was a sober man--except upon occasions. The +occasions were not numerous, but they left an undying impression on +his neighbors and fellow townsmen; for the late private had a way all +his own. He was a big Welshman, so strong that he never knew how +strong he was; and when he became obsessed with the desire to get +drunk, no one could stop him. He had to have it out. At such times his +one ambition was to ride a horse up the steps of the hotel, and +then--George Washington-like--rise in his stirrups and deliver an +impassioned address on what we owe to the Old Flag. If he were blocked +or thwarted in this, he became dangerous and hard to manage, and +sometimes it took a dozen men to remove him to the Police Station. +When he found himself safely landed there, with a locked door and +small, barred window between himself and liberty, his mood changed and +the remainder of the night was spent in song, mostly of "A life on the +ocean wave and a home on the rolling deep"; for he had been a sailor +before he came land-seeking to western Canada. + +After having "proved up" his land in southern Manitoba--the +_Wanderlust_ seized him and he went to South America, where no doubt +he enlivened the proceedings for the natives, as he had for us while +he lived among us. + +Six weeks after the declaration of war he came back--a grizzled man of +forty; he had sold out everything, sent his wife to England, and had +come to enlist with the local regiment. Evidently his speech about +what we owe to the Old Flag had been a piece of real eloquence, and +Bill himself was the proof. + +He enlisted with the boys from home as a private, and on the marches +he towered above them--the tallest man in the regiment. No man was +more obedient or trustworthy. He cheered and admonished the younger +men, when long marches in the hot sun, with heavy accouterments, made +them quarrelsome and full of complaints. "It's all for the Old Flag, +boys," he told them. + +To-day I read that he is "missing, believed killed"; and I have the +feeling, which I know is in the heart of many who read his name, that +we did not realize the heroism of the big fellow in the old days of +peace. It took a war to show us how heroic our people are. + +Not all the heroes are war-heroes either. The slow-grinding, searching +tests of peace have found out some truly great ones among our people +and have transmuted their common clay into pure gold. + +It is much more heartening to tell of the woman who went right rather +than of her who went wrong, and for that reason I gladly set down here +the story of one of these. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Tweed is the wife of Private William Tweed--small, +dark-eyed, and pretty, with a certain childishness of face which makes +her rouged cheeks and blackened eyebrows seem pathetically, innocently +wicked. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Tweed, wife of Private William Tweed, was giving +trouble to the Patriotic Society. It was bad enough for her to go out +evenings with an officer, and dance in the afternoon at the hotel +_dansant_ in a perfect outburst of gay garments; but there was no +excuse for her coming home in a taxi-cab, after a shopping expedition +in broad daylight, and to the scandal of the whole street, who watched +her from behind lace curtains. + +The evil effects of Mrs. Tweed's actions began to show in the +falling-off of subscriptions to the Patriotic Fund, and the collectors +heard many complaints about her gay habits of life and her many and +varied ways of squandering money. Mrs. Tweed became a perfect wall of +defense for those who were not too keen on parting with their money. +They made a moral issue of it, and virtuously declared, "That woman is +not going to the devil on my money." "I scrimp and save and deny +myself everything so I can give to the Patriotic Fund, and look at +her!" women cried. + +It was in vain that the collectors urged that she was only getting +five dollars a month, anyway, from the Patriotic Fund, and that would +not carry her far on the road to destruction or in any other +direction. When something which appears to set aside the obligation to +perform a disagreeable duty comes in view, the hands of the soul +naturally clamp on it. + +Mrs. Tweed knew that she was the bad example, and gloried in it. She +banged the front door when she entered the block late at night, and +came up the stairs gayly singing, "Where did Robinson Crusoe go with +Friday on Saturday night?" while her sleepy neighbors anathematized +all dependents of the Patriotic Fund. + +The Red Cross ladies discussed the matter among themselves and decided +that some one should put the matter before Mrs. Tweed and tell her how +hard she was making it for the other dependents of soldiers. The +president was selected for the task, which did not at first sight look +like a pleasant one, but Mrs. Kent had done harder things than this, +and she set out bravely to call on the wayward lady. + +The D.O.E. visitor who called on all the soldiers' wives in that block +had reported that Mrs. Tweed had actually put her out, and told her to +go to a region which is never mentioned in polite society except in +theological discussions. + +"I know," Mrs. Tweed said, when the Red Cross President came to see +her, "what you are coming for, and I don't blame you--I sure have been +fierce, but you don't know what a good time I've had. Gee, it's great! +I've had one grand tear!--one blow-out! And now I am almost ready to +be good. Sit down, and I'll tell you about it; you have more give to +you than that old hatchet-face that came first; I wouldn't tell her a +thing! + +"I am twenty-five years old, and I never before got a chance to do as +I liked. When I was a kid, I had to do as I was told. My mother +brought me up in the fear of the Lord and the fear of the neighbors. I +whistled once in church and was sent to bed every afternoon for a +week--I didn't care, though, I got in my whistle. I never wanted to do +anything bad, but I wanted to do as I liked--and I never got a chance. +Then I got married. William is a lot older than I am, and he +controlled me--always--made me economize, scrimp, and save. I really +did not want to blow money, but they never gave me a chance to be +sensible. Every one put me down for a 'nut.' My mother called me +'Trixie.' No girl can do well on a name like that. Teachers passed me +from hand to hand saying, 'Trixie is such a mischief!' I had a +reputation to sustain. + +"Then mother and father married me off to Mr. Tweed because he was so +sensible, and I needed a firm hand, they said. I began everything in +life with a handicap. Name and appearance have always been against me. +No one can look sensible with a nose that turns straight up, and I +will have bright colors to wear--I was brought up on wincey, color of +mud, and all these London-smoke, battleship-gray colors make me sick. +I want reds and blues and greens, and I am gradually working into +them." + +She held out a dainty foot as she spoke, exhibiting a bright-green +stocking striped in gold. + +"But mind you, for all I am so frivolous, I am not a fool exactly. All +I ask is to have my fling, and I've had it now for three whole months. +When William was at home I never could sit up and read one minute, and +so the first night he was away I burned the light all night just to +feel wicked! It was great to be able to let it burn. I've gone to bed +early every night for a week to make up for it. What do you think of +that? It is just born in me, and I can't help it. If William had +stayed at home, this would never have showed out in me. I would have +gone on respectable and steady. But this is one of the prices we pay +for bringing up women to be men's chattels, with some one always +placed in authority over them. When the authority is removed, there's +the devil to pay!" + +The President of the Red Cross looked at her in surprise. She had +never thought of it this way before; women were made to be protected +and shielded; she had said so scores of times; the church had taught +it and sanctioned it. + +"The whole system is wrong," Mrs. Tweed continued, "and nice women +like you, working away in churches ruled by men, have been to blame. +You say women should be protected, and you cannot make good the +protection. What protection have the soldiers' wives now? Evil +tongues, prying eyes, on the part of women, and worse than that from +the men. The church has fallen down on its job, and isn't straight +enough to admit it! We should either train our women to take their own +part and run their own affairs, or else we should train the men really +to honor and protect women. The church has done neither. Bah! I could +make a better world with one hand tied behind my back!" + +"But, Mrs. Tweed," said the president, "this war is new to all of +us--how did we know what was coming? It has taken all of us by +surprise, and we have to do our bit in meeting the new conditions. +Your man was never a fighting man--he hates it; but he has gone and +will fight, although he loathes it. I never did a day's work outside +of my home until now, and now I go to the office every day and try to +straighten out tangles; women come in there and accuse me of +everything, down to taking the bread out of their children's mouths. +Two of them who brought in socks the other day said, 'Do you suppose +the soldiers ever see them?' I did all I could to convince them that +we were quite honest, though I assure you I felt like telling them +what I thought of them. But things are abnormal now, everything is out +of sorts; and if we love our country we will try to remedy things +instead of making them worse. When I went to school we were governed +by what they called the 'honor system.' It was a system of +self-government; we were not watched and punished and bound by rules, +but graded and ruled ourselves--and the strange thing about it was +that it worked! When the teacher went out of the room, everything went +on just the same. Nobody left her desk or talked or idled; we just +worked on, minding our own affairs; it was a great system." + +Mrs. Tweed looked at her with a cynical smile. "Some system!" she +cried mockingly; "it may work in a school, where the little pinafore, +pig-tail Minnies and Lucys gather; it won't work in life, where every +one is grabbing for what he wants, and getting it some way. But see +here," she cried suddenly, "you haven't called me down yet! or told me +I am a disgrace to the Patriotic Fund! or asked me what will my +husband say when he comes home! You haven't looked shocked at one +thing I've told you. Say, you should have seen old hatchet-face when I +told her that I hoped the war would last forever! She said I was a +wicked woman!" + +"Well--weren't you?" asked the president. + +"Sure I was--if I meant it--but I didn't. I wanted to see her jump, +and she certainly jumped; and she soon gave me up and went back and +reported. Then you were sent, and I guess you are about ready to give +in." + +"Indeed, I am not," said the president, smiling. "You are not a +fool--I can see that--and you can think out these things for yourself. +You are not accountable to me, anyway. I have no authority to find +fault with you. If you think your part in this terrible time is to go +the limit in fancy clothes, theaters, and late suppers with men of +questionable character--that is for you to decide. I believe in the +honor system. You are certainly setting a bad example--but you have +that privilege. You cannot be sent to jail for it. The money you draw +is hard-earned money--it is certainly sweated labor which our gallant +men perform for the miserable little sum that is paid them. It is +yours to do with as you like. I had hoped that more of you young women +would have come to help us in our work in the Red Cross and other +places. We need your youth, your enthusiasm, your prettiness, for we +are sorely pressed with many cares and troubles, and we seem to be old +sometimes. But you are quite right in saying that it is your own +business how you spend the money!" + +After Mrs. Kent had gone, the younger woman sat looking around her +flat with a queer feeling of discontent. A half-eaten box of +chocolates was on the table and a new silk sweater coat lay across the +lounge. In the tiny kitchenette a tap dripped with weary insistence, +and unwashed dishes filled the sink. She got up suddenly and began to +wash the dishes, and did not stop until every corner of her apartment +was clean and tidy. + +"I am getting dippy," she said as she looked at herself in the mirror +in the buffet; "I've got to get out--this quiet life gets me. I'll go +down to the _dansant_ this afternoon--no use--I can't stand being +alone." + +She put on her white suit, and dabbing rouge on her cheeks and +penciling her eyes, she went forth into the sunshiny streets. + +She stopped to look at a display of sport suits in a window, also to +see her own reflection in a mirror placed for the purpose among the +suits. + +Suddenly a voice sounded at her elbow: "Some kid, eh? Looking good +enough to eat!" + +She turned around and met the admiring gaze of Sergeant Edward Loftus +Brown, recruiting sergeant of the 19-th, with whom she had been to the +theater a few nights before. She welcomed him effusively. + +"Come on and have something to eat," he said. "I got three recruits +to-day--so I am going to proclaim a half-holiday." + +They sat at a table in an alcove and gayly discussed the people who +passed by. The President of the Red Cross came in, and at a table +across the room hastily drank a cup of tea and went out again. + +"She came to see me to-day," said Mrs. Tweed, "and gave me to +understand that they were not any too well pleased with me--I am too +gay for a soldier's wife! And they do not approve of you." + +Sergeant Brown smiled indulgently and looked at her admiringly through +his oyster-lidded eyes. His smile was as complacent as that of the +ward boss who knows that the ballot-box is stuffed. It was the smile +of one who can afford to be generous to an enemy. + +"Women are always hard on each other," he said soothingly; "these +women do not understand you, Trixie, that's all. No person understands +you but me." His voice was of the magnolia oil quality. + +"Oh, rats!" she broke out. "Cut that understanding business! She +understands me all right--she knows me for a mean little selfish +slacker who is going to have a good time no matter what it costs. I +have been like a bad kid that eats the jam when the house is burning! +But remember this, I'm no fool, and I'm not going to kid myself into +thinking it is anything to be proud of, for it isn't." + +Sergeant Brown sat up straight and regarded her critically. "What have +you done," he said, "that she should call you down for it? You're +young and pretty and these old hens are jealous of you. They can't +raise a good time themselves and they're sore on you because all the +men are crazy about you." + +"Gee, you're mean," Mrs. Tweed retorted, "to talk that way about women +who are giving up everything for their country. Mrs. Kent's two boys +are in the trenches, actually fighting, not just parading round in +uniform like you. She goes every day and works in the office of the +Red Cross and tries to keep every tangle straightened out. She's not +jealous of me--she despises me for a little feather-brained pinhead. +She thinks I am even worse than I am. She thinks I am as bad as you +would like me to be! Naturally enough, she judges me by my company." + +Sergeant Brown's face flushed dull red, but she went on: "That woman +is all right--take it from me." + +"Well, don't get sore on me," he said quickly; "I'm not the one who +is turning you down. I've always stuck up for you and you know it!" + +"Why shouldn't you?" she cried. "You know well that I am straight, +even if I am a fool. These women are out of patience with me and my +class----" + +"Men are always more charitable to women than women are to each other, +anyway--women are cats, mostly!" he said, as he rolled a cigarette. + +"There you go again!" she cried,--"pretending that you know. I tell +you women are women's best friends. What help have you given to me to +run straight, for all your hot air about thinking so much of me? +You've stuck around my flat until I had to put you out--you've never +sheltered or protected me in any way. Men are broad-minded toward +women's characters because they do not care whether women are good or +not--they would rather that they were not. I do not mean all +men,--William was different, and there are plenty like him--but I mean +men like you who run around with soldiers' wives and slam the women +who are our friends, and who are really concerned about us. You are +twenty years older than I am. You're always blowing about how much you +know about women--also the world. Why didn't you advise me not to make +a fool of myself?" + +Sergeant Brown leaned over and patted her hand. "There now, Trixie," +he said, "don't get excited; you're the best girl in town, only you're +too high-strung. Haven't I always stood by you? Did I ever turn you +down, even when these high-brow ladies gave you the glassy eye? Why +are you going back on a friend now? You had lots to say about the +Daughter of the Empire who came to see you the last time." + +"She wasn't nice to me," said Mrs. Tweed; "but she meant well, anyway. +But I'm getting ashamed of myself now--for I see I am not playing the +game. Things have gone wrong through no fault of ours. The whole world +has gone wrong, and it's up to us to bring it right if we can. These +women are doing their share--they've given up everything. But what +have I done? I let William go, of course, and that's a lot, for I do +think a lot of William; but I am not doing my own share. Running +around to the stores, eating late suppers, saying snippy things about +other women, and giving people an excuse for not giving to the +Patriotic Fund. You and I sitting here to-day, eating expensive +things, are not helping to win the war, I can tell you." + +"But my dear girl," he interrupted, "whose business is it? and what +has happened to you anyway? I didn't bring you here to tell me my +patriotic duty. I like you because you amuse me with your smart +speeches. I don't want to be lectured--and I won't have it." + +Mrs. Tweed arose and began to put on her gloves. "Here's where we +part," she said; "I am going to begin to do my part, just as I see it. +I've signed on--I've joined the great Win-the-War-Party. You should +try it, Sergeant Brown. We have no exact rules to go by--we are +self-governed. It is called the honor system; each one rules himself. +It's quite new to me, but I expect to know more about it." + +"Sit down!" he said sternly; "people are looking at you--they think +we are quarreling; I am not done yet, and neither are you. Sit down!" + +She sat down and apologized. "I am excited, I believe," she said; +"people generally are when they enlist; and although I stood up, I had +no intention of going, for the bill has not come yet and I won't go +without settling my share of it." + +"Forget it!" he said warmly; "this isn't a Dutch treat. What have I +done that you should hit me a slam like this?" + +"It isn't a slam," she said; "it is quite different. I want to run +straight and fair--and I can't do it and let you pay for my meals; +there's no sense in women being sponges. I know we have been brought +up to beat our way. 'Be pretty, and all things will be added unto +you,' is the first commandment, and the one with the promise. I've +laid hold on that all my life, but to-day I am giving it up. The old +way of training women nearly got me, but not quite--and now I am +making a new start. It isn't too late. The old way of women always +being under an obligation to men has started us wrong. I'm not +blaming you or any one, but I'm done with it. If you see things as I +do, you'll be willing to let me pay. Don't pauperize me any more and +make me feel mean." + +"Oh, go as far as you like!" he said petulantly. "Pay for me, too, if +you like--don't leave me a shred of self-respect. This all comes of +giving women the vote. I saw it coming, but I couldn't help it! I like +the old-fashioned women best--but don't mind me!" + +"I won't," she said; "nothing is the same as it was. How can anything +go on the same? We have to change to meet new conditions and I'm +starting to-day. I'm going to give up my suite and get a +job--anything--maybe dishwashing. I'm going to do what I can to bring +things right. If every one will do that, the country is safe." + + * * * * * + +In a certain restaurant there is a little waitress with clustering +black hair and saucy little turned-up nose. She moves quickly, deftly, +decidedly, and always knows what to do. She is young, pretty, and +bright, and many a man has made up his mind to speak to her and ask +her to "go out and see a show"; but after exchanging a few remarks +with her, he changes his mind. Something tells him it would not go! +She carries trays of dishes from eight-thirty to six every day except +Sunday. She has respectfully refused to take her allowance from the +Patriotic Fund, explaining that she has a job. The separation +allowance sent to her from the Militia Department at Ottawa goes +directly into the bank, and she is able to add to it sometimes from +her wages. + +The people in the block where Mrs. Tweed lived will tell you that she +suddenly gave up her suite and moved away and they do not know where +she went, but they are very much afraid she was going "wrong." What a +lot of pleasant surprises there will be for people when they get to +heaven! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CONSERVATION + + +There are certain words which have come into general circulation since +the war. One of the very best of these is "Conservation." + +Conservation is a fine, rich-sounding, round word, agreeable to the +ear and eye, and much more aristocratic than the word "Reform," which +seems to carry with it the unpleasant suggestion of something that +needs to be changed. The dictionary, which knows everything, says that +"Conservation means the saving from destructive change the good we +already possess," which seems to be a perfectly worthy ambition for +any one to entertain. + +For many people, changes have in them an element of wickedness and +danger. I once knew a little girl who wore a sunbonnet all summer and +a hood all winter, and cried one whole day each spring and fall when +she had to make the change; for changes to her were fearsome things. + +This antagonism to change has delayed the progress of the world and +kept back many a needed reform, for people have grown to think that +whatever is must be right, and indeed have made a virtue of this +belief. + +"It was good enough for my father and it is good enough for me," cries +many a good tory (small _t_, please), thinking that by this utterance +he convinces an admiring world that all his folks have been +exceedingly fine people for generations. + +But changes are inevitable. What is true to-day may not be true +to-morrow. All our opinions should be marked, "Subject to change +without notice." We cannot all indulge ourselves in the complacency of +the maiden lady who gave her age year after year as twenty-seven, +because she said she was not one of these flighty things who say "one +thing to-day and something else to-morrow." + +Life is change. Only dead things remain as they are. Every living +thing feels the winds of the world blowing over it, beating and +buffeting it, marking and bleaching it. Change is a characteristic of +life, and we must reckon on it! Progress is Life's first law! In order +to be as good as we were yesterday, we have to be better. Life is +built on a sliding scale; we have to keep moving to keep up. There are +no rest stations on Life's long road! + +The principle of conservation is not at enmity with the spirit of +change. It is in thorough harmony with it. + +Conservation becomes a timely topic in these days of hideous waste. In +fact it will not much longer remain among the optional subjects in +Life's curriculum. Even now the Moving Finger, invisible yet to the +thoughtless, is writing after it the stern word "Compulsory." Four +hundred thousand men have been taken away from the ranks of producers +here in Canada, and have gone into the ranks of destroyers, becoming a +drain upon our resources for all that they eat, wear, and use. Many +thousand other men are making munitions, whose end is destruction and +waste. We spend more in a day now to kill and hurt our fellow men than +we ever spent in a month to educate or help them. Great new ways of +wasting and destroying our resources are going on while the old leaks +are all running wide open. More children under five years old have +died since the war than there have been men killed in battle!--and +largely from preventable "dirt-diseases" and poverty. Rats, weeds, +extravagance, general shiftlessness are still doing business at the +old stand, unmolested. + +But it is working in on us that something must be done. Now is the +time to set in force certain agencies to make good these losses in so +far as they can be repaired. Now is the time, when the excitement of +the war is still on us, when the frenzy is still in our blood, for the +time of reaction is surely to be reckoned with by and by. Now we are +sustained by the blare of the bands and the flourish of flags, but in +the cold, gray dawn of the morning after, we shall count our dead with +disillusioned eyes and wonder what was the use of all this bloodshed +and waste. Trade conditions are largely a matter of the condition of +the spirit, and ours will be drooping and drab when the tumult and +the shouting have died and the reign of reason has come back. + +Personal thrift comes naturally to our minds when we begin to think of +the lessons that we should take to heart. Up to the time of the war +and since, we have been a prodigal people, confusing extravagance with +generosity, thrift with meanness. The Indians in the old days killed +off the buffalo for the sport of killing, and left the carcases to +rot, never thinking of a time of want; and so, too, the natives in the +North Country kill the caribou for the sake of their tongues, which +are considered a real "company dish," letting the remainder of the +animal go to waste. + +This is a startling thought, and comes to one over and over again. You +will think of it when you order your twenty-five cents' worth of +cooked ham and see what you get! You will think of it again when you +come home and find that the butcher delivered your twenty-five cents' +worth of cooked ham in your absence, and, finding the door locked, +passed it through the keyhole. And yet the prodigality of the Indian +and the caribou-killer are infantile compared with the big +extravagances that go on without much comment. Economy is a broad term +used to express the many ways in which other people might save money. +Members of Parliament have been known to tell many ways in which women +might economize; their tender hearts are cut to the quick as they +notice the fancy footwear and expensive millinery worn by women. Great +economy meetings have been held in London, to which the Cabinet +Ministers rode in expensive cars, and where they drank champagne, +enjoining women to abjure the use of veils and part with their pet +dogs as a war measure; but they said not a word about the continuance +of the liquor business which rears its head in every street and has +wasted three million tons of grain since the war began. What wonder is +it that these childish appeals to the women to economize fall on deaf +or indignant ears! Women have a nasty way of making comparisons. They +were so much easier to manage before they learned to read and write. + +The war wears on its weary course. The high cost of living becomes +more and more of a nightmare to the people, yet the British Government +tolerates a system which wastes more sugar than would feed the army, +impairs the efficiency of the working-man one sixth, and wastes two +million dollars every day in what is at best a questionable +indulgence, and at worst a national menace. Speaking of economy, +personal thrift, conservation, and other "win-the-war" plans, how +would the elimination of the liquor traffic do for a start? + +There are two ways of practicing economy: one is by refusing to spend +money, which is not always a virtue; and the other is by increasing +production, which is the greatest need of this critical time. The +farmers are doing all they can: they are producing as much as they +have means and labor for. But still in Canada much land is idle, and +many people sit around wondering what they can do. There will be women +sitting on verandas in the cities and towns in the summer, knitting +socks, or maybe crocheting edges on handkerchiefs, who would gladly be +raising potatoes and chickens if they knew how to begin; and a +corresponding number of chickens and potatoes will go unraised. But +the idea of coöperation is taking root, and here and there there is a +breaking away from the conventional mode of life. The best thing about +it is that people are thinking, and pretty soon the impact of public +opinion will be so strong that there will be a national movement to +bring together the idle people and the idle land. We are paying a high +price for our tuition, but we must admit that the war is a great +teacher. + +There is a growing sentiment against the holding-up of tracts of land +by speculators waiting for the increase in value which comes by the +hard work of settlers. Every sod turned by the real, honest settler, +who comes to make his home, increases the value of the section of land +next him, probably held by a railway company, and the increase makes +it harder for some other settler to buy it. By his industry the +settler makes money for the railway company, but incidentally makes +his own chance of acquiring a neighbor more remote! + +The wild-lands tax which prevails in the western provinces of the +Dominion, and which we hope will be increased, will make it +unprofitable to hold land idle, and will do much, if made heavy +enough, to liberate land for settlement. + +As it is now, people who have no money to buy land have to go long +distances from the railroad to get homesteads, and there suffer all +the inconveniences and hardships and dangers of pioneer life, miles +from neighbors, many miles from a doctor, and without school or +church; while great tracts of splendid land lie idle and unimproved, +close beside the little towns, held in the tight clasp of a +hypothetical owner far away. + +Western Canada has a land problem which war conditions have +intensified. But people are beginning to talk of these things, and the +next few years will see radical changes. + +The coming of women into the political world should help. Women are +born conservationists. Their first game is housekeeping and +doll-mending. The doll, by preference, is a sick doll, and in need of +care. Their work is to care for, work for something, and if the +advent of women into politics does not mean that life is made easier +and safer for other women and for children, then we will have to +confess with shame and sorrow that politically we have failed! But we +are not going to fail! Already the angel has come down and has +troubled the water. Discussions are raging in women's societies and +wherever women meet together, and out of it something will come. Men +are always quite willing to be guided by women when their schemes are +sound and sane. + +In New Zealand the first political activity of women was directed +toward lowering the death-rate among children, by sending out trained +nurses to care for them and give instruction to the mothers. Ours will +follow the same line, because the heart of woman is the same +everywhere. Dreams will soon begin to come true. Good dreams always +do--in time; and why not? There is nothing too good to be true! Here +is one that is coming! + +Little Mary Wood set out bravely to do the chores; for it was +Christmas Eve, and even in the remoteness of the Abilene Valley, some +of the old-time festivity of Christmas was felt. Mary's mother had had +good times at Christmas when she was a little girl, and Mary's +imagination did the rest. Mary started out singing. + +It was a mean wind that came through the valley that night; a wind +that took no notice of Christmas, or Sunday, or even of the brave +little girl doing the chores, so that her father might not have them +to do when he came home. It was so mean that it would not even go +round Mary Wood, aged eleven, and small for her age--it went straight +through her and chattered her teeth and blued her hands, and would +have frozen her nose if she had not at intervals put her little hand +over it. + +But in spite of the wind, the chores were done at last, and Mary came +back to the house. Mary's mother was always waiting to open the door +and shut it quick again, but to-night, when Mary reached the door she +had to open it herself, for her mother had gone to bed. + +Mary was surprised at this, and hastened to the bedroom to see what +was wrong. + +Mary's mother replied to her questions quite cheerfully. She was not +sick. She was only tired. She would be all right in the morning. But +Mary Wood, aged eleven, had grown wise in her short years, and she +knew there was something wrong. Never mind; she would ask father. He +always knew everything and what to do about it. + +Going back to the kitchen she saw the writing-pad on which her mother +had been writing. Her mother did not often write letters; certainly +did not often tear them up after writing them; and here in the +home-made waste-paper basket was a torn and crumpled sheet. Mary did +not know that it was not the square thing to read other people's +letters, and, besides, she wanted to know. She spread the letter on +the table and pieced it together. Laboriously she spelled it out:-- + +"I don't know why I am so frightened this time, Lizzie, but I am black +afraid. I suppose it is because I lost the other two. I hate this +lonely, God-forsaken country. I am afraid of it to-night--it's so big +and white and far away, and it seems as if nobody cares. Mary does +not know, and I cannot tell her; but I know I should, for she may be +left with the care of Bobbie. To-night I am glad the other two are +safe. It is just awful to be a woman, Lizzie; women get it going and +coming, and the worst of it is, no one cares!" + +Mary read the letter over and over, before she grasped its meaning. +Then the terrible truth rolled over her, and her heart seemed to stop +beating. Mary had not lived her eleven years without finding out some +of the grim facts of life. She knew that the angels brought babies at +very awkward times, and to places where they were not wanted a bit, +and she also knew that sometimes, when they brought a baby, they had +been known to take the mother away. Mary had her own opinion of the +angels who did that, but it had been done. There was only one hope: +her father always knew what to do. + +She thawed a hole in the frosted window and tried to see down the +trail, but the moon was foggy and it was impossible to see more than a +few yards. + +Filled with a sense of fear and dread, she built up a good fire and +filled the kettle with water; she vigorously swept the floor and +tidied the few books on their home-made shelf. + +It was ten o'clock when her father came in, pale and worried. Mary saw +that he knew, too. + +He went past her into the bedroom and spoke hurriedly to his wife; but +Mary did not hear what they said. + +Suddenly she heard her mother cry and instinctively she ran into the +room. + +Her father stood beside the bed holding his head, as if in pain. +Mary's mother had turned her face into the pillow, and cried; and even +little Bobbie, who had been awakened by the unusual commotion, sat up, +rubbing his eyes, and cried softly to himself. + +Mary's father explained it to Mary. + +"Mrs. Roberts has gone away," he said. "I went over to see her to-day. +We were depending on her to come over and take care of your +mother--for a while--and now she has gone, and there is not another +woman between here and the Landing." + +"It's no use trying, Robert," Mrs. Wood said between her sobs; "I +can't stay--I am so frightened. I am beginning to see things--and I +know what it means. There are black things in every corner--trying to +tell me something, grinning, jabbering things--that are waiting for +me; I see them everywhere I look." + +Mr. Wood sat down beside her, and patted her hand. + +"I know, dear," he said; "it's hell, this lonely life. It's too much +for any woman, and I'll give it all up. Better to live on two meals a +day in a city than face things like this. We wanted a home of our own, +Millie,--you remember how we used to talk,--and we thought we had +found it here--good land and a running stream. We have worked hard and +it is just beginning to pay, but we'll have to quit--and I'll have to +work for some one else all my life. It was too good to be true, +Millie." + +He spoke without any bitterness in his voice, just a settled sadness, +and a great disappointment. + +Suddenly the old dog began to bark with strong conviction in every +bark, which indicated that he had really found something at last that +was worth mentioning. There was a sudden jangle of sleighbells in the +yard, and Mary's father went hastily to the door and called to the dog +to be quiet. A woman walked into the square of light thrown on the +snow from the open door, and asked if this was the place where a nurse +was needed. + +Mr. Wood reached out and took her big valise and brought her into the +house, too astonished to speak. He was afraid she might vanish. + +She threw off her heavy coat before she spoke, and then, as she wiped +the frost from her eyebrows, she explained:-- + +"I am what is called a pioneer nurse, and I am sent to take care of +your wife, as long as she needs me. You see the women in Alberta have +the vote now, and they have a little more to say about things than +they used to have, and one of the things they are keen on is to help +pioneer women over their rough places. Your neighbor, Mrs. Roberts, on +her way East, reported your wife's case, and so I am here. The +Mounted Police brought me out, and I have everything that is needed." + +"But I don't understand!" Mr. Wood began. + +"No!" said the nurse; "it is a little queer, isn't it? People have +spent money on pigs and cattle and horses, and have bonused railways +and elevator companies, or anything that seemed to help the country, +while the people who were doing the most for the country, the +settlers' wives, were left to live or die as seemed best to them. +Woman's most sacred function is to bring children into the world, and +if all goes well, why, God bless her!--but when things go wrong--God +help her! No one else was concerned at all. But, as I told you, women +vote now in Alberta, and what they say goes. Men are always ready to +help women in any good cause, but, naturally enough, they don't see +the tragedy of the lonely woman, as women see it. They are just as +sympathetic, but they do not know what to do. Some time ago, before +the war, there was an agitation to build a monument to the pioneer +women, a great affair of marble and stone. The women did not warm up +to it at all. They pointed out that it was poor policy to build +monuments to brave women who had died, while other equally brave women +in similar circumstances were being let die! So they sort of frowned +down the marble monument idea, and began to talk of nurses instead. + +"So here I am," concluded Mrs. Sanderson, as she hung up her coat and +cap. "I am a monument to those who are gone, and the free gift of the +people of Alberta to you and your wife, in slight appreciation of the +work you are doing in settling the country and making all the land in +this district more valuable. They are a little late in acknowledging +what they owe the settler, but it took the women a few years to get +the vote, and then a little while longer to get the woman's point of +view before the public." + +Mary Wood stood at her father's side while the nurse spoke, drinking +in every word. + +"But who pays?" asked Mary's father--"who pays for this?" + +"It is all simple enough," said the nurse. "There are many millions +of acres in Alberta held by companies, and by private owners, who live +in New York, London, and other places, who hold this land idle, +waiting for the prices to go up. The prices advance with the coming-in +of settlers like yourself, and these owners get the benefit. The +Government thinks these landowners should be made to pay something +toward helping the settlers, so they have put on a wild-lands tax of +one per cent of the value of the land; they have also put a telephone +tax on each unoccupied section, which will make it as easy for you to +get a telephone as if every section was settled; and they have also a +hospital tax, and will put up a hospital next year, where free +treatment will be given to every one who belongs to the municipality. + +"The idea is to tax the wild land so heavily that it will not be +profitable for speculators to hold it, and it will be released for +real, sure-enough settlers. The Government holds to the view that it +is better to make homes for many people than to make fortunes for a +few people." + +Mary's father sat down with a great sigh that seemed half a laugh and +half a sob. + +"What is it you said the women have now?" asked Mary. + +The nurse explained carefully to her small but interested audience. +When she was done, Mary Wood, aged eleven, had chosen her life-work. + +"Now I know what I'll be when I grow big," she said; "I intended to be +a missionary, but I've changed my mind--I am going to be a Voter!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"PERMISSION" + + He walked among us many years, + And yet we failed to understand + That there was courage in his fears + And strength within his gentle hand: + We did not mean to be unkind, + But we were dull of heart and mind! + + * * * * * + + But when the drum-beat through the night + And men were called, with voice austere, + To die for England's sake--and right, + He was the first to answer, "Here!" + His courage, long submerged, arose, + When at her gates, knocked England's foes! + + * * * * * + + And so to-day, where the brave dead + Sleep sweetly amid Flemish bowers, + One grave, in thought, is garlanded + With prairie flowers! + + And if the dead in realms of bliss + Can think on those they knew below, + He'll know we're sorry, and that this + Is our poor way of saying so! + + +The war has put a new face on our neighborhood life; it has searched +out and tried the hidden places of our souls, and strange, indeed, +have been its findings. By its severe testings some of those who we +thought were our strongest people have been abased, and some of the +weak ones have been exalted. There were some of our people who were +good citizens in the normal times of peace, but who could not stand +against the sterner test of war; and then again we have found the true +worth of some of those whom in our dull, short-sighted way we did not +know! + +Stanley Goodman came to our neighborhood when he was a lad of sixteen. +The Church of England clergyman, who knew his people in England, +brought him to Mrs. Corbett, who kept the Black Creek Stopping House, +and asked her if she could give him a room and look after him. He told +her of the great wealth and social position of the family who were +willing to pay well for the boy's keep. + +"If they are as well off as all that," said Mrs. Corbett, "why are +they sending the wee lad out here, away from all of them?" + +The clergyman found it hard to explain. "It seems that this boy is not +quite like the other members of the family--not so bright, I take +it," he said; "and the father particularly is a bit disappointed in +him!" + +"Do you mean," said Mrs. Corbett, "that they are ashamed of the poor +little fellow, and are sending him out here to get rid of him? Faith, +if that's the kind of heathen there is in England I don't know why +they send missionaries out here to preach to us. Bad and all as we +are, there is none of us that would do the like of that!" + +"They will provide handsomely for him in every way, Mrs. Corbett, and +leave no wish ungratified," the minister said uneasily. + +Mrs. Corbett was a difficult person in some ways. + +"Oh, sure, they will give him everything but love and home, and +that'll be what the poor wee lad will hunger for! Money is a queer +thing for sure, when it will make a mother forget the child that she +brought into the world!" + +"I think the mother--from what I can gather--wanted to keep the boy, +but the father is a very proud man, and this lad aggravated him some +way just to see him, and the mother yielded to his wishes, as a true +wife should, and for the sake of peace has withdrawn her objections." + +"A poor soft fool, that's all she is, to let a domineering old +reprobate send her poor lad away, just because he did not like to see +him around, and him his own child! And even you, Mr. Tilton, who have +been out here living with civilized people for three years, have +enough of the old country way in you yet to say that a true wife +should consent to this to please the old tyrant! Faith, I don't blame +the Suffragettes for smashing windows, and if I wasn't so busy feeding +hungry men, I believe I would go over and give them a hand, only I +would be more careful what I was smashing and would not waste my time +on innocent windows!" + +"But you will take him, won't you, Mrs. Corbett? I will feel quite +easy about him if you will!" + +"I suppose I'll have to. I can't refuse when his own have deserted +him! I would be a poor member of the Army if I did not remember Our +Lord's promise to the poor children when their fathers and mothers +forsake them, and I will try to carry it out as well as I can." + +Stanley was soon established in the big white-washed room in Mrs. +Corbett's boarding-house. He brought with him everything that any boy +could ever want, and his room, which he kept spotlessly clean, with +its beautiful rug, pictures, and books, was the admiration of the +neighborhood. + +Stanley understood the situation and spoke of it quite frankly. + +"My father thought it better for me to come away for a while, to see +if it would not toughen me up a bit. He has been rather disappointed +in me, I think. You see, I had an accident when I was a little fellow +and since then I have not been--quite right." + +"Just think of that," Mrs. Corbett said afterwards in telling it to a +sympathetic group of "Stoppers." "It wouldn't be half so bad if the +poor boy didn't know that he is queer. I tried to reason it out of +him, but he said that he had heard the housekeeper and the parlor-maid +at home talking of it, and they said he was a bit looney. It wouldn't +be half so bad for him if he was not so near to being all right! If +ever I go wrong in the head I hope I'll be so crazy that I won't know +that I'm crazy. Craziness is like everything else--it's all right if +you have enough of it!" + +"Stanley is not what any one would call crazy," said one of the +Stoppers; "the only thing I can see wrong with him is that you always +know what he is going to say, and he is too polite, and every one can +fool him! He certainly is a good worker, and there's another place he +shows that he is queer, for he doesn't need to work and still he does +it! He likes it, and thanked me to-day for letting him clean my team; +and as a special favor I'm going to let him hitch them up when I am +ready to go!" + +Stanley busied himself about the house, and was never so happy as when +he was rendering some service to some one. But even in his happiest +moments there was always the wistful longing for home, and when he was +alone with Mrs. Corbett he freely spoke of his hopes and fears. + +"It may not be so long before they begin to think that they would like +to see me; do you think that it is really true that absence makes the +heart grow fonder--even of people--like me? I keep thinking that maybe +they will send for me after a while and let me stay for a few days +anyway. My mother will want to see me, I am almost sure,--indeed, she +almost said as much,--and she said many times that she hoped that I +would be quite happy; and when I left she kissed me twice, and even +the governor shook hands with me and said, 'You will be all right out +there in Canada.' He was so nice with me, it made it jolly hard to +leave." + +Another day, as he dried the dishes for her, assuring her that it was +a real joy for him to be let do this, he analyzed the situation +again:-- + +"My father's people are all very large and handsome," he said, "and +have a very commanding way with them; my father has always been +obeyed, and always got what he wanted. It was my chin which bothered +him the most. It is not much of a chin, I know; it retreats, doesn't +it? But I cannot help it. But I have always been a bitter +disappointment to him, and it really has been most uncomfortable for +mother--he seemed to blame her some way, too; and often and often I +found her looking at me so sadly and saying, 'Poor Stanley!' and all +my aunts, when they came to visit, called me that. It was--not +pleasant." + +Every week his letter came from home, with books and magazines and +everything that a boy could wish for. His delight knew no bounds. +"They must think something of me," he said over and over again! At +first he wrote a letter to his mother every day, but a curt note came +from his father one day telling him that he must try to interest +himself in his surroundings and that it would be better if he wrote +only once a week! The weekly letter then became an event, and he +copied it over many times. Mrs. Corbett, busy with her work of feeding +the traveling public, often paused long enough in her work of peeling +the potatoes or rolling out pie-crust to wipe her hands hastily and +read the letter that he had written and pass judgment on it. + +Feeling that all green Englishmen were their legitimate prey for +sport, the young bloods of the neighborhood, led by Pat Brennan, Mrs. +Corbett's nephew, began to tell Stanley strange and terrible stories +of Indians, and got him to send home for rifles and knives to defend +himself and the neighborhood from their traitorous raids, "which were +sure to be made on the settlements as soon as the cold weather came +and the Indians got hungry." He was warned that he must not speak to +Mrs. Corbett about this, for it is never wise to alarm the women. "We +will have trouble enough without having a lot of hysterical women on +our hands," said Pat. + +After the weapons had come "The Exterminators" held a session behind +closed doors to see what was the best plan of attack, and decided that +they would not wait for the Indians to begin the trouble, but would +make war on them. They decided that they would beat the bushes for +Indians down in the river-bottom, while Stanley would sit at a certain +point of vantage in a clump of willows, and as the Indians ran past +him, he would pot them! + +Stanley had consented to do this only after he had heard many tales of +Indian treachery and cruelty to the settlers and their families! + +The plan was carried out and would no doubt have been successful, but +for the extreme scarcity of Indians in our valley. + +All night long Stanley sat at his post, peering into the night, armed +to the teeth, shivering with the cold wind that blew through the +valley. His teeth chattered with fright sometimes, too, as the bushes +rustled behind him, and an inquisitive old cow who came nosing the +willows never knew how near death she had been. Meanwhile his +traitorous companions went home and slept soundly and sweetly in their +warm beds. + +"And even after he found out that we were fooling him, he was not a +bit sore," said Pat. "He tried to laugh! That is what made me feel +cheap--he is too easy; it's too much like taking candy from a kid. And +he was mighty square about it, too, and he never told Aunt Maggie how +he got the cold, for he slipped into bed that morning and she didn't +know he was out." + +Another time the boys set him to gathering the puff-balls that grew in +abundance in the hay meadow, assuring him that they were gopher-eggs +and if placed under a hen would hatch out young gophers. + +Stanley was wild with enthusiasm when he heard this and hastened to +pack a box full to send home. "They _will_ be surprised," he said. +Fortunately, Mrs. Corbett found out about this before the box was +sent, and she had to tell him that the boys were only in fun. + +When she told him that the boys had been just having sport there came +over his face such a look of sadness and pain, such a deeply hurt +look, that Mrs. Corbett went back to the barn and thrashed her sturdy +young nephew, all over again. + +When the matter came up for discussion again, Stanley implored her not +to speak of it any more, and not to hold it against the boys. "It was +not their fault at all," he said; "it all comes about on account of my +being--not quite right. I am not quite like other boys, but when they +play with me I forget it and I believe what they say. There +is--something wrong with me,--and it makes people want--to have sport +with me; but it is not their fault at all." + +"Well, they won't have sport with you when I am round," declared Mrs. +Corbett stoutly. + +Years rolled by and Stanley still cherished the hope that some day +"permission" would come for him to go home. He grew very fast and +became rather a fine-looking young man. Once, emboldened by a +particularly kind letter from his mother, he made the request that he +should be allowed to go home for a few days. "If you will let me come +home even for one day, dearest mother," he wrote, "I will come right +back content, and father will not need to see me at all. I want to +stand once more before that beautiful Tissot picture of Christ holding +the wounded lamb in his arms, and I would like to see the hawthorn +hedge when it is in bloom as it will be soon, and above all, dear +mother, I want to see you. And I will come directly away." + +He held this letter for many days, and was only emboldened to send it +by Mrs. Corbett's heartiest assurances that it was a splendid letter +and that his mother would like it! + +"I do not want to give my mother trouble," he said. "She has already +had much trouble with me; but it might make her more content to see me +and to know that I am so well--and happy." + +After the letter had been sent, Stanley counted the days anxiously, +and on the big map of Canada that hung on the kitchen wall he followed +its course until it reached Halifax, and then his mind went with it +tossing on the ocean. + +"I may get my answer any day after Friday," he said. "Of course I do +not expect it right off--it will take some little time for mother to +speak to father, and, besides, he might not be at home; so I must not +be disappointed if it seems long to wait." + +Friday passed and many weeks rolled by, and still Stanley was hopeful. +"They are considering," he said, "and that is so much better than if +they refused; and perhaps they are looking about a boat--I think that +must be what is keeping the letter back. I feel so glad and happy +about it, it seems that permission must be coming." + +In a month a bulky parcel came to him by express. It contained a +framed picture of the Good Shepherd carrying the lost lamb in his +arms; a box of hawthorn blossoms, faded but still fragrant, and a book +which gave directions for playing solitaire in one hundred and +twenty-three ways!! + +Mrs. Corbett hastened to his room when she heard the cry of pain that +escaped his lips. He stood in the middle of the floor with the book in +his hand. All the boyishness had gone out of his face, which now had +the spent look of one who has had a great fright or suffered great +pain. The book on solitaire had pierced through his cloudy brain with +the thought that his was a solitary part in life, and for a few +moments he went through the panicky grief of the faithful dog who +finds himself left on the shore while his false master sails gayly +away! + +"I will be all right directly," he stammered, making a pitiful effort +to control his tears. + +Mrs. Corbett politely appeared not to notice, and went hastily +downstairs, and although not accustomed to the use of the pen, yet she +took it in hand and wrote a letter to Stanley's father. + +"It is a pity that your poor lad did not inherit some of your hardness +of heart, Mr. Goodman," the letter began, "for if he did he would not +be upstairs now breakin his and sobbin it out of him at your cruel +answer to his natural request that he might go home and see his +mother. But he has a heart of gold wherever he got it I don't know, +and it is just a curse to him to be so constant in his love for home, +when there is no love or welcome there for him. He is a lad that any +man might well be proud of him, that gentle and kind and honest and +truthful, not like most of the young doods that come out here drinkin +and carousin and raisin the divil. mebbe you would like him better if +he was and this is just to tell you that we like your boy here and we +dont think much of the way you are using him and I hope that you will +live to see the day that you will regret with tears more bitter than +he is sheddin now the way you have treated him, and with these few +lines I will close M corbett." + +How this letter was received at Mayflower Lodge, Bucks, England, is +not known, for no answer was ever sent; and although the letters to +Stanley came regularly, his wish to go home was not mentioned in any +of them. Neither did he ever refer to it again. + +"Say, Stan," said young Pat one day, suddenly smitten with a bright +thought, "why don't you go home anyway? You have lots of money--why +don't you walk in on 'em and give 'em a surprise?" + +"It would not be playing the game, Pat; thank you all the same, old +chap," said Stanley heartily, "but I will not go home without +permission." + +After that Stanley got more and more reticent about the people at +home. He seemed to realize that they had cut him off, but the homesick +look never left his eyes. His friends now were the children of the +neighborhood and the animals. Dogs, cats, horses, and children +followed him, and gave him freely of their affection. He worked happy +hours in Mrs. Corbett's garden, and "Stanley's flowers" were the +admiration of the neighborhood. + +When he was not busy in the garden, he spent long hours beside the +river in a beautifully fashioned seat which he had made for himself, +beneath a large poplar tree. "It is the wind in the tree-tops that I +like," he said. "It whispers to me. I can't tell what it says, but it +says something. I like trees--they are like people some way--only more +patient and friendly." + +The big elms and spruce of the river valley rustled and whispered +together, and the poplars shook their coin-like leaves as he lay +beneath their shade. The trees were trying to be kind to him, as the +gray olive trees in Gethsemane were kind to One Other when his own had +forgotten Him! + + * * * * * + +When the news of the war fell upon the Pembina Valley, it did not +greatly disturb the peacefulness of that secluded spot. The well-to-do +farmers who had held their grain over openly rejoiced at the prospect +of better prices, and the younger men, when asked to enlist, replied +by saying that the people who made the war had better do the fighting +because they had no ambition to go out and stop German bullets. The +general feeling was that it would soon be over. + +At the first recruiting meeting Stanley volunteered his services by +walking down the aisle of the church at the first invitation. The +recruiting officer motioned to him to be seated, and that he would see +him after the meeting. + +Stanley waited patiently until every person was gone, and then timidly +said, "And now, sir, will you please tell me what I am to do?" + +The recruiting officer, a dapper little fellow, very pompous and +important, turned him down mercilessly. Stanley was dismayed. He +wandered idly out of the church and was about to start off on his +four-mile walk to the Stopping House when a sudden impulse seized him +and he followed the recruiting agent to the house where he was +staying. + +He overtook him just as he was going into the house, and, seizing him +by the arm, cried, "Don't you see, sir, that you must take me? I am +strong and able--I tell you I am no coward--what have you against me, +I want to know?" + +The recruiting officer hesitated. Confound it all! It is a hard thing +to tell a man that he is not exactly right in the head. + +But he did not need to say it, for Stanley beat him to it. "I know +what's wrong," he said; "you think I'm not very bright--I am not, +either. But don't you see, war is an elemental sort of thing. I can do +what I'm told--and I can fight. What does it matter if my head is not +very clear on some things which are easy to you? And don't you see how +much I want to go? Life has not been so sweet that I should want to +hold on to it. The young men here do not want to go, for they are +having such a good time. But there is nothing ahead of me that holds +me back. Can't you see that, sir? Won't you pass me on, anyway, and +let me have my chance? Give me a trial; it's time enough to turn me +down when I fail at something. Won't you take me, sir?" + +The recruiting officer sadly shook his head. Stanley watched him in an +agony of suspense. Here was his way out--his way of escape from this +body of death that had hung over him ever since he could remember. He +drew nearer to the recruiting officer,--"For God's sake, sir, take +me!" he cried. + +Then the recruiting officer pulled himself together and grew firm and +commanding. "I won't take you," he said, "and that's all there is +about it. This is a job for grown-up men and men with all their wits +about them. You would faint at the sight of blood and cry when you saw +the first dead man." + +In a few weeks another recruiting meeting was held, and again Stanley +presented himself when the first invitation was given. The recruiting +officer remembered him, and rather impatiently told him to sit down. +Near the front of the hall sat the German-American storekeeper of the +neighboring town, who had come to the meeting to see what was going +on, and had been interrupting the speaker with many rude remarks; and +when Stanley, in his immaculate suit of gray check, his gray spats, +and his eyeglass, passed by where he was sitting, it seemed as if all +his slumbering hatred for England burst at once into flame! + +"My word!" he mimicked, "'ere's a rum 'un--somebody should warn the +Kaiser! It's not fair to take the poor man unawares--here is some of +the real old English fighting-stock." + +Stanley turned in surprise and looked his tormentor in the face. His +look of insipid good-nature lured the German on. + +"That is what is wrong with the British Empire," he jeered; "there are +too many of these underbred aristocrats, all pedigree and no brains, +like the long-nosed collies. God help them when they meet the +Germans--that is all I have to say!" + +He was quite right in his last sentence--that was all he had to say. +It was his last word for the evening, and it looked as if it might be +his last word for an indefinite time, for the unexpected happened. + +Psychologists can perhaps explain it. We cannot. Stanley, who like +charity had borne all things, endured all things, believed all things, +suddenly became a new creature, a creature of rage, blind, consuming, +terrible! You have heard of the worm turning? This was a case of a +worm turning into a tank! + +People who were there said that Stanley seemed to grow taller, his +eyes glowed, his chin grew firm, his shoulders ceased to be +apologetic. He whirled upon the German and landed a blow on his jaw +that sounded like a blow-out! Before any one could speak, it was +followed by another and the German lay on the floor! + +Then Stanley turned to the astonished audience and delivered the most +successful recruiting speech that had ever been given in the Pembina +Valley. + +"You have sat here all evening," he cried, "and have listened to this +miserable hound insulting your country--this man who came here a few +years ago without a cent and now has made a fortune in Canada, and I +have no doubt is now conspiring with Canada's enemies, and would +betray us into the hands of those enemies if he could. For this man I +have the hatred which one feels for an enemy, but for you Canadians +who have sat here and swallowed his insults, I have nothing but +contempt. This man belongs to the race of people who cut hands off +children, and outrage women; and now, when our Empire calls for men to +go out and stop these devilish things, you sit here and let this +traitor insult your country. You are all braver than I am, too; I am +only a joke to most of you, a freak, a looney,--you have said so,--but +I won't stand for this." + +That night recruiting began in the valley and Stanley was the first +man to sign on. The recruiting agent felt that it was impossible to +turn down a man who had shown so much fighting spirit; and, besides, +he was a small man and he had a face which he prized highly! + +When the boys of the valley went to Valcartier there was none among +them who had more boxes of home-made candy or more pairs of socks than +Stanley; nor was any woman prouder of her boy than Mrs. Corbett was +of the lad she had taken into her home and into her heart ten years +before. + +They were sent overseas almost at once, and, after a short training in +England, went at once to the firing-line. + + * * * * * + +It was a dull, foggy morning, and although it was quite late the +street-lamps were still burning, and while they could not make much +impression on the darkness, at least they made a luminous top on the +lamp-posts and served as a guide to the travelers who made their way +into the city. In the breakfast-room of Mayflower Lodge it was dark, +and gloomier still, for "the master" was always in his worst mood in +the morning, and on this particular morning his temper was aggravated +by the presence of his wife's mother and two sisters from Leith, who +always made him envious of the men who marry orphans, who are also the +last of their race. + +Mr. Goodman was discussing the war-situation, and abusing the +Government in that peculiarly bitter way of the British patriot. + +His wife, a faded, subdued little woman, sat opposite him and +contributed to the conversation twittering little broken phrases of +assent. Her life had been made up of scenes like this. She was of the +sweet and pliable type, which, with the best intentions in the world, +has made life hard for other women. + +Mr. Goodman gradually worked back to his old grievance. + +"This is a time for every man to do his bit, and here am I too old to +go and with no son to represent me--I who came from a family of six +sons! Anyway, why doesn't the Government pass conscription and drag +out the slackers who lounge in the parks and crowd the theaters?" + +Aunt Louisa paused in the act of helping herself to marmalade and +regarded him with great displeasure; then cried shrilly:-- + +"Now, Arthur, that is nothing short of treason, for I tell you we will +not allow our dear boys to be taken away like galley-slaves; I tell +you Britons never, never shall be slaves, and I for one will never let +my Bertie go--his young life is too precious to be thrown away. I +spent too many nights nursing him through every infantile +disease--measles, whooping-cough,--you know yourself, my dear +Clara,--beside the times that he broke his arm and his leg; though I +still think that the cold compress is the best for a delicate +constitution, and I actually ordered the doctor out of the house--" + +"What has that to do with conscription?" asked her brother-in-law +gruffly. "I tell you it is coming and no one will be gladder than I +am." + +"I think it is nothing short of unkind the way that you have been +speaking of the Germans. I know I never got muffins like the muffins I +got in Berlin that time; and, anyway, there are plenty of the commoner +people to go to fight, and they have such large families that they +will not miss one as I would miss my Bertie, and he has just recently +become engaged to such a dear girl! In our home we simply try to +forget this stupid war, but when I come here I hear nothing else--I +wonder how you stand it, dear Clara." + +Aunt Louisa here dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief in a way that +her brother-in-law particularly detested. + +"You will hear more about the war some of these days," he said, "when +a German Zeppelin drops bombs on London." + +Aunt Louisa came as near snorting as a well-bred lady could come, so +great was her disdain at this suggestion. + +"Zeppelin!" she said scornfully--"on England!! You forget, sir, that +we are living in a civilized age! Zeppelin! Indeed, and who would let +them, I wonder! I am surprised at you, sir, and so is mother, although +she has not spoken." + +"You will probably be more surprised before long; life is full of +surprises these days." + +Just then the butler brought him a wire, the contents of which seemed +to bear out this theory, for it told him that Private Stanley Goodman, +of the First Canadian Battalion, for conspicuous bravery under fire +had been recommended for the D.C.M., but regretted to inform him that +Private Goodman had been seriously wounded and was now in the Third +Canadian Hospital, Flanders. + +The nursing sister, accustomed to strange sights, wondered why this +wounded man was so cold, and then she noticed that he had not on his +overcoat, and she asked him why he was not wearing it on such a bitter +cold night as this. In spite of all his efforts his teeth chattered as +he tried to answer her. + +"I had to leave a dead friend of mine on the field to-night," said +Stanley, speaking with difficulty. "And I could not leave him there +with the rain falling on him, could I, sister? It seemed hard to have +to leave him, anyway, but we got all the wounded in." + + * * * * * + +In twenty-four hours after they received the telegram his father and +mother stood by his bedside. Only his eyes and his forehead could be +seen, for the last bullet which struck him had ploughed its way +through his cheek; the chin which had so offended his father's +artistic eye--what was left of it--was entirely hidden by the bandage. +The chill which he had taken, with the loss of blood, and the shock of +a shrapnel wound in his side, made recovery impossible, the nurse +said. While they stood beside the bed waiting for him to open his +eyes, the nurse told them of his having taken off his coat to cover a +dead comrade. + +When at last Stanley opened his eyes, there was a broken and sorrowful +old man, from whose spirit all the imperious pride had gone, kneeling +by his bedside and humbly begging his forgiveness. On the other side +of the bed his mother stood with a great joy in her faded face. + +"Stanley--Stanley," sobbed his father, every reserve broken down; "I +have just found you--and now how can I lose you so soon. Try to live +for my sake, and let me show you how sorry I am." + +Stanley's eyes showed the distress which filled his tender heart. + +"Please don't, father," he said, speaking with difficulty; "I am only +very happy--indeed, quite jolly. But you mustn't feel sorry, father--I +have been quite a duffer! thanks awfully for all you have done for +me--I know how disappointed you were in me--I did want to make good +for your sakes and it is a bit rough that now--I should be +obliged--to die.... But it is best to go while the going is +good--isn't it, sir? It's all a beautiful dream--to me--and it does +seem--so jolly--to have you both here." + +He lay still for a long time; then, rousing himself, said, "I'm afraid +I have been dreaming again--no, this is father; you are sure, sir, are +you?--about the medal and all that--and this is mother, is it?--it is +all quite like going home--I am so happy; it seems as if permission +had come." + +He laughed softly behind his bandages, a queer, little, choking, happy +laugh; and there, with his mother's arms around him, while his father, +stern no longer, but tender and loving, held his hand, "permission" +came and the homesick, hungry heart of the boy entered into rest. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SLACKER--IN UNIFORM + + +Mrs. P.A. Brunton was convinced that she was an exceptional woman in +every way. She would tell you this in the first fifteen minutes of +conversation that you had with her, for many of her sentences began, +"Now, I know, of course, that I am peculiar in many ways"; or, "I am +afraid you will not understand me when I say this"; or, "I am afraid I +am hopelessly old-fashioned in this." She would explain with +painstaking elaboration that she did not know why she was so peculiar, +but her manner indicated that she was quite content to be so; indeed, +it can only be described as one of boastful resignation. She seemed to +glory in her infirmity. + +Mrs. Brunton was quite opposed to women voting, and often spoke with +sorrow of the movement, which to her meant the breaking-up of the home +and all its sacred traditions. She did not specify how this would be +done, but her attitude toward all new movements was one of keen +distrust. She often said that of course she would be able to vote +intelligently, for she had had many advantages and had listened to +discussions of public matters all her life, having been brought up in +an atmosphere of advanced thinking; but she realized that her case was +an exceptional one. It was not the good fortune of every woman to have +had a college course as she had, and she really could not see what +good could come from a movement which aimed at making all women equal! +Why, if women ever got the vote, an ignorant washwoman's vote might +kill hers! It was so much better to let women go on as they were +going, exerting their indirect influence; and then it was the woman of +wealth and social prestige who was able to exert this influence, just +as it should be! She certainly did not crave a vote, and would do all +she could to prevent other women from getting it. + +Mrs. Brunton had come from the East, and although she had lived many +years in the West, she could never forget what a sacrifice she had +made by coming to a new country. Being a college graduate, too, seemed +to be something she could not outgrow! + +When her only boy was old enough to go to school, she became the +teacher's bad dream, for she wrote many notes and paid many calls to +explain that Garth was not at all like other children and must not be +subjected to the same discipline as they, for he had a proud and +haughty spirit that would not submit to discipline unless it were +tactfully disguised. Garth was a quiet, mild little lad who would have +been much like other boys if left alone. + +Garth was twenty years old when the war began, and he was then +attending the university. He first spoke of enlisting when the war had +gone on a year. + +"Enlist!" his mother cried, when he mentioned it to her, "I should say +not--you are my only child, and I certainly did not raise you to be a +soldier. There are plenty of common people to do the fighting; there +are men who really like it; but I have other ambitions for you--you +are to be a university man." + +When the Third University Company went, he spoke of it again, but his +mother held firm. + +"Do you think I am going to have you sleeping in those awful trenches, +with every Tom, Dick, and Harry? I tell you soldiering is a rough +business, and I cannot let a boy of mine go--a boy who has had your +advantages must not think of it." + +"But, mother, there are lots of boys going who have had just as good +advantages as I have." + +Just then came in Emily Miller, the little girl from next door whose +brother was going away the next day. Emily was an outspoken young lady +of fourteen. + +"When are you going, Garth?" she asked pointedly. + +"He is not going," said his mother firmly. "His duty is at home +finishing his education, and I am simply amazed at your mother for +letting Robert go. Does she not believe in education? Of course I know +there are not many who lay the stress on it that I do, but with me it +is education first--always." + +"But the war won't wait," said Emily; "my mother would be very glad to +have Bob finish his education, but she's afraid it will be over then." + +"War or no war, I say let the boys get their education--what is life +without it?" + +Emily surveyed her calmly, and then said, "What would happen to us if +every mother held her boy back--what if every mother took your +attitude, Mrs. Brunton?" + +"You need not speculate on that, child, for they won't. Most mothers +run with the popular fancy--they go with the crowd--never thinking, +but I have always been peculiar, I know." + +"Oh, mother, cut out that 'peculiar' business--it makes me tired!" +said Garth undutifully. + +When Robert Miller came in to say good-bye, he said: "You'll be +lonesome, Garth, when we all go and you are left with the women and +the old men--but perhaps you will enjoy being the only young man at +the party." + +"Garth may go later," said his mother,--"at least if the war lasts +long enough,--but not as a private. I will not object to his taking +the officers' classes at the university." + +"See, Bob," crowed Garth, "I'll have you and Jim Spaulding for my two +batmen over there. But never mind, I'll be good to you and will see +that you get your ha'pennyworth of 'baccy and mug of beer regular." + +Mrs. Brunton laughed delightedly. "Garth always sees the funny side," +she cooed. + +"That certainly is a funny side all right," said Robert, "but he'll +never see it! These pasteboard officers never last after they get +over--they can only carry it off here. Over there, promotions are on +merit, not on political pull." + +The third, fourth, and fifth contingents went from the university, and +still Garth pursued the quest of learning. His mother openly rebuked +the mothers of the boys who had gone. "Let the man on the street go! +Look at the unemployed men on our streets!" she said; "why aren't they +made to go--and leave our university boys at home?" + +"Every man owes a duty to his country," one of the mothers said. "If +one man neglects or refuses to pay, that is no reason for others to +do the same. This is a holy war--holier than any of the crusades--for +the crusader went out to restore the tomb of our Lord, and that is +only a material thing; but our boys are going out to give back to the +world our Lord's ideals, and I know they are more precious to Him than +any tomb could be!" + +"My dear Mrs. Mason," said Garth's mother, "you are simply war-mad +like so many women--it is impossible to reason with you." + +A year went by, and many of the university boys were wounded and some +were killed. To the mothers of these went Mrs. Brunton with words of +sympathy, but came away wondering. Some way they did not seem to +receive her warmly. + +"Where is Garth now?" asked one of these women. + +"He's thinking of taking the officers' training," answered Mrs. +Brunton, "as soon as the college term closes. A boy meets the very +nicest people there, and I do think that is so important, to meet nice +people." + +"And no Germans!" said the other woman tartly. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Brunton gave a very select and intellectual farewell party for +Garth when he went to another city to take the officers' training, and +she referred to him as "my brave soldier laddie," much to the +amusement of some of the party. + +In two weeks he came home on leave of absence, very elegant in his new +uniform. He also brought cabinet-sized photographs which cost eighteen +dollars a dozen. Another party was held--the newspaper said he was the +"_raison d'être_ for many pleasant social gatherings." + +At the end of two weeks he went out again to take more classes. He was +very popular with the girls, and the mother of one of them came to +visit Mrs. Brunton. They agreed on the subject of military training +and education, and exceptional women, and all was gay and happy. + +At the end of three months Garth again came home. No hero from the +scenes of battle was ever more royally received, and an afternoon +reception was held, when patriotic songs were sung and an uncle of the +young man made a speech. + +Soon after that Garth went to Toronto and took another course, because +his mother thought it was only right for him to see his own country +first, before going abroad; and, besides, no commission had yet been +offered him. The short-sightedness of those in authority was a subject +which Mrs. Brunton often dwelt on, but she said she could not help +being glad. + +Meanwhile the war went wearily on; battalion after battalion went out +and scattering remnants came home. Empty sleeves, rolled trousers +legs, eyes that stared, and heads that rolled pitifully appeared on +the streets. On the sunshiny afternoons many of these broken men sat +on the verandas of the Convalescent Home and admired the smart young +lieutenant who went whistling by--and wondered what force he was with. + +The war went on to the completion of its third year. Garth had +attended classes in three cities, and had traveled Canada from end to +end. There had been four farewell parties and three receptions in his +honor. He came home again for what his mother termed "a well-earned +rest." + +He sat on the veranda one day luxuriously ensconced in a wicker chair, +smoking a cigarette whose blue wreaths of smoke he blew gayly from +him. He was waiting for the postman--one of Mae's letters had +evidently gone astray, and the postman, who seemed to be a stupid +fellow, had probably given it to some one else. He had made several +mistakes lately, and Garth determined that it was time he was +reprimanded--the young officer would attend to that. + +"Posty" came at last, a few minutes late again, and Garth rapped +imperiously with his cane, as "Posty," peering at the addresses of the +letters, came up the steps. + +"See here," cried Garth, "let me see what you have!" + +"Posty" started nervously and the letters dropped from his hands. +While he gathered them up, Garth in his most military manner delivered +himself of a caustic rebuke:-- + +"You have left letters here which belong elsewhere, and I have lost +letters through your carelessness. What is the matter with you +anyway--can't you read?" he snapped. + +"Yes, sir," stammered "Posty," flushing as red as the band on his hat. + +"Well, then," went on the young officer, "why don't you use your +eyes--where do you keep them anyway?" + +"Posty" stood at attention as he answered with measured +deliberation:-- + +"I have one of them here ... but I left the other one at Saint-Éloi. +Were you thinking of hunting it up for me, sir,--when--you--go--over?" + + * * * * * + +That was six weeks ago. Still the war goes on. Returned men walk our +streets, new pale faces lie on hospital pillows, telegraph boys on +wheels carry dread messages to the soldiers' homes. + +Garth has gone back to an Eastern city for another course (this time +in signaling). He gave a whole set of buttons off his uniform to Mae +before he went--and he had his photograph taken again! + +Even if he does not get over in time to do much in this war, it is +worth something to have such a perfectly trained young officer ready +for the next war! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +NATIONAL SERVICE--ONE WAY + + +There are some phrases in our conversations now that are used so often +that they seem to be in some danger of losing their meaning. The snap +goes out of them by too much handling, like an elastic band which has +been stretched too far. One of these is "national service." + +If the work of the soldier, who leaves home, position, and safety +behind him, and goes forth to meet hardship and danger, receiving as +recompense one dollar and ten cents per day, is taken as the standard +of comparison, the question of national service becomes very simple, +indeed, for there is but one class, and no other that is even +distantly related to it, but if national service is taken to mean the +doing of something for our country's good which we would not feel it +our duty to do but for the emergencies created by the war, then there +are many ways in which the sincere citizen may serve. + +The Abilene Valley School was closed all last year, and weeds are +growing in the garden in which the year before flowers and vegetables, +scarlet runners and cabbages, poppies and carrots, had mingled in wild +profusion. The art-muslin curtains are draggled and yellow, and some +of the windows, by that strange fate which overtakes the windows in +unoccupied houses, are broken. + +The school was not closed for lack of children. Not at all. Peter +Rogowski, who lives a mile east, has seven children of school-age +himself, from bright-eyed Polly aged fourteen to Olga aged six, and +Mr. Rogowski is merely one of the neighbors in this growing +settlement, where large families are still to be found. There are +twenty-four children of school-age in the district, and in 1915, when +Mr. Ellis taught there, the average attendance was nineteen. At the +end of the term Mr. Ellis, who was a university student, abandoned his +studies and took his place in the ranks of the Army Medical Corps, and +is now nursing wounded men in France. He said that it would be easy to +find some one else to take the school. He was thinking of the droves +of teachers who had attended the Normal with him. There seemed to be +no end of them, but apparently there was, for in the year that +followed there were more than one hundred and fifty schools closed +because no teacher could be found. + +After waiting a whole year for a teacher to come, Polly Rogowski, as +the spring of 1917 opened, declared her intention of going to Edmonton +to find work and go to school. Polly's mother upheld her in this +determination, and together they scraped up enough money to pay her +railway fare, and board for one week, although it took all that they +had been putting away to get Mrs. Rogowski's teeth fixed. But Polly's +mother knew that when her Polly began to teach there would be money +and plenty for things like that, and anyway they had not ached so bad +for a while. + +The city, even Edmonton, is a fearsome place for a fourteen-year-old +girl who has no friends, seven dollars in money, and only an intense +desire for an education to guide her through its devious ways. But +the first night that Polly was away, her mother said an extra prayer +before the Blessed Virgin, who, being a mother herself, would +understand how much a young girl in a big city needs special care. + +It was a cold, dark day when Polly with her small pack arrived at the +C.N.R. Station, and looked around her. Surely no crusader going forth +to restore the tomb of his Lord ever showed more courage than +black-eyed Polly when she set forth on this lonely pilgrimage to find +learning. She had heard of the danger of picking up with strangers, +and the awful barred windows behind which young girls languished and +died, and so refused to answer when the Travelers' Aid of the Y.W.C.A. +in friendliest tones asked if she might help her. + +Polly was not to be deceived by friendly tones. The friendly ones were +the worst! She held her head high and walked straight ahead, just as +if she knew where she was going. Polly had a plan of action. She was +going to walk on and on until she came to a house marked in big +letters "BOARDING-HOUSE," and she would go in there and tell the lady +that she wanted to get a room for one day, and then she would leave +her bundle and go out and find a school and see the teacher. Teachers +were all good men and would help you! Then she would find a place +where they wanted a girl to mind a baby or wash dishes, or maybe milk +a cow; and perhaps she would have a bed all to herself. City houses +were so big and had so many rooms, and she had heard that in some of +the beds only one person slept! Having her programme so well laid out, +it is no wonder that she refused to confide in the blue serge lady who +spoke to her. + +Polly set off at a quick pace, looking straight ahead of her across +the corner of the station yard, following the crowd. The Travelers' +Aid followed close behind, determined to keep a close watch on the +independent little Russian girl. + +At the corner of First and Jasper, Polly stopped confused. A great +crowd stood around the bulletin board and excitedly read the news of +the Russian revolution; automobiles honked their horns, and +street-cars clanged and newsboys shouted, and more people than Polly +had ever seen before surged by her. For the first time Polly's stout +heart failed her. She had not thought it would be quite like this! + +Turning round, she was glad to see the woman who had spoken to her at +the station. In this great bustling, pushing throng she seemed like an +old friend. + +"Do you know where I could find a boarding-house?" asked Polly +breathlessly. + +The Travelers' Aid took her by the hand and piloted her safely across +the street; and when the street-car had clanged by and she could be +heard, she told Polly that she would take her to a boarding-house +where she would be quite safe. + +Polly stopped and asked her what was the name of the place. + +"Y.W.C.A.," said the Aid, smiling. + +Polly gave a sigh of relief. "I know what that is," she said. "Mr. +Ellis said that was the place to go when you go to a city. Will you +let me stay until I find a school?" + +"We'll find the school," said the other woman. "That is what we are +for; we look after girls like you. We are glad to find a girl who +wants to go to school." + +Polly laid her pack down to change hands and looked about her in +delight. The big brick buildings, the store-windows, even the +street-signs with their flaring colors, were all beautiful to her. + +"Gee!" she said, "I like the city--it's swell!" + +Polly was taken to the office of the secretary of the Y.W.C.A., and +there, under the melting influence of Miss Bradshaw's kind eyes and +sweet voice, she told all her hopes and fears. + +"Our teacher has gone to be a soldier and we could not get another, +for they say it is too lonesome--out our way--and how can it be +lonesome? There's children in every house. But, anyway, lady-teachers +won't come and the men are all gone to the war. I'll bet I won't be +scared to teach when I grow up, but of course I won't be a lady; it's +different with them--they are always scared of something. We have a +cabin for the teacher, and three chairs and a painted table and a +stove and a bed, and a brass knob on the door, and we always brought +cream and eggs and bread for the teacher; and we washed his dishes for +him, and the girl that had the best marks all week could scrub his +floor on Friday afternoons. He was so nice to us all that we all cried +when he enlisted, but he explained it all to us--that there are some +things dearer than life and he just felt that he had to go. He said +that he would come back if he was not killed. Maybe he will only have +one arm and one leg, but we won't mind as long as there is enough of +him to come back. We tried and tried to get another teacher, but there +are not enough to fill the good schools, and ours is twenty miles from +a station and in a foreign settlement.... I'm foreign, too," she added +honestly; "I'm Russian." + +"The Russians are our allies," said the secretary, "and you are a real +little Canadian now, Polly, and you are not a bit foreign. I was born +in Tipperary myself, and that is far away from Canada, too." + +"Oh, yes, I know about it being a long way there," Polly said. "But +that doesn't matter, it is the language that counts. You see my mother +can't talk very good English and that is what makes us foreign, but +she wants us all to know English, and that is why she let me come +away, and I will do all I can to learn, and I will be a teacher some +day, and then I will go back and plant the garden and she will send me +butter, for I will live in the cabin. But it is too bad that we cannot +have a teacher to come to us, for now, when I am away, there is no one +to teach my mother English, for Mary does not speak the English well +by me, and the other children will soon forget it if we cannot get a +teacher." + +While she was speaking, the genial secretary was doing some hard +thinking. This little messenger from the up-country had carried her +message right into the heart of one woman, one who was accustomed to +carry her impulses into action. + + * * * * * + +The Local Council of Women of the City of Edmonton met the next day in +the club-room of the Y.W.C.A., and it was a well-attended meeting, +for the subject to be discussed was that of "National Service for +Women." As the time drew near for the meeting to begin, it became +evident that great interest was being taken in the subject, for the +room was full, and animated discussions were going on in every corner. +This was not the first meeting that had been held on this subject, and +considerable indignation was heard that no notice had been taken by +the Government of the request that had been sent in some months +previous, asking that women be registered for national service as well +as men. + +"They never even replied to our suggestion," one woman said. "You +would have thought that common politeness would have prompted a reply. +It was a very civil note that we sent--I wrote it myself." + +"Hush! Don't be hard on the Government," said an older woman, looking +up from her knitting. "They have their own troubles--think of Quebec! +And then you know women's work is always taken for granted; they know +we will do our bit without being listed or counted." + +"But I want to do something else besides knitting," the first speaker +said; "it could be done better and cheaper anyway by machinery, and +that would set a lot of workers free. Why don't we register ourselves, +all of us who mean business? This is our country, and if the +Government is asleep at the switch, that is no reason why we should +be. I tell you I am for conscription for every man and woman." + +"Well, suppose we all go with you and sign up--name, age, present +address; married?--if so, how often?--and all that sort of thing; what +will you do with us, then?" asked Miss Wheatly, who was just back from +the East where she had been taking a course in art. "I am tired of +having my feelings all wrought upon and then have to settle down to +knitting a dull gray sock or the easy task of collecting Red Cross +funds from perfectly willing people who ask me to come in while they +make me a cup of tea. I feel like a real slacker, for I have never yet +done a hard thing. I did not let any one belonging to me go, for the +fairly good reason that I have no male relatives; I give money, but I +have never yet done without a meal or a new pair of boots when I +wanted them. There is no use of talking of putting me to work on a +farm, for no farmer would be bothered with me for a minute, and the +farmer's wife has trouble enough now without giving her the care of a +greenhorn like me--why, I would not know when a hen wanted to set!" + +"You do not need to know," laughed the conscriptionist; "the hen will +attend to that without any help from you; and, anyway, we use +incubators now and the hen is exempt from all family cares--she can +have a Career if she wants to." + +"I am in earnest about this," Miss Wheatly declared; "I am tired of +this eternal talk of national service and nothing coming of it. Now, +if any of you know of a hard, full-sized woman's job that I can do, +you may lead me to it!" + +Then the meeting began. There was a very enthusiastic speaker who told +of the great gift that Canada had given to the Empire, the gift of men +and wheat, bread and blood--the sacrament of empire. She then told of +what a sacrifice the men make who go to the front, who lay their +young lives down for their country and do it all so cheerfully. "And +now," she said, "what about those of us who stay at home, who have +three good meals every day, who sleep in comfortable beds and have not +departed in any way from our old comfortable way of living. Wouldn't +you like to do something to help win the war?" + +There was a loud burst of applause here, but Miss Wheatly sat with a +heavy frown on her face. + +"Wasn't that a perfectly wonderful speech?" the secretary whispered to +her when the speaker had finished with a ringing verse of poetry all +about sacrifice and duty. + +"It is all the same old bunk," Miss Wheatly said bitterly; "I often +wonder how they can speak so long and not make one practical +suggestion. Wouldn't you like to help win the war? That sounds so +foolish--of course we would like to win the war. It is like the +old-fashioned evangelists who used to say, 'All who would like to go +to heaven will please stand up.' Everybody stood, naturally." + +While they were whispering, they missed the announcement that the +president was making, which was that there was a young girl from the +North Country who had come to the meeting and wished to say a few +words. There was a deep, waiting silence, and then a small voice began +to speak. It was Miss Polly Rogowski from the Abilene Valley District. + +There was no fear in Polly's heart--she was not afraid of anything. +Not being a lady, of course, and having no reputation to sustain, and +being possessed with one thought, and complete master of it, her +speech had true eloquence. She was so small that the women at the back +of the room had to stand up to see her. + +"I live at Abilene Valley and there are lots of us. I am fourteen +years old and Mary is twelve, and Annie is eleven, and Mike is ten, +and Peter is nine, and Ivan is seven, and Olga is six, and that is all +we have old enough to go to school; but there are lots more of other +children in our neighborhood, but our teacher has gone away to the war +and we cannot get another one, for lady-teachers are all too scared, +but I don't think they would be if they would only come, for we will +chop the wood, and one of us will stay at night and sleep on the +floor, and we will light the fires and get the breakfast, and we bring +eggs and cream and everything like that, and we could give the teacher +a cat and a dog; and the girl that had done the best work all week +always got to scrub the floor when our last teacher was there; and we +had a nice garden--and flowers, and now there is not anything, and the +small children are forgetting what Mr. Ellis taught them; for our +school has been closed all last summer, and sometimes Peter and Ivan +and the other little boys go over to the cabin and look in at the +windows, and it is all so quiet and sad--they cry." + +There was a stricken silence in the room which Polly mistook for a +lack of interest and redoubled her efforts. + +"We have twenty-four children altogether and they are all wanting a +teacher to come. I came here to go to school, but if I can get a +teacher to go back with me, I will go back. I thought I would try to +learn quick and go back then, but when I saw all so many women able +to read right off, and all looking so smart at learning, I thought I +would ask you if one of you would please come. We give our teacher +sixty-five dollars a month, and when you want to come home we will +bring you to the station--it is only twenty miles--and the river is +not deep only when it rains, and then even I know how to get through +and not get in the holes; and if you will come we must go to-morrow, +for the ice is getting rotten in the river and won't stand much sun." + +That was the appeal of the country to the city; of the foreign-born to +the native-born; of the child to the woman. + +The first person to move was Miss Wheatly, who rose quietly and walked +to the front of the room and faced the audience. "Madam President," +she began in her even voice, "I have been waiting quite a while for +this, I think. I said to-day that if any one knew of a real, +full-sized woman's job, I would like to be led to it.... Well--it +seems that I have been led" + +She then turned to Polly and said, "I can read right off and am not +afraid, not even of the river, if you promise to keep me out of the +holes, and I believe I can find enough of a diploma to satisfy the +department, and as you have heard the river won't stand much sun, so +you will kindly notice that my address has changed to Abilene Valley +Post-Office." + +Polly held her firmly by the hand and they moved toward the door. +Polly turned just as they were passing through the door and made her +quaint and graceful curtsy, saying, "I am glad I came, and I guess we +will be for going now." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ORPHAN + + Just a little white-faced lad + Sitting on the "Shelter" floor; + Eyes which seemed so big and sad, + Watched me as I passed the door. + Turning back, I tried to win + From that sober face a smile + With some foolish, trifling thing, + Such as children's hearts beguile. + + But the look which shot me through + Said as plain as speech could be: + "Life has been all right for you! + But it is no joke for me! + I'm not big enough to know-- + And I wonder, wonder why + My dear 'Daddy' had to go + And my mother had to die! + + "You've a father, I suppose? + And a mother--maybe--too? + You can laugh and joke at life? + It has been all right for you? + Spin your top, and wave your fan! + You've a home and folks who care + Laugh about it those who can! + Joke about it--those who dare + --But excuse me--if I'm glum + I can't bluff it off--like some!" + + Then I sadly came away + And felt guilty, all the day! + + +Dr. Frederick Winters was a great believer in personal liberty for +every one--except, of course, the members of his own family. For them +he craved every good thing except this. He was kind, thoughtful, +courteous, and generous--a beneficent despot. + +There is much to be said in favor of despotic government after all. It +is so easy of operation; it is so simple and direct--one brain, one +will, one law, with no foolish back-talk, bickerings, murmurings, +mutinies, letters to the paper. A democracy has it beaten, of course, +on the basis of liberty, but there is much to be said in favor of an +autocracy in the matter of efficiency. + +"King Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord"; and in +his reign the people were happy and contented and had no political +differences. There being only one party, the "Asaites," there were no +partisan newspapers, no divided homes, no mixed marriages, as we have +to-day when Liberals and Conservatives, disregarding the command to be +not unequally yoked together, marry. All these distressing +circumstances were eliminated in good King Asa's reign. + +It is always a mistake to pursue a theory too far. When we turn the +next page of the sacred story we read that King Omri, with the same +powers as King Asa had had, turned them to evil account and oppressed +the people in many ways and got himself terribly disliked. Despotism +seems to work well or ill according to the despot, and so, as a form +of government, it has steadily declined in favor. + +Despotic measures have thriven better in homes than in states. Homes are +guarded by a wall of privacy, a delicate distaste for publicity, a +shrinking from all notoriety such as rebellion must inevitably bring, +and for this reason the weaker ones often practice a peace-at-any-price +policy, thinking of the alert eyes that may be peering through the filet +lace of the window across the street. + +Mrs. Winters submitted to the despotic rule of Dr. Winters for no such +reason as this. She submitted because she liked it, and because she +did not know that it was despotic. It saved her the exertion of making +decisions for herself, and her conscience was always quite clear. "The +Doctor will not let me," she had told the women when they had asked +her to play for the Sunday services at the mission. "The Doctor +thought it was too cold for me to go out," had been her explanation +when on one occasion she had failed to appear at a concert where she +had promised to play the accompaniments; and in time people ceased to +ask her to do anything, her promises were so likely to be broken. + +When the Suffrage agitators went to see her and tried to show her that +she needed a vote, she answered all their arguments by saying, "I have +such a good husband that these arguments do not apply to me at all"; +and all their talk about spiritual independence and personal +responsibility fell on very pretty, but very deaf, ears. The women +said she was a hopeless case. + +"I wonder," said one of the women afterwards in discussing her, "when +Mrs. Winters presents herself at the heavenly gate and there is asked +what she has done to make the world better, and when she has to +confess that she has never done anything outside of her own house, and +nothing there except agreeable things, such as entertaining friends +who next week will entertain her, and embroidering 'insets' for +corset-covers for dainty ladies who already have corset-covers enough +to fill a store-window,--I wonder if she will be able to put it over +on the heavenly doorkeeper that 'the Doctor would not let her.' If all +I hear is true, Saint Peter will say, 'Who is this person you call the +Doctor?' and when she explains that the Doctor was her husband, Saint +Peter will say, 'Sorry, lady, we cannot recognize marriage relations +here at all--it is unconstitutional, you know--there is no marrying or +giving in marriage after you cross the Celestial Meridian. I turned +back a woman this morning who handed in the same excuse--there seems +to have been a good deal of this business of one person's doing the +thinking for another on earth, but we can't stand for it here. I'm +sorry, lady, but I can't let you in--it would be as much as my job is +worth.'" + +Upon this happy household, as upon some others not so happy, came the +war!--and Dr. Winters's heroic soul responded to the trumpet's call. +He was among the first to present himself for active service in the +Overseas Force. When he came home and told his wife, she got the first +shock of her life. It was right, of course, it must be right, but he +should have told her, and she remonstrated with him for the first time +in her life. Why had he not consulted her, she asked, before taking +such a vital step? Then Dr. Winters expressed in words one of the +underlying principles of his life. "A man's first duty is to his +country and his God," he said, "and even if you had objected, it would +not have changed my decision." + +Mrs. Winters looked at him in surprise. "But, Frederick," she cried, +"I have never had any authority but you. I have broken promises when +you told me to, disappointed people, disappointed myself, but never +complained--thinking in a vague way that you would do the same for me +if I asked you to--your word was my law. What would you think if I +volunteered for a nurse without asking you--and then told you my +country's voice sounded clear and plain above all others?" + +"It is altogether different," he said brusquely. "The country's +business concerns men, not women. Woman's place is to look after the +homes of the nation and rear children. Men are concerned with the big +things of life." + +Mrs. Winters looked at him with a new expression on her face. "I have +fallen down, then," she said, "on one part of my job--I have brought +into the world and cared for no children. All my life--and I am now +forty years of age--has been given to making a home pleasant for one +man. I have been a housekeeper and companion for one person. It +doesn't look exactly like a grown woman's whole life-work, now, does +it?" + +"Don't talk foolishly, Nettie," he said; "you suit me." + +"That's it," she said quickly; "I suit you--but I do not suit the +church women, the Civic Club women, the Hospital Aid women, the +Children's Shelter women; they call me a slacker, and I am beginning +to think I am." + +"I would like to know what they have to do with it?" he said hotly; +"you are my wife and I am the person concerned." + +Without noticing what he said, she continued: "Once I wanted to adopt +a baby, you remember, when one of your patients died, and I would have +loved to do it; but you said you must not be disturbed at night and I +submitted. Still, if it had been our own, you would have had to be +disturbed and put up with it like other people, and so I let you rule +me. I have never had any opinion of my own." + +"Nettie, you are excited," he said gently; "you are upset, poor girl, +about my going away--I don't wonder. Come out with me; I am going to +speak at a recruiting meeting." + +Her first impulse was to refuse, for there were many things she wanted +to think out, but the habit of years was on her and she went. + +The meeting was a great success. It was the first days of the war, +when enthusiasm seethed and the little town throbbed with excitement. +The news was coming through of the destruction and violation of +Belgium; the women wept and men's faces grew white with rage. + +Dr. Winters's fine face was alight with enthusiasm as he spoke of the +debt that every man now owes to his country. Every man who is able to +hold a gun, he said, must come to the help of civilization against +barbarism. These dreadful outrages are happening thousands of miles +away, but that makes them none the less real. Humanity is being +attacked by a bully, a ruffian,--how can any man stay at home? Let no +consideration of family life keep you from doing your duty. Every +human being must give an account of himself to God. What did you do in +the great day of testing? will be the question asked you in that great +day of reckoning to which we are all coming. + +When he was through speaking, amid the thunderous applause, five young +men walked down to the front and signified their intention of going. + +"Why, that's Willie Shepherd, and he is his mother's only support," +whispered one of the women; "I don't think he should go." + +When they went home that night Mrs. Winters told the Doctor what she +had heard the women say, and even added her remonstrance too. + +"This is no time for remonstrance," he had cried; "his mother will get +along; the Patriotic Fund will look after her. I tell you human +relationships are forgotten in this struggle! We must save our +country. One broken heart more or less cannot be taken into +consideration. Personal comfort must not be thought of. There is only +one limit to service and sacrifice, and that is capacity." + +Every night after that he addressed meetings, and every night recruits +came to the colors. His speeches vibrated with the spirit of sacrifice +and the glory of service, and thrilled every heart that listened, and +no heart was more touched than that of his wife, who felt that no +future in the world would be so happy as to go and care for the +wounded men. + +She made the suggestion one night, and was quite surprised to find +that the Doctor regarded it favorably. All that night she lay awake +from sheer joy: at last she was going to be of service--she was going +to do something. She tried to tell herself of the hardships of the +life, but nothing could dim her enthusiasm. "I hope it will be hard," +she cried happily. "I want it hard to make up for the easy, idle years +I have spent. I hate the ease and comfort and selfishness in which I +have lived." + +The next day her application went in and she began to attend the +ambulance classes which were given in the little city by the doctors +and nurses. + +The Doctor was away so much that she was practically free to go and +come as she liked, and the breath of liberty was sweet to her. She +also saw, with further pangs of conscience, the sacrifices which other +women were making. The Red Cross women seemed to work unceasingly. + +The President of the Red Cross came to her office every morning at +nine, and stayed till five. + +"What about lunch?" Mrs. Winters asked her, one day. "Do you go home?" + +"Oh, no," said the other woman; "I go out and get a sandwich." + +"But I mean--what about your husband's lunch?" + +"He goes home," the president said, "and sees after the children when +they come in from school--of course I have a maid, you know." + +"But doesn't he miss you dreadfully?" asked Mrs. Winters. + +"Yes, I think he does, but not any more than the poor fellows in the +trenches miss their wives. He is not able to go to the front himself +and he is only too glad to leave me free to do all I can." + +"But surely some other woman could be found," said Mrs. Winters, "who +hasn't got as many family cares as you have." + +"They could," said the president, "but they would probably tell you +that their husbands like to have them at home--or some day would be +stormy and they would 'phone down that 'Teddy' positively refused to +let them come out. We have been busy people all our lives and have +been accustomed to sacrifice and never feel a bit sorry for it--we've +raised our six children and done without many things. It doesn't hurt +us as it does the people who have always sat on cushioned seats. The +Red Cross Society knows that it is a busy woman who can always find +time to do a little more, and I am just as happy as can be doing +this." + +Mrs. Winters felt the unintentional rebuke in these words, and turned +them over in her mind. + +One day, three months after this, the Doctor told her that it was +quite probable he would not be going overseas at all, for he was +having such success recruiting that the major-general thought it +advisable to have him go right on with it. "And so, Nettie," he said, +"you had better cancel your application to go overseas, for of course, +if I do not go, you will not." + +For a moment she did not grasp what he meant. He spoke of it so +casually. Not go! The thought of her present life of inactivity was +never so repulsive. But silence fell upon her and she made no reply. + +"We will not know definitely about it for a few weeks," he said, and +went on reading. + +After that, Mrs. Winters attended every recruiting meeting at which +her husband spoke, eagerly memorizing his words, hardly knowing why, +but she felt that she might need them. She had never been able to +argue with any one--one adverse criticism of her position always +caused her defense to collapse. So she collected all the material she +could get on the subject of personal responsibility and sacrifice. Her +husband's brilliant way of phrasing became a delight to her. But +always, as she listened, vague doubts arose in her mind. + +One day when she was sewing at the Red Cross rooms, the women were +talking of a sad case that had occurred at the hospital. A soldier's +wife had died, leaving a baby two weeks old and another little girl of +four, who had been taken to the Children's Shelter, and who had cried +so hard to be left with her mother. One of the women had been to see +the sick woman the day before she died, and was telling the others +about her. + +"A dear little saint on earth she was--well bred, well educated, but +without friends. Her only anxiety was for her children and sympathy +for her husband. 'This will be sad news for poor Bob,' she said, 'but +he'll know I did my best to live--I cannot get my breath--that's the +worst--if I could only get my breath--I would abide the pain _some +way_.' The baby is lovely, too,--a fine healthy boy. Now I wonder if +there is any woman patriotic enough to adopt those two little ones +whose mother is dead and whose father is in the trenches. The baby +went to the Shelter yesterday." + +"Of course they are well treated there," said Mrs. Winters. + +"Well treated!" cried the president--"they are fed and kept warm and +given all the care the matron and attendants can give them; but how +can two or three women attend to twenty-five children? They do all +they can, but it's a sad place just the same. I always cry when I see +the mother-hungry look on their faces. They want to be owned and +loved--they need some one belonging to them. Don't you know that +settled look of loneliness? I call it the 'institutional face,' and I +know it the minute I see it. Poor Bob Wilson--it will be sad news for +him--he was our plumber and gave up a good job to go. At the station +he kept saying to his wife to comfort her, for she was crying her +heart out, poor girl, 'Don't cry, Minnie dear, I'm leaving you in +good hands; they are not like strangers anymore, all these kind +ladies; they'll see you through. Don't you remember what the Doctor +said,'--that was your husband, Mrs. Winters,--'the women are the best +soldiers of all--so you'll bear up, Minnie.' + +"Minnie was a good soldier right enough," said the president, "but I +wonder what Bob will think of the rest of us when he comes home--or +doesn't come home. We let his Minnie die, and sent his two babies to +the Children's Shelter. In this manner have we discharged our +duty--we've taken it easy so far." + +Mrs. Winters sat open-eyed, and as soon as she could, left the room. +She went at once to the Shelter and asked to see the children. + +Up the bare stairs, freshly scrubbed, she was taken, and into the +day-nursery where many children sat on the floor, some idly playing +with half-broken toys, one or two wailing softly, not as if they were +looking for immediate returns, but just as a small protest against +things in general. The little four-year-old girl, neatly dressed and +smiling, came at once when the matron called her, and quickly said, +"Will you take me to my mother? Am I going home now?" + +"She asks every one that," the matron said aside. + +"I have a little brother now," said the child proudly; "just down from +heaven--we knew he was coming." + +In one of the white cribs the little brother lay, in an embroidered +quilt. The matron uncovered his face, and, opening one navy-blue eye, +he smiled. + +"He's a bonnie boy," the matron said; "he has slept ever since he +came. But I cannot tell--somebody--I simply can't." + +Mrs. Winters went home thinking so hard that she was afraid her +husband would see the thoughts shining out, tell-tale, in her face. + +She told him where she had been and was just leading up to the appeal +which she had prepared, for the children, when a young man called to +see the Doctor. + +The young fellow had called for advice: his wife would not give her +consent to his enlisting, and his heart was wrung with anxiety over +what he should do. + +The Doctor did not hesitate a minute. "Go right on," he said; "this is +no time to let any one, however near and dear, turn us from our duty. +We have ceased to exist as individuals--now we are a Nation and we +must sacrifice the individual for the State. Your wife will come +around to it and be glad that you were strong enough to do your duty. +No person has any right to turn another from his duty, for we must all +answer to Almighty God in this crisis, not to each other." + +The next day, while the Doctor was away making a recruiting speech in +another town, the delivery van of the leading furniture store stood at +his back door and one high chair stood in it, one white crib was being +put up-stairs in his wife's bedroom, and many foreign articles were in +evidence in the room. The Swedish maid was all excitement and moved +around on tip-toe, talking in a whisper. + +"There ban coming a baby hare, and a li'l' girl. Gee! what will the +Doctor man say! He ban quick enough to bring them other houses, no +want none for self--oh, gee!" + +Then she made sure that the key was not in the study door, for Olga +was a student of human nature and wanted to get her information +first-hand. + + * * * * * + +When the Doctor came in late that night, Mrs. Winters met him at the +door as usual. So absorbed was he in telling her of the success of his +meetings that he did not notice the excitement in her face. + +"They came to-night in droves, Nettie," he said, as he drank the cocoa +she had made for him. + +"They can't help it, Fred," she declared enthusiastically, "when you +put it to them the way you do. You are right, dear; it is not a time +for any person to hold others back from doing what they see they +should. It's a personal matter between us and God--we are not +individuals any more--we are a state, and each man and woman must get +under the burden. I hate this talk of 'business as usual'--I tell you +it is nothing as usual." + +He regarded her with surprise! Nettie had never made so long a speech +before. + +"It's your speeches, Fred; they are wonderful. Why, man alive, you +have put backbone even into me--I who have been a jelly-fish all my +life--and last night, when I heard you explain to that young fellow +that he must not let his wife be his conscience, I got a sudden +glimpse of things. You've been my conscience all my life, but, thank +God, you've led me out into a clear place. I'm part of the State, and +I am no slacker--I am going to do my bit. Come, Fred, I want to show +you something." + +He followed her without a word as she led the way to the room upstairs +where two children slept sweetly. + +"They are mine, Fred,--mine until the war is over, at least, and +Private Wilson comes back; and if he does not come back, or if he will +let me have them, they are mine forever." + +He stared at this new woman, who looked like his wife. + +"It was your last speech, Fred,--what you said to that young man. You +told him to go ahead--his wife would come around, you said--she would +see her selfishness. Then I saw a light shine on my pathway. Every +speech has stiffened my backbone a little. I was like the mouse who +timidly tiptoed out to the saucer of brandy, and, taking a sip, went +more boldly back, then came again with considerable swagger; and at +last took a good drink and then strutted up and down saying, 'Bring on +your old black cat!' That's how I feel, Fred,--I'm going to be a +mother to these two little children whose own mother has passed on and +whose father is holding up the pillars of the Empire. It would hardly +be fair to leave them to public charity, now, would it?" + +"Well, Nettie," the Doctor said slowly, "I'll see that you do not +attend any more recruiting meetings--you are too literal. But all the +same," he said, "I am proud of my convert." + +Olga Jasonjusen tiptoed gently away from the door, and going down the +back stairs hugged herself gayly, saying, "All over--but the kissing. +Oh, gee! He ain't too bad! He's just needed some one to cheek up to +him. Bet she's sorry now she didn't sass him long ago." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR-MOTHER + + +I saw my old train friend again. It was the day that one of our +regiments went away, and we were all at the station to bid the boys +good-bye. + +The empty coaches stood on a siding, and the stream of khaki-clad men +wound across the common from the Fair buildings, which were then used +as a military camp. The men were heavily loaded with all their +equipment, but cheerful as ever. The long-looked-for order to go +forward had come at last! + +Men in uniform look much the same, but the women who came with them +and stood by them were from every station in life. There were two +Ukrainian women, with colored shawls on their heads, who said good-bye +to two of the best-looking boys in the regiment, their sons. It is no +new thing for the Ukrainian people to fight for liberty! There were +heavily veiled women, who alighted from their motors and silently +watched the coaches filling with soldiers. Every word had been said, +every farewell spoken; they were not the sort who say tempestuous +good-byes, but their silence was like the silence of the open grave. +There were many sad-faced women, wheeling go-carts, with children +holding to their skirts crying loudly for "Daddy." There were tired, +untidy women, overrun by circumstances, with that look about them +which the Scotch call "through-other." There were many brave little +boys and girls standing by their mothers, trying hard not to cry; +there were many babies held up to the car-window to kiss a big brother +or a father; there were the groups of chattering young people, with +their boxes of candy and incessant fun; there were brides of a day, +with their white-fox furs and new suits, and the great new sorrow in +their eyes. + +One fine-looking young giant made his way toward the train without +speaking to any one, passing where a woman held her husband's hands, +crying hysterically--we were trying to persuade her to let him go, +for the conductor had given the first warning. + +"I have no one to cry over me, thank God!" he said, "and I think I am +the best off." But the bitterness in his tone belied his words. + +"Then maybe I could pretend that you are my boy," said a woman's voice +behind me, which sounded familiar; "you see I have no boy--now, and +nobody to write to--and I just came down to-night to see if I could +find one. I want to have some one belonging to me--even if they are +going away!" + +The young man laid down his bag and took her hand awkwardly. "I sure +would be glad to oblige you," he said, "only I guess you could get one +that was lots nicer. I am just a sort of a bo-hunk from the North +Country." + +"You'll do me," said the old lady, whom I recognized at once as my +former train companion,--"you'll do me fine. Tell me your name and +number, and I'll be your war-mother,--here's my card, I have it all +ready,--I knew I'd get some one. Now, remember, I am your Next of Kin. +Give in my name and I'll get the cable when you get the D.S.O., and +I'll write to you every week and send you things. I just can't keep +from sending parcels." + +"Gee! This is sudden!" said the boy, laughing; "but it's nice!" + +"I lost my boys just as suddenly as this," she said. "Billy and Tom +went out together--they were killed at Saint-Éloi, but Frank came +through it all to Vimy Ridge. Then the message came ... sudden too. +One day I had him--then I lost him! Why shouldn't nice things come +suddenly too--just like this!" + +"You sure can have me--mother," the big fellow said. + +The conductor was giving the last call. Then the boy took her in his +arms and kissed her withered cheek, which took on a happy glow that +made us all look the other way. + +She and I stood together and watched the grinding wheels as they began +to move. The spirit of youth, the indomitable, imperishable spirit of +youth was in her eyes, and glowed in her withered face as she murmured +happily,-- + +"I am one of the Next of Kin ... again, and my new boy is on that +train." + +We stood together until the train had gone from our sight. + +"Let me see," I said, "how many chickens did you tell me that Biddy +hen of yours had when the winter came?" + +"Twenty-two," she laughed. + +"Well," I said, "it's early yet." + +"I just can't help it," she said seriously; "I have to be in it! After +I got the word about my last boy, it seemed for a few days that I had +come to the end of everything. I slept and slept and slept, just like +you do when you've had company at your house,--the very nicest +company, and they go away!--and you're so lonely and idle, and tired, +too, for you've been having such a good time you did not notice that +you were getting near the edge. That's how I felt; but after a week I +wanted to be working at something. I thought maybe the Lord had left +my hands quite free so I could help some one else.... You have played +croquet, haven't you? You know how the first person who gets out has +the privilege of coming back a 'rover,' and giving a hand to any one. +That's what I felt; I was a 'rover,' and you'd be surprised at all I +have found to do. There are so many soldiers' wives with children who +never get downtown to shop or see a play, without their children. I +have lots to do in that line, and it keeps me from thinking. + +"I want you to come with me now," she went on, "to see a woman who has +something wrong with her that I can't find out. She has a sore +thought. Her man has been missing since September, and is now +officially reported killed. But there's something else bothering her." + +"How do you know?" I asked. + +She turned quickly toward me and said, "Have you any children?" + +"Five," I said. + +"Oh, well, then, you'll understand. Can't you tell by a child's cry +whether it is hungry, or hurt, or just mad?" + +"I can, I think," I said. + +"Well, that's how I know. She's in deep grief over her husband, but +there's more than that. Her eyes have a hurt look that I wish I could +get out of them. You'll see it for yourself, and maybe we can get her +to tell us. I just found her by accident last week--or at least, I +found her; nothing happens by accident!" + +We found her in a little faded green house, whose veranda was broken +through in many places. Scared-looking, dark-eyed children darted +shyly through the open door as we approached. In the darkened front +room she received us, and, without any surprise, pleasure, or +resentment in her voice, asked us to sit down. As our eyes became +accustomed to the gloom, we wondered more and more why the sunshine +was excluded, for there was no carpet to fade, nor any furniture which +would have been injured. The most conspicuous object in the room was +the framed family group taken just before "her man" went away. He was +a handsome young fellow in his tidy uniform, and the woman beside him +had such a merry face that I should never have known her for the sad +and faded person who had met us at the door. In the picture she was +smiling, happy, resolute; now her face was limp and frazzled, and had +an indefinable challenge in it which baffled me. My old friend was +right--there was a sore thought there! + +The bright black eyes of the handsome soldier fascinated me; he was so +much alive; so fearless; so confident, so brave,--so much needed by +these little ones who clustered around his knee. Again, as I looked +upon this picture, the horrors of war rolled over my helpless heart. + +My old friend was trying hard to engage the woman in conversation, but +her manner was abstracted and strange. I noticed her clothes were all +black, even the flannel bandage around her throat--she was recovering +from an attack of quinsy--was black too; and as if in answer to my +thoughts, she said:-- + +"It was red--but I dyed it--I couldn't bear to have it red--it +bothered me. That's why I keep the blinds down too--the sun hurts +me--it has no right to shine--just the same as if nothing had +happened." Her voice quivered with passion. + +"Have you any neighbors, Mrs. C----?" I asked; for her manner made me +uneasy--she had been too much alone. + +"Neighbors!" she stormed,--"neighbors! I haven't any, and I do not +want them: they would only lie about me--the way they lied about +Fred!" + +"Surely nobody ever lied about Fred," I said,--"this fine, brave +fellow." + +"He does look brave, doesn't he?" she cried. "You are a stranger, but +you can see it, can't you? You wouldn't think he was a coward, would +you?" + +"I would stake everything on his bravery!" I said honestly, looking at +the picture. + +She came over and squeezed my hand. + +"It was a wicked lie--all a lie!" she said bitterly. + +"Tell us all about it," I said; "I am sure there has been a mistake." + +She went quickly out of the room, and my old friend and I stared at +each other without speaking. In a few minutes she came back with a +"paper" in her hand, and, handing it to me, she said, "Read that and +you'll see what they say!" + +I read the announcement which stated that her husband had been missing +since September 29, and was now believed to have been killed. "This is +just what is sent to every one--" I began, but she interrupted me. + +"Look here!" she cried, leaning over my shoulder and pointing to the +two words "marginally noted"--"What does that mean?" + +I read it over again:-- + +"We regret to inform you that the soldier marginally noted, who has +been declared missing since September 29, is now believed to have been +killed!" + +"There!" she cried, "can't you see?" pointing again to the two words. +"Don't you see what that means?--margin means the edge--and that means +that Fred was noted for being always on the edge of the army, trying +to escape, I suppose. But that's a lie, for Fred was not that kind, I +tell you--he was no coward!" + +I saw where the trouble lay, and tried to explain. She would not +listen. + +"Oh, but I looked in the dictionary and I know: 'margin' means 'the +edge,' and they are trying to say that Fred was always edging +off--you see--noted for being on the edge, that's what they say." + +We reasoned, we argued, we explained, but the poor little lonely soul +was obsessed with the idea that a deep insult had been put upon her +man's memory. + +Then my old friend had an idea. She opened her purse and brought out +the notice which she had received of the death of her last boy. + +We put the two notices side by side, and told her that these were +printed by the thousands, and every one got the same. Just the name +had to be filled in. + +Then she saw it! + +"Oh!" she cried, "I am so glad you showed me this, for I have been so +bitter. I hated every one; it sounded so hard and cold and +horrible--as if nobody cared. It was harder than losing Fred to have +him so insulted. But now I see it all!" + +"Isn't it too bad," said the old lady, as we walked home together, +"that they do not have these things managed by women? Women would +have sense enough to remember that these notices go to many classes of +people--and would go a bit slow on the high-sounding phrases: they +would say, 'The soldier whose name appears on the margin of this +letter,' instead of 'The soldier who is marginally noted'; it might +not be so concise, but it is a heap plainer. A few sentences of +sympathy, too, and appreciation, written in by hand, would be a +comfort. I tell you at a time like this we want something human, like +the little girl who was put to bed in the dark and told that the +angels would keep her company. She said she didn't want angels--she +wanted something with a skin face!--So do we all! We are panicky and +touchy, like a child that has been up too late the night before, and +we have to be carefully handled. All the pores of our hearts are open +and it is easy to get a chill!" + +As we rode home in the car she told me about the letter which had come +that day from her last boy:-- + +"It seemed queer to look at this letter and know that I would never +get another one from the boys. Letters from the boys have been a big +thing to me for many years. Billy and Tom were away from me for a long +time before the war, and they never failed to write. Frank was never +away from me until he went over, and he was not much of a +letter-writer,--just a few sentences! 'Hello, mother, how are you? I'm +O.K. Hope you are the same. Sleeping well, and eating everything I can +lay my hands on. The box came; it was sure a good one. Come again. +So-long!' That was the style of Frank's letter. 'I don't want this +poor censor to be boring his eyes out trying to find state secrets in +my letters,' he said another time, apologizing for the shortness of +it. 'There are lots of things that I would like to tell you, but I +guess they will keep until I get home--I always could talk better than +write.' ... But this letter is different. He seemed to know that he +was going--west, as they say, and he wrote so seriously; all the +boyishness had gone from him, and he seemed to be old, much older than +I am. These boys of ours are all older than we are now,--they have +seen so much of life's sadness--they have got above it; they see so +many of their companions go over that they get a glimpse of the other +shore. They are like very old people who cannot grieve the way younger +people can at leaving this life." + +Then I read the boy's letter. + +"Dear Mother," it ran, "We are out resting now, but going in to-morrow +to tackle the biggest thing that we have pulled off yet. You'll hear +about it, I guess. Certainly you will if we are successful. I hope +that this letter will go safely, for I want you to know just how I +feel, and that everything is fine with me. I used to be scared stiff +that I would be scared, but I haven't been--there seems to be +something that stands by you and keeps your heart up, and with death +all around you, you see it is not so terrible. I have seen so many of +the boys pass out, and they don't mind it. They fight like wild-cats +while they can, but when their turn comes they go easy. The awful roar +of the guns does it. The silent tomb had a horrible sound to me when I +was at home, but it sounds like a welcome now. Anyway, mother, +whatever happens you must not worry. Everything is all right when you +get right up to it--even death. I just wish I could see you, and make +you understand how light-hearted I feel. I never felt better; my only +trouble is that you will be worried about me, but just remember that +everything is fine, and that I love you. + + "FRANK." + + +AT THE LAST! + + O God, who hears the smallest cry + That ever rose from human soul, + Be near my mother when she reads + My name upon the Honor Roll; + And when she sees it written there, + Dear Lord, stand to, behind her chair! + + Or, if it be Thy sacred will + That I may go and stroke her hand, + Just let me say, "I'm living still! + And in a brighter, better land." + One word from me will cheer her so, + O Lord, if you will let me go! + + I know her eyes with tears will blind, + I think I hear her choking cry, + When in the list my name she'll find-- + Oh, let me--let me--let me try + To somehow make her understand + That it is not so hard to die! + + She's thinking of the thirst and pain; + She's thinking of the saddest things; + She does not know an angel came + And led me to the water-springs, + She does not know the quiet peace + That fell upon my heart like rain, + When something sounded my release, + And something eased the scorching pain. + She does not know, I gladly went + And am with Death, content, content. + + I want to say I played the game-- + I played the game right to the end-- + I did not shrink at shot or flame, + But when at last the good old friend, + That some call Death, came beckoning me, + I went with him, quite willingly! + Just let me tell her--let her know-- + It really was not hard to go! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BELIEVING CHURCH + + +The gates of heaven are swinging open so often these days, as the +brave ones pass in, that it would be a wonder if some gleams of +celestial brightness did not come down to us. + +We get it unexpectedly in the roar of the street; in the quiet of the +midnight; in the sun-spattered aisles of the forest; in the faces of +our friends; in the turbid stream of our poor burdened humanity. They +shine out and are gone--these flashes of eternal truth. The two worlds +cannot be far apart when the travel from one to the other is so heavy! +No, I do not know what heaven is like, but it could not seem strange +to me, for I know so many people now who are there! Sometimes I feel +like the old lady who went back to Ontario to visit, and who said she +felt more at home in the cemetery than anywhere else, for that is +where most of her friends had gone! + +These heavenly gleams have shown us new things in our civilization and +in our social life, and most of all in our own hearts. Above all other +lessons we have learned, or will learn, is the fallacy of hatred. +Hatred weakens, destroys, disintegrates, scatters. The world's disease +to-day is the withering, blighting, wasting malady of hatred, which +has its roots in the narrow patriotism which teaches people to love +their own country and despise all others. The superiority bug which +enters the brain and teaches a nation that they are God's chosen +people, and that all other nations must some day bow in obeisance to +them, is the microbe which has poisoned the world. We must love our +own country best, of course, just as we love our own children best; +but it is a poor mother who does not desire the highest good for every +other woman's child. + +We are sick unto death of hatred, force, brutality; blood-letting will +never bring about lasting results, for it automatically plants a crop +of bitterness and a desire for revenge which start the trouble all +over again. To kill a man does not prove that he was wrong, neither +does it make converts of his friends. A returned man told me about +hearing a lark sing one morning as the sun rose over the +shell-scarred, desolated battlefield, with its smouldering piles of +ruins which had once been human dwelling-places, and broken, +splintered trees which the day before had been green and growing. Over +this scene of horror, hatred, and death arose the lark into the +morning air, and sang his glorious song. "And then," said the boy, as +he steadied himself on his crutches, "he sang the very same song over +again, just to show us that he could do it again and meant every word +of it, and it gave me a queer feeling. It seemed to show me that the +lark had the straight of it, and we were all wrong. But," he added, +after a pause, "nobody knows how wrong it all is like the men who've +been there!" + +Of course we know that the world did not suddenly go wrong. Its +thought must have been wrong all the time, and the war is simply the +manifestation of it; one of them at least. But how did it happen? That +is the question which weary hearts are asking all over the world. We +all know what is wrong with Germany. That's easy. It is always easier +to diagnose other people's cases than our own--and pleasanter. We know +that the people of Germany have been led away by their teachers, +philosophers, writers; they worship the god of force; they recognize +no sin but weakness and inefficiency. They are good people, only for +their own way of thinking; no doubt they say the same thing of us. + +Wrong thinking has caused all our trouble, and the world cannot be +saved by physical means, but only by the spiritual forces which change +the mental attitude. When the sword shall be beaten into the +ploughshare and the spear into the pruning-hook, that will be the +outward sign of the change of thought from destructive, competitive +methods to constructive and coöperative regeneration of the world! It +is interesting to note that the sword and spear are not going to be +thrown on the scrap-heap; they are to be transformed--made over. All +energy is good; it is only its direction, which may become evil. + +It is not to be wondered at that the world has run to blind hatred +when we stop to realize that the Church has failed to teach the +peaceable fruits of the spirit, and has preferred to fight human +beings rather than prejudice, ignorance, and sin, and has too often +gauged success by competition between its various branches, rather +than by coöperation against the powers of evil. + +At a recent convention of a certain religious body, one sister, who +gave in her report as to how the Lord had dealt with the children of +men in her part of the vineyard, deeply deplored the hardness of the +sinners' hearts, their proneness to err, and the worldliness of even +professing Christians, who seemed now to be wholly given over to the +love of pleasure. She told also of the niggardly contributions; the +small congregations. It was, indeed, a sad and discouraging tale that +she unfolded. Only once did she show any enthusiasm, and that was in +her closing words: "But I thank my Lord and Heavenly Master that the +other church in our town ain't done no better!" + +The Church is our oldest and best organization. It has enough energy, +enough driving force, to better conditions for all if it could be +properly applied; but being an exceedingly respectable institution it +has been rather shy of changes, and so has found it hard to adapt +itself to new conditions. It has clung to shadows after the substance +has departed; and even holds to the old phraseology which belongs to a +day long dead. Stately and beautiful and meaningful phrases they were, +too, in their day, but now their fires are dead, their lights are out, +their "punch" has departed. They are as pale and sickly as the red +lanterns set to guard the spots of danger on the street at night and +carelessly left burning all the next day. + +Every decade sees the people's problems change, but the Church goes on +with Balaam and Balak, with King Ahasuerus, and the two she-bears that +came out of the woods. I shudder when I think of how much time has +been spent in showing how Canaan was divided, and how little time is +spent on showing how the Dominion of Canada should be divided; of how +much time has been given to the man born blind, and how little to a +consideration of the causes and prevention of that blindness; of the +time spent on our Lord's miraculous feeding of the five thousand, and +how little time is spent on trying to find out his plans for feeding +the hungry ones of to-day, who, we are bold to believe, are just as +precious in his sight. + +The human way is to shelve responsibility. The disciples came to +Christ when the afternoon began to grow into evening, and said, "These +people haven't anything to eat, send them away!" This is the human +attitude toward responsibility; that is why many a beggar gets a +quarter--and is told to "beat it"! In this manner are we able to +side-step responsibility. To-day's problems are apt to lead to +difficulties; it is safer to discuss problems of long ago than of the +present; for the present ones concern real people, and they may not +like it. Hush! Don't offend Deacon Bones; stick to Balaam--he's dead. + +In some respects the Church resembles a coal furnace that has been +burning quite a while without being cleaned out. There form in the +bottom certain hard substances which give off neither light nor heat, +nor allow a free current of air to pass through. These hard substances +are called "clinkers." Once they were good pieces of burning coal, +igniting the coal around them, but now their fire is dead, their heat +is spent, and they must be removed for the good of the furnace. +Something like this has happened in the Church. It has a heavy +percentage of human "clinkers," sometimes in the front pews, sometimes +in the pulpit. They were good people once, too, possessed of spiritual +life and capable of inspiring those around them. But spiritual +experiences cannot be warmed over--they must be new every day. That is +what Saint Paul meant when he said that the outer man decays, but the +inner man is renewed. An old experience in religion is of no more +value than a last year's bird's nest! You cannot feed the hungry with +last year's pot-pies! + +This is the day of opportunity for the Church, for the people are +asking to be led! It will have to realize that religion is a "here +and now" experience, intended to help people with their human worries +to-day, rather than an elaborate system of golden streets, big +processions, walls of jasper, and endless years of listless loafing on +the shores of the River of Life! The Church has directed too much +energy to the business of showing people how to die and teaching them +to save their souls, forgetting that one of these carefully saved +souls is after all not worth much. Christ said, "He that saveth his +life shall lose it!" and "He that loseth his life for my sake shall +find it!" The soul can be saved only by self-forgetfulness. The +monastery idea of retirement from the world in order that one may be +sure of heaven is not a courageous way of meeting life's difficulties. +But this plan of escape has been very popular even in Protestant +churches, as shown in our hymnology: "Why do we linger?" "We are but +strangers here"; "Father, dear Father, take Thy children home"; "Earth +is a wilderness, heaven is my home"; "I'm a pilgrim and a stranger"; +"I am only waiting here to hear the summons, child, come home." These +are some of the hymns with which we have beguiled our weary days of +waiting; and yet, for all this boasted desire to be "up and away," the +very people who sang these hymns have not the slightest desire to +leave the "wilderness." + +The Church must renounce the idea that, when a man goes forth to +preach the Gospel, he has to consider himself a sort of glorified +immigration agent, whose message is, "This way, ladies and gentlemen, +to a better, brighter, happier world; earth is a poor place to stick +around, heaven is your home." His mission is to teach his people to +make of this world a better place--to live their lives here in such a +way that other men and women will find life sweeter for their having +lived. Incidentally we win heaven, but it must be a result, not an +objective. + +We know there is a future state, there is a land where the +complications of this present world will be squared away. Some call it +a Day of Judgment; I like best to think of it as a day of +explanations. I want to hear God's side. Also I know we shall not +have to lie weary centuries waiting for it. When the black curtain of +death falls on life's troubled scenes, there will appear on it these +words in letters of gold, "End of Part I. Part II will follow +immediately." + +I know that I shall have a sweet and beautiful temper in heaven, where +there will be nothing to try it, no worries, misunderstandings, +elections, long and tedious telephone conversations; people who insist +on selling me a dustless mop when I am hot on the trail of an idea. +There will be none of that, so that it will not be difficult to keep +sweet and serene. I would not thank any one to hand me a sword and +shield when the battle is over; I want it now while the battle rages; +I claim my full equipment now, not on merit, but on need. + +Everything in life encourages me to believe that God has provided a +full equipment for us here in life if we will only take it. He would +not store up every good thing for the future and let us go short here. + +In a prosperous district in Ontario there stands a beautiful brick +house, where a large family of children lived long ago. The parents +worked early and late, grubbing and saving and putting money in the +bank. Sometimes the children resented the hard life which they led, +and wished for picnics, holidays, new clothes, ice-cream, and the +other fascinating things of childhood. Some of the more ambitious ones +even craved a higher education, but they were always met by the same +answer when the request involved the expenditure of money. The answer +was: "It will all be yours some day. Now, don't worry; just let us +work together and save all we can; it's all for you children and it +will all be yours some day. You can do what you like with it when we +are dead and gone!" I suppose the children in their heart of hearts +said, "Lord haste the day!" + +The parents passed on in the fullness of time. Some of the children +went before them. Those who were left fell heir to the big house and +the beautiful grounds, but they were mature men and women then, and +they had lost the art of enjoyment. The habit of saving and grubbing +was upon them, and their aspirations for better things had long ago +died out. Everything had been saved for the future, and now, when it +came, they found out that it was all too late. The time for learning +and enjoyment had gone by. A few dollars spent on them when they were +young would have done so much. + +If that is a poor policy for earthly parents to follow, I believe it +is not a good line for a Heavenly Parent to take. + +We need an equipment for this present life which will hold us steady +even when everything around us is disturbed; that will make us desire +the good of every one, even those who are intent upon doing us evil; +that will transform the humblest and most disagreeable task into one +of real pleasure; that will enable us to see that we have set too high +a value on the safety of life and property and too trifling an +estimate on spiritual things; that will give us a proper estimate of +our own importance in the general scheme of things, so that we will +not think we are a worm in the dust, nor yet mistake ourselves for the +President of the Company! + +The work of the Church is to teach these ethical values to the people. +It must begin by teaching us to have more faith in each other, and +more coördination. We cannot live a day without each other, and every +day we become more interdependent. Times have changed since the +cave-dwelling days when every man was his own butcher, baker, judge, +jury, and executioner; when no man attempted more than he could do +alone, and therefore regarded every other man as his natural enemy and +rival, the killing of whom was good business. Coöperation began when +men found that two men could hunt better than one, and so one drove +the bear out of the cave and the other one killed him as he went past +the gap, and then divided him, fifty-fifty. That was the beginning of +coöperation, which is built on faith. Strange, isn't it, that at this +time, when we need each other so badly, we are not kinder to each +other? Our national existence depends upon all of us--we have pooled +our interests, everything we have is in danger, everything we have +must be mobilized for its defense. + +Danger such as we are facing should drive the petty little meannesses +out of us, one would think, and call out all the latent heroism of our +people. People talk about this being the Church's day of opportunity. +So it is, for the war is teaching us ethical values, which has always +been a difficult matter. We like things that we can see, lay out, and +count! But the war has changed our appraisement of things, both of men +and of nations. A country may be rich in armies, ships, guns, and +wealth, and yet poor, naked, and dishonored in the eyes of the world; +a country may be broken, desolate, shell-riven, and yet have a name +that is honorable in all the earth. So with individuals. We have set +too high a value on property and wealth, too low an estimate on +service. + +Our ideas of labor have been wrong. Labor to us has meant something +disagreeable, which, if we endure patiently for a season, we may then +be able to "chuck." Its highest reward is to be able to quit it--to go +on the retired list. + +"Mary married well," declared a proud mother, "and now she does not +lift a hand to anything." + +Poor Mary! What a slow time she must have! + +The war is changing this; people are suddenly stripped of their +possessions, whether they be railroad stock, houses, or lands, or, +like that of a poor fellow recently tried for vagrancy here, whose +assets were found to be a third interest in a bear. It does not +matter--the wealthy slacker is no more admired than the poor one. +Money has lost its purchasing quality when it comes to immunity from +responsibility. + +The coördination of our people has begun, the forces of unity are +working; but they are still hindered by the petty little jealousies +and disputes of small people who do not yet understand the seriousness +of the occasion. So long as church bodies spend time fighting about +methods of baptism, and call conventions to pass resolutions against +church union, which would unquestionably add to the effectiveness of +the Church and enable it to make greater headway against the powers of +evil; so long as the channels through which God's love should flow to +the people are so choked with denominational prejudice, it is not much +wonder that many people are experiencing a long, dry spell, bitterly +complaining that the fountain has gone dry. Love, such as Christ +demonstrated, is the only hope of this sin-mad world. When the Church +shows forth that love and leads the people to see that the reservoirs +of love in the mountains of God are full to overflowing, and every man +can pipe the supply into his own heart and live victoriously, +abundantly, gloriously, as God intended us all to live, then it will +come about that the sword will be beaten into the ploughshare and the +spear into the pruning-hook, and the Lord will truly hear our prayer +and heal our land. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE LAST RESERVES + + +To-day I read in one of our newspapers an account of a religious +convention which is going on in our city. It said that one of the lady +delegates asked if, in view of the great scarcity of men to take the +various fields, and the increased number of vacancies, the theological +course in their colleges would be opened to women? And the report +said, "A ripple of amusement swept over the convention." + +I know that ripple. I know it well! The Church has always been amused +when the advancement of women has been mentioned right out boldly like +that. There are two things which have never failed to bring a laugh--a +great, round, bold oath on the stage, and any mention of woman +suffrage in the pulpit. They have been sure laugh-producers. When we +pray for the elevation of the stage in this respect, we should not +forget the Church! + +I have been trying to analyze that ripple of amusement. Here is the +situation: The men have gone out to fight. The college halls are empty +of boys, except very young ones. One of the speakers at the same +session said, "We do not expect to get in boys of more than eighteen +years of age." Churches are closed for lack of preachers. What is to +be done about it? No longer can Brother M. be sent to England to bring +over pink-cheeked boys to fill the ranks of Canada's preachers. The +pink-cheeked ones are also "over there." There is no one to call upon +but women. So why was the suggestion of the lady delegate received +with amusement? Why was it not acted upon? For although there were +many kind and flattering things said about women, their great services +to Church and State, yet the theological course was not opened. + +The Church has been strangely blind in its attitude toward women, and +with many women it will be long remembered with a feeling of +bitterness that the Church has been so slow to move. + +The Government of the Western Provinces of Canada gave full equality +to women before that right was given by the Church. The Church has not +given it yet. The Church has not meant to be either unjust or unkind, +and the indifference and apathy of its own women members have given +the unthinking a reason for their attitude. Why should the vote be +forced on women? they have asked. It is quite true that the women of +the Church have not said much, for the reason that many of the +brightest women, on account of the Church's narrowness, have withdrawn +and gone elsewhere, where more liberty could be found. This is +unfortunate, and I think a mistake on the part of the women. Better to +have stayed and fought it out than to go out slamming the door. + +Many sermons have I listened to in the last quarter of a century of +fairly regular church attendance; once I heard an Englishman preaching +bitterly of the Suffragettes' militant methods, and he said they +should all "be condemned to motherhood to tame their wild spirits." +And I surely had the desire to slam the door that morning, for I +thought I never heard a more terrible insult to all womankind than to +speak of motherhood as a punishment. But I stayed through the service; +I stayed after the service! I interviewed the preacher. So did many +other women! He had a chastened spirit when we were through with him. + +I have listened to many sermons that I did not like, but I possessed +my soul in patience. I knew my turn would come--it is a long lane that +has no tomato-cans! My turn did come--I was invited to address the +conference of the Church, and there with all the chief offenders lined +up in black-coated, white-collared rows, I said all that was in my +heart, and they were honestly surprised. One good old brother, who I +do not think had listened to a word that I said, arose at the back of +the church and said: "I have listened to all that this lady has had to +say, but I am not convinced. I have it on good authority that in +Colorado, where women vote, a woman once stuffed a ballot-box. How can +the lady explain that?" I said I could explain it, though, indeed, I +could not see that it needed any explanation. No one could expect +women to live all their lives with men without picking up some of +their little ways! That seemed to hold the brother for a season! + +The Church's stiff attitude toward women has been a hard thing to +explain to the "world." Many a time I have been afraid that it would +be advanced as a reason for not considering woman suffrage in the +State. "If the Church," politicians might well have said, "with its +spiritual understanding of right and justice, cannot see its way clear +to give the vote to women, why should the State incur the risk?" +Whenever I have invited questions, at the close of an address, I have +feared that one. That cheerful air of confidence with which I urged +people to speak right up and ask any question they wished always +covered a trembling and fearful heart. You have heard of people +whistling as they passed a graveyard, and perhaps you thought that +they were frivolously light-hearted? Oh, no! That is not why they +whistled! + +When the vote was given to the women in our province and all the +other Western provinces, I confess that I thought our worst troubles +were over. I see now that they were really beginning. A second +Hindenburg line has been set up, and seems harder to pierce than the +first. It is the line of bitter prejudice! Some of those who, at the +time the vote was given, made eloquent speeches of welcome, declaring +their long devotion to the cause of women, are now busily engaged in +trying to make it uncomfortably hot for the women who dare to enter +the political field. They are like the employers who furnish seats for +their clerks in the stores, yet make it clear that to use them may +cost their jobs. + +The granting of the franchise to women in western Canada, was brought +about easily. It won, not by political pressure, but on its merits. +There is something about a new country which beats out prejudice, and +the pioneer age is not so far removed as to have passed out of memory. +The real men of the West remember gratefully how the women stood by +them in the old hard days, taking their full share of the hardships +and the sacrifice uncomplainingly. It was largely this spirit which +prompted the action of the legislators of the West. As Kipling says:-- + + Now and not hereafter, while the breath is in our nostrils, + Now and not hereafter, ere the meaner years go by, + Let us now remember many honorable women-- + They who stretched their hands to us, when we were like to die! + +There was not any great opposition here in western Canada. One member +did say that, if women ever entered Parliament, he would immediately +resign; but the women were not disturbed. They said that it was just +another proof of the purifying effect that the entrance of women into +politics would have! Sitting in Parliament does not seem like such a +hard job to those of us who have sat in the Ladies' Gallery and looked +over; there is such unanimity among members of Parliament, such +remarkable and unquestioning faith in the soundness of their party's +opinion. In one of the Parliaments of the West there sat for twelve +years an honored member who never once broke the silence of the back +benches except to say, "Aye," when he was told to say, "Aye." But on +toward the end of the thirteenth year he gave unmistakable signs of +life. A window had been left open behind him, and when the draft blew +over him--he sneezed! Shortly after, he got up and shut the window! + +Looking down upon such tranquil scenes as these there are women who +have said in their boastful way that they believe they could do just +as well--with a little practice! + +Women who sit in Parliament will do so by sheer merit, for there is +still enough prejudice to keep them out if any reason for so doing can +be found. Their greatest contribution, in Parliament and out of it, +will be independence of thought. + +Women have not the strong party affiliations which men have. They have +no political past, no political promises to keep, no political sins to +expiate. They start fair and with a clean sheet. Those who make the +mistake of falling into old party lines, and of accepting ready-made +opinions and prejudices, will make no difference in the political +life of the country except to enlarge the voters' list and increase +the expenses of elections. + +Just now partyism is falling into disfavor, for there are too many +serious questions to be fought out. There are still a few people who +would rather lose the war than have their party defeated, but not +many. "When the Empire is in danger is no time to think of men," +appeals to the average thinking man and woman. The independent man who +carefully thinks out issues for himself, and who is not led away by +election cries, is the factor who has held things steady in the past. +Now it seems that this independent body will be increased by the new +voters, and if so, they will hold in their hands the balance of power +in any province, and really become a terror to evil-doers as well as a +praise to those who do well! + +Old things are passing away, and those who have eyes to see it know +that all things are becoming new. The political ideals of the far-off, +easy days of peace will not do for these new and searching times. +Political ideals have been different from any other. Men who would +not rob a bank or sandbag a traveler, and who are quite punctilious +about paying their butcher and their baker, have been known to rob the +country quite freely and even hilariously, doctoring an expense sheet, +overcharging for any service rendered. "Good old country," they have +seemed to say, "if I do not rob you, some one else will!" + +This easy conscience regarding the treasury of the country is early +shown in the attitude toward road-work, those few days' labor which +the municipality requires men to do as part payment of their taxes. +Who has not noticed the languorous ease of the lotus-eating +road-workers as they sit on their plough-handles and watch the slow +afternoon roll by? + +Politics too long has been a mystical word which has brought visions +of a dark but fascinating realm of romantic intrigue, sharp deals, +good-natured tricks, and lucky strikes. The greatest asset a +politician can have is the ability to "put it over" and "get something +for us." The attitude of the average voter has been that of +expectancy. If he renders a public service, he expects to be +remunerated. His relation to his country has not been, "What can I +do?" but, "What can I get?" His hand has been outstretched palm +upward! Citizenship to us has not meant much; it has come too easy, +like money to the rich man's son! All things have been ours by +inheritance--free speech, freedom of religion, responsible government. +Somebody fought for these things, but it was a long time ago, and only +in a vague way are we grateful! These things become valuable only when +threatened. + +There hangs on the wall, in one of the missions in the city of +Winnipeg, a picture of a street in one of the Polish villages. In it +the people are huddled together, cowering with fear. The priest, +holding aloft the sacred crucifix, stands in front of them, while down +the street come the galloping Cossacks with rifles and bayonets. +Polish men and women have cried bitter tears before that picture. They +knew what happened. They knew that the sacred sign of the crucifix did +not stay the fury of the Cossacks! These are the people, these Polish +people, who have been seen to kiss the soil of Canada in an ecstasy of +gladness when they set foot upon it, for it is to them the land of +liberty. Liberty of speech and of action, safety of life and of +property mean something to them; but we have always enjoyed these +things, and esteem them lightly. + +The first blow between the eyes that our complacency received was +Belgium!--that heroic little country to whose people citizenship was +so much dearer than life or riches, or even the safety of their loved +ones, that they flung all these things away, in a frenzy of devotion, +for the honor of their country and her good name among nations. This +has disturbed us: we cannot forget Belgium. It has upset our +comfortable Canadian conscience, for it has given us a glimpse of the +upper country, and life can never be the same again. It is not all of +life to live--that is, grow rich and quit work. + +The heroism of the trenches is coming back to us. It is filtering +through. It is the need for heroism which is bringing it out. We are +playing a losing game, even though we are winning. There is only one +thing more disastrous than a victory, and that is a defeat. I do not +need to enumerate what we are losing--we know. What can we do to make +good the loss? Some of our people have always done all they could: +they have always stood in the front trench and "carried on"; others +have been in the "stand-to" trench, and have done well, too, in time +of stress. Many have not yet signed on, but they will: they are not +cowards, they are only indifferent. This has been true of the +protected woman in the home, who has not considered herself a citizen. + +We have come to the place now when our full force must be called out. +The women are our last reserves. If they cannot heal the world, we are +lost, for they are the last we have--we cannot call the angels down. +The trumpets are calling now in every street of every town, in every +country lane, even in the trackless fastnesses of the North Country. +The call is for citizens,--woman citizens,--who, with deft and +skillful fingers, will lovingly, patiently undertake the task of +piecing together the torn mantle of civilization; who will make it so +strong, so beautiful, so glorified, that never again can it be torn or +soiled or stained with human blood. The trumpets are calling for +healers and binders who will not be appalled at the task of nursing +back to health a wounded world, shot to pieces by injustice, greed, +cruelty, and wrong thinking. + +The sign of the Red Cross is a fitting emblem for the Order, worn not +only on the sleeve, but in the heart; red to remind its wearer that +God made all people of one blood, and is the Father of all; and the +Cross which speaks of the One whose mission on earth was to save; who +came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Every one who signs +on does so for "duration," and must consider herself under orders +until the coming in of that glad day + + "When men shall brothers be + And form one family + The wide world o'er!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LIFE'S TRAGEDY + + It often happens that people die + At the hand of that they loved the best; + One who loves horses all his days + By a horse's hoof is laid to rest! + + The swimmer who loves on the waves to lie + Is caught in the swell of a passing boat, + And the thing he loves breaks over his head + And chokes the breath from his gasping throat. + + And the Christ who loved all men so well + That he came to earth their friend to be, + By one was denied, by one betrayed, + By others nailed to the cursèd tree! + + And more and more I seem to see + That Love is the world's great Tragedy! + + +Love is a terrible thing--quite different from amiability, which is +sometimes confused with it. Amiability will never cause people to do +hard things, but love will tear the heart to pieces! + +It was because the people of Belgium loved their country that they +chose to suffer all things rather than have her good name tarnished +among the nations of the earth. It has been for love, love of fair +play, love of British traditions, that Canada has sent nearly four +hundred thousand men across the sea to fight against the powers of +darkness. Canada has nothing to gain in this struggle, in a material +way, as a nation, and even less has there been any chance of gain to +the individual who answered the call. There are many things that may +happen to the soldier after he has put on the uniform, but sudden +riches is not among them. + +Some of the men, whose love of country made them give up all and +follow the gleam, have come back to us now, and on pleasant afternoons +may be seen sitting on the balconies of the Convalescent Homes or +perhaps being wheeled in chairs by their more fortunate companions. +Their neighbors, who had an amiable feeling for the country instead of +love, and who therefore stayed at home, are very sorry for these +broken men, and sometimes, when the day is fine, they take the +"returned men" out in their big cars for a ride! + +There are spiritual and moral dead-beats in every community who get +through life easily by following a "safety-first" plan in everything, +who keep close to the line of "low visibility," which means, "Keep +your head down or you may get hit"; who allow others to do the +fighting and bear all the criticism, and then are not even gracious +enough to acknowledge the unearned benefits. The most popular man in +every community is the one who has never taken a stand on any moral +question; who has never loved anything well enough to fight for it; +who is broad-minded and tolerant--because he does not care.... +Amiability fattens, but love kills! + +Amiable patriots at the present time talk quite cheerfully of the +conscription of life, but say little of the conscription of wealth, +declaring quite truthfully that wealth will never win the war! Neither +will men! It will take both, and all we have, too, I am afraid. Surely +if the government feels that it can ask one man for his life, it need +not be so diffident about asking another man for his wealth. The +conscription of wealth might well begin with placing all articles of +food and clothing on the free list and levying a direct tax on all +land values. Then, if all profits from war-supplies were turned over +to the government, there would be money enough to pay a fair allowance +to our soldiers and their dependents. It does not seem fair that the +soldier should bear all the sacrifices of hardship and danger, and +then have the additional one of poverty for his family and the +prospect of it for himself, when he comes back unfit for his former +occupation. Hardship and danger for the soldier are inevitable, but +poverty is not. The honest conscription of wealth would make it +possible for all who serve the Empire to have an assurance of a decent +living as long as they live. + +If equal pay were given to every man, whether he is a private or a +major, equal pensions to every soldier's widow, and if all political +preference were eliminated, as it would have to be under this system; +when all service is put on the same basis and one man's life counts as +much as another's, there would be no need of compulsion to fill the +ranks of the Canadian army. We know that there never can be equality +of service--the soldier will always bear the heavy burden, and no +money can ever pay him for what he does; but we must not take refuge +behind that statement to let him bear the burdens which belong to the +people who stay at home. + +Heroism is contagious. It becomes easier when every one is practicing +it. What we need now, more than anything, are big, strong, heroic +leaders, men of moral passion, who will show us the hard path of +sacrifice, not asking us to do what they are not willing to do +themselves; not pointing the way, but traveling in it; men of heroic +mould who will say, "If my right eye offend me, I will pluck it out"; +men who are willing to go down to political death if the country can +be saved by that sacrifice. We need men at home who are as brave as +the boys in the trenches, who risk their lives every day in a dozen +different ways, without a trace of self-applause, who have laid all +their equipment on the altar of sacrifice; who "carry on" when all +seems hopeless; who stand up to death unflinchingly, and at the last, +ask only, that their faces may be turned to the West!--to Canada! + +We have always had plenty of amiability, but in this terrible time it +will not do. Our country is calling for love. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WAITING! + + Sing a song of the Next of Kin, + A weary, wishful, waiting rhyme, + That has no tune and has no time, + But just a way of wearing in! + + Sing a song of those who weep + While slow the weary night hours go; + Wondering if God willed it so, + That human life should be so cheap! + + Sing a song of those who wait, + Wondering what the post will bring; + Saddened when he slights the gate, + Trembling at his ring,-- + + The day the British mail comes in + Is a day of thrills for the Next of Kin. + + +When the Alpine climbers make a dangerous ascent, they fasten a rope +from one to the other; so that if one slips, the others will be able +to hold him until he finds his feet again; and thus many a catastrophe +is averted! We have a ring like that here--we whose boys are gone. +Somebody is almost sure to get a letter when the British mail comes +in; and even a letter from another boy read over the 'phone is +cheering, especially if he mentions your boy--or even if he doesn't; +for we tell each other that the writer of the letter would surely know +"if anything had happened." + +Even "Posty" does his best to cheer us when the letters are far apart, +and when the British mail has brought us nothing tells us it was a +very small, and, he is sure, divided mail, and the other part of it +will be along to-morrow. He also tells us the U-boats are probably +accounting for the scarcity of French mail, anyway, and we must not be +worried. He is a good fellow, this "Posty"! + +We hold tight to every thread of comfort--we have to. That's why we +wear bright-colored clothes: there is a buoyancy, an assurance about +them, that we sorely need! We try to economize on our emotions, too, +never shedding a useless or idle tear! In the days of peace we could +afford to go to see "East Lynne," "Madame X," or "Romeo and Juliet," +and cry our eyes red over their sorrows. Now we must go easy on all +that! Some of us are running on the emergency tank now, and there is +still a long way to go! + +There are some things we try not to think about, especially at night. +There is no use--we have thought it all over and over again; and now +our brains act like machines which have been used for sewing something +too heavy for them, and which don't "feed" just right, and skip +stitches. So we try to do the things that we think ought to be done, +and take all the enjoyment we can from the day's work. + +We have learned to divide our time into day-lengths, following the +plan of the water-tight compartments in ships, which are so arranged +that, if a leak occurs in one of these, the damaged one may be closed +up, and no harm is done to the ship. So it is in life. We can live so +completely one day at a time that no mournful yesterday can throw its +dull shadow on the sunshine of to-day; neither can any frowning +to-morrow reach back and with a black hand slap its smiling face. +To-day is a sacred thing if we know how to live it. + +I am writing this on the fourth day of August, which is a day when +memory grows bitter and reflective if we are not careful. The August +sunshine lies rich and yellow on the fields, and almost perceptibly +the pale green of the wheat is absorbing the golden hue of the air. +The painted cup has faded from rosy pink to a dull, ashy color, and +the few wild roses which are still to be seen in the shaded places +have paled to a pastel shade. The purple and yellow of goldenrod, wild +sage, gallardia, and coxcomb are to be seen everywhere--the strong, +bold colors of the harvest. + +Everything spoke of peace to-day as we drove through the country. The +air had the indescribably sweet smell of ripening grain, +clover-blooms, and new hay; for the high stands of wild hay around the +ponds and lakes are all being cut this year, and even the timothy +along the roads, and there was a mellow undertone of mowing machines +everywhere, like the distant hum of a city. Fat cattle stood knee-deep +in a stream as we passed, and others lay contentedly on the +clover-covered banks. One restless spirit, with a poke on her neck, +sniffed at us as we went by, and tossed her head in grim defiance of +public opinion and man-made laws. She had been given a bad name--and +was going to live up to it! + +Going over a hill, we came upon a woman driving a mower. It was the +first reminder of the war. She was a fine-looking woman, with a tanned +face, brown, but handsome, and she swung her team around the edge of +the meadow with a grace and skill that called forth our admiration. + +I went over and spoke to her, for I recognized her as a woman whom I +had met at the Farm-Woman's Convention last winter. After we had +exchanged greetings, and she had made her kind inquiry, "What news do +you get from the Front?" and had heard that my news had been good--she +said abruptly:-- + +"Did you know I've lost my husband?" + +I expressed my sorrow. + +"Yes," she said, "it was a smashing blow--never believed Alex could be +killed: he was so big, and strong, and could do anything.... Ever +since I can remember, I thought Alex was the most wonderful of all +people on earth ... and at first ... when the news came, it seemed I +could not go on living ... but I am all right now, and have thought +things out.... This isn't the only plane of existence ... there are +others; this is merely one phase of life.... I am taking a longer view +of things now.... You see that schoolhouse over there,"--she pointed +with her whip to a green-and-white school farther down the +road,--"Alex and I went to school there.... We began the same day and +left the same day. His family and mine settled in this neighborhood +twenty years ago--we are all Kincardine people--Bruce, you know. Our +road to school lay together on the last mile ... and we had a way of +telling whether the other one had passed. We had a red willow stick +which we drove into the ground. Then, when I came along in the morning +and found it standing, I knew I was there first. I pulled it out and +laid it down, so when Alex came he knew I had passed, and hurried +along after me. When he came first and found it standing, he always +waited for me, if he could, for he would rather be late than go +without me. When I got the message I could not think of anything but +the loneliness of the world, for a few days; but after a while I +realized what it meant ... Alex had passed ... the willow was down ... +but he'll wait for me some place ... nothing is surer than that! I am +not lonely now.... Alex and I are closer together than plenty of +people who are living side by side. Distance is a matter of spirit ... +like everything else that counts. + +"I am getting on well. The children are at school now, both of +them,--they sit in the same seats we sat in,--the crops are in good +shape--did you ever see a finer stand of wild hay? I can manage the +farm, with one extra hired man in harvest-time. Alex went out on the +crest of the wave--he had just been recommended for promotion--the +children will always have a proud memory. + +"This is a great country, isn't it? Where can you find such abundance, +and such a climate, with its sunshine and its cool nights, and such a +chance to make good?... I suppose freedom has to be paid for. We +thought the people long ago had paid for it, but another installment +of the debt fell due. Freedom is like a farm--it has to be kept up. It +is worth something to have a chance to work and bring up my +children--in peace--so I am living on from day to day ... not grieving +... not moping ... not thinking too much,--it hurts to think too +hard,--just living." + +Then we shook hands, and I told her that she had found something far +greater than happiness, for she had achieved power! + + * * * * * + +There is a fine rainbow in the sky this evening, so bright and strong +that it shows again in a reflected bow on the clouds behind it. A +rainbow is a heartsome thing, for it reminds us of a promise made long +ago, and faithfully kept. + +There is shadow and shine, sorrow and joy, all the way along. This is +inevitable, and so we must take them as they come, and rejoice over +every sunny hour of every day, or, if the day is all dark, we must go +hopefully forward through the gloom. + +To-day has been fine. There was one spattering shower, which pebbled +the dusty roads, and a few crashes of rolling thunder. But the western +sky is red now, giving promise of a good day to-morrow. + + +A PRAYER FOR THE NEXT OF KIN + + + O Thou, who once Thine own Son gave + To save the world from sin, + Draw near in pity now we crave + To all the Next of Kin. + To Thee we make our humble prayer + To save us from despair! + + Send sleep to all the hearts that wake; + Send tears into the eyes that burn; + Steady the trembling hands that shake; + Comfort all hearts that mourn. + But most of all, dear Lord, we pray + For strength to see us through this day. + + As in the wilderness of old, + When Thou Thy children safely led, + They gathered, as we have been told, + One day's supply of heavenly bread, + And if they gathered more than that, + At evening it was stale and flat,-- + + So, Lord, may this our faith increase-- + To leave, untouched, to-morrow's load, + To take of grace a one-day lease + Upon life's winding road. + Though round the bend we may not see, + Still let us travel hopefully! + + Or, if our faith is still so small-- + Our hearts so void of heavenly grace, + That we may still affrighted be + In passing some dark place-- + Then in Thy mercy let us run + Blindfolded in the race. + + +THE END + + + + + The Riverside Press + CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS + U.S.A. + + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Next of Kin, by Nellie L. McClung + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEXT OF KIN *** + +***** This file should be named 16552-8.txt or 16552-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/5/16552/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/16552-8.zip b/16552-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f4bda6 --- /dev/null +++ b/16552-8.zip diff --git a/16552-h.zip b/16552-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c5fb929 --- /dev/null +++ b/16552-h.zip diff --git a/16552-h/16552-h.htm b/16552-h/16552-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..68cd502 --- /dev/null +++ b/16552-h/16552-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5774 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Next of Kin, by Nellie L. McClung. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; + text-indent: 1em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; font-family: garamond, serif; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + div.center {text-align: center;} + div.content {width: 90%; margin-left: auto; text-align: left;} + div.centered {text-align: center;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 1 */ + div.centered table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;} /* work around for IE centering with CSS problem part 2 */ + + .cen {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} /* centering paragraphs */ + .right {text-align: right; padding-right: 3em;} /* right align paragraphs */ + .sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%;} /* small caps, normal size */ + .noin {text-indent: 0em;} /* no indenting */ + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .totoc {position: absolute; right: 2%; font-size: 75%; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .img {text-align: center; padding: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} /* centering images */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + .tdr {text-align: right;} /* aligning cell content to the right */ + .tdc {text-align: center;} /* aligning cell content to the center */ + .tdl {text-align: left;} /* aligning cell content to the left */ + .tdlsc {text-align: left; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdrsc {text-align: right; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + .tdcsc {text-align: center; font-variant: small-caps; font-size: 100%;} /* aligning cell content and small caps */ + + .poem {margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em;} + .poem span.i8 {display: block; margin-left: 8em;} + .poem span.i3 {display: block; margin-left: 3em;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Next of Kin, by Nellie L. McClung + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Next of Kin + Those who Wait and Wonder + +Author: Nellie L. McClung + +Release Date: August 19, 2005 [EBook #16552] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEXT OF KIN *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<br /> + + +<a name="Page_i" id="Page_i"></a> +<h1>The Next of Kin</h1> +<h2><i>Those who Wait and Wonder</i></h2> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3>By</h3> + +<h2>Nellie L. McClung</h2> + +<h4>Author of "Sowing Seeds in Denny," "The Second Chance,"<br /> +"The Black Creek Stopping House," and<br /> +"In Times like These"</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5>TORONTO<br /> +THOMAS ALLEN<br /> +BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +1917</h5> + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h5><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii"></a>1917, BY NELLIE L. McCLUNG<br /> +<br /> +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</h5> +<br /> +<h5><i>Published November 1917</i></h5> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h3><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii"></a>HOPE</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Down through the ages, a picture has come of the woman who weepeth:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Tears are her birthright, and sorrow and sadness her portion:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Weeping endures for a night, and prolongeth its season</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Far in the day, with the will of God</i><br /></span> +<span> <i>For a reason!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Such has the world long accepted, as fitting and real;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Plentiful have been the causes of grief, without stinting;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Patient and sad have the women accepted the ruling,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Learning life's lessons, with hardly a word of complaint</i><br /></span> +<span> <i>At the schooling.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>But there's a limit to tears, even tears, and a new note is sounding:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Hitherto they have wept without hope, never seeing an ending;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Now hope has dawned in their poor lonely hearts,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And a message they're sending</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Over the world to their sisters in weeping, a message is flashing,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Flashing the brighter, for the skies are so dark</i><br /></span> +<span> <i>And war thunders crashing!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And this is the message the war-stricken women send out</i><br /></span> +<span> <i>In their sorrow:</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>"Yesterday and to-day have gone wrong,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i4"><i>But we still have to-morrow!"</i><br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr /> +<br /> +<a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv"></a> + +<a name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></a> + +<h2>Contents</h2> +<br /> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td class="tdlsc">Foreword</td> +<td width="10%" class="tdr"><a href="#FORWARD">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td width="10%" class="tdl">I.</td> +<td width="80%" class="tdlsc">Beach Days</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">22</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td width="10%" class="tdl">II.</td> +<td width="80%" class="tdlsc">Working In!</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">III.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">Let's Pretend</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">IV.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">Pictures</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">53</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">V.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">Saving Our Souls</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">VI.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">Surprises</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">VII.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">Conservation</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">VIII.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">"Permission"</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">112</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">IX.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">The Slacker—in Uniform</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">142</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">X.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">National Service—One Way</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">XI.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">The Orphan</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">171</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">XII.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">The War-Mother</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">193</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">XIII.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">The Believing Church</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">210</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">XIV.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">The Last Reserves</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">227</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">XV.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">Life's Tragedy</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">241</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">XVI.</td> +<td class="tdlsc">Waiting!</td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">247</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"></a></p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a><hr /> +<br /> + + +<h2><a name="FORWARD" id="FORWARD"></a>The Next of Kin</h2> + +<h3>FOREWORD<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> +<br /> + +<p>It was a bleak day in November, with a thick, gray sky, and a great, +noisy, blustering wind that had a knack of facing you, no matter which +way you were going; a wind that would be in ill-favor anywhere, but in +northern Alberta, where the wind is not due to blow at all, it was +what the really polite people call "impossible." Those who were not so +polite called it something quite different, but the meaning is the +same.</p> + +<p>There are districts, not so very far from us, where the wind blows so +constantly that the people grow accustomed to it; they depend on it; +some say they like it; and when by a rare chance it goes down for a +few hours, they become nervous, panicky, and apprehensive, always +listening, expecting something to happen. But we of the windless +North, with our sunlit <a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>spaces, our quiet days and nights, grow +peevish, petulant, and full of grouch when the wind blows. We will +stand anything but that. We resent wind; it is not in the bond; we +will have none of it!</p> + +<p>"You won't have many at the meeting to-day," said the station agent +cheerfully, when I went into the small waiting-room to wait for the +President of the Red Cross Society, who wanted to see me before the +meeting. "No, you won't have many a day like this, although there are +some who will come out, wind or no wind, to hear a woman speak—it's +just idle curiosity, that's all it is."</p> + +<p>"Oh, come," I said, "be generous; maybe they really think that she may +have something to say!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you see," said this amateur philosopher, as he dusted the +gray-painted sill of the wicket with a large red-and-white +handkerchief, "it <i>is</i> great to hear a woman speak in public, anyway, +even if she does not do it very well. It's sorto' like seeing a pony +walking on its hind legs; it's clever even if it's not natural. <a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>You +will have some all right—I'm going over myself. There would have been +a big crowd in if it hadn't been for the wind. You see, you've never +been here before and that all helps."</p> + +<p>Then the President of the Red Cross Society came and conducted me to +the house quite near the station where I was to be entertained. My +hostess, who came to the door herself in answer to our ring, was a +sweet-faced, little Southern woman transplanted here in northern +Canada, who with true Southern hospitality and thoughtfulness asked me +if I would not like to step right upstairs and "handsome up a bit" +before I went to the meeting,—"not but what you're looking right +peart," she added quickly.</p> + +<p>When I was shown upstairs to the spare room and was well into the +business of "handsoming up," I heard a small voice at the door +speaking my name. I opened the door and found there a small girl of +about seven years of age, who timidly asked if she might come in. I +told her that I was just dressing and would be glad to have her at +some other time. But she quickly assured me that it was right now that +she wished <a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>to come in, for she would like to see how I dressed. I +thought the request a strange one and brought the small person in to +hear more of it. She told me,</p> + +<p>"I heard my mamma and some other ladies talking about you," she said, +"and wondering what you would be like; and they said that women like +you who go out making speeches never know how to dress themselves, and +they said that they bet a cent that you just flung your clothes +on,—and do you? Because I think it must be lovely to be able to fling +your clothes on—and I wish I could! Don't you tell that I told you, +will you?—but that is why I came over. I live over there,"—she +pointed to a house across the street,—"and I often come to this +house. I brought over a jar of cream this morning. My mamma sent it +over to Mrs. Price, because she was having you stay here."</p> + +<p>"That was very kind of your mamma," I said, much pleased with this +evidence of her mother's good-will.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," said my visitor. "My mamma says she always likes to help +people out when <a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>they are in trouble. But no one knows that I am here +but just you and me. I watched and watched for you, and when you came +nobody was looking and I slipped out and came right in, and never +knocked—nor nothin'."</p> + +<p>I assured my small guest that mum was the word, and that I should be +delighted to have her for a spectator while I went on with the process +of making myself look as nice as nature would allow. But she was +plainly disappointed when she found that I was not one bit quicker +about dressing than plenty of others, even though she tried to speed +me up a little.</p> + +<p>Soon the President came for me and took me to the Municipal Hall, +where the meeting was to be held.</p> + +<p>I knew, just as soon as I went in, that it was going to be a good +meeting. There was a distinct air of preparedness about +everything—some one had scrubbed the floor and put flags on the wall +and flowers in the windows; over in the corner there was a long, +narrow table piled up with cups and saucers, with cake and sandwiches +carefully covered from sight; but I knew <a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>what caused the lumpiness +under the white cloth. Womanly instinct—which has been declared a +safer guide than man's reasoning—told me that there were going to be +refreshments, and the delightful odor of coffee, which escaped from +the tightly closed boiler on the stove, confirmed my deductions. Then +I noticed that a handbill on the wall spoke freely of it, and declared +that every one was invited to stay, although there did not seem to be +much need of this invitation—certainly there did not seem to be any +climatic reason for any one's leaving any place of shelter; for now +the wind, confirming our worst suspicions of it, began to drive frozen +splinters of sleet against the windows.</p> + +<p>By three o'clock the hall was full,—women mostly, for it was still +the busy time for the men on the farms. Many of the women brought +their children with them. Soon after I began to speak, the children +fell asleep, tired out with struggling with wind and weather, and +content to leave the affairs of state with any one who wanted them. +But the women watched me <a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>with eager faces which seemed to speak back +to me. The person who drives ten miles against a head wind over bad +roads to hear a lecture is not generally disposed to slumber. The +faces of these women were so bright and interested that, when it was +over, it seemed to me that it had been a conversation where all had +taken part.</p> + +<p>The things that I said to them do not matter; they merely served as an +introduction to what came after, when we sat around the stove and the +young girls of the company brought us coffee and sandwiches, and mocha +cake and home-made candy, and these women told me some of the things +that are near their hearts.</p> + +<p>"I drove fourteen miles to-day," said one woman, "but those of us who +live long on the prairie do not mind these things. We were two hundred +miles from a railway when we went in first, and we only got our mail +'in the spring.' Now, when we have a station within fourteen miles and +a post-office on the next farm, we feel we are right in the midst of +things, and I suppose we do not really mind the inconveniences that +<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>would seem dreadful to some people. We have done without things all +our lives, always hoping for better things to come, and able to bear +things that were disagreeable by telling ourselves that the children +would have things easier than we had had them. We have had frozen +crops; we have had hail; we have had serious sickness; but we have not +complained, for all these things seemed to be God's doings, and no one +could help it. We took all this—face upwards; but with the war—it is +different. The war is not God's doings at all. Nearly all the boys +from our neighborhood are gone, and some are not coming back——"</p> + +<p>She stopped abruptly, and a silence fell on the group of us. She +fumbled for a moment in her large black purse, and then handed me an +envelope, worn, battered. It was addressed to a soldier in France and +it had not been opened. Across the corner, in red ink, was written the +words, "Killed in action."</p> + +<p>"My letters are coming back now," she said simply. "Alex was my eldest +boy, and he went at the first call for men, and he was only +<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>eighteen—he came through Saint-Éloi and Festubert—But this happened +in September."</p> + +<p>The woman who sat beside her took up the theme. "We have talked a lot +about this at our Red Cross meetings. What do the women of the world +think of war? No woman ever wanted war, did she? No woman could bring +a child into the world, suffering for it, caring for it, loving it, +without learning the value of human life, could she? War comes about +because human life is the cheapest thing in the world; it has been +taken at man's estimate, and that is entirely too low. Now, we have +been wondering what can be done when this war is over to form a league +of women to enforce peace. There is enough sentiment in the world in +favor of human life if we could bind it up some way."</p> + +<p>I gazed at the eager faces before me—in astonishment. Did I ever hear +high-browed ladies in distant cities talk of the need of education in +the country districts?</p> + +<p>"Well-kept homes and hand-knit socks will never save the world," said +Alex's mother. <a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>"Look at Germany! The German women are kind, patient, +industrious, frugal, hard-working, everything that a woman ought to +be, but it did not save them, or their country, and it will not save +us. We have allowed men to have control of the big things in life too +long. While we worked—or played—they have ruled. My nearest neighbor +is a German, and she and I have talked these things over. She feels +just the same as we do, and she sews for our Red Cross. She says she +could not knit socks for our soldiers, for they are enemies, but she +makes bandages, for she says wounded men are not enemies, and she is +willing to do anything for them. She wanted to come to-day to hear +you, but her husband would not let her have a horse, because he says +he does not believe in women speaking in public, anyway! I wanted her +to come with us even if he did not like it, but she said that she +dared not."</p> + +<p>"Were you not afraid of making trouble?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Alex's mother smiled. "A quick, sharp fight is the best and clears up +things. I would rather <a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>be a rebel any time than a slave. But of +course it is easy for me to talk! I have always been treated like a +human being. Perhaps it is just as well that she did not come. Old +Hans has long generations back of him to confirm him in his theory +that women are intended to be men's bondservants and that is why they +are made smaller; it will all take time—and other things. The trouble +has been with all of us that we have expected time to work out all of +our difficulties, and it won't; there is no curative quality in time! +And what I am most afraid of is that we will settle down after the +war, and slip right back into our old ways,—our old peaceful +ways,—and let men go on ruling the world, and war will come again and +again. Men have done their very best,—I am not feeling hard to +them,—but I know, and the thoughtful men know, that men alone can +never free the world from the blight of war; and if we go on, too +gentle and sweet to assert ourselves, knitting, nursing, bringing +children into the world, it will surely come to pass, when we are old, +perhaps, and not able to do anything,—but <a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>suffer,—that war will +come again, and we shall see our daughters' children or our +granddaughters' children sent off to fight, and their heart-broken +mothers will turn on us accusing eyes and say to us, 'You went through +all this—you knew what this means—why didn't you do something?' That +is my bad dream when I sit knitting, because I feel hard toward the +women that are gone. They were a poor lot, many of them. I like now +best of all Jennie Geddes who threw the stool at somebody's head. I +forget what Jennie's grievance was, but it was the principle that +counts—she had a conviction, and was willing to fight for it. I never +said these things—until I got this." She still held the letter, with +its red inscription, in her hand. "But now I feel that I have earned +the right to speak out. I have made a heavy investment in the cause of +Humanity and I am going to look after it. The only thing that makes it +possible to give up Alex is the hope that Alex's death may help to +make war impossible and so save other boys. But unless we do something +his death will not help a bit; for this thing has always been—and +<a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>that is the intolerable thought to me. I am willing to give my boy to +die for others if I am sure that the others are going to be saved, but +I am not willing that he should die in vain. You see what I mean, +don't you?"</p> + +<p>I told her that I did see, and that I believed that she had expressed +the very thought that was in the mind of women everywhere.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," she said quickly, "why don't you write it? We will +forget this when it is all over and we will go back to our old +pursuits and there will be nothing—I mean, no record of how we felt. +Anyway, we will die and a new generation will take our places. Why +don't you write it while your heart is hot?"</p> + +<p>"But," I said, "perhaps what I should write would not truly represent +what the women are thinking. They have diverse thoughts, and how can I +hope to speak for them?"</p> + +<p>"Write what you feel," she said sternly. "These are fundamental +things. Ideas are epidemic—they go like the measles. If you are +thinking a certain thing, you may be sure you have no monopoly of it; +many others are <a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>thinking it too. That is my greatest comfort at this +time. Write down what you feel, even if it is not what you think you +ought to feel. Write it down for all of us!"</p> + +<p>And that is how it happened. There in the Municipal Hall in the small +town of Ripston, as we sat round the stove that cold November day, +with the sleet sifting against the windows, I got my commission from +these women, whom I had not seen until that day, to tell what we think +and feel, to tell how it looks to us, who are the mothers of soldiers, +and to whom even now the letter may be on its way with its curt +inscription across the corner. I got my commission there to tell +fearlessly and hopefully the story of the Next of Kin.</p> + +<p>It will be written in many ways, by many people, for the brand of this +war is not only on our foreheads, but deep in our hearts, and it will +be reflected in all that our people write for many years to come. The +trouble is that most of us feel too much to write well; for it is hard +to write of the things which lie so heavy on our hearts; but the +picture is not all dark—no <a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>picture can be. If it is all dark, it +ceases to be a picture and becomes a blot. Belgium has its tradition +of deathless glory, its imperishable memories of gallant bravery which +lighten its darkness and make it shine like noonday. The one +unlightened tragedy of the world to-day is Germany.</p> + +<p>I thought of these things that night when I was being entertained at +the Southern woman's hospitable home.</p> + +<p>"It pretty near took a war to make these English women friendly to +each other and to Americans. I lived here six months before any of +them called on me, and then I had to go and dig them out; but I was +not going to let them go on in such a mean way. They told me then that +they were waiting to see what church I was going to; and then I rubbed +it into them that they were a poor recommend for any church, with +their mean, unneighborly ways; for if a church does not teach people +to be friendly I think it ought to be burned down, don't you? I told +them I could not take much stock in that hymn about 'We shall know +each <a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>other there,' when they did not seem a bit anxious about knowing +each other here, which is a heap more important; for in heaven we will +all have angels to play with, but here we only have each other, and it +is right lonesome when they won't come out and play! But I tell you +things have changed for the better since the war, and now we knit and +sew together, and forgive each other for being Methodists and +Presbyterians; and, do you know? I made a speech one night, right out +loud so everybody could hear me, in a Red Cross meeting, and that is +what I thought that I could never do. But I got feeling so anxious +about the prisoners of war in Germany that I couldn't help making an +appeal for them; and I was so keen about it, and wanted every one of +those dear boys to get a square meal, that I forgot all about little +Mrs. Price, and I was not caring a cent whether she was doing herself +proud or not. And when I got done the people were using their +handkerchiefs, and I was sniffing pretty hard myself, but we raised +eighty-five dollars then and there, and now I know I will never be +scared again. I <a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>used to think it was so ladylike to be nervous about +speaking, and now I know it is just a form of selfishness. I was +simply scared that I would not do well, thinking all the time of +myself. But now everything has changed and I am ready to do anything I +can."</p> + +<p>"Go on," I said; "tell me some more. Remember that you women to-day +made me promise to write down how this war is hitting us, and I merely +promised to write what I heard and saw. I am not going to make up +anything, so you are all under obligation to tell me all you can. I am +not to be the author of this book, but only the historian."</p> + +<p>"It won't be hard," she said encouragingly. "There is so much +happening every day that it will be harder to decide what to leave out +than to find things to put in. In this time of excitement the lid is +off, I tell you; the bars are down; we can see right into the hearts +of people. It is like a fire or an earthquake when all the doors are +open and the folks are carrying their dearest possessions into the +street, and they are all real people now, and they have lost all +<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>their little mincing airs and all their lawdie-daw. But believe me, we +have been some fiddlers! When I look around this house I see evidence +of it everywhere; look at that abomination now"—She pointed to an +elaborately beaded match-safe which hung on the wall.</p> + +<p>It bore on it the word, "Matches," in ornate letters, all made of +beads, but I noticed that its empty condition belied the inscription.</p> + +<p>"Think of the hours of labor that some one has put on that," she went +on scornfully, "and now it is such an aristocrat that it takes up all +its time at that and has no time to be useful. I know now that it +never really intended to hold matches, but simply lives to mock the +honest seeker who really needs a match. I have been a real sinner +myself," she went on after a pause; "I have been a fiddler, all right. +I may as well make a clean breast of it,—I made that match-safe and +nearly bored my eyes out doing it, and was so nervous and cross that I +was not fit to live with."</p> + +<p>"I can't believe that," I said.</p> + +<p>"Well, I sure was some snappy. I have <a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>teased out towel ends, and made +patterns on them; I've punched holes in linen and sewed them up +again—there is no form of foolishness that I have not committed—and +liked it! But now I have ceased to be a fiddler and have become a +citizen, and I am going to try to be a real good spoke in the wheel of +progress. I can't express it very well, but I am going to try to link +up with the people next me and help them along. Perhaps you know what +I mean—I think it is called team-play."</p> + +<p>When the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa were burning, the main switch +which controlled the lighting was turned off by mistake and the whole +place was plunged into darkness, and this added greatly to the horror +and danger. The switch was down a long passage through which the smoke +was rolling, and it seemed impossible for any one to make the journey +and return. Then the people who were there formed a chain, by holding +each other's hands—a great human chain. So that the one who went +ahead felt the sustaining power of the one who came behind him. If he +stumbled and fell, the <a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>man behind him helped him to his feet and +encouraged him to go on. In this way the switch was reached, the light +was turned on, and many lives were saved.</p> + +<p>Over the world to-day roll great billows of hatred and +misunderstanding, which have darkened the whole face of the earth. We +believe that there is a switch if we could get to it, but the smoke +blinds us and we are choked with our tears. Perhaps if we join hands +all of us will be able to do what a few of us could never do. This +reaching-out of feeble human hands, this new compelling force which is +going to bind us all together, this deep desire for cohesion which +swells in our hearts and casts out all smallness and all +self-seeking—this is what we mean when we speak of the Next of Kin. +It is not a physical relationship, but the great spiritual bond which +unites all those whose hearts have grown more tender by sorrow, and +whose spiritual eyes are not dimmed, but washed clearer by their +tears!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Sing a song of hearts grown tender,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>With the sorrow and the pain;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Sorrow is a great old mender,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Love can give,—and give again.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Love's a prodigal old spender,—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And the jolliest old lender,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>For he never turns away</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Any one who comes to borrow,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>If they say their stock is slender,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And they're sorely pressed by sorrow!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Never has been known to say,—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>"We are short ourselves to-day,—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Can't you come again to-morrow?"</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>That has never been Love's way!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And he's rich beyond all telling,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Love divine all love excelling!</i><br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>BEACH DAYS</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When a soldier's watch, with its luminous face,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Loses its light and grows dim and black,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He holds it out in the sun a space<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the radiance all comes back;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And that is the reason I'm thinking to-day<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Of the glad days now long past;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am leaving my heart where the sunbeams play:<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I am trying to drive my fears away:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am charging my soul with a spirit gay,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And hoping that it will last!<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>We were the usual beach crowd, with our sport suits, our silk +sweaters, our Panama hats, our veranda teas and week-end guests, our +long, lovely, lazy afternoons in hammocks beside the placid waters of +Lake Winnipeg. Life was easy and pleasant, as we told ourselves life +ought to be in July and August, when people work hard all year and +then come away to the quiet greenness of the big woods, to forget the +noise and dust of the big city.</p> + +<p>We called our cottage "Kee-am," for that is the Cree word which means +"Never mind"—"Forget it"—"I should worry!" and we liked <a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>the name. +It had a romantic sound, redolent of the old days when the Indians +roamed through these leafy aisles of the forest, and it seemed more +fitting and dignified than "Rough House," where dwelt the quietest +family on the beach, or "Dunwurkin" or "Neverdunfillin" or "Takitezi," +or any of the other more or less home-made names. We liked our name so +well that we made it, out of peeled poles, in wonderful rustic +letters, and put it up in the trees next the road.</p> + +<p>Looking back now, we wonder what we had to worry about! There was +politics, of course; we had just had a campaign that warmed up our +little province, and some of the beachites were not yet speaking to +each other; but nobody had been hurt and nobody was in jail.</p> + +<p>Religion was not troubling us: we went dutifully every Sunday to the +green-and-white schoolhouse under the tall spruce trees, and heard a +sermon preached by a young man from the college, who had a deep and +intimate knowledge of Amos and Elisha and other great men long dead, +and sometimes we wished he would <a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>tell us more about the people who +are living now and leave the dead ones alone. But it is always safer +to speak of things that have happened long ago, and aspersions may be +cast with impunity on Ahab and Jezebel and Balak. There is no danger +that they will have friends on the front seat, who will stop their +subscriptions to the building fund because they do not believe in +having politics introduced into the church.</p> + +<p>The congregations were small, particularly on the hot afternoons, for +many of our people did not believe in going to church when the weather +was not just right. Indeed, there had been a serious discussion in the +synod of one of the largest churches on the question of abolishing +prayers altogether in the hot weather; and I think that some one gave +notice of a motion that would come up to this effect at the annual +meeting. No; religion was not a live topic. There were evidently many +who had said, as did one little girl who was leaving for her holidays, +"Good-bye, God—we are going to the country."</p> + +<p>One day a storm of excitement broke over us, <a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>and for a whole +afternoon upset the calm of our existence. Four hardy woodmen came +down the road with bright new axes, and began to cut down the +beautiful trees which had taken so many years to grow and which made +one of the greatest beauties of the beach. It was some minutes before +the women sitting on their verandas realized what was happening; but +no army ever mobilized quicker for home defense than they, and they +came in droves demanding an explanation, of which there did not seem +to be any.</p> + +<p>"Big Boss him say cut down tree," the spokesman of the party said over +and over again.</p> + +<p>The women in plain and simple language expressed their unexpurgated +opinion of Big Boss, and demanded that he be brought to them. The +stolid Mikes and Peters were utterly at a loss to know what to do!</p> + +<p>"Big Boss—no sense," one woman roared at them, hoping to supplement +their scanty knowledge of English with volume of sound.</p> + +<p>There was no mistaking what the gestures meant, and at last the +wood-choppers prepared <a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>to depart, the smallest man of the party +muttering something under his breath which sounded like an +anti-suffrage speech. I think it was, "Woman's place is the home," or +rather its Bukawinian equivalent. We heard nothing further from them, +and indeed we thought no more of it, for the next day was August 4, +1914.</p> + +<p>When the news of war came, we did not really believe it! War! That was +over! There had been war, of course, but that had been long ago, in +the dark ages, before the days of free schools and peace conferences +and missionary conventions and labor unions! There might be a little +fuss in Ireland once in a while. The Irish are privileged, and nobody +should begrudge them a little liberty in this. But a big war—that was +quite impossible! Christian nations could not go to war!</p> + +<p>"Somebody should be made to pay dear for this," tearfully declared a +doctor's wife. "This is very bad for nervous women."</p> + +<p>The first news had come on the 9.40 train, and there was no more until +the 6.20 train when the men came down from the city; but they <a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>could +throw no light on it either. The only serious face that I saw was that +of our French neighbor, who hurried away from the station without +speaking to any one. When I spoke to him the next day, he answered me +in French, and I knew his thoughts were far away.</p> + +<p>The days that followed were days of anxious questioning. The men +brought back stories of the great crowds that surged through the +streets blocking the traffic in front of the newspaper offices reading +the bulletins, while the bands played patriotic airs; of the misguided +German who shouted, "Hoch der Kaiser!" and narrowly escaped the fury +of the crowd.</p> + +<p>We held a monster meeting one night at "Windwhistle Cottage," and we all +made speeches, although none of us knew what to say. The general tone of +the speeches was to hold steady,—not to be panicky,—Britannia rules +the waves,—it would all be over soon,—Dr. Robertson Nicholl and +Kitchener could settle anything!</p> + +<p>The crowd around the dancing pavilion began to dwindle in the +evenings—that is, of the <a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>older people. The children still danced, +happily; fluffy-haired little girls, with "headache" bands around +their pretty heads, did the fox-trot and the one-step with boys of +their own age and older, but the older people talked together in +excited groups.</p> + +<p>Every night when the train came in the crowds waited in tense anxiety +to get the papers, and when they were handed out, read them in +silence, a silence which was ominous. Political news was relegated to +the third page and was not read until we got back to the veranda. In +these days nothing mattered; the baker came late; the breakfast dishes +were not washed sometimes until they were needed for lunch, for the +German maids and the English maids discussed the situation out under +the trees. Mary, whose last name sounded like a tray of dishes +falling, the fine-looking Polish woman who brought us vegetables every +morning, arrived late and in tears, for she said, "This would be bad +times for Poland—always it was bad times for Poland, and I will never +see my mother again."</p> + +<p>A shadow had fallen on us, a shadow that <a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>darkened the children's +play. Now they made forts of sand, and bored holes in the ends of +stove-wood to represent gaping cannon's mouths, and played that half +the company were Germans; but before many days that game languished, +for there were none who would take the German part: every boat that +was built now was a battleship, and every kite was an aeroplane and +loaded with bombs!</p> + +<p>In less than a week we were collecting for a hospital ship to be the +gift of Canadian women. The message was read out in church one +afternoon, and volunteer collectors were asked for. So successful were +these collectors all over Canada that in a few days word came to us +that enough money had been raised, and that all moneys collected then +could be given to the Belgian Relief Fund. The money had simply poured +in—it was a relief to give!</p> + +<p>Before the time came for school to begin, there were many closed +cottages, for the happy careless freedom of the beach was gone; there +is no happiness in floating across a placid lake in a flat-bottomed +boat if you find yourself <a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>continually turning your head toward the +shore, thinking that you hear some one shouting, "Extra."</p> + +<p>There were many things that made it hard to leave the place where we +had spent so many happy hours. There was the rustic seat we had made +ourselves, which faced the lake, and on which we had sat and seen the +storms gather on Blueberry Island. It was a comfortable seat with the +right slant in its back, and I am still proud of having helped to make +it. There was the breakwater of logs which were placed with such feats +of strength, to prevent the erosion of the waves, and which withstood +the big storm of September, 1912, when so many breakwaters were +smashed to kindling-wood. We always had intended to make a long box +along the top, to plant red geraniums in, but it had not been done. +There was the dressing-tent where the boys ran after their numerous +swims, and which had been the scene of many noisy quarrels over lost +garments—garters generally, for they have an elusive quality all +their own. There was also the black-poplar stump which a <a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>misguided +relative of mine said "no woman could split." He made this remark +after I had tried in vain to show him what was wrong with his method +of attack. I said that I thought he would do better if he could manage +to hit twice in the same place! And he said that he would like to see +me do it, and went on to declare that he would bet me a five-dollar +bill that I could not.</p> + +<p>If it were not for the fatal curse of modesty I would tell how eagerly +I grasped the axe and with what ease I hit, not twice, but half a +dozen times in the same place—until the stump yielded. This victory +was all the sweeter to me because it came right after our sports day +when I had entered every available contest, from the nail-driving +competition to the fat woman's race, and had never even been mentioned +as among those present!</p> + +<p>We closed our cottage on August 24. That day all nature conspired to +make us feel sorry that we were leaving. A gentle breeze blew over the +lake and rasped its surface into dancing ripples that glittered in the +sun. Blueberry <a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>Island seemed to stand out clear and bold and +beckoning. White-winged boats lay over against the horizon and the +<i>chug-chug</i> of a motor-boat came at intervals in a lull of the breeze. +The more tender varieties of the trees had begun to show a trace of +autumn coloring, just a hint and a promise of the ripened beauty of +the fall—if we would only stay!</p> + +<p>Before the turn in the road hid it from sight we stopped and looked +back at the "Kee-am Cottage"—my last recollection of it is of the +boarded windows, which gave it the blinded look of a dead thing, and +of the ferns which grandma had brought from the big woods beyond the +railway track and planted all round it, and which had grown so quickly +and so rank that they seemed to fill in all the space under the +cottage, and with their pale-green, feathery fringe, to be trying to +lift it up into the sunshine above the trees. Instinctively we felt +that we had come to the end of a very pleasant chapter in our life as +a family; something had disturbed the peaceful quiet of our lives; +somewhere a drum was beating and a fife was calling!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>Not a word of this was spoken, but Jack suddenly put it all into +words, for he turned to me and asked quickly, "Mother, when will I be +eighteen?"</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Gay, as the skater who blithely whirls</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>To the place of the dangerous ice!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Content, as the lamb who nibbles the grass</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>While the butcher sets the price!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>So content and gay were the boys at play</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>In the nations near and far,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>When munition kings and diplomats</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Cried, "War! War!! War!!!"</i><br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>WORKING IN!</h3> +<br /> + + +<p>The day after we went to the city I got my first real glimpse of war! +It was the white face of our French neighbor. His wife and two little +girls had gone to France a month before the war broke out, and were +visiting his family in a village on the Marne. Since the outbreak of +war he had had no word from them, and his face worked pitifully when +he told me this. "Not one word, though I cabled and got friends in +London to wire <i>aussi</i>," he said. "But I will go myself and see."</p> + +<p>"What about your house and motor?" he was asked.</p> + +<p>He raised his shoulders and flung out his hands. "What difference?" he +said; "I will not need them."</p> + +<p>I saw him again the day he left. He came out of his house with a small +Airedale pup which had been the merry playmate of Alette and Yvonne. +<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>He stood on the veranda holding the dog in his arms. Strangers were +moving into the house and their boxes stood on the floor. I went over +to say good-bye.</p> + +<p>"I will not come back," he said simply; "it will be a long fight; we +knew it would come, but we did not know when. If I can but find wife +and children—but the Germans—they are devils—Boches—no one knows +them as we do!"</p> + +<p>He stood irresolute a moment, then handed me the dog and went quickly +down the steps.</p> + +<p>"It is for France!" he said.</p> + +<p>I sat on the veranda railing and watched him go. The Airedale blinded +his eyes looking after him, then looked at me, plainly asking for an +explanation. But I had to tell him that I knew no more about it than +he did. Then I tried to comfort him by telling him that many little +dogs were much worse off than he, for they had lost their people and +their good homes as well, and he still had his comfortable home and +his good meals. But it was neither meals nor bed that his faithful +little heart craved, and for many <a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>weeks a lonely little Airedale on +Chestnut Street searched diligently for his merry little playmates and +his kind master, but he found them not.</p> + +<p>There was still a certain unreality about it all. Sometimes it has +been said that the men who went first went for adventure. Perhaps they +did, but it does not matter—they have since proved of what sort of +stuff they were made.</p> + +<p>When one of the first troop trains left Winnipeg, a handsome young +giant belonging to the Seventy-ninth Highlanders said, as he swung +himself up on the rear coach, "The only thing I am afraid of is that +it will all be over before we get there." He was needlessly alarmed, +poor lad! He was in time for everything; Festubert, Saint-Éloi, Ypres; +for the gas attacks before the days of gas-masks, for trench-fever, +for the D.C.M.; and now, with but one leg, and blind, he is one of the +happy warriors at St. Dunstan's whose cheerfulness puts to shame those +of us who are whole!</p> + +<p>There were strange scenes at the station when those first trains went +out. The <a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>Canadians went out with a flourish, with cheers, with songs, +with rousing music from the bands. The serious men were the French and +Belgian reservists, who, silently, carrying their bundles, passed +through our city, with grim, determined faces. They knew, and our boys +did not know, to what they were going. That is what made the +difference in their manner.</p> + +<p>The government of one of the provinces, in the early days of the war, +shut down the public works, and, strange to say, left the bars open. +Their impulse was right—but they shut down the wrong thing; it should +have been the bars, of course. They knew something should be shut +down. We are not blaming them; it was a panicky time. People often, +when they hear the honk of an automobile horn, jump back instead of +forward. And it all came right in time.</p> + +<p>A moratorium was declared at once, which for the time being relieved +people of their debts, for there was a strong feeling that the cup of +sorrow was so full now that all movable trouble should be set off for +another day!</p> + +<p>The temperance people then asked, as a <a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>corresponding war measure, +that the bars be closed. They urged that the hearts of our people were +already so burdened that they should be relieved of the trouble and +sorrow which the liquor traffic inevitably brings. "Perhaps," they +said to the government, "when a happier season comes, we may be able +to bear it better; but we have so many worries now, relieve us of this +one, over which you have control."</p> + +<p>Then the financial side of the liquor traffic began to pinch. Manitoba +was spending thirteen million dollars over the bars every year. The +whole Dominion's drink bill was one hundred millions. When the people +began to rake and save to meet the patriotic needs, and to relieve the +stress of unemployment, these great sums of money were thought of +longingly—and with the longing which is akin to pain! The problem of +unemployment was aggravated by the liquor evil and gave another +argument for prohibition.</p> + +<p>I heard a woman telling her troubles to a sympathetic friend one day, +as we rode in an elevator.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>"'E's all right when 'e's in work," she said; "but when 'e's hidle +'e's something fierce: 'e knocks me about crool. 'E guzzles all the +time 'e's out of work."</p> + +<p>It was easy to believe. Her face matched her story; she was a poor, +miserable, bedraggled creature, with teeth out in front. She wore +black cotton gloves such as undertakers supply for the pallbearers, +and every finger was out. The liquor traffic would have a better +chance if there were not so many arguments against it walking round.</p> + +<p>About this time, too, the traffic suffered a great bereavement, for +the personal liberty argument fell, mortally wounded. The war did +that, too.</p> + +<p>All down the ages there have been men who believed that personal +liberty included the right to do what one wished to do, no matter who +was hurt. So, if a man wished to drink, by the sacred rights for which +his forefathers had bled and died he was at liberty to do so, and then +go home and beat up his own wife and family if he wanted to; for if +you can't beat your own wife, <a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>whom can you beat, I'd like to know? +Any one who disputed this sacred right was counted a spoil-fun and a +joy-killer!</p> + +<p>But a change came over the world's thought in the early days of the +war. Liberty grew to be a holy word, a sacred thing, when the blood of +our brightest and best was being poured out in its defense, and never +again will the old, selfish, miserable conception of liberty obtain +favor. The Kaiser helped here, too, for he is such a striking example +of the one who claims absolute liberty for himself, no matter who is +hurt, that somehow we never hear it mentioned now. I believe it is +gone, forever!</p> + +<p>The first step in the curtailment of the liquor traffic was the +closing of the bars at seven o'clock, and the beneficial effect was +felt at once. Many a man got home early for the first time in his +life, and took his whole family to the "movies."</p> + +<p>The economy meetings brought out some quaint speeches. No wonder! +People were taken unawares. We were unprepared for war, and the +changes it had brought;—we were as <a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>unprepared as the woman who said, +in speaking of unexpected callers, "I had not even time to turn my +plants." There was much unintentional humor. One lady, whose home was +one of the most beautiful in the city, and who entertained lavishly, +told us, in her address on "Economy," that at the very outbreak of the +war she reduced her cook's wages from thirty to twenty dollars, and +gave the difference to the Patriotic Fund; that she had found a +cheaper dressmaker who made her dresses now for fifteen dollars, where +formerly she had paid twenty-five; and she added artlessly, "They are +really nicer, and I do think we should all give in these practical +ways; that's the sort of giving that I really enjoy!"</p> + +<p>Another woman told of how much she had given up for the Patriotic +Fund; that she had determined not to give one Christmas present, and +had given up all the societies to which she had belonged, even the +Missionary Society, and was giving it all to the Red Cross. "I will +not even give a present to the boy who brings the paper," she declared +with conviction. Whether <a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>or not the boy's present ever reached the +Red Cross, I do not know. But ninety-five per cent of the giving was +real, honest, hard, sacrificing giving. Elevator-boys, maids, +stenographers gave a percentage of their earnings, and gave it +joyously. They like to give, but they do not like to have it taken +away from them by an employer, who thereby gets the credit of the +gift. The Red Cross mite-boxes into which children put their candy +money, while not enriching the Red Cross to any large extent, trained +the children to take some share in the responsibility; and one +enthusiastic young citizen, who had been operated on for appendicitis, +proudly exhibited his separated appendix, preserved in alcohol, at so +much per look, and presented the proceeds to the Red Cross.</p> + +<p>The war came home to the finest of our people first. It has not +reached them all yet, but it is working in, like the frost into the +cellars when the thermometer shows forty degrees below zero. Many a +cellar can stand a week of this—but look out for the second! Every +day it comes to some one.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>"I don't see why we are always asked to give," one woman said +gloomily, when the collector asked her for a monthly subscription to +the Red Cross. "Every letter that goes out of the house has a stamp on +it—and we write a queer old lot of letters, and I guess we've done +our share."</p> + +<p>She is not a dull woman either or hard of heart. It has not got to her +yet—that's all! I cannot be hard on her in my judgment, for it did +not come to me all at once, either.</p> + +<p>When I saw the first troops going away, I wondered how their mothers +let them go, and I made up my mind that I would not let my boy go,—I +was so glad he was only seventeen,—for hope was strong in our hearts +that it might be over before he was of military age. It was the +Lusitania that brought me to see the whole truth. Then I saw that we +were waging war on the very Princes of Darkness, and I knew that +morning when I read the papers, I knew that it would be better—a +thousand times better—to be dead than to live under the rule of +people whose hearts are so utterly black and whose <a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>process of +reasoning is so oxlike—they are so stupidly brutal. I knew then that +no man could die better than in defending civilization from this +ghastly thing which threatened her!</p> + +<p>Soon after that I knew, without a word being said, that my boy wanted +to go—I saw the seriousness come into his face, and knew what it +meant. It was when the news from the Dardanelles was heavy on our +hearts, and the newspapers spoke gravely of the outlook.</p> + +<p>One day he looked up quickly and said, "I want to go—I want to help +the British Empire—while there is a British Empire!"</p> + +<p>And then I realized that my boy, my boy, had suddenly become a man and +had put away childish things forever.</p> + +<p>I shall always be glad that the call came to him, not in the +intoxication of victory, but in the dark hour of apparent defeat.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>LET'S PRETEND</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Let's pretend the skies are blue,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let's pretend the world is new,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the birds of hope are singing<br /></span> +<span class="i8">All the day!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Short of gladness—learn to fake it!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Long on sadness—go and shake it!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Life is only—what you make it,<br /></span> +<span class="i8">Anyway!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">There is wisdom without end<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In the game of "Let's pretend!"<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>We played it to-day. We had to, for the boys went away, and we had to +send our boys away with a smile! They will have heartaches and +homesickness a-plenty, without going away with their memories charged +with a picture of their mothers in tears, for that's what takes the +heart out of a boy. They are so young, so brave, we felt that we must +not fail them.</p> + +<p>With such strong words as these did we admonish each other, when we +met the last night, four of us, whose sons were among the boys who +were going away. We talked hard <a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>and strong on this theme, not having +a very good grip on it ourselves, I am afraid. We simply harangued +each other on the idleness of tears at stations. Every one of us had +something to say; and when we parted, it was with the tacit +understanding that there was an Anti-Tear League formed—the boys were +leaving on an early train in the morning!</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>The morning is a dismal time anyway, and teeth will chatter, no matter +how brave you feel! It is a squeamish, sickly, choky time,—a winter +morning before the sun is up; and you simply cannot eat breakfast when +you look round the table and see every chair filled,—even the +five-year-old fellow is on hand,—and know that a long, weary time is +ahead of the one who sits next you before he comes again to his +father's house. Even though the conversation is of the gayest, every +one knows what every one else is thinking.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>There is no use trying—I cannot write the story of that morning.... I +will tell you of other troop-trains I have seen go. I will tell you of +another boy who carried off all the good-byes with a high hand and +great spirits, and said something to every one of the girls who +brought him candy, telling one that he would remember her in his will, +promising another that he would marry her when he got to be Admiral of +the Swiss Navy, but who, when he came to say good-bye to his father, +suddenly grew very white and very limp, and could only say, "Oh, dad! +Good old dad!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>I will tell you of other troop-trains I have seen go out, with other +boys waving to other women who strained their eyes and winked hard, +hard, hard to keep back the tears, and stood still, quite still until +the last car had disappeared around the bend, and the last whistle had +torn the morning air into shreds and let loose a whole wild chorus of +echoes through the quiet streets!</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>There was a mist in the air this morning, and a white frost covered +the trees with beautiful white crystals that softened their leafless +limbs. It made a soft and graceful drapery on the telegraph poles and +wires. It carpeted the edges of the platform that had not been walked +on, and even covered the black roofs of the station buildings and the +flatcars which stood in the yard. It seemed like a beautiful white +decoration for the occasion, a beautiful, heavy, elaborate +mourning—for those who had gone—and white, of course—all +white,—because they were so young!</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Then we came home. It was near the opening time of the stores, and the +girls were on their way to work, but their footfalls made no sound on +the pavement. Even the street-cars seemed to glide quietly by. The +city seemed grave and serious and sad, and disposed to go softly.... +In the store windows the blinds were still down—ghastly, shirred +white things which reminded me uncomfortably of the lining of a +coffin! Over <a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>the hotel on the corner, the Calgary Beer Man, growing +pale in the sickly dawn, still poured—and lifted—and drank—and +poured—and lifted—and drank,—insatiable as the gods of war.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>I wandered idly through the house—what a desolate thing a house can +be when every corner of it holds a memory!—not a memory either, for +that bears the thought of something past,—when every corner of it is +full of a boyish presence!... I can hear him rushing down the stairs +in the morning to get the paper, and shouting the headlines to me as +he brings it up. I can hear him come in at the front door and thump +his books down on the hall seat, and call "Mother!" I sit down and +summon them all, for I know they will fade soon enough—the thin, +sharp edge of everything wears mercifully blunt in time!</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Then I gathered up his schoolbooks, and every dog-eared exercise-book, +and his <a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>timetable, which I found pinned on his window curtain, and I +carried them up to the storeroom in the attic, with his baseball +mitt—and then, for the first time, as I made a pile of the books +under the beams, I broke my anti-tear pledge. It was not for myself, +or for my neighbor across the street whose only son had gone, or for +the other mothers who were doing the same things all over the world; +it was not for the young soldiers who had gone out that day; it was +for the boys who had been cheated of their boyhood, and who had to +assume men's burdens, although in years they were but children. The +saddest places of all the world to-day are not the battle fields, or +the hospitals, or the cross-marked hillsides where the brave ones are +buried; the saddest places are the deserted campus and playgrounds +where they should be playing; the empty seats in colleges, where they +should be sitting; the spaces in the ranks of happy, boisterous +schoolboys, from which the brave boys have gone,—these boys whose +boyhood has been cut so pitifully short. I thought, too, of the little +girls whose laughter will ring out no more in the <a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>careless, happy +abandonment of girlhood, for the black shadow of anxiety and dread has +fallen even on their young hearts; the tiny children, who, young as +they are, know that some great sorrow has come to every one; the +children of the war countries, with their terror-stricken eyes and +pale faces; the unspeakable, unforgivable wrong that has been done to +youth the world over.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>There, as I sat on the floor of the storeroom, my soul wandered down a +long, dark, silent valley, and met the souls of the mothers of all +countries, who had come there, like me, to mourn ... and our tears +were very hot, and very bitter ... for we knew that it was the Valley +of Lost Childhood!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>PICTURES</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Nothing is lost that our memories hold,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nothing forgotten that once we knew;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And to-day a boy with curls of gold<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is running my fond heart through and through—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In and out and round and round—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And I find myself laughing without a sound<br /></span> +<span class="i0">At the funny things he said that time<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When life was one glad nursery rhyme.<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + + +<p>It should not be so hard for mothers to give up their children. We +should grow accustomed to it, for we are always losing them. I once +had a curly-haired baby with eyes like blue forget-me-nots, who had a +sweet way of saying his words, and who coined many phrases which are +still in use in my family. Who is there who cannot see that +"a-ging-a-wah" has a much more refreshing sound than "a drink of +water"? And I am sure that nobody could think of a nicer name for the +hammer and nails than a "num and a peedaw." At an incredibly early age +this baby could tell you how the birdies fly and what the kitty says.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>All mothers who have had really wonderful children—and this takes us +all in—will understand how hard it is to set these things down in +cold print or even to tell them; for even our best friends are +sometimes dull of heart and slow of understanding when we tell them +perfectly wonderful things that our children did or said. We all know +that horrible moment of suspense when we have told something real +funny that our baby said, and our friends look at us with a dull +is-that-all expression in their faces, and we are forced to supplement +our recital by saying that it was not so much what he said as the way +he said it!</p> + +<p>Soon I lost the blue-eyed baby, and there came in his place a sturdy +little freckle-faced chap, with a distinct dislike for water as a +cleansing agent, who stoutly declared that washing his hands was a +great waste of time, for they were sure to get dirty again; which +seems to be reasonable, and it is a wonder that people have not taken +this fact into account more when dealing with the griminess of youth. +Who objected to going to church twice a day on the <a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>ground that he +"might get too fond of it." Who, having once received five cents as +recompense for finding his wayward sister, who had a certain +proclivity for getting lost, afterwards deliberately mislaid the same +sister and claimed the usual rates for finding her, and in this manner +did a thriving "Lost and Found" business for days, until his +unsuspecting parent overheard him giving his sister full directions +for losing herself—he had grown tired of having to go with her each +time, and claimed that as she always got half of the treat she should +do her share of the work. Who once thrashed a boy who said that his +sister had a dirty face,—which was quite true, but people do not need +to say everything they know, do they? Who went swimming in the gravel +pit long before the 24th of May, which marks the beginning of swimming +and barefoot time in all proper families, and would have got away with +it, too, only, in his haste to get a ride home, he and his friend +changed shirts by mistake, and it all came to light at bedtime.</p> + +<p>Then I lost him, too. There came in his place <a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>a tall youth with a +distinct fondness for fine clothes, stiff collars, tan boots, and +bright ties; a dignified young man who was pained and shocked at the +disreputable appearance of a younger brother who was at that time +passing through the wash-never period of his life and who insisted +upon claiming relationship even in public places. Who hung his room +with flags and pennants and photographs. Who had for his friends many +young fellows with high pompadours, whom he called by their surnames +and disputed with noisily and abusively, but, unlike the famous +quarrel of Fox and Burke, "with no loss of friendship." Who went in +his holidays as "mule-skinner" on a construction gang in the North +Country, and helped to build the railway into "The Crossing," and came +home all brown and tanned, with muscles as hard as iron and a luscious +growth of whiskers. Who then went back to college and really began to +work, for he had learned a few things about the value of an education +as he drove the mules over the dump, which can be learned only when +the muscles ache and the hands have blisters.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>Then came the call! And again I lost him! But there is a private in +the "Princess Pats" who carries my picture in his cap and who reads my +letter over again just before "going in."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>SAVING OUR SOULS</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">O work—thrice blessed of the gods—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Abundant may you be!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To hold us steady, when our hearts<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Grow cold and panicky!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">I cannot fret—and drive the plough,—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Nor weep—and ply the spade;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O blessed work—I need you now<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To keep me unafraid!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No terrors can invade the place<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where honest green things thrive;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Come blisters—backache—sunburnt face—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And save my soul alive!<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>No wonder that increased production has become a popular cry. Every +one wants to work in a garden—a garden is so comforting and +reassuring. Everything else has changed, but seedtime and harvest +still remain. Rain still falls, seeds sprout, buds break into leaves, +and blossoms are replaced by fruit.</p> + +<p>We are forced back to the elemental things. Horses and cattle look +better to me every day. Read the war news—which to-day tells of the +destruction of French villages—and then look <a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>at the cattle grazing +peacefully on the grass which clothes the hillside, and see how good +they look! They look like sanctified Christians to me!</p> + +<p>Ever since the war I have envied them. They are not suspicious or +jealous; they are not worried, hurried, troubled, or afraid; they are +oblivious of public opinion; they have no debts to pay; they do not +weary you with explanations; they are not sorry for anything they have +ever done; they are not blaming God for anything! On every count the +cattle seem to have the best of us!</p> + +<p>It is a quiet evening here in northern Alberta, and the evening light +is glinting on the frozen ponds. I can see far up the valley as I +write, and one by one the lights begin to glimmer in the farmhouses; +and I like to think that supper is being prepared there for hungry +children. The thought of supper appeals to me because there is no +dining-car on the train, and every minute I am growing hungrier. The +western sky burns red with the sunset, and throws a sullen glow on the +banks of clouds in the east. It is a quiet, peaceful evening, and I +find it hard to believe <a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>that somewhere men are killing each other and +whole villages are burning.... The light on the ponds grows dimmer, +with less of rose and more of a luminous gray.... I grow hungrier +still, and I know it is just because I cannot get anything. I eat +apples and nut-bars, but they do not satisfy me; it is roast beef, +brown gravy, potatoes, and turnips that I want. Is it possible that I +refused lemon pie—last night—at Carmangay? Well—well—let this be a +lesson to you!</p> + +<p>The sunset is gone now, and there is only a brightness in the western +sky, and a big staring moon stands above the valley, shining down on +the patches of snow which seem to run together like the wolves we used +to see on the prairies of Manitoba long ago. The farmhouses we pass +are bright with lights, and I know the children are gathered around +the table to "do" their lessons. The North Country, with its long, +snowy winters, develops the love of home in the hearts of our people, +and drives the children indoors to find their comfort around the fire. +Solomon knew this when he said that the perfect <a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>woman "is not afraid +of the snow for her household." Indeed, no; she knows that the snow is +a home-developing agency, and that no one knows the joy and comfort of +home like those of us who have battled with cold and storm and drifted +roads all day, and at nightfall come safely to this blessed place +where warmth and companionship await us! Life has its compensations.</p> + +<p>Across the aisle from me two women are knitting—not in a neighborly, +gossipy way, chatting meanwhile, but silently, swiftly, nervously. +There is a psychological reason for women knitting just now, beyond +the need of socks. I know how these women feel! I, even I, have begun +to crochet! I do it for the same reason that the old toper in time of +stress takes to his glass. It keeps me from thinking; it atrophies the +brain; and now I know why the women of the East are so slow about +getting the franchise. They crochet and work in wool instead of +thinking. You can't do both! When the casualty lists are long, and +letters from the Front far apart—I crochet.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>Once, when I was in great pain, the doctor gave me chloroform, and it +seemed to me that a great black wall arose between me and pain! The +pain was there all right, but it could not get to me on account of the +friendly wall which held it back—and I was grateful! Now I am +grateful to have a crochet-needle and a ball of silcotton. It is a +sort of mental chloroform. This is for the real dark moments, when the +waves go over our heads.... We all have them, but of course they do +not last.</p> + +<p>More and more am I impressed with the wonderful comeback of the human +soul. We are like those Chinese toys, which, no matter how they are +buffeted, will come back to an upright position. It takes a little +longer with us—that is all; but given half a chance—or less—people +will rise victorious over sin and sorrow, defeat and failure, and +prove thereby the divinity which is in all of us!</p> + +<p>As the light dimmed outside, I had time to observe my two traveling +companions more closely. Though at first sight they came under the +same general description of "middle-aged <a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>women, possibly +grandmothers, industriously knitting," there was a wide difference +between them as I observed them further. One had a face which bore +traces of many disappointments, and had now settled down into a state +of sadness that was hopeless and final. She had been a fine-looking +woman once, too, and from her high forehead and well-shaped mouth I +should take her to be a woman of considerable mental power, but there +had been too much sorrow; she had belonged to a house of too much +trouble, and it had dried up the fountains of her heart. I could only +describe her by one word, "winter-killed"! She was like a tree which +had burst into bud at the coaxing of the soft spring zephyrs again and +again, only to be caught each time by the frost, and at last, when +spring really came, it could win no answering thrill, for the heart of +the tree was "winter-killed." The frost had come too often!</p> + +<p>The other woman was older, more wrinkled, more weather-beaten, but +there was a childlike eagerness about her that greatly attracted me. +She used her hands when she spoke, and smiled <a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>often. This childish +enthusiasm contrasted strangely with her old face, and seemed like the +spirit of youth fluttering still around the grave of one whom it +loved!</p> + +<p>I soon found myself talking to them; the old lady was glad to talk to +me, for she was not making much headway with her companion, on whom +all her arguments were beating in vain.</p> + +<p>"I tell her she has no call to be feeling so bad about the war!" she +began, getting right into the heart of the subject; "we didn't start +it! Let the Kings and Kaisers and Czars who make the trouble do the +fretting. Thank God, none of them are any blood-relation of mine, +anyway. I won't fret over any one's sins, only my own, and maybe I +don't fret half enough over them, either!"</p> + +<p>"What do you know about sins?" the other woman said; "you couldn't sin +if you tried——"</p> + +<p>"That's all you know about it," said the old lady with what was +intended for a dark and mysterious look; "but I never could see what +good it does to worry, anyway, and bother other people by feeling +sorry. Now, here she is <a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>worrying night and day because her boy is in +the army and will have to go to France pretty soon. She has two others +at home, too young to go. Harry is still safe in England—he may never +have to go: the war may be over—the Kaiser may fall and break his +neck—there's lots of ways peace may come. Even if Harry does go, he +may not get killed. He may only get his toe off, or his little finger, +and come home, or he may escape everything. Some do. Even if he is +killed—every one has to die, and no one can die a better way; and +Harry is ready—good and ready! So why does she fret? I know she's had +trouble—lots of it—Lord, haven't we all? My three boys went—two +have been killed; but I am not complaining—I am still hoping the last +boy may come through safe. Anyway, we couldn't help it. It is not our +fault; we have to keep on doing what we can....</p> + +<p>"I remember a hen I used to have when we lived on the farm, and she +had more sense than lots of people—she was a little no-breed hen, and +so small that nobody ever paid much <a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>attention to her. But she had a +big heart, and was the greatest mother of any hen I had, and stayed +with her chickens until they were as big as she was and refused to be +gathered under wings any longer. She never could see that they were +grown up. One time she adopted a whole family that belonged to a +stuck-up Plymouth Rock that deserted them when they weren't much more +than feathered. Biddy stepped right in and raised them, with thirteen +of her own. Hers were well grown—Biddy always got down to business +early in the spring, she was so forehanded. She raised the Plymouth +Rocks fine, too! She was a born stepmother. Well, she got shut out one +night, and froze her feet, and lost some good claws, too; but I knew +she'd manage some way, and of course I did not let her set, because +she could not scratch with these stumpy feet of hers. But she found a +job all right! She stole chickens from the other hens. I often +wondered what she promised them, but she got them someway, and only +took those that were big enough to scratch, for Biddy knew her +limitations. She was leading <a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>around twenty-two chickens of different +sizes that summer.</p> + +<p>"You see she had personality—that hen: you couldn't keep her down; +she never went in when it rained, and she could cackle louder than any +hen on the ground; and above all, she took things as they came. I +always admired her. I liked the way she died, too. Of course I let her +live as long as she could—she wouldn't have been any good to eat, +anyway, for she was all brains, and I never could bear to make soup +out of a philosopher like what she was. Well, she was getting pretty +stiff—I could see that; and sometimes she had to try two or three +times before she could get on the roost. But this night she made it on +the first try, and when I went to shut the door, she sat there all +ruffled up. I reached out to feel her, she looked so humped-up, and +the minute I touched her, she fell off the roost; and when I picked +her up, she was dead! You see, she got herself balanced so she would +stay on the roost, and then died—bluffed it out to the last, and died +standing up! That's what we should all try to do!" she concluded; <a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>"go +down with a smile—I say—hustling and cheerful to the last!"</p> + +<p>I commended her philosophy, but the other woman sat silent, and her +knitting lay idle on her knee.</p> + +<p>After all, the biggest thing in life is the mental attitude!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>This was the third time a boy on a wheel</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Had come to her gate</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>With the small yellow slip, with its few curt words,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>To tell her the fate</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Of the boys she had given to fight</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>For the right to be free!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I thought I must go as a neighbor and friend</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And stand by her side;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>At least I could tell her how sorry I was</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>That a brave man had died.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>She sat in a chair when I entered the room,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>With the thing in her hand,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And the look on her face had a light and a bloom</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>I could not understand.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Then she showed me the message and said,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>With a sigh of respite,—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>"My last boy is dead. I can sleep. I can sleep</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Without dreaming to-night."</i><br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>SURPRISES</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">When all the evidence is in—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When all the good—and all the sin—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The Impulses—without—within<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Are catalogued—with reasons showing—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What great surprises will await<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The small, the near-great and the great<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Who thought they knew how things were going!<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>Stories crowd in upon me as I write. Let no one ever say that this is +a dull world! It is anything but dull! It is a pitiful, heartbreaking +world, full of injustice, misunderstandings, false standards, and +selfishness, but it is never dull. Neither is it a lost world, for the +darkest corners of it are illuminated here and there by heroic deeds +and noble aspirations. Men who hilariously sold their vote and +influence prior to 1914, who took every sharp turn within the law, and +who shamelessly mocked at any ideals of citizenship, were among the +first to put on the King's uniform and march out to die.</p> + +<p>To-day I read in the "paper from home" that Private William Keel is +"missing, believed <a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>killed"; and it took me back to the old days +before the war when the late Private Keel was accustomed to hold up +the little town. Mr. Keel was a sober man—except upon occasions. The +occasions were not numerous, but they left an undying impression on +his neighbors and fellow townsmen; for the late private had a way all +his own. He was a big Welshman, so strong that he never knew how +strong he was; and when he became obsessed with the desire to get +drunk, no one could stop him. He had to have it out. At such times his +one ambition was to ride a horse up the steps of the hotel, and +then—George Washington-like—rise in his stirrups and deliver an +impassioned address on what we owe to the Old Flag. If he were blocked +or thwarted in this, he became dangerous and hard to manage, and +sometimes it took a dozen men to remove him to the Police Station. +When he found himself safely landed there, with a locked door and +small, barred window between himself and liberty, his mood changed and +the remainder of the night was spent in song, mostly of "A life on the +ocean wave and a home on the <a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>rolling deep"; for he had been a sailor +before he came land-seeking to western Canada.</p> + +<p>After having "proved up" his land in southern Manitoba—the +<i>Wanderlust</i> seized him and he went to South America, where no doubt +he enlivened the proceedings for the natives, as he had for us while +he lived among us.</p> + +<p>Six weeks after the declaration of war he came back—a grizzled man of +forty; he had sold out everything, sent his wife to England, and had +come to enlist with the local regiment. Evidently his speech about +what we owe to the Old Flag had been a piece of real eloquence, and +Bill himself was the proof.</p> + +<p>He enlisted with the boys from home as a private, and on the marches +he towered above them—the tallest man in the regiment. No man was +more obedient or trustworthy. He cheered and admonished the younger +men, when long marches in the hot sun, with heavy accouterments, made +them quarrelsome and full of complaints. "It's all for the Old Flag, +boys," he told them.</p> + +<p>To-day I read that he is "missing, believed <a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>killed"; and I have the +feeling, which I know is in the heart of many who read his name, that +we did not realize the heroism of the big fellow in the old days of +peace. It took a war to show us how heroic our people are.</p> + +<p>Not all the heroes are war-heroes either. The slow-grinding, searching +tests of peace have found out some truly great ones among our people +and have transmuted their common clay into pure gold.</p> + +<p>It is much more heartening to tell of the woman who went right rather +than of her who went wrong, and for that reason I gladly set down here +the story of one of these.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Elizabeth Tweed is the wife of Private William Tweed—small, +dark-eyed, and pretty, with a certain childishness of face which makes +her rouged cheeks and blackened eyebrows seem pathetically, innocently +wicked.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Elizabeth Tweed, wife of Private William Tweed, was giving +trouble to the Patriotic Society. It was bad enough for her to go out +evenings with an officer, and dance in the afternoon at the hotel +<i>dansant</i> in a perfect outburst <a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>of gay garments; but there was no +excuse for her coming home in a taxi-cab, after a shopping expedition +in broad daylight, and to the scandal of the whole street, who watched +her from behind lace curtains.</p> + +<p>The evil effects of Mrs. Tweed's actions began to show in the +falling-off of subscriptions to the Patriotic Fund, and the collectors +heard many complaints about her gay habits of life and her many and +varied ways of squandering money. Mrs. Tweed became a perfect wall of +defense for those who were not too keen on parting with their money. +They made a moral issue of it, and virtuously declared, "That woman is +not going to the devil on my money." "I scrimp and save and deny +myself everything so I can give to the Patriotic Fund, and look at +her!" women cried.</p> + +<p>It was in vain that the collectors urged that she was only getting +five dollars a month, anyway, from the Patriotic Fund, and that would +not carry her far on the road to destruction or in any other +direction. When something which appears to set aside the obligation to +perform a <a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>disagreeable duty comes in view, the hands of the soul +naturally clamp on it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tweed knew that she was the bad example, and gloried in it. She +banged the front door when she entered the block late at night, and +came up the stairs gayly singing, "Where did Robinson Crusoe go with +Friday on Saturday night?" while her sleepy neighbors anathematized +all dependents of the Patriotic Fund.</p> + +<p>The Red Cross ladies discussed the matter among themselves and decided +that some one should put the matter before Mrs. Tweed and tell her how +hard she was making it for the other dependents of soldiers. The +president was selected for the task, which did not at first sight look +like a pleasant one, but Mrs. Kent had done harder things than this, +and she set out bravely to call on the wayward lady.</p> + +<p>The D.O.E. visitor who called on all the soldiers' wives in that block +had reported that Mrs. Tweed had actually put her out, and told her to +go to a region which is never mentioned in polite society except in +theological discussions.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>"I know," Mrs. Tweed said, when the Red Cross President came to see +her, "what you are coming for, and I don't blame you—I sure have been +fierce, but you don't know what a good time I've had. Gee, it's great! +I've had one grand tear!—one blow-out! And now I am almost ready to +be good. Sit down, and I'll tell you about it; you have more give to +you than that old hatchet-face that came first; I wouldn't tell her a +thing!</p> + +<p>"I am twenty-five years old, and I never before got a chance to do as +I liked. When I was a kid, I had to do as I was told. My mother +brought me up in the fear of the Lord and the fear of the neighbors. I +whistled once in church and was sent to bed every afternoon for a +week—I didn't care, though, I got in my whistle. I never wanted to do +anything bad, but I wanted to do as I liked—and I never got a chance. +Then I got married. William is a lot older than I am, and he +controlled me—always—made me economize, scrimp, and save. I really +did not want to blow money, but they never gave me a chance to be +sensible. Every one put me <a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>down for a 'nut.' My mother called me +'Trixie.' No girl can do well on a name like that. Teachers passed me +from hand to hand saying, 'Trixie is such a mischief!' I had a +reputation to sustain.</p> + +<p>"Then mother and father married me off to Mr. Tweed because he was so +sensible, and I needed a firm hand, they said. I began everything in +life with a handicap. Name and appearance have always been against me. +No one can look sensible with a nose that turns straight up, and I +will have bright colors to wear—I was brought up on wincey, color of +mud, and all these London-smoke, battleship-gray colors make me sick. +I want reds and blues and greens, and I am gradually working into +them."</p> + +<p>She held out a dainty foot as she spoke, exhibiting a bright-green +stocking striped in gold.</p> + +<p>"But mind you, for all I am so frivolous, I am not a fool exactly. All +I ask is to have my fling, and I've had it now for three whole months. +When William was at home I never could sit up and read one minute, and +so the <a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>first night he was away I burned the light all night just to +feel wicked! It was great to be able to let it burn. I've gone to bed +early every night for a week to make up for it. What do you think of +that? It is just born in me, and I can't help it. If William had +stayed at home, this would never have showed out in me. I would have +gone on respectable and steady. But this is one of the prices we pay +for bringing up women to be men's chattels, with some one always +placed in authority over them. When the authority is removed, there's +the devil to pay!"</p> + +<p>The President of the Red Cross looked at her in surprise. She had +never thought of it this way before; women were made to be protected +and shielded; she had said so scores of times; the church had taught +it and sanctioned it.</p> + +<p>"The whole system is wrong," Mrs. Tweed continued, "and nice women +like you, working away in churches ruled by men, have been to blame. +You say women should be protected, and you cannot make good the +protection. What protection have the soldiers' wives now? <a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>Evil +tongues, prying eyes, on the part of women, and worse than that from +the men. The church has fallen down on its job, and isn't straight +enough to admit it! We should either train our women to take their own +part and run their own affairs, or else we should train the men really +to honor and protect women. The church has done neither. Bah! I could +make a better world with one hand tied behind my back!"</p> + +<p>"But, Mrs. Tweed," said the president, "this war is new to all of +us—how did we know what was coming? It has taken all of us by +surprise, and we have to do our bit in meeting the new conditions. +Your man was never a fighting man—he hates it; but he has gone and +will fight, although he loathes it. I never did a day's work outside +of my home until now, and now I go to the office every day and try to +straighten out tangles; women come in there and accuse me of +everything, down to taking the bread out of their children's mouths. +Two of them who brought in socks the other day said, 'Do you suppose +the soldiers ever see them?' I did all I could to convince them that +we were quite <a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>honest, though I assure you I felt like telling them +what I thought of them. But things are abnormal now, everything is out +of sorts; and if we love our country we will try to remedy things +instead of making them worse. When I went to school we were governed +by what they called the 'honor system.' It was a system of +self-government; we were not watched and punished and bound by rules, +but graded and ruled ourselves—and the strange thing about it was +that it worked! When the teacher went out of the room, everything went +on just the same. Nobody left her desk or talked or idled; we just +worked on, minding our own affairs; it was a great system."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tweed looked at her with a cynical smile. "Some system!" she +cried mockingly; "it may work in a school, where the little pinafore, +pig-tail Minnies and Lucys gather; it won't work in life, where every +one is grabbing for what he wants, and getting it some way. But see +here," she cried suddenly, "you haven't called me down yet! or told me +I am a disgrace to the Patriotic Fund! or asked me what will <a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>my +husband say when he comes home! You haven't looked shocked at one +thing I've told you. Say, you should have seen old hatchet-face when I +told her that I hoped the war would last forever! She said I was a +wicked woman!"</p> + +<p>"Well—weren't you?" asked the president.</p> + +<p>"Sure I was—if I meant it—but I didn't. I wanted to see her jump, +and she certainly jumped; and she soon gave me up and went back and +reported. Then you were sent, and I guess you are about ready to give +in."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I am not," said the president, smiling. "You are not a +fool—I can see that—and you can think out these things for yourself. +You are not accountable to me, anyway. I have no authority to find +fault with you. If you think your part in this terrible time is to go +the limit in fancy clothes, theaters, and late suppers with men of +questionable character—that is for you to decide. I believe in the +honor system. You are certainly setting a bad example—but you have +that privilege. You cannot be sent to jail for it. The money you draw +is hard-earned money—it is certainly sweated labor which <a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>our gallant +men perform for the miserable little sum that is paid them. It is +yours to do with as you like. I had hoped that more of you young women +would have come to help us in our work in the Red Cross and other +places. We need your youth, your enthusiasm, your prettiness, for we +are sorely pressed with many cares and troubles, and we seem to be old +sometimes. But you are quite right in saying that it is your own +business how you spend the money!"</p> + +<p>After Mrs. Kent had gone, the younger woman sat looking around her +flat with a queer feeling of discontent. A half-eaten box of +chocolates was on the table and a new silk sweater coat lay across the +lounge. In the tiny kitchenette a tap dripped with weary insistence, +and unwashed dishes filled the sink. She got up suddenly and began to +wash the dishes, and did not stop until every corner of her apartment +was clean and tidy.</p> + +<p>"I am getting dippy," she said as she looked at herself in the mirror +in the buffet; "I've got to get out—this quiet life gets me. I'll go +<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>down to the <i>dansant</i> this afternoon—no use—I can't stand being +alone."</p> + +<p>She put on her white suit, and dabbing rouge on her cheeks and +penciling her eyes, she went forth into the sunshiny streets.</p> + +<p>She stopped to look at a display of sport suits in a window, also to +see her own reflection in a mirror placed for the purpose among the +suits.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a voice sounded at her elbow: "Some kid, eh? Looking good +enough to eat!"</p> + +<p>She turned around and met the admiring gaze of Sergeant Edward Loftus +Brown, recruiting sergeant of the 19-th, with whom she had been to the +theater a few nights before. She welcomed him effusively.</p> + +<p>"Come on and have something to eat," he said. "I got three recruits +to-day—so I am going to proclaim a half-holiday."</p> + +<p>They sat at a table in an alcove and gayly discussed the people who +passed by. The President of the Red Cross came in, and at a table +across the room hastily drank a cup of tea and went out again.</p> + +<p>"She came to see me to-day," said Mrs. <a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>Tweed, "and gave me to +understand that they were not any too well pleased with me—I am too +gay for a soldier's wife! And they do not approve of you."</p> + +<p>Sergeant Brown smiled indulgently and looked at her admiringly through +his oyster-lidded eyes. His smile was as complacent as that of the +ward boss who knows that the ballot-box is stuffed. It was the smile +of one who can afford to be generous to an enemy.</p> + +<p>"Women are always hard on each other," he said soothingly; "these +women do not understand you, Trixie, that's all. No person understands +you but me." His voice was of the magnolia oil quality.</p> + +<p>"Oh, rats!" she broke out. "Cut that understanding business! She +understands me all right—she knows me for a mean little selfish +slacker who is going to have a good time no matter what it costs. I +have been like a bad kid that eats the jam when the house is burning! +But remember this, I'm no fool, and I'm not going to kid myself into +thinking it is anything to be proud of, for it isn't."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>Sergeant Brown sat up straight and regarded her critically. "What have +you done," he said, "that she should call you down for it? You're +young and pretty and these old hens are jealous of you. They can't +raise a good time themselves and they're sore on you because all the +men are crazy about you."</p> + +<p>"Gee, you're mean," Mrs. Tweed retorted, "to talk that way about women +who are giving up everything for their country. Mrs. Kent's two boys +are in the trenches, actually fighting, not just parading round in +uniform like you. She goes every day and works in the office of the +Red Cross and tries to keep every tangle straightened out. She's not +jealous of me—she despises me for a little feather-brained pinhead. +She thinks I am even worse than I am. She thinks I am as bad as you +would like me to be! Naturally enough, she judges me by my company."</p> + +<p>Sergeant Brown's face flushed dull red, but she went on: "That woman +is all right—take it from me."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't get sore on me," he said quickly; <a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>"I'm not the one who +is turning you down. I've always stuck up for you and you know it!"</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't you?" she cried. "You know well that I am straight, +even if I am a fool. These women are out of patience with me and my +class——"</p> + +<p>"Men are always more charitable to women than women are to each other, +anyway—women are cats, mostly!" he said, as he rolled a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"There you go again!" she cried,—"pretending that you know. I tell +you women are women's best friends. What help have you given to me to +run straight, for all your hot air about thinking so much of me? +You've stuck around my flat until I had to put you out—you've never +sheltered or protected me in any way. Men are broad-minded toward +women's characters because they do not care whether women are good or +not—they would rather that they were not. I do not mean all +men,—William was different, and there are plenty like him—but I mean +men like you who run around with soldiers' wives and slam the women +who <a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>are our friends, and who are really concerned about us. You are +twenty years older than I am. You're always blowing about how much you +know about women—also the world. Why didn't you advise me not to make +a fool of myself?"</p> + +<p>Sergeant Brown leaned over and patted her hand. "There now, Trixie," +he said, "don't get excited; you're the best girl in town, only you're +too high-strung. Haven't I always stood by you? Did I ever turn you +down, even when these high-brow ladies gave you the glassy eye? Why +are you going back on a friend now? You had lots to say about the +Daughter of the Empire who came to see you the last time."</p> + +<p>"She wasn't nice to me," said Mrs. Tweed; "but she meant well, anyway. +But I'm getting ashamed of myself now—for I see I am not playing the +game. Things have gone wrong through no fault of ours. The whole world +has gone wrong, and it's up to us to bring it right if we can. These +women are doing their share—they've given up everything. But what +have I done? I let William go, of course, and that's a <a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>lot, for I do +think a lot of William; but I am not doing my own share. Running +around to the stores, eating late suppers, saying snippy things about +other women, and giving people an excuse for not giving to the +Patriotic Fund. You and I sitting here to-day, eating expensive +things, are not helping to win the war, I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"But my dear girl," he interrupted, "whose business is it? and what +has happened to you anyway? I didn't bring you here to tell me my +patriotic duty. I like you because you amuse me with your smart +speeches. I don't want to be lectured—and I won't have it."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tweed arose and began to put on her gloves. "Here's where we +part," she said; "I am going to begin to do my part, just as I see it. +I've signed on—I've joined the great Win-the-War-Party. You should +try it, Sergeant Brown. We have no exact rules to go by—we are +self-governed. It is called the honor system; each one rules himself. +It's quite new to me, but I expect to know more about it."</p> + +<p>"Sit down!" he said sternly; "people are <a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>looking at you—they think +we are quarreling; I am not done yet, and neither are you. Sit down!"</p> + +<p>She sat down and apologized. "I am excited, I believe," she said; +"people generally are when they enlist; and although I stood up, I had +no intention of going, for the bill has not come yet and I won't go +without settling my share of it."</p> + +<p>"Forget it!" he said warmly; "this isn't a Dutch treat. What have I +done that you should hit me a slam like this?"</p> + +<p>"It isn't a slam," she said; "it is quite different. I want to run +straight and fair—and I can't do it and let you pay for my meals; +there's no sense in women being sponges. I know we have been brought +up to beat our way. 'Be pretty, and all things will be added unto +you,' is the first commandment, and the one with the promise. I've +laid hold on that all my life, but to-day I am giving it up. The old +way of training women nearly got me, but not quite—and now I am +making a new start. It isn't too late. The old way of women always +being under an obligation to men has started us wrong. I'm <a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>not +blaming you or any one, but I'm done with it. If you see things as I +do, you'll be willing to let me pay. Don't pauperize me any more and +make me feel mean."</p> + +<p>"Oh, go as far as you like!" he said petulantly. "Pay for me, too, if +you like—don't leave me a shred of self-respect. This all comes of +giving women the vote. I saw it coming, but I couldn't help it! I like +the old-fashioned women best—but don't mind me!"</p> + +<p>"I won't," she said; "nothing is the same as it was. How can anything +go on the same? We have to change to meet new conditions and I'm +starting to-day. I'm going to give up my suite and get a +job—anything—maybe dishwashing. I'm going to do what I can to bring +things right. If every one will do that, the country is safe."</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>In a certain restaurant there is a little waitress with clustering +black hair and saucy little turned-up nose. She moves quickly, deftly, +decidedly, and always knows what to do. She is young, pretty, and +bright, and many a man has <a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>made up his mind to speak to her and ask +her to "go out and see a show"; but after exchanging a few remarks +with her, he changes his mind. Something tells him it would not go! +She carries trays of dishes from eight-thirty to six every day except +Sunday. She has respectfully refused to take her allowance from the +Patriotic Fund, explaining that she has a job. The separation +allowance sent to her from the Militia Department at Ottawa goes +directly into the bank, and she is able to add to it sometimes from +her wages.</p> + +<p>The people in the block where Mrs. Tweed lived will tell you that she +suddenly gave up her suite and moved away and they do not know where +she went, but they are very much afraid she was going "wrong." What a +lot of pleasant surprises there will be for people when they get to +heaven!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>CONSERVATION</h3> +<br /> + +<p>There are certain words which have come into general circulation since +the war. One of the very best of these is "Conservation."</p> + +<p>Conservation is a fine, rich-sounding, round word, agreeable to the +ear and eye, and much more aristocratic than the word "Reform," which +seems to carry with it the unpleasant suggestion of something that +needs to be changed. The dictionary, which knows everything, says that +"Conservation means the saving from destructive change the good we +already possess," which seems to be a perfectly worthy ambition for +any one to entertain.</p> + +<p>For many people, changes have in them an element of wickedness and +danger. I once knew a little girl who wore a sunbonnet all summer and +a hood all winter, and cried one whole day each spring and fall when +she had to make the change; for changes to her were fearsome things.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>This antagonism to change has delayed the progress of the world and +kept back many a needed reform, for people have grown to think that +whatever is must be right, and indeed have made a virtue of this +belief.</p> + +<p>"It was good enough for my father and it is good enough for me," cries +many a good tory (small <i>t</i>, please), thinking that by this utterance +he convinces an admiring world that all his folks have been +exceedingly fine people for generations.</p> + +<p>But changes are inevitable. What is true to-day may not be true +to-morrow. All our opinions should be marked, "Subject to change +without notice." We cannot all indulge ourselves in the complacency of +the maiden lady who gave her age year after year as twenty-seven, +because she said she was not one of these flighty things who say "one +thing to-day and something else to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Life is change. Only dead things remain as they are. Every living +thing feels the winds of the world blowing over it, beating and +buffeting it, marking and bleaching it. Change is a <a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>characteristic of +life, and we must reckon on it! Progress is Life's first law! In order +to be as good as we were yesterday, we have to be better. Life is +built on a sliding scale; we have to keep moving to keep up. There are +no rest stations on Life's long road!</p> + +<p>The principle of conservation is not at enmity with the spirit of +change. It is in thorough harmony with it.</p> + +<p>Conservation becomes a timely topic in these days of hideous waste. In +fact it will not much longer remain among the optional subjects in +Life's curriculum. Even now the Moving Finger, invisible yet to the +thoughtless, is writing after it the stern word "Compulsory." Four +hundred thousand men have been taken away from the ranks of producers +here in Canada, and have gone into the ranks of destroyers, becoming a +drain upon our resources for all that they eat, wear, and use. Many +thousand other men are making munitions, whose end is destruction and +waste. We spend more in a day now to kill and hurt our fellow men than +we ever spent in a month to educate or help them. <a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>Great new ways of +wasting and destroying our resources are going on while the old leaks +are all running wide open. More children under five years old have +died since the war than there have been men killed in battle!—and +largely from preventable "dirt-diseases" and poverty. Rats, weeds, +extravagance, general shiftlessness are still doing business at the +old stand, unmolested.</p> + +<p>But it is working in on us that something must be done. Now is the +time to set in force certain agencies to make good these losses in so +far as they can be repaired. Now is the time, when the excitement of +the war is still on us, when the frenzy is still in our blood, for the +time of reaction is surely to be reckoned with by and by. Now we are +sustained by the blare of the bands and the flourish of flags, but in +the cold, gray dawn of the morning after, we shall count our dead with +disillusioned eyes and wonder what was the use of all this bloodshed +and waste. Trade conditions are largely a matter of the condition of +the spirit, and ours will be drooping and drab when the tumult and +the <a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>shouting have died and the reign of reason has come back.</p> + +<p>Personal thrift comes naturally to our minds when we begin to think of +the lessons that we should take to heart. Up to the time of the war +and since, we have been a prodigal people, confusing extravagance with +generosity, thrift with meanness. The Indians in the old days killed +off the buffalo for the sport of killing, and left the carcases to +rot, never thinking of a time of want; and so, too, the natives in the +North Country kill the caribou for the sake of their tongues, which +are considered a real "company dish," letting the remainder of the +animal go to waste.</p> + +<p>This is a startling thought, and comes to one over and over again. You +will think of it when you order your twenty-five cents' worth of +cooked ham and see what you get! You will think of it again when you +come home and find that the butcher delivered your twenty-five cents' +worth of cooked ham in your absence, and, finding the door locked, +passed it through the keyhole. And yet the prodigality of the <a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>Indian +and the caribou-killer are infantile compared with the big +extravagances that go on without much comment. Economy is a broad term +used to express the many ways in which other people might save money. +Members of Parliament have been known to tell many ways in which women +might economize; their tender hearts are cut to the quick as they +notice the fancy footwear and expensive millinery worn by women. Great +economy meetings have been held in London, to which the Cabinet +Ministers rode in expensive cars, and where they drank champagne, +enjoining women to abjure the use of veils and part with their pet +dogs as a war measure; but they said not a word about the continuance +of the liquor business which rears its head in every street and has +wasted three million tons of grain since the war began. What wonder is +it that these childish appeals to the women to economize fall on deaf +or indignant ears! Women have a nasty way of making comparisons. They +were so much easier to manage before they learned to read and write.</p> + +<p>The war wears on its weary course. The high <a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>cost of living becomes +more and more of a nightmare to the people, yet the British Government +tolerates a system which wastes more sugar than would feed the army, +impairs the efficiency of the working-man one sixth, and wastes two +million dollars every day in what is at best a questionable +indulgence, and at worst a national menace. Speaking of economy, +personal thrift, conservation, and other "win-the-war" plans, how +would the elimination of the liquor traffic do for a start?</p> + +<p>There are two ways of practicing economy: one is by refusing to spend +money, which is not always a virtue; and the other is by increasing +production, which is the greatest need of this critical time. The +farmers are doing all they can: they are producing as much as they +have means and labor for. But still in Canada much land is idle, and +many people sit around wondering what they can do. There will be women +sitting on verandas in the cities and towns in the summer, knitting +socks, or maybe crocheting edges on handkerchiefs, who would gladly be +raising potatoes and chickens if they knew how <a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>to begin; and a +corresponding number of chickens and potatoes will go unraised. But +the idea of coöperation is taking root, and here and there there is a +breaking away from the conventional mode of life. The best thing about +it is that people are thinking, and pretty soon the impact of public +opinion will be so strong that there will be a national movement to +bring together the idle people and the idle land. We are paying a high +price for our tuition, but we must admit that the war is a great +teacher.</p> + +<p>There is a growing sentiment against the holding-up of tracts of land +by speculators waiting for the increase in value which comes by the +hard work of settlers. Every sod turned by the real, honest settler, +who comes to make his home, increases the value of the section of land +next him, probably held by a railway company, and the increase makes +it harder for some other settler to buy it. By his industry the +settler makes money for the railway company, but incidentally makes +his own chance of acquiring a neighbor more remote!</p> + +<p>The wild-lands tax which prevails in the <a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>western provinces of the +Dominion, and which we hope will be increased, will make it +unprofitable to hold land idle, and will do much, if made heavy +enough, to liberate land for settlement.</p> + +<p>As it is now, people who have no money to buy land have to go long +distances from the railroad to get homesteads, and there suffer all +the inconveniences and hardships and dangers of pioneer life, miles +from neighbors, many miles from a doctor, and without school or +church; while great tracts of splendid land lie idle and unimproved, +close beside the little towns, held in the tight clasp of a +hypothetical owner far away.</p> + +<p>Western Canada has a land problem which war conditions have +intensified. But people are beginning to talk of these things, and the +next few years will see radical changes.</p> + +<p>The coming of women into the political world should help. Women are +born conservationists. Their first game is housekeeping and +doll-mending. The doll, by preference, is a sick doll, and in need of +care. Their work is to care for, <a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>work for something, and if the +advent of women into politics does not mean that life is made easier +and safer for other women and for children, then we will have to +confess with shame and sorrow that politically we have failed! But we +are not going to fail! Already the angel has come down and has +troubled the water. Discussions are raging in women's societies and +wherever women meet together, and out of it something will come. Men +are always quite willing to be guided by women when their schemes are +sound and sane.</p> + +<p>In New Zealand the first political activity of women was directed +toward lowering the death-rate among children, by sending out trained +nurses to care for them and give instruction to the mothers. Ours will +follow the same line, because the heart of woman is the same +everywhere. Dreams will soon begin to come true. Good dreams always +do—in time; and why not? There is nothing too good to be true! Here +is one that is coming!</p> + +<p>Little Mary Wood set out bravely to do the chores; for it was +Christmas Eve, and even in <a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>the remoteness of the Abilene Valley, some +of the old-time festivity of Christmas was felt. Mary's mother had had +good times at Christmas when she was a little girl, and Mary's +imagination did the rest. Mary started out singing.</p> + +<p>It was a mean wind that came through the valley that night; a wind +that took no notice of Christmas, or Sunday, or even of the brave +little girl doing the chores, so that her father might not have them +to do when he came home. It was so mean that it would not even go +round Mary Wood, aged eleven, and small for her age—it went straight +through her and chattered her teeth and blued her hands, and would +have frozen her nose if she had not at intervals put her little hand +over it.</p> + +<p>But in spite of the wind, the chores were done at last, and Mary came +back to the house. Mary's mother was always waiting to open the door +and shut it quick again, but to-night, when Mary reached the door she +had to open it herself, for her mother had gone to bed.</p> + +<p>Mary was surprised at this, and hastened to the bedroom to see what +was wrong.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>Mary's mother replied to her questions quite cheerfully. She was not +sick. She was only tired. She would be all right in the morning. But +Mary Wood, aged eleven, had grown wise in her short years, and she +knew there was something wrong. Never mind; she would ask father. He +always knew everything and what to do about it.</p> + +<p>Going back to the kitchen she saw the writing-pad on which her mother +had been writing. Her mother did not often write letters; certainly +did not often tear them up after writing them; and here in the +home-made waste-paper basket was a torn and crumpled sheet. Mary did +not know that it was not the square thing to read other people's +letters, and, besides, she wanted to know. She spread the letter on +the table and pieced it together. Laboriously she spelled it out:—</p> + +<p>"I don't know why I am so frightened this time, Lizzie, but I am black +afraid. I suppose it is because I lost the other two. I hate this +lonely, God-forsaken country. I am afraid of it to-night—it's so big +and white and far <a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>away, and it seems as if nobody cares. Mary does +not know, and I cannot tell her; but I know I should, for she may be +left with the care of Bobbie. To-night I am glad the other two are +safe. It is just awful to be a woman, Lizzie; women get it going and +coming, and the worst of it is, no one cares!"</p> + +<p>Mary read the letter over and over, before she grasped its meaning. +Then the terrible truth rolled over her, and her heart seemed to stop +beating. Mary had not lived her eleven years without finding out some +of the grim facts of life. She knew that the angels brought babies at +very awkward times, and to places where they were not wanted a bit, +and she also knew that sometimes, when they brought a baby, they had +been known to take the mother away. Mary had her own opinion of the +angels who did that, but it had been done. There was only one hope: +her father always knew what to do.</p> + +<p>She thawed a hole in the frosted window and tried to see down the +trail, but the moon was foggy and it was impossible to see more than a +few yards.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>Filled with a sense of fear and dread, she built up a good fire and +filled the kettle with water; she vigorously swept the floor and +tidied the few books on their home-made shelf.</p> + +<p>It was ten o'clock when her father came in, pale and worried. Mary saw +that he knew, too.</p> + +<p>He went past her into the bedroom and spoke hurriedly to his wife; but +Mary did not hear what they said.</p> + +<p>Suddenly she heard her mother cry and instinctively she ran into the +room.</p> + +<p>Her father stood beside the bed holding his head, as if in pain. +Mary's mother had turned her face into the pillow, and cried; and even +little Bobbie, who had been awakened by the unusual commotion, sat up, +rubbing his eyes, and cried softly to himself.</p> + +<p>Mary's father explained it to Mary.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Roberts has gone away," he said. "I went over to see her to-day. +We were depending on her to come over and take care of your +mother—for a while—and now she has gone, and there is not another +woman between here and the Landing."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>"It's no use trying, Robert," Mrs. Wood said between her sobs; "I +can't stay—I am so frightened. I am beginning to see things—and I +know what it means. There are black things in every corner—trying to +tell me something, grinning, jabbering things—that are waiting for +me; I see them everywhere I look."</p> + +<p>Mr. Wood sat down beside her, and patted her hand.</p> + +<p>"I know, dear," he said; "it's hell, this lonely life. It's too much +for any woman, and I'll give it all up. Better to live on two meals a +day in a city than face things like this. We wanted a home of our own, +Millie,—you remember how we used to talk,—and we thought we had +found it here—good land and a running stream. We have worked hard and +it is just beginning to pay, but we'll have to quit—and I'll have to +work for some one else all my life. It was too good to be true, +Millie."</p> + +<p>He spoke without any bitterness in his voice, just a settled sadness, +and a great disappointment.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the old dog began to bark with <a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>strong conviction in every +bark, which indicated that he had really found something at last that +was worth mentioning. There was a sudden jangle of sleighbells in the +yard, and Mary's father went hastily to the door and called to the dog +to be quiet. A woman walked into the square of light thrown on the +snow from the open door, and asked if this was the place where a nurse +was needed.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wood reached out and took her big valise and brought her into the +house, too astonished to speak. He was afraid she might vanish.</p> + +<p>She threw off her heavy coat before she spoke, and then, as she wiped +the frost from her eyebrows, she explained:—</p> + +<p>"I am what is called a pioneer nurse, and I am sent to take care of +your wife, as long as she needs me. You see the women in Alberta have +the vote now, and they have a little more to say about things than +they used to have, and one of the things they are keen on is to help +pioneer women over their rough places. Your neighbor, Mrs. Roberts, on +her way East, reported your <a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>wife's case, and so I am here. The +Mounted Police brought me out, and I have everything that is needed."</p> + +<p>"But I don't understand!" Mr. Wood began.</p> + +<p>"No!" said the nurse; "it is a little queer, isn't it? People have +spent money on pigs and cattle and horses, and have bonused railways +and elevator companies, or anything that seemed to help the country, +while the people who were doing the most for the country, the +settlers' wives, were left to live or die as seemed best to them. +Woman's most sacred function is to bring children into the world, and +if all goes well, why, God bless her!—but when things go wrong—God +help her! No one else was concerned at all. But, as I told you, women +vote now in Alberta, and what they say goes. Men are always ready to +help women in any good cause, but, naturally enough, they don't see +the tragedy of the lonely woman, as women see it. They are just as +sympathetic, but they do not know what to do. Some time ago, before +the war, there was an agitation to build a <a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>monument to the pioneer +women, a great affair of marble and stone. The women did not warm up +to it at all. They pointed out that it was poor policy to build +monuments to brave women who had died, while other equally brave women +in similar circumstances were being let die! So they sort of frowned +down the marble monument idea, and began to talk of nurses instead.</p> + +<p>"So here I am," concluded Mrs. Sanderson, as she hung up her coat and +cap. "I am a monument to those who are gone, and the free gift of the +people of Alberta to you and your wife, in slight appreciation of the +work you are doing in settling the country and making all the land in +this district more valuable. They are a little late in acknowledging +what they owe the settler, but it took the women a few years to get +the vote, and then a little while longer to get the woman's point of +view before the public."</p> + +<p>Mary Wood stood at her father's side while the nurse spoke, drinking +in every word.</p> + +<p>"But who pays?" asked Mary's father—"who pays for this?"</p> + +<p>"It is all simple enough," said the nurse. <a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>"There are many millions +of acres in Alberta held by companies, and by private owners, who live +in New York, London, and other places, who hold this land idle, +waiting for the prices to go up. The prices advance with the coming-in +of settlers like yourself, and these owners get the benefit. The +Government thinks these landowners should be made to pay something +toward helping the settlers, so they have put on a wild-lands tax of +one per cent of the value of the land; they have also put a telephone +tax on each unoccupied section, which will make it as easy for you to +get a telephone as if every section was settled; and they have also a +hospital tax, and will put up a hospital next year, where free +treatment will be given to every one who belongs to the municipality.</p> + +<p>"The idea is to tax the wild land so heavily that it will not be +profitable for speculators to hold it, and it will be released for +real, sure-enough settlers. The Government holds to the view that it +is better to make homes for many people than to make fortunes for a +few people."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>Mary's father sat down with a great sigh that seemed half a laugh and +half a sob.</p> + +<p>"What is it you said the women have now?" asked Mary.</p> + +<p>The nurse explained carefully to her small but interested audience. +When she was done, Mary Wood, aged eleven, had chosen her life-work.</p> + +<p>"Now I know what I'll be when I grow big," she said; "I intended to be +a missionary, but I've changed my mind—I am going to be a Voter!"</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>"PERMISSION"</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">He walked among us many years,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And yet we failed to understand<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That there was courage in his fears<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And strength within his gentle hand:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">We did not mean to be unkind,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But we were dull of heart and mind!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><b> · · · · · · · · </b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But when the drum-beat through the night<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And men were called, with voice austere,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To die for England's sake—and right,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He was the first to answer, "Here!"<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His courage, long submerged, arose,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When at her gates, knocked England's foes!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><b> · · · · · · · · </b><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And so to-day, where the brave dead<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sleep sweetly amid Flemish bowers,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One grave, in thought, is garlanded<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With prairie flowers!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And if the dead in realms of bliss<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Can think on those they knew below,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He'll know we're sorry, and that this<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is our poor way of saying so!<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>The war has put a new face on our neighborhood life; it has searched +out and tried the hidden places of our souls, and strange, indeed, +have been its findings. By its severe testings <a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>some of those who we +thought were our strongest people have been abased, and some of the +weak ones have been exalted. There were some of our people who were +good citizens in the normal times of peace, but who could not stand +against the sterner test of war; and then again we have found the true +worth of some of those whom in our dull, short-sighted way we did not +know!</p> + +<p>Stanley Goodman came to our neighborhood when he was a lad of sixteen. +The Church of England clergyman, who knew his people in England, +brought him to Mrs. Corbett, who kept the Black Creek Stopping House, +and asked her if she could give him a room and look after him. He told +her of the great wealth and social position of the family who were +willing to pay well for the boy's keep.</p> + +<p>"If they are as well off as all that," said Mrs. Corbett, "why are +they sending the wee lad out here, away from all of them?"</p> + +<p>The clergyman found it hard to explain. "It seems that this boy is not +quite like the other members of the family—not so bright, I take +<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>it," he said; "and the father particularly is a bit disappointed in +him!"</p> + +<p>"Do you mean," said Mrs. Corbett, "that they are ashamed of the poor +little fellow, and are sending him out here to get rid of him? Faith, +if that's the kind of heathen there is in England I don't know why +they send missionaries out here to preach to us. Bad and all as we +are, there is none of us that would do the like of that!"</p> + +<p>"They will provide handsomely for him in every way, Mrs. Corbett, and +leave no wish ungratified," the minister said uneasily.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Corbett was a difficult person in some ways.</p> + +<p>"Oh, sure, they will give him everything but love and home, and +that'll be what the poor wee lad will hunger for! Money is a queer +thing for sure, when it will make a mother forget the child that she +brought into the world!"</p> + +<p>"I think the mother—from what I can gather—wanted to keep the boy, +but the father is a very proud man, and this lad aggravated him some +way just to see him, and the <a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>mother yielded to his wishes, as a true +wife should, and for the sake of peace has withdrawn her objections."</p> + +<p>"A poor soft fool, that's all she is, to let a domineering old +reprobate send her poor lad away, just because he did not like to see +him around, and him his own child! And even you, Mr. Tilton, who have +been out here living with civilized people for three years, have +enough of the old country way in you yet to say that a true wife +should consent to this to please the old tyrant! Faith, I don't blame +the Suffragettes for smashing windows, and if I wasn't so busy feeding +hungry men, I believe I would go over and give them a hand, only I +would be more careful what I was smashing and would not waste my time +on innocent windows!"</p> + +<p>"But you will take him, won't you, Mrs. Corbett? I will feel quite +easy about him if you will!"</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'll have to. I can't refuse when his own have deserted +him! I would be a poor member of the Army if I did not remember Our +Lord's promise to the poor children when their <a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>fathers and mothers +forsake them, and I will try to carry it out as well as I can."</p> + +<p>Stanley was soon established in the big white-washed room in Mrs. +Corbett's boarding-house. He brought with him everything that any boy +could ever want, and his room, which he kept spotlessly clean, with +its beautiful rug, pictures, and books, was the admiration of the +neighborhood.</p> + +<p>Stanley understood the situation and spoke of it quite frankly.</p> + +<p>"My father thought it better for me to come away for a while, to see +if it would not toughen me up a bit. He has been rather disappointed +in me, I think. You see, I had an accident when I was a little fellow +and since then I have not been—quite right."</p> + +<p>"Just think of that," Mrs. Corbett said afterwards in telling it to a +sympathetic group of "Stoppers." "It wouldn't be half so bad if the +poor boy didn't know that he is queer. I tried to reason it out of +him, but he said that he had heard the housekeeper and the parlor-maid +at home talking of it, and they said he was a bit <a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>looney. It wouldn't +be half so bad for him if he was not so near to being all right! If +ever I go wrong in the head I hope I'll be so crazy that I won't know +that I'm crazy. Craziness is like everything else—it's all right if +you have enough of it!"</p> + +<p>"Stanley is not what any one would call crazy," said one of the +Stoppers; "the only thing I can see wrong with him is that you always +know what he is going to say, and he is too polite, and every one can +fool him! He certainly is a good worker, and there's another place he +shows that he is queer, for he doesn't need to work and still he does +it! He likes it, and thanked me to-day for letting him clean my team; +and as a special favor I'm going to let him hitch them up when I am +ready to go!"</p> + +<p>Stanley busied himself about the house, and was never so happy as when +he was rendering some service to some one. But even in his happiest +moments there was always the wistful longing for home, and when he was +alone with Mrs. Corbett he freely spoke of his hopes and fears.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>"It may not be so long before they begin to think that they would like +to see me; do you think that it is really true that absence makes the +heart grow fonder—even of people—like me? I keep thinking that maybe +they will send for me after a while and let me stay for a few days +anyway. My mother will want to see me, I am almost sure,—indeed, she +almost said as much,—and she said many times that she hoped that I +would be quite happy; and when I left she kissed me twice, and even +the governor shook hands with me and said, 'You will be all right out +there in Canada.' He was so nice with me, it made it jolly hard to +leave."</p> + +<p>Another day, as he dried the dishes for her, assuring her that it was +a real joy for him to be let do this, he analyzed the situation +again:—</p> + +<p>"My father's people are all very large and handsome," he said, "and +have a very commanding way with them; my father has always been +obeyed, and always got what he wanted. It was my chin which bothered +him the most. It is not much of a chin, I know; it retreats, doesn't +it? But I cannot help it. But I have <a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>always been a bitter +disappointment to him, and it really has been most uncomfortable for +mother—he seemed to blame her some way, too; and often and often I +found her looking at me so sadly and saying, 'Poor Stanley!' and all +my aunts, when they came to visit, called me that. It was—not +pleasant."</p> + +<p>Every week his letter came from home, with books and magazines and +everything that a boy could wish for. His delight knew no bounds. +"They must think something of me," he said over and over again! At +first he wrote a letter to his mother every day, but a curt note came +from his father one day telling him that he must try to interest +himself in his surroundings and that it would be better if he wrote +only once a week! The weekly letter then became an event, and he +copied it over many times. Mrs. Corbett, busy with her work of feeding +the traveling public, often paused long enough in her work of peeling +the potatoes or rolling out pie-crust to wipe her hands hastily and +read the letter that he had written and pass judgment on it.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>Feeling that all green Englishmen were their legitimate prey for +sport, the young bloods of the neighborhood, led by Pat Brennan, Mrs. +Corbett's nephew, began to tell Stanley strange and terrible stories +of Indians, and got him to send home for rifles and knives to defend +himself and the neighborhood from their traitorous raids, "which were +sure to be made on the settlements as soon as the cold weather came +and the Indians got hungry." He was warned that he must not speak to +Mrs. Corbett about this, for it is never wise to alarm the women. "We +will have trouble enough without having a lot of hysterical women on +our hands," said Pat.</p> + +<p>After the weapons had come "The Exterminators" held a session behind +closed doors to see what was the best plan of attack, and decided that +they would not wait for the Indians to begin the trouble, but would +make war on them. They decided that they would beat the bushes for +Indians down in the river-bottom, while Stanley would sit at a certain +point of vantage in a clump of willows, and as the Indians ran past +him, he would pot them!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>Stanley had consented to do this only after he had heard many tales of +Indian treachery and cruelty to the settlers and their families!</p> + +<p>The plan was carried out and would no doubt have been successful, but +for the extreme scarcity of Indians in our valley.</p> + +<p>All night long Stanley sat at his post, peering into the night, armed +to the teeth, shivering with the cold wind that blew through the +valley. His teeth chattered with fright sometimes, too, as the bushes +rustled behind him, and an inquisitive old cow who came nosing the +willows never knew how near death she had been. Meanwhile his +traitorous companions went home and slept soundly and sweetly in their +warm beds.</p> + +<p>"And even after he found out that we were fooling him, he was not a +bit sore," said Pat. "He tried to laugh! That is what made me feel +cheap—he is too easy; it's too much like taking candy from a kid. And +he was mighty square about it, too, and he never told Aunt Maggie how +he got the cold, for he slipped into bed that morning and she didn't +know he was out."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>Another time the boys set him to gathering the puff-balls that grew in +abundance in the hay meadow, assuring him that they were gopher-eggs +and if placed under a hen would hatch out young gophers.</p> + +<p>Stanley was wild with enthusiasm when he heard this and hastened to +pack a box full to send home. "They <i>will</i> be surprised," he said. +Fortunately, Mrs. Corbett found out about this before the box was +sent, and she had to tell him that the boys were only in fun.</p> + +<p>When she told him that the boys had been just having sport there came +over his face such a look of sadness and pain, such a deeply hurt +look, that Mrs. Corbett went back to the barn and thrashed her sturdy +young nephew, all over again.</p> + +<p>When the matter came up for discussion again, Stanley implored her not +to speak of it any more, and not to hold it against the boys. "It was +not their fault at all," he said; "it all comes about on account of my +being—not quite right. I am not quite like other boys, but when they +play with me I forget it and I <a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>believe what they say. There +is—something wrong with me,—and it makes people want—to have sport +with me; but it is not their fault at all."</p> + +<p>"Well, they won't have sport with you when I am round," declared Mrs. +Corbett stoutly.</p> + +<p>Years rolled by and Stanley still cherished the hope that some day +"permission" would come for him to go home. He grew very fast and +became rather a fine-looking young man. Once, emboldened by a +particularly kind letter from his mother, he made the request that he +should be allowed to go home for a few days. "If you will let me come +home even for one day, dearest mother," he wrote, "I will come right +back content, and father will not need to see me at all. I want to +stand once more before that beautiful Tissot picture of Christ holding +the wounded lamb in his arms, and I would like to see the hawthorn +hedge when it is in bloom as it will be soon, and above all, dear +mother, I want to see you. And I will come directly away."</p> + +<p>He held this letter for many days, and was <a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>only emboldened to send it +by Mrs. Corbett's heartiest assurances that it was a splendid letter +and that his mother would like it!</p> + +<p>"I do not want to give my mother trouble," he said. "She has already +had much trouble with me; but it might make her more content to see me +and to know that I am so well—and happy."</p> + +<p>After the letter had been sent, Stanley counted the days anxiously, +and on the big map of Canada that hung on the kitchen wall he followed +its course until it reached Halifax, and then his mind went with it +tossing on the ocean.</p> + +<p>"I may get my answer any day after Friday," he said. "Of course I do +not expect it right off—it will take some little time for mother to +speak to father, and, besides, he might not be at home; so I must not +be disappointed if it seems long to wait."</p> + +<p>Friday passed and many weeks rolled by, and still Stanley was hopeful. +"They are considering," he said, "and that is so much better than if +they refused; and perhaps they are looking about a boat—I think that +must be what is <a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>keeping the letter back. I feel so glad and happy +about it, it seems that permission must be coming."</p> + +<p>In a month a bulky parcel came to him by express. It contained a +framed picture of the Good Shepherd carrying the lost lamb in his +arms; a box of hawthorn blossoms, faded but still fragrant, and a book +which gave directions for playing solitaire in one hundred and +twenty-three ways!!</p> + +<p>Mrs. Corbett hastened to his room when she heard the cry of pain that +escaped his lips. He stood in the middle of the floor with the book in +his hand. All the boyishness had gone out of his face, which now had +the spent look of one who has had a great fright or suffered great +pain. The book on solitaire had pierced through his cloudy brain with +the thought that his was a solitary part in life, and for a few +moments he went through the panicky grief of the faithful dog who +finds himself left on the shore while his false master sails gayly +away!</p> + +<p>"I will be all right directly," he stammered, making a pitiful effort +to control his tears.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>Mrs. Corbett politely appeared not to notice, and went hastily +downstairs, and although not accustomed to the use of the pen, yet she +took it in hand and wrote a letter to Stanley's father.</p> + +<p>"It is a pity that your poor lad did not inherit some of your hardness +of heart, Mr. Goodman," the letter began, "for if he did he would not +be upstairs now breakin his and sobbin it out of him at your cruel +answer to his natural request that he might go home and see his +mother. But he has a heart of gold wherever he got it I don't know, +and it is just a curse to him to be so constant in his love for home, +when there is no love or welcome there for him. He is a lad that any +man might well be proud of him, that gentle and kind and honest and +truthful, not like most of the young doods that come out here drinkin +and carousin and raisin the divil. mebbe you would like him better if +he was and this is just to tell you that we like your boy here and we +dont think much of the way you are using him and I hope that you will +live to see the day that you will regret with tears more bitter than +he is sheddin now the way you have <a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>treated him, and with these few +lines I will close M corbett."</p> + +<p>How this letter was received at Mayflower Lodge, Bucks, England, is +not known, for no answer was ever sent; and although the letters to +Stanley came regularly, his wish to go home was not mentioned in any +of them. Neither did he ever refer to it again.</p> + +<p>"Say, Stan," said young Pat one day, suddenly smitten with a bright +thought, "why don't you go home anyway? You have lots of money—why +don't you walk in on 'em and give 'em a surprise?"</p> + +<p>"It would not be playing the game, Pat; thank you all the same, old +chap," said Stanley heartily, "but I will not go home without +permission."</p> + +<p>After that Stanley got more and more reticent about the people at +home. He seemed to realize that they had cut him off, but the homesick +look never left his eyes. His friends now were the children of the +neighborhood and the animals. Dogs, cats, horses, and children +followed him, and gave him freely of their <a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>affection. He worked happy +hours in Mrs. Corbett's garden, and "Stanley's flowers" were the +admiration of the neighborhood.</p> + +<p>When he was not busy in the garden, he spent long hours beside the +river in a beautifully fashioned seat which he had made for himself, +beneath a large poplar tree. "It is the wind in the tree-tops that I +like," he said. "It whispers to me. I can't tell what it says, but it +says something. I like trees—they are like people some way—only more +patient and friendly."</p> + +<p>The big elms and spruce of the river valley rustled and whispered +together, and the poplars shook their coin-like leaves as he lay +beneath their shade. The trees were trying to be kind to him, as the +gray olive trees in Gethsemane were kind to One Other when his own had +forgotten Him!</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>When the news of the war fell upon the Pembina Valley, it did not +greatly disturb the peacefulness of that secluded spot. The well-to-do +farmers who had held their grain over openly rejoiced at the prospect +of better <a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>prices, and the younger men, when asked to enlist, replied +by saying that the people who made the war had better do the fighting +because they had no ambition to go out and stop German bullets. The +general feeling was that it would soon be over.</p> + +<p>At the first recruiting meeting Stanley volunteered his services by +walking down the aisle of the church at the first invitation. The +recruiting officer motioned to him to be seated, and that he would see +him after the meeting.</p> + +<p>Stanley waited patiently until every person was gone, and then timidly +said, "And now, sir, will you please tell me what I am to do?"</p> + +<p>The recruiting officer, a dapper little fellow, very pompous and +important, turned him down mercilessly. Stanley was dismayed. He +wandered idly out of the church and was about to start off on his +four-mile walk to the Stopping House when a sudden impulse seized him +and he followed the recruiting agent to the house where he was +staying.</p> + +<p>He overtook him just as he was going into the house, and, seizing him +by the arm, cried, <a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>"Don't you see, sir, that you must take me? I am +strong and able—I tell you I am no coward—what have you against me, +I want to know?"</p> + +<p>The recruiting officer hesitated. Confound it all! It is a hard thing +to tell a man that he is not exactly right in the head.</p> + +<p>But he did not need to say it, for Stanley beat him to it. "I know +what's wrong," he said; "you think I'm not very bright—I am not, +either. But don't you see, war is an elemental sort of thing. I can do +what I'm told—and I can fight. What does it matter if my head is not +very clear on some things which are easy to you? And don't you see how +much I want to go? Life has not been so sweet that I should want to +hold on to it. The young men here do not want to go, for they are +having such a good time. But there is nothing ahead of me that holds +me back. Can't you see that, sir? Won't you pass me on, anyway, and +let me have my chance? Give me a trial; it's time enough to turn me +down when I fail at something. Won't you take me, sir?"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>The recruiting officer sadly shook his head. Stanley watched him in an +agony of suspense. Here was his way out—his way of escape from this +body of death that had hung over him ever since he could remember. He +drew nearer to the recruiting officer,—"For God's sake, sir, take +me!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Then the recruiting officer pulled himself together and grew firm and +commanding. "I won't take you," he said, "and that's all there is +about it. This is a job for grown-up men and men with all their wits +about them. You would faint at the sight of blood and cry when you saw +the first dead man."</p> + +<p>In a few weeks another recruiting meeting was held, and again Stanley +presented himself when the first invitation was given. The recruiting +officer remembered him, and rather impatiently told him to sit down. +Near the front of the hall sat the German-American storekeeper of the +neighboring town, who had come to the meeting to see what was going +on, and had been interrupting the speaker with many rude remarks; and +when Stanley, in his <a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>immaculate suit of gray check, his gray spats, +and his eyeglass, passed by where he was sitting, it seemed as if all +his slumbering hatred for England burst at once into flame!</p> + +<p>"My word!" he mimicked, "'ere's a rum 'un—somebody should warn the +Kaiser! It's not fair to take the poor man unawares—here is some of +the real old English fighting-stock."</p> + +<p>Stanley turned in surprise and looked his tormentor in the face. His +look of insipid good-nature lured the German on.</p> + +<p>"That is what is wrong with the British Empire," he jeered; "there are +too many of these underbred aristocrats, all pedigree and no brains, +like the long-nosed collies. God help them when they meet the +Germans—that is all I have to say!"</p> + +<p>He was quite right in his last sentence—that was all he had to say. +It was his last word for the evening, and it looked as if it might be +his last word for an indefinite time, for the unexpected happened.</p> + +<p>Psychologists can perhaps explain it. We <a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>cannot. Stanley, who like +charity had borne all things, endured all things, believed all things, +suddenly became a new creature, a creature of rage, blind, consuming, +terrible! You have heard of the worm turning? This was a case of a +worm turning into a tank!</p> + +<p>People who were there said that Stanley seemed to grow taller, his +eyes glowed, his chin grew firm, his shoulders ceased to be +apologetic. He whirled upon the German and landed a blow on his jaw +that sounded like a blow-out! Before any one could speak, it was +followed by another and the German lay on the floor!</p> + +<p>Then Stanley turned to the astonished audience and delivered the most +successful recruiting speech that had ever been given in the Pembina +Valley.</p> + +<p>"You have sat here all evening," he cried, "and have listened to this +miserable hound insulting your country—this man who came here a few +years ago without a cent and now has made a fortune in Canada, and I +have no doubt is now conspiring with Canada's enemies, and would +betray us into the hands of <a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>those enemies if he could. For this man I +have the hatred which one feels for an enemy, but for you Canadians +who have sat here and swallowed his insults, I have nothing but +contempt. This man belongs to the race of people who cut hands off +children, and outrage women; and now, when our Empire calls for men to +go out and stop these devilish things, you sit here and let this +traitor insult your country. You are all braver than I am, too; I am +only a joke to most of you, a freak, a looney,—you have said so,—but +I won't stand for this."</p> + +<p>That night recruiting began in the valley and Stanley was the first +man to sign on. The recruiting agent felt that it was impossible to +turn down a man who had shown so much fighting spirit; and, besides, +he was a small man and he had a face which he prized highly!</p> + +<p>When the boys of the valley went to Valcartier there was none among +them who had more boxes of home-made candy or more pairs of socks than +Stanley; nor was any woman prouder of her boy than Mrs. Corbett was +of <a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>the lad she had taken into her home and into her heart ten years +before.</p> + +<p>They were sent overseas almost at once, and, after a short training in +England, went at once to the firing-line.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>It was a dull, foggy morning, and although it was quite late the +street-lamps were still burning, and while they could not make much +impression on the darkness, at least they made a luminous top on the +lamp-posts and served as a guide to the travelers who made their way +into the city. In the breakfast-room of Mayflower Lodge it was dark, +and gloomier still, for "the master" was always in his worst mood in +the morning, and on this particular morning his temper was aggravated +by the presence of his wife's mother and two sisters from Leith, who +always made him envious of the men who marry orphans, who are also the +last of their race.</p> + +<p>Mr. Goodman was discussing the war-situation, and abusing the +Government in that peculiarly bitter way of the British patriot.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>His wife, a faded, subdued little woman, sat opposite him and +contributed to the conversation twittering little broken phrases of +assent. Her life had been made up of scenes like this. She was of the +sweet and pliable type, which, with the best intentions in the world, +has made life hard for other women.</p> + +<p>Mr. Goodman gradually worked back to his old grievance.</p> + +<p>"This is a time for every man to do his bit, and here am I too old to +go and with no son to represent me—I who came from a family of six +sons! Anyway, why doesn't the Government pass conscription and drag +out the slackers who lounge in the parks and crowd the theaters?"</p> + +<p>Aunt Louisa paused in the act of helping herself to marmalade and +regarded him with great displeasure; then cried shrilly:—</p> + +<p>"Now, Arthur, that is nothing short of treason, for I tell you we will +not allow our dear boys to be taken away like galley-slaves; I tell +you Britons never, never shall be slaves, and I for one will never let +my Bertie go—his young <a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>life is too precious to be thrown away. I +spent too many nights nursing him through every infantile +disease—measles, whooping-cough,—you know yourself, my dear +Clara,—beside the times that he broke his arm and his leg; though I +still think that the cold compress is the best for a delicate +constitution, and I actually ordered the doctor out of the house—"</p> + +<p>"What has that to do with conscription?" asked her brother-in-law +gruffly. "I tell you it is coming and no one will be gladder than I +am."</p> + +<p>"I think it is nothing short of unkind the way that you have been +speaking of the Germans. I know I never got muffins like the muffins I +got in Berlin that time; and, anyway, there are plenty of the commoner +people to go to fight, and they have such large families that they +will not miss one as I would miss my Bertie, and he has just recently +become engaged to such a dear girl! In our home we simply try to +forget this stupid war, but when I come here I hear nothing else—I +wonder how you stand it, dear Clara."</p> + +<p>Aunt Louisa here dabbed her eyes with her <a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>handkerchief in a way that +her brother-in-law particularly detested.</p> + +<p>"You will hear more about the war some of these days," he said, "when +a German Zeppelin drops bombs on London."</p> + +<p>Aunt Louisa came as near snorting as a well-bred lady could come, so +great was her disdain at this suggestion.</p> + +<p>"Zeppelin!" she said scornfully—"on England!! You forget, sir, that +we are living in a civilized age! Zeppelin! Indeed, and who would let +them, I wonder! I am surprised at you, sir, and so is mother, although +she has not spoken."</p> + +<p>"You will probably be more surprised before long; life is full of +surprises these days."</p> + +<p>Just then the butler brought him a wire, the contents of which seemed +to bear out this theory, for it told him that Private Stanley Goodman, +of the First Canadian Battalion, for conspicuous bravery under fire +had been recommended for the D.C.M., but regretted to inform him that +Private Goodman had been seriously wounded and was now in the Third +Canadian Hospital, Flanders.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>The nursing sister, accustomed to strange sights, wondered why this +wounded man was so cold, and then she noticed that he had not on his +overcoat, and she asked him why he was not wearing it on such a bitter +cold night as this. In spite of all his efforts his teeth chattered as +he tried to answer her.</p> + +<p>"I had to leave a dead friend of mine on the field to-night," said +Stanley, speaking with difficulty. "And I could not leave him there +with the rain falling on him, could I, sister? It seemed hard to have +to leave him, anyway, but we got all the wounded in."</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>In twenty-four hours after they received the telegram his father and +mother stood by his bedside. Only his eyes and his forehead could be +seen, for the last bullet which struck him had ploughed its way +through his cheek; the chin which had so offended his father's +artistic eye—what was left of it—was entirely hidden by the bandage. +The chill which he had taken, with the loss of blood, and the shock of +a shrapnel wound in his side, made recovery <a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>impossible, the nurse +said. While they stood beside the bed waiting for him to open his +eyes, the nurse told them of his having taken off his coat to cover a +dead comrade.</p> + +<p>When at last Stanley opened his eyes, there was a broken and sorrowful +old man, from whose spirit all the imperious pride had gone, kneeling +by his bedside and humbly begging his forgiveness. On the other side +of the bed his mother stood with a great joy in her faded face.</p> + +<p>"Stanley—Stanley," sobbed his father, every reserve broken down; "I +have just found you—and now how can I lose you so soon. Try to live +for my sake, and let me show you how sorry I am."</p> + +<p>Stanley's eyes showed the distress which filled his tender heart.</p> + +<p>"Please don't, father," he said, speaking with difficulty; "I am only +very happy—indeed, quite jolly. But you mustn't feel sorry, father—I +have been quite a duffer! thanks awfully for all you have done for +me—I know how disappointed you were in me—I did want to make good +for your sakes and it is a bit rough <a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>that now—I should be +obliged—to die.... But it is best to go while the going is +good—isn't it, sir? It's all a beautiful dream—to me—and it does +seem—so jolly—to have you both here."</p> + +<p>He lay still for a long time; then, rousing himself, said, "I'm afraid +I have been dreaming again—no, this is father; you are sure, sir, are +you?—about the medal and all that—and this is mother, is it?—it is +all quite like going home—I am so happy; it seems as if permission +had come."</p> + +<p>He laughed softly behind his bandages, a queer, little, choking, happy +laugh; and there, with his mother's arms around him, while his father, +stern no longer, but tender and loving, held his hand, "permission" +came and the homesick, hungry heart of the boy entered into rest.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE SLACKER—IN UNIFORM</h3> +<br /> + +<p>Mrs. P.A. Brunton was convinced that she was an exceptional woman in +every way. She would tell you this in the first fifteen minutes of +conversation that you had with her, for many of her sentences began, +"Now, I know, of course, that I am peculiar in many ways"; or, "I am +afraid you will not understand me when I say this"; or, "I am afraid I +am hopelessly old-fashioned in this." She would explain with +painstaking elaboration that she did not know why she was so peculiar, +but her manner indicated that she was quite content to be so; indeed, +it can only be described as one of boastful resignation. She seemed to +glory in her infirmity.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brunton was quite opposed to women voting, and often spoke with +sorrow of the movement, which to her meant the breaking-up of the home +and all its sacred traditions. She <a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>did not specify how this would be +done, but her attitude toward all new movements was one of keen +distrust. She often said that of course she would be able to vote +intelligently, for she had had many advantages and had listened to +discussions of public matters all her life, having been brought up in +an atmosphere of advanced thinking; but she realized that her case was +an exceptional one. It was not the good fortune of every woman to have +had a college course as she had, and she really could not see what +good could come from a movement which aimed at making all women equal! +Why, if women ever got the vote, an ignorant washwoman's vote might +kill hers! It was so much better to let women go on as they were +going, exerting their indirect influence; and then it was the woman of +wealth and social prestige who was able to exert this influence, just +as it should be! She certainly did not crave a vote, and would do all +she could to prevent other women from getting it.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brunton had come from the East, and although she had lived many +years in the West, she could never forget what a sacrifice she had +<a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>made by coming to a new country. Being a college graduate, too, seemed +to be something she could not outgrow!</p> + +<p>When her only boy was old enough to go to school, she became the +teacher's bad dream, for she wrote many notes and paid many calls to +explain that Garth was not at all like other children and must not be +subjected to the same discipline as they, for he had a proud and +haughty spirit that would not submit to discipline unless it were +tactfully disguised. Garth was a quiet, mild little lad who would have +been much like other boys if left alone.</p> + +<p>Garth was twenty years old when the war began, and he was then +attending the university. He first spoke of enlisting when the war had +gone on a year.</p> + +<p>"Enlist!" his mother cried, when he mentioned it to her, "I should say +not—you are my only child, and I certainly did not raise you to be a +soldier. There are plenty of common people to do the fighting; there +are men who really like it; but I have other ambitions for you—you +are to be a university man."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>When the Third University Company went, he spoke of it again, but his +mother held firm.</p> + +<p>"Do you think I am going to have you sleeping in those awful trenches, +with every Tom, Dick, and Harry? I tell you soldiering is a rough +business, and I cannot let a boy of mine go—a boy who has had your +advantages must not think of it."</p> + +<p>"But, mother, there are lots of boys going who have had just as good +advantages as I have."</p> + +<p>Just then came in Emily Miller, the little girl from next door whose +brother was going away the next day. Emily was an outspoken young lady +of fourteen.</p> + +<p>"When are you going, Garth?" she asked pointedly.</p> + +<p>"He is not going," said his mother firmly. "His duty is at home +finishing his education, and I am simply amazed at your mother for +letting Robert go. Does she not believe in education? Of course I know +there are not many who lay the stress on it that I do, but with me it +is education first—always."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>"But the war won't wait," said Emily; "my mother would be very glad to +have Bob finish his education, but she's afraid it will be over then."</p> + +<p>"War or no war, I say let the boys get their education—what is life +without it?"</p> + +<p>Emily surveyed her calmly, and then said, "What would happen to us if +every mother held her boy back—what if every mother took your +attitude, Mrs. Brunton?"</p> + +<p>"You need not speculate on that, child, for they won't. Most mothers +run with the popular fancy—they go with the crowd—never thinking, +but I have always been peculiar, I know."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother, cut out that 'peculiar' business—it makes me tired!" +said Garth undutifully.</p> + +<p>When Robert Miller came in to say good-bye, he said: "You'll be +lonesome, Garth, when we all go and you are left with the women and +the old men—but perhaps you will enjoy being the only young man at +the party."</p> + +<p>"Garth may go later," said his mother,—"at least if the war lasts +long enough,—but <a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>not as a private. I will not object to his taking +the officers' classes at the university."</p> + +<p>"See, Bob," crowed Garth, "I'll have you and Jim Spaulding for my two +batmen over there. But never mind, I'll be good to you and will see +that you get your ha'pennyworth of 'baccy and mug of beer regular."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Brunton laughed delightedly. "Garth always sees the funny side," +she cooed.</p> + +<p>"That certainly is a funny side all right," said Robert, "but he'll +never see it! These pasteboard officers never last after they get +over—they can only carry it off here. Over there, promotions are on +merit, not on political pull."</p> + +<p>The third, fourth, and fifth contingents went from the university, and +still Garth pursued the quest of learning. His mother openly rebuked +the mothers of the boys who had gone. "Let the man on the street go! +Look at the unemployed men on our streets!" she said; "why aren't they +made to go—and leave our university boys at home?"</p> + +<p>"Every man owes a duty to his country," one of the mothers said. "If +one man neglects <a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>or refuses to pay, that is no reason for others to +do the same. This is a holy war—holier than any of the crusades—for +the crusader went out to restore the tomb of our Lord, and that is +only a material thing; but our boys are going out to give back to the +world our Lord's ideals, and I know they are more precious to Him than +any tomb could be!"</p> + +<p>"My dear Mrs. Mason," said Garth's mother, "you are simply war-mad +like so many women—it is impossible to reason with you."</p> + +<p>A year went by, and many of the university boys were wounded and some +were killed. To the mothers of these went Mrs. Brunton with words of +sympathy, but came away wondering. Some way they did not seem to +receive her warmly.</p> + +<p>"Where is Garth now?" asked one of these women.</p> + +<p>"He's thinking of taking the officers' training," answered Mrs. +Brunton, "as soon as the college term closes. A boy meets the very +nicest people there, and I do think that is so important, to meet nice +people."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>"And no Germans!" said the other woman tartly.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>Mrs. Brunton gave a very select and intellectual farewell party for +Garth when he went to another city to take the officers' training, and +she referred to him as "my brave soldier laddie," much to the +amusement of some of the party.</p> + +<p>In two weeks he came home on leave of absence, very elegant in his new +uniform. He also brought cabinet-sized photographs which cost eighteen +dollars a dozen. Another party was held—the newspaper said he was the +"<i>raison d'être</i> for many pleasant social gatherings."</p> + +<p>At the end of two weeks he went out again to take more classes. He was +very popular with the girls, and the mother of one of them came to +visit Mrs. Brunton. They agreed on the subject of military training +and education, and exceptional women, and all was gay and happy.</p> + +<p>At the end of three months Garth again came home. No hero from the +scenes of battle was <a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>ever more royally received, and an afternoon +reception was held, when patriotic songs were sung and an uncle of the +young man made a speech.</p> + +<p>Soon after that Garth went to Toronto and took another course, because +his mother thought it was only right for him to see his own country +first, before going abroad; and, besides, no commission had yet been +offered him. The short-sightedness of those in authority was a subject +which Mrs. Brunton often dwelt on, but she said she could not help +being glad.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the war went wearily on; battalion after battalion went out +and scattering remnants came home. Empty sleeves, rolled trousers +legs, eyes that stared, and heads that rolled pitifully appeared on +the streets. On the sunshiny afternoons many of these broken men sat +on the verandas of the Convalescent Home and admired the smart young +lieutenant who went whistling by—and wondered what force he was with.</p> + +<p>The war went on to the completion of its third year. Garth had +attended classes in three <a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>cities, and had traveled Canada from end to +end. There had been four farewell parties and three receptions in his +honor. He came home again for what his mother termed "a well-earned +rest."</p> + +<p>He sat on the veranda one day luxuriously ensconced in a wicker chair, +smoking a cigarette whose blue wreaths of smoke he blew gayly from +him. He was waiting for the postman—one of Mae's letters had +evidently gone astray, and the postman, who seemed to be a stupid +fellow, had probably given it to some one else. He had made several +mistakes lately, and Garth determined that it was time he was +reprimanded—the young officer would attend to that.</p> + +<p>"Posty" came at last, a few minutes late again, and Garth rapped +imperiously with his cane, as "Posty," peering at the addresses of the +letters, came up the steps.</p> + +<p>"See here," cried Garth, "let me see what you have!"</p> + +<p>"Posty" started nervously and the letters dropped from his hands. +While he gathered them up, Garth in his most military manner delivered +himself of a caustic rebuke:—</p> + +<p><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>"You have left letters here which belong elsewhere, and I have lost +letters through your carelessness. What is the matter with you +anyway—can't you read?" he snapped.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," stammered "Posty," flushing as red as the band on his hat.</p> + +<p>"Well, then," went on the young officer, "why don't you use your +eyes—where do you keep them anyway?"</p> + +<p>"Posty" stood at attention as he answered with measured +deliberation:—</p> + +<p>"I have one of them here ... but I left the other one at Saint-Éloi. +Were you thinking of hunting it up for me, sir,—when—you—go—over?"</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>That was six weeks ago. Still the war goes on. Returned men walk our +streets, new pale faces lie on hospital pillows, telegraph boys on +wheels carry dread messages to the soldiers' homes.</p> + +<p>Garth has gone back to an Eastern city for another course (this time +in signaling). He gave a whole set of buttons off his uniform to Mae +<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>before he went—and he had his photograph taken again!</p> + +<p>Even if he does not get over in time to do much in this war, it is +worth something to have such a perfectly trained young officer ready +for the next war!</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>NATIONAL SERVICE—ONE WAY</h3> +<br /> + +<p>There are some phrases in our conversations now that are used so often +that they seem to be in some danger of losing their meaning. The snap +goes out of them by too much handling, like an elastic band which has +been stretched too far. One of these is "national service."</p> + +<p>If the work of the soldier, who leaves home, position, and safety +behind him, and goes forth to meet hardship and danger, receiving as +recompense one dollar and ten cents per day, is taken as the standard +of comparison, the question of national service becomes very simple, +indeed, for there is but one class, and no other that is even +distantly related to it, but if national service is taken to mean the +doing of something for our country's good which we would not feel it +our duty to do but for the emergencies created by the war, then there +are many ways in which the sincere citizen may serve.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>The Abilene Valley School was closed all last year, and weeds are +growing in the garden in which the year before flowers and vegetables, +scarlet runners and cabbages, poppies and carrots, had mingled in wild +profusion. The art-muslin curtains are draggled and yellow, and some +of the windows, by that strange fate which overtakes the windows in +unoccupied houses, are broken.</p> + +<p>The school was not closed for lack of children. Not at all. Peter +Rogowski, who lives a mile east, has seven children of school-age +himself, from bright-eyed Polly aged fourteen to Olga aged six, and +Mr. Rogowski is merely one of the neighbors in this growing +settlement, where large families are still to be found. There are +twenty-four children of school-age in the district, and in 1915, when +Mr. Ellis taught there, the average attendance was nineteen. At the +end of the term Mr. Ellis, who was a university student, abandoned his +studies and took his place in the ranks of the Army Medical Corps, and +is now nursing wounded men in France. He said that it would be easy to +find some one <a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>else to take the school. He was thinking of the droves +of teachers who had attended the Normal with him. There seemed to be +no end of them, but apparently there was, for in the year that +followed there were more than one hundred and fifty schools closed +because no teacher could be found.</p> + +<p>After waiting a whole year for a teacher to come, Polly Rogowski, as +the spring of 1917 opened, declared her intention of going to Edmonton +to find work and go to school. Polly's mother upheld her in this +determination, and together they scraped up enough money to pay her +railway fare, and board for one week, although it took all that they +had been putting away to get Mrs. Rogowski's teeth fixed. But Polly's +mother knew that when her Polly began to teach there would be money +and plenty for things like that, and anyway they had not ached so bad +for a while.</p> + +<p>The city, even Edmonton, is a fearsome place for a fourteen-year-old +girl who has no friends, seven dollars in money, and only an intense +desire for an education to guide her <a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>through its devious ways. But +the first night that Polly was away, her mother said an extra prayer +before the Blessed Virgin, who, being a mother herself, would +understand how much a young girl in a big city needs special care.</p> + +<p>It was a cold, dark day when Polly with her small pack arrived at the +C.N.R. Station, and looked around her. Surely no crusader going forth +to restore the tomb of his Lord ever showed more courage than +black-eyed Polly when she set forth on this lonely pilgrimage to find +learning. She had heard of the danger of picking up with strangers, +and the awful barred windows behind which young girls languished and +died, and so refused to answer when the Travelers' Aid of the Y.W.C.A. +in friendliest tones asked if she might help her.</p> + +<p>Polly was not to be deceived by friendly tones. The friendly ones were +the worst! She held her head high and walked straight ahead, just as +if she knew where she was going. Polly had a plan of action. She was +going to walk on and on until she came to a house marked in big +letters "BOARDING-HOUSE," and she would go in <a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>there and tell the lady +that she wanted to get a room for one day, and then she would leave +her bundle and go out and find a school and see the teacher. Teachers +were all good men and would help you! Then she would find a place +where they wanted a girl to mind a baby or wash dishes, or maybe milk +a cow; and perhaps she would have a bed all to herself. City houses +were so big and had so many rooms, and she had heard that in some of +the beds only one person slept! Having her programme so well laid out, +it is no wonder that she refused to confide in the blue serge lady who +spoke to her.</p> + +<p>Polly set off at a quick pace, looking straight ahead of her across +the corner of the station yard, following the crowd. The Travelers' +Aid followed close behind, determined to keep a close watch on the +independent little Russian girl.</p> + +<p>At the corner of First and Jasper, Polly stopped confused. A great +crowd stood around the bulletin board and excitedly read the news of +the Russian revolution; automobiles honked their horns, and +street-cars clanged and <a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>newsboys shouted, and more people than Polly +had ever seen before surged by her. For the first time Polly's stout +heart failed her. She had not thought it would be quite like this!</p> + +<p>Turning round, she was glad to see the woman who had spoken to her at +the station. In this great bustling, pushing throng she seemed like an +old friend.</p> + +<p>"Do you know where I could find a boarding-house?" asked Polly +breathlessly.</p> + +<p>The Travelers' Aid took her by the hand and piloted her safely across +the street; and when the street-car had clanged by and she could be +heard, she told Polly that she would take her to a boarding-house +where she would be quite safe.</p> + +<p>Polly stopped and asked her what was the name of the place.</p> + +<p>"Y.W.C.A.," said the Aid, smiling.</p> + +<p>Polly gave a sigh of relief. "I know what that is," she said. "Mr. +Ellis said that was the place to go when you go to a city. Will you +let me stay until I find a school?"</p> + +<p>"We'll find the school," said the other <a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>woman. "That is what we are +for; we look after girls like you. We are glad to find a girl who +wants to go to school."</p> + +<p>Polly laid her pack down to change hands and looked about her in +delight. The big brick buildings, the store-windows, even the +street-signs with their flaring colors, were all beautiful to her.</p> + +<p>"Gee!" she said, "I like the city—it's swell!"</p> + +<p>Polly was taken to the office of the secretary of the Y.W.C.A., and +there, under the melting influence of Miss Bradshaw's kind eyes and +sweet voice, she told all her hopes and fears.</p> + +<p>"Our teacher has gone to be a soldier and we could not get another, +for they say it is too lonesome—out our way—and how can it be +lonesome? There's children in every house. But, anyway, lady-teachers +won't come and the men are all gone to the war. I'll bet I won't be +scared to teach when I grow up, but of course I won't be a lady; it's +different with them—they are always scared of something. We have a +cabin for the teacher, and three chairs and a painted <a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>table and a +stove and a bed, and a brass knob on the door, and we always brought +cream and eggs and bread for the teacher; and we washed his dishes for +him, and the girl that had the best marks all week could scrub his +floor on Friday afternoons. He was so nice to us all that we all cried +when he enlisted, but he explained it all to us—that there are some +things dearer than life and he just felt that he had to go. He said +that he would come back if he was not killed. Maybe he will only have +one arm and one leg, but we won't mind as long as there is enough of +him to come back. We tried and tried to get another teacher, but there +are not enough to fill the good schools, and ours is twenty miles from +a station and in a foreign settlement.... I'm foreign, too," she added +honestly; "I'm Russian."</p> + +<p>"The Russians are our allies," said the secretary, "and you are a real +little Canadian now, Polly, and you are not a bit foreign. I was born +in Tipperary myself, and that is far away from Canada, too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I know about it being a long way <a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>there," Polly said. "But +that doesn't matter, it is the language that counts. You see my mother +can't talk very good English and that is what makes us foreign, but +she wants us all to know English, and that is why she let me come +away, and I will do all I can to learn, and I will be a teacher some +day, and then I will go back and plant the garden and she will send me +butter, for I will live in the cabin. But it is too bad that we cannot +have a teacher to come to us, for now, when I am away, there is no one +to teach my mother English, for Mary does not speak the English well +by me, and the other children will soon forget it if we cannot get a +teacher."</p> + +<p>While she was speaking, the genial secretary was doing some hard +thinking. This little messenger from the up-country had carried her +message right into the heart of one woman, one who was accustomed to +carry her impulses into action.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>The Local Council of Women of the City of Edmonton met the next day in +the club-room of the Y.W.C.A., and it was a well-attended <a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>meeting, +for the subject to be discussed was that of "National Service for +Women." As the time drew near for the meeting to begin, it became +evident that great interest was being taken in the subject, for the +room was full, and animated discussions were going on in every corner. +This was not the first meeting that had been held on this subject, and +considerable indignation was heard that no notice had been taken by +the Government of the request that had been sent in some months +previous, asking that women be registered for national service as well +as men.</p> + +<p>"They never even replied to our suggestion," one woman said. "You +would have thought that common politeness would have prompted a reply. +It was a very civil note that we sent—I wrote it myself."</p> + +<p>"Hush! Don't be hard on the Government," said an older woman, looking +up from her knitting. "They have their own troubles—think of Quebec! +And then you know women's work is always taken for granted; they know +we will do our bit without being listed or counted."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>"But I want to do something else besides knitting," the first speaker +said; "it could be done better and cheaper anyway by machinery, and +that would set a lot of workers free. Why don't we register ourselves, +all of us who mean business? This is our country, and if the +Government is asleep at the switch, that is no reason why we should +be. I tell you I am for conscription for every man and woman."</p> + +<p>"Well, suppose we all go with you and sign up—name, age, present +address; married?—if so, how often?—and all that sort of thing; what +will you do with us, then?" asked Miss Wheatly, who was just back from +the East where she had been taking a course in art. "I am tired of +having my feelings all wrought upon and then have to settle down to +knitting a dull gray sock or the easy task of collecting Red Cross +funds from perfectly willing people who ask me to come in while they +make me a cup of tea. I feel like a real slacker, for I have never yet +done a hard thing. I did not let any one belonging to me go, for the +fairly good reason that I have no male relatives; I give money, but <a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>I +have never yet done without a meal or a new pair of boots when I +wanted them. There is no use of talking of putting me to work on a +farm, for no farmer would be bothered with me for a minute, and the +farmer's wife has trouble enough now without giving her the care of a +greenhorn like me—why, I would not know when a hen wanted to set!"</p> + +<p>"You do not need to know," laughed the conscriptionist; "the hen will +attend to that without any help from you; and, anyway, we use +incubators now and the hen is exempt from all family cares—she can +have a Career if she wants to."</p> + +<p>"I am in earnest about this," Miss Wheatly declared; "I am tired of +this eternal talk of national service and nothing coming of it. Now, +if any of you know of a hard, full-sized woman's job that I can do, +you may lead me to it!"</p> + +<p>Then the meeting began. There was a very enthusiastic speaker who told +of the great gift that Canada had given to the Empire, the gift of men +and wheat, bread and blood—the sacrament of empire. She then told of +what a sacrifice the men make who go to the front, <a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>who lay their +young lives down for their country and do it all so cheerfully. "And +now," she said, "what about those of us who stay at home, who have +three good meals every day, who sleep in comfortable beds and have not +departed in any way from our old comfortable way of living. Wouldn't +you like to do something to help win the war?"</p> + +<p>There was a loud burst of applause here, but Miss Wheatly sat with a +heavy frown on her face.</p> + +<p>"Wasn't that a perfectly wonderful speech?" the secretary whispered to +her when the speaker had finished with a ringing verse of poetry all +about sacrifice and duty.</p> + +<p>"It is all the same old bunk," Miss Wheatly said bitterly; "I often +wonder how they can speak so long and not make one practical +suggestion. Wouldn't you like to help win the war? That sounds so +foolish—of course we would like to win the war. It is like the +old-fashioned evangelists who used to say, 'All who would like to go +to heaven will please stand up.' Everybody stood, naturally."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>While they were whispering, they missed the announcement that the +president was making, which was that there was a young girl from the +North Country who had come to the meeting and wished to say a few +words. There was a deep, waiting silence, and then a small voice began +to speak. It was Miss Polly Rogowski from the Abilene Valley District.</p> + +<p>There was no fear in Polly's heart—she was not afraid of anything. +Not being a lady, of course, and having no reputation to sustain, and +being possessed with one thought, and complete master of it, her +speech had true eloquence. She was so small that the women at the back +of the room had to stand up to see her.</p> + +<p>"I live at Abilene Valley and there are lots of us. I am fourteen +years old and Mary is twelve, and Annie is eleven, and Mike is ten, +and Peter is nine, and Ivan is seven, and Olga is six, and that is all +we have old enough to go to school; but there are lots more of other +children in our neighborhood, but our teacher has gone away to the war +and we cannot get another one, for lady-teachers are all too scared, +<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>but I don't think they would be if they would only come, for we will +chop the wood, and one of us will stay at night and sleep on the +floor, and we will light the fires and get the breakfast, and we bring +eggs and cream and everything like that, and we could give the teacher +a cat and a dog; and the girl that had done the best work all week +always got to scrub the floor when our last teacher was there; and we +had a nice garden—and flowers, and now there is not anything, and the +small children are forgetting what Mr. Ellis taught them; for our +school has been closed all last summer, and sometimes Peter and Ivan +and the other little boys go over to the cabin and look in at the +windows, and it is all so quiet and sad—they cry."</p> + +<p>There was a stricken silence in the room which Polly mistook for a +lack of interest and redoubled her efforts.</p> + +<p>"We have twenty-four children altogether and they are all wanting a +teacher to come. I came here to go to school, but if I can get a +teacher to go back with me, I will go back. I thought I would try to +learn quick and go back <a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>then, but when I saw all so many women able +to read right off, and all looking so smart at learning, I thought I +would ask you if one of you would please come. We give our teacher +sixty-five dollars a month, and when you want to come home we will +bring you to the station—it is only twenty miles—and the river is +not deep only when it rains, and then even I know how to get through +and not get in the holes; and if you will come we must go to-morrow, +for the ice is getting rotten in the river and won't stand much sun."</p> + +<p>That was the appeal of the country to the city; of the foreign-born to +the native-born; of the child to the woman.</p> + +<p>The first person to move was Miss Wheatly, who rose quietly and walked +to the front of the room and faced the audience. "Madam President," +she began in her even voice, "I have been waiting quite a while for +this, I think. I said to-day that if any one knew of a real, +full-sized woman's job, I would like to be led to it.... Well—it +seems that I have been led"</p> + +<p>She then turned to Polly and said, "I can <a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>read right off and am not +afraid, not even of the river, if you promise to keep me out of the +holes, and I believe I can find enough of a diploma to satisfy the +department, and as you have heard the river won't stand much sun, so +you will kindly notice that my address has changed to Abilene Valley +Post-Office."</p> + +<p>Polly held her firmly by the hand and they moved toward the door. +Polly turned just as they were passing through the door and made her +quaint and graceful curtsy, saying, "I am glad I came, and I guess we +will be for going now."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE ORPHAN</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Just a little white-faced lad<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sitting on the "Shelter" floor;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Eyes which seemed so big and sad,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Watched me as I passed the door.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Turning back, I tried to win<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From that sober face a smile<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With some foolish, trifling thing,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Such as children's hearts beguile.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But the look which shot me through<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Said as plain as speech could be:<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"Life has been all right for you!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But it is no joke for me!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I'm not big enough to know—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And I wonder, wonder why<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My dear 'Daddy' had to go<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And my mother had to die!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"You've a father, I suppose?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And a mother—maybe—too?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">You can laugh and joke at life?<br /></span> +<span class="i2">It has been all right for you?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spin your top, and wave your fan!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">You've a home and folks who care<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laugh about it those who can!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Joke about it—those who dare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">—But excuse me—if I'm glum<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I can't bluff it off—like some!"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Then I sadly came away<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And felt guilty, all the day!<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>Dr. Frederick Winters was a great believer in personal liberty for +every <a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>one—except, of course, the members of his own family. For them +he craved every good thing except this. He was kind, thoughtful, +courteous, and generous—a beneficent despot.</p> + +<p>There is much to be said in favor of despotic government after all. It +is so easy of operation; it is so simple and direct—one brain, one +will, one law, with no foolish back-talk, bickerings, murmurings, +mutinies, letters to the paper. A democracy has it beaten, of course, +on the basis of liberty, but there is much to be said in favor of an +autocracy in the matter of efficiency.</p> + +<p>"King Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord"; and in +his reign the people were happy and contented and had no political +differences. There being only one party, the "Asaites," there were no +partisan newspapers, no divided homes, no mixed marriages, as we have +to-day when Liberals and Conservatives, disregarding the command to be +not unequally yoked together, marry. All these distressing +circumstances were eliminated in good King Asa's reign.</p> + +<p>It is always a mistake to pursue a theory too <a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>far. When we turn the +next page of the sacred story we read that King Omri, with the same +powers as King Asa had had, turned them to evil account and oppressed +the people in many ways and got himself terribly disliked. Despotism +seems to work well or ill according to the despot, and so, as a form +of government, it has steadily declined in favor.</p> + +<p>Despotic measures have thriven better in homes than in states. Homes are +guarded by a wall of privacy, a delicate distaste for publicity, a +shrinking from all notoriety such as rebellion must inevitably bring, +and for this reason the weaker ones often practice a peace-at-any-price +policy, thinking of the alert eyes that may be peering through the filet +lace of the window across the street.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Winters submitted to the despotic rule of Dr. Winters for no such +reason as this. She submitted because she liked it, and because she +did not know that it was despotic. It saved her the exertion of making +decisions for herself, and her conscience was always quite clear. "The +Doctor will not let me," she had told the <a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>women when they had asked +her to play for the Sunday services at the mission. "The Doctor +thought it was too cold for me to go out," had been her explanation +when on one occasion she had failed to appear at a concert where she +had promised to play the accompaniments; and in time people ceased to +ask her to do anything, her promises were so likely to be broken.</p> + +<p>When the Suffrage agitators went to see her and tried to show her that +she needed a vote, she answered all their arguments by saying, "I have +such a good husband that these arguments do not apply to me at all"; +and all their talk about spiritual independence and personal +responsibility fell on very pretty, but very deaf, ears. The women +said she was a hopeless case.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said one of the women afterwards in discussing her, "when +Mrs. Winters presents herself at the heavenly gate and there is asked +what she has done to make the world better, and when she has to +confess that she has never done anything outside of her own house, and +nothing there except agreeable things, such as entertaining friends +who next week will <a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>entertain her, and embroidering 'insets' for +corset-covers for dainty ladies who already have corset-covers enough +to fill a store-window,—I wonder if she will be able to put it over +on the heavenly doorkeeper that 'the Doctor would not let her.' If all +I hear is true, Saint Peter will say, 'Who is this person you call the +Doctor?' and when she explains that the Doctor was her husband, Saint +Peter will say, 'Sorry, lady, we cannot recognize marriage relations +here at all—it is unconstitutional, you know—there is no marrying or +giving in marriage after you cross the Celestial Meridian. I turned +back a woman this morning who handed in the same excuse—there seems +to have been a good deal of this business of one person's doing the +thinking for another on earth, but we can't stand for it here. I'm +sorry, lady, but I can't let you in—it would be as much as my job is +worth.'"</p> + +<p>Upon this happy household, as upon some others not so happy, came the +war!—and Dr. Winters's heroic soul responded to the trumpet's call. +He was among the first to present <a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>himself for active service in the +Overseas Force. When he came home and told his wife, she got the first +shock of her life. It was right, of course, it must be right, but he +should have told her, and she remonstrated with him for the first time +in her life. Why had he not consulted her, she asked, before taking +such a vital step? Then Dr. Winters expressed in words one of the +underlying principles of his life. "A man's first duty is to his +country and his God," he said, "and even if you had objected, it would +not have changed my decision."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Winters looked at him in surprise. "But, Frederick," she cried, +"I have never had any authority but you. I have broken promises when +you told me to, disappointed people, disappointed myself, but never +complained—thinking in a vague way that you would do the same for me +if I asked you to—your word was my law. What would you think if I +volunteered for a nurse without asking you—and then told you my +country's voice sounded clear and plain above all others?"</p> + +<p>"It is altogether different," he said brusquely. <a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>"The country's +business concerns men, not women. Woman's place is to look after the +homes of the nation and rear children. Men are concerned with the big +things of life."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Winters looked at him with a new expression on her face. "I have +fallen down, then," she said, "on one part of my job—I have brought +into the world and cared for no children. All my life—and I am now +forty years of age—has been given to making a home pleasant for one +man. I have been a housekeeper and companion for one person. It +doesn't look exactly like a grown woman's whole life-work, now, does +it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't talk foolishly, Nettie," he said; "you suit me."</p> + +<p>"That's it," she said quickly; "I suit you—but I do not suit the +church women, the Civic Club women, the Hospital Aid women, the +Children's Shelter women; they call me a slacker, and I am beginning +to think I am."</p> + +<p>"I would like to know what they have to do with it?" he said hotly; +"you are my wife and I am the person concerned."</p> + +<p><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>Without noticing what he said, she continued: "Once I wanted to adopt +a baby, you remember, when one of your patients died, and I would have +loved to do it; but you said you must not be disturbed at night and I +submitted. Still, if it had been our own, you would have had to be +disturbed and put up with it like other people, and so I let you rule +me. I have never had any opinion of my own."</p> + +<p>"Nettie, you are excited," he said gently; "you are upset, poor girl, +about my going away—I don't wonder. Come out with me; I am going to +speak at a recruiting meeting."</p> + +<p>Her first impulse was to refuse, for there were many things she wanted +to think out, but the habit of years was on her and she went.</p> + +<p>The meeting was a great success. It was the first days of the war, +when enthusiasm seethed and the little town throbbed with excitement. +The news was coming through of the destruction and violation of +Belgium; the women wept and men's faces grew white with rage.</p> + +<p>Dr. Winters's fine face was alight with enthusiasm as he spoke of the +debt that every <a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>man now owes to his country. Every man who is able to +hold a gun, he said, must come to the help of civilization against +barbarism. These dreadful outrages are happening thousands of miles +away, but that makes them none the less real. Humanity is being +attacked by a bully, a ruffian,—how can any man stay at home? Let no +consideration of family life keep you from doing your duty. Every +human being must give an account of himself to God. What did you do in +the great day of testing? will be the question asked you in that great +day of reckoning to which we are all coming.</p> + +<p>When he was through speaking, amid the thunderous applause, five young +men walked down to the front and signified their intention of going.</p> + +<p>"Why, that's Willie Shepherd, and he is his mother's only support," +whispered one of the women; "I don't think he should go."</p> + +<p>When they went home that night Mrs. Winters told the Doctor what she +had heard the women say, and even added her remonstrance too.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>"This is no time for remonstrance," he had cried; "his mother will get +along; the Patriotic Fund will look after her. I tell you human +relationships are forgotten in this struggle! We must save our +country. One broken heart more or less cannot be taken into +consideration. Personal comfort must not be thought of. There is only +one limit to service and sacrifice, and that is capacity."</p> + +<p>Every night after that he addressed meetings, and every night recruits +came to the colors. His speeches vibrated with the spirit of sacrifice +and the glory of service, and thrilled every heart that listened, and +no heart was more touched than that of his wife, who felt that no +future in the world would be so happy as to go and care for the +wounded men.</p> + +<p>She made the suggestion one night, and was quite surprised to find +that the Doctor regarded it favorably. All that night she lay awake +from sheer joy: at last she was going to be of service—she was going +to do something. She tried to tell herself of the hardships of the +life, but nothing could dim her enthusiasm. "I hope <a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>it will be hard," +she cried happily. "I want it hard to make up for the easy, idle years +I have spent. I hate the ease and comfort and selfishness in which I +have lived."</p> + +<p>The next day her application went in and she began to attend the +ambulance classes which were given in the little city by the doctors +and nurses.</p> + +<p>The Doctor was away so much that she was practically free to go and +come as she liked, and the breath of liberty was sweet to her. She +also saw, with further pangs of conscience, the sacrifices which other +women were making. The Red Cross women seemed to work unceasingly.</p> + +<p>The President of the Red Cross came to her office every morning at +nine, and stayed till five.</p> + +<p>"What about lunch?" Mrs. Winters asked her, one day. "Do you go home?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said the other woman; "I go out and get a sandwich."</p> + +<p>"But I mean—what about your husband's lunch?"</p> + +<p>"He goes home," the president said, "and <a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>sees after the children when +they come in from school—of course I have a maid, you know."</p> + +<p>"But doesn't he miss you dreadfully?" asked Mrs. Winters.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think he does, but not any more than the poor fellows in the +trenches miss their wives. He is not able to go to the front himself +and he is only too glad to leave me free to do all I can."</p> + +<p>"But surely some other woman could be found," said Mrs. Winters, "who +hasn't got as many family cares as you have."</p> + +<p>"They could," said the president, "but they would probably tell you +that their husbands like to have them at home—or some day would be +stormy and they would 'phone down that 'Teddy' positively refused to +let them come out. We have been busy people all our lives and have +been accustomed to sacrifice and never feel a bit sorry for it—we've +raised our six children and done without many things. It doesn't hurt +us as it does the people who have always sat on cushioned seats. The +Red Cross Society knows that it is a busy woman who can <a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>always find +time to do a little more, and I am just as happy as can be doing +this."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Winters felt the unintentional rebuke in these words, and turned +them over in her mind.</p> + +<p>One day, three months after this, the Doctor told her that it was +quite probable he would not be going overseas at all, for he was +having such success recruiting that the major-general thought it +advisable to have him go right on with it. "And so, Nettie," he said, +"you had better cancel your application to go overseas, for of course, +if I do not go, you will not."</p> + +<p>For a moment she did not grasp what he meant. He spoke of it so +casually. Not go! The thought of her present life of inactivity was +never so repulsive. But silence fell upon her and she made no reply.</p> + +<p>"We will not know definitely about it for a few weeks," he said, and +went on reading.</p> + +<p>After that, Mrs. Winters attended every recruiting meeting at which +her husband spoke, eagerly memorizing his words, hardly knowing why, +but she felt that she might need them. <a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>She had never been able to +argue with any one—one adverse criticism of her position always +caused her defense to collapse. So she collected all the material she +could get on the subject of personal responsibility and sacrifice. Her +husband's brilliant way of phrasing became a delight to her. But +always, as she listened, vague doubts arose in her mind.</p> + +<p>One day when she was sewing at the Red Cross rooms, the women were +talking of a sad case that had occurred at the hospital. A soldier's +wife had died, leaving a baby two weeks old and another little girl of +four, who had been taken to the Children's Shelter, and who had cried +so hard to be left with her mother. One of the women had been to see +the sick woman the day before she died, and was telling the others +about her.</p> + +<p>"A dear little saint on earth she was—well bred, well educated, but +without friends. Her only anxiety was for her children and sympathy +for her husband. 'This will be sad news for poor Bob,' she said, 'but +he'll know I did my best to live—I cannot get my breath—that's <a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>the +worst—if I could only get my breath—I would abide the pain <i>some +way</i>.' The baby is lovely, too,—a fine healthy boy. Now I wonder if +there is any woman patriotic enough to adopt those two little ones +whose mother is dead and whose father is in the trenches. The baby +went to the Shelter yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Of course they are well treated there," said Mrs. Winters.</p> + +<p>"Well treated!" cried the president—"they are fed and kept warm and +given all the care the matron and attendants can give them; but how +can two or three women attend to twenty-five children? They do all +they can, but it's a sad place just the same. I always cry when I see +the mother-hungry look on their faces. They want to be owned and +loved—they need some one belonging to them. Don't you know that +settled look of loneliness? I call it the 'institutional face,' and I +know it the minute I see it. Poor Bob Wilson—it will be sad news for +him—he was our plumber and gave up a good job to go. At the station +he kept saying to his wife to comfort her, for she was crying her +heart <a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>out, poor girl, 'Don't cry, Minnie dear, I'm leaving you in +good hands; they are not like strangers anymore, all these kind +ladies; they'll see you through. Don't you remember what the Doctor +said,'—that was your husband, Mrs. Winters,—'the women are the best +soldiers of all—so you'll bear up, Minnie.'</p> + +<p>"Minnie was a good soldier right enough," said the president, "but I +wonder what Bob will think of the rest of us when he comes home—or +doesn't come home. We let his Minnie die, and sent his two babies to +the Children's Shelter. In this manner have we discharged our +duty—we've taken it easy so far."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Winters sat open-eyed, and as soon as she could, left the room. +She went at once to the Shelter and asked to see the children.</p> + +<p>Up the bare stairs, freshly scrubbed, she was taken, and into the +day-nursery where many children sat on the floor, some idly playing +with half-broken toys, one or two wailing softly, not as if they were +looking for immediate returns, but just as a small protest against +things in general. The little four-year-old girl, neatly <a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>dressed and +smiling, came at once when the matron called her, and quickly said, +"Will you take me to my mother? Am I going home now?"</p> + +<p>"She asks every one that," the matron said aside.</p> + +<p>"I have a little brother now," said the child proudly; "just down from +heaven—we knew he was coming."</p> + +<p>In one of the white cribs the little brother lay, in an embroidered +quilt. The matron uncovered his face, and, opening one navy-blue eye, +he smiled.</p> + +<p>"He's a bonnie boy," the matron said; "he has slept ever since he +came. But I cannot tell—somebody—I simply can't."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Winters went home thinking so hard that she was afraid her +husband would see the thoughts shining out, tell-tale, in her face.</p> + +<p>She told him where she had been and was just leading up to the appeal +which she had prepared, for the children, when a young man called to +see the Doctor.</p> + +<p>The young fellow had called for advice: his <a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>wife would not give her +consent to his enlisting, and his heart was wrung with anxiety over +what he should do.</p> + +<p>The Doctor did not hesitate a minute. "Go right on," he said; "this is +no time to let any one, however near and dear, turn us from our duty. +We have ceased to exist as individuals—now we are a Nation and we +must sacrifice the individual for the State. Your wife will come +around to it and be glad that you were strong enough to do your duty. +No person has any right to turn another from his duty, for we must all +answer to Almighty God in this crisis, not to each other."</p> + +<p>The next day, while the Doctor was away making a recruiting speech in +another town, the delivery van of the leading furniture store stood at +his back door and one high chair stood in it, one white crib was being +put up-stairs in his wife's bedroom, and many foreign articles were in +evidence in the room. The Swedish maid was all excitement and moved +around on tip-toe, talking in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"There ban coming a baby hare, and a li'l' <a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>girl. Gee! what will the +Doctor man say! He ban quick enough to bring them other houses, no +want none for self—oh, gee!"</p> + +<p>Then she made sure that the key was not in the study door, for Olga +was a student of human nature and wanted to get her information +first-hand.</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>When the Doctor came in late that night, Mrs. Winters met him at the +door as usual. So absorbed was he in telling her of the success of his +meetings that he did not notice the excitement in her face.</p> + +<p>"They came to-night in droves, Nettie," he said, as he drank the cocoa +she had made for him.</p> + +<p>"They can't help it, Fred," she declared enthusiastically, "when you +put it to them the way you do. You are right, dear; it is not a time +for any person to hold others back from doing what they see they +should. It's a personal matter between us and God—we are not +individuals any more—we are a state, and each man and woman must get +under the burden. I <a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>hate this talk of 'business as usual'—I tell you +it is nothing as usual."</p> + +<p>He regarded her with surprise! Nettie had never made so long a speech +before.</p> + +<p>"It's your speeches, Fred; they are wonderful. Why, man alive, you +have put backbone even into me—I who have been a jelly-fish all my +life—and last night, when I heard you explain to that young fellow +that he must not let his wife be his conscience, I got a sudden +glimpse of things. You've been my conscience all my life, but, thank +God, you've led me out into a clear place. I'm part of the State, and +I am no slacker—I am going to do my bit. Come, Fred, I want to show +you something."</p> + +<p>He followed her without a word as she led the way to the room upstairs +where two children slept sweetly.</p> + +<p>"They are mine, Fred,—mine until the war is over, at least, and +Private Wilson comes back; and if he does not come back, or if he will +let me have them, they are mine forever."</p> + +<p>He stared at this new woman, who looked like his wife.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>"It was your last speech, Fred,—what you said to that young man. You +told him to go ahead—his wife would come around, you said—she would +see her selfishness. Then I saw a light shine on my pathway. Every +speech has stiffened my backbone a little. I was like the mouse who +timidly tiptoed out to the saucer of brandy, and, taking a sip, went +more boldly back, then came again with considerable swagger; and at +last took a good drink and then strutted up and down saying, 'Bring on +your old black cat!' That's how I feel, Fred,—I'm going to be a +mother to these two little children whose own mother has passed on and +whose father is holding up the pillars of the Empire. It would hardly +be fair to leave them to public charity, now, would it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, Nettie," the Doctor said slowly, "I'll see that you do not +attend any more recruiting meetings—you are too literal. But all the +same," he said, "I am proud of my convert."</p> + +<p>Olga Jasonjusen tiptoed gently away from the door, and going down the +back stairs hugged <a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>herself gayly, saying, "All over—but the kissing. +Oh, gee! He ain't too bad! He's just needed some one to cheek up to +him. Bet she's sorry now she didn't sass him long ago."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE WAR-MOTHER</h3> +<br /> + +<p>I saw my old train friend again. It was the day that one of our +regiments went away, and we were all at the station to bid the boys +good-bye.</p> + +<p>The empty coaches stood on a siding, and the stream of khaki-clad men +wound across the common from the Fair buildings, which were then used +as a military camp. The men were heavily loaded with all their +equipment, but cheerful as ever. The long-looked-for order to go +forward had come at last!</p> + +<p>Men in uniform look much the same, but the women who came with them +and stood by them were from every station in life. There were two +Ukrainian women, with colored shawls on their heads, who said good-bye +to two of the best-looking boys in the regiment, their sons. It is no +new thing for the Ukrainian people to fight for liberty! There were +heavily veiled women, <a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>who alighted from their motors and silently +watched the coaches filling with soldiers. Every word had been said, +every farewell spoken; they were not the sort who say tempestuous +good-byes, but their silence was like the silence of the open grave. +There were many sad-faced women, wheeling go-carts, with children +holding to their skirts crying loudly for "Daddy." There were tired, +untidy women, overrun by circumstances, with that look about them +which the Scotch call "through-other." There were many brave little +boys and girls standing by their mothers, trying hard not to cry; +there were many babies held up to the car-window to kiss a big brother +or a father; there were the groups of chattering young people, with +their boxes of candy and incessant fun; there were brides of a day, +with their white-fox furs and new suits, and the great new sorrow in +their eyes.</p> + +<p>One fine-looking young giant made his way toward the train without +speaking to any one, passing where a woman held her husband's hands, +crying hysterically—we were trying to <a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>persuade her to let him go, +for the conductor had given the first warning.</p> + +<p>"I have no one to cry over me, thank God!" he said, "and I think I am +the best off." But the bitterness in his tone belied his words.</p> + +<p>"Then maybe I could pretend that you are my boy," said a woman's voice +behind me, which sounded familiar; "you see I have no boy—now, and +nobody to write to—and I just came down to-night to see if I could +find one. I want to have some one belonging to me—even if they are +going away!"</p> + +<p>The young man laid down his bag and took her hand awkwardly. "I sure +would be glad to oblige you," he said, "only I guess you could get one +that was lots nicer. I am just a sort of a bo-hunk from the North +Country."</p> + +<p>"You'll do me," said the old lady, whom I recognized at once as my +former train companion,—"you'll do me fine. Tell me your name and +number, and I'll be your war-mother,—here's my card, I have it all +ready,—I knew I'd get some one. Now, remember, I am your Next of Kin. +Give in my name and I'll get the <a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>cable when you get the D.S.O., and +I'll write to you every week and send you things. I just can't keep +from sending parcels."</p> + +<p>"Gee! This is sudden!" said the boy, laughing; "but it's nice!"</p> + +<p>"I lost my boys just as suddenly as this," she said. "Billy and Tom +went out together—they were killed at Saint-Éloi, but Frank came +through it all to Vimy Ridge. Then the message came ... sudden too. +One day I had him—then I lost him! Why shouldn't nice things come +suddenly too—just like this!"</p> + +<p>"You sure can have me—mother," the big fellow said.</p> + +<p>The conductor was giving the last call. Then the boy took her in his +arms and kissed her withered cheek, which took on a happy glow that +made us all look the other way.</p> + +<p>She and I stood together and watched the grinding wheels as they began +to move. The spirit of youth, the indomitable, imperishable spirit of +youth was in her eyes, and glowed in her withered face as she murmured +happily,—</p> + +<p><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>"I am one of the Next of Kin ... again, and my new boy is on that +train."</p> + +<p>We stood together until the train had gone from our sight.</p> + +<p>"Let me see," I said, "how many chickens did you tell me that Biddy +hen of yours had when the winter came?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty-two," she laughed.</p> + +<p>"Well," I said, "it's early yet."</p> + +<p>"I just can't help it," she said seriously; "I have to be in it! After +I got the word about my last boy, it seemed for a few days that I had +come to the end of everything. I slept and slept and slept, just like +you do when you've had company at your house,—the very nicest +company, and they go away!—and you're so lonely and idle, and tired, +too, for you've been having such a good time you did not notice that +you were getting near the edge. That's how I felt; but after a week I +wanted to be working at something. I thought maybe the Lord had left +my hands quite free so I could help some one else.... You have played +croquet, haven't you? You know how the first person who gets <a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>out has +the privilege of coming back a 'rover,' and giving a hand to any one. +That's what I felt; I was a 'rover,' and you'd be surprised at all I +have found to do. There are so many soldiers' wives with children who +never get downtown to shop or see a play, without their children. I +have lots to do in that line, and it keeps me from thinking.</p> + +<p>"I want you to come with me now," she went on, "to see a woman who has +something wrong with her that I can't find out. She has a sore +thought. Her man has been missing since September, and is now +officially reported killed. But there's something else bothering her."</p> + +<p>"How do you know?" I asked.</p> + +<p>She turned quickly toward me and said, "Have you any children?"</p> + +<p>"Five," I said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, then, you'll understand. Can't you tell by a child's cry +whether it is hungry, or hurt, or just mad?"</p> + +<p>"I can, I think," I said.</p> + +<p>"Well, that's how I know. She's in deep grief over her husband, but +there's more than <a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>that. Her eyes have a hurt look that I wish I could +get out of them. You'll see it for yourself, and maybe we can get her +to tell us. I just found her by accident last week—or at least, I +found her; nothing happens by accident!"</p> + +<p>We found her in a little faded green house, whose veranda was broken +through in many places. Scared-looking, dark-eyed children darted +shyly through the open door as we approached. In the darkened front +room she received us, and, without any surprise, pleasure, or +resentment in her voice, asked us to sit down. As our eyes became +accustomed to the gloom, we wondered more and more why the sunshine +was excluded, for there was no carpet to fade, nor any furniture which +would have been injured. The most conspicuous object in the room was +the framed family group taken just before "her man" went away. He was +a handsome young fellow in his tidy uniform, and the woman beside him +had such a merry face that I should never have known her for the sad +and faded person who had met us at the door. In the picture she was +smiling, happy, resolute; <a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>now her face was limp and frazzled, and had +an indefinable challenge in it which baffled me. My old friend was +right—there was a sore thought there!</p> + +<p>The bright black eyes of the handsome soldier fascinated me; he was so +much alive; so fearless; so confident, so brave,—so much needed by +these little ones who clustered around his knee. Again, as I looked +upon this picture, the horrors of war rolled over my helpless heart.</p> + +<p>My old friend was trying hard to engage the woman in conversation, but +her manner was abstracted and strange. I noticed her clothes were all +black, even the flannel bandage around her throat—she was recovering +from an attack of quinsy—was black too; and as if in answer to my +thoughts, she said:—</p> + +<p>"It was red—but I dyed it—I couldn't bear to have it red—it +bothered me. That's why I keep the blinds down too—the sun hurts +me—it has no right to shine—just the same as if nothing had +happened." Her voice quivered with passion.</p> + +<p>"Have you any neighbors, Mrs. C——?" I <a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>asked; for her manner made me +uneasy—she had been too much alone.</p> + +<p>"Neighbors!" she stormed,—"neighbors! I haven't any, and I do not +want them: they would only lie about me—the way they lied about +Fred!"</p> + +<p>"Surely nobody ever lied about Fred," I said,—"this fine, brave +fellow."</p> + +<p>"He does look brave, doesn't he?" she cried. "You are a stranger, but +you can see it, can't you? You wouldn't think he was a coward, would +you?"</p> + +<p>"I would stake everything on his bravery!" I said honestly, looking at +the picture.</p> + +<p>She came over and squeezed my hand.</p> + +<p>"It was a wicked lie—all a lie!" she said bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Tell us all about it," I said; "I am sure there has been a mistake."</p> + +<p>She went quickly out of the room, and my old friend and I stared at +each other without speaking. In a few minutes she came back with a +"paper" in her hand, and, handing it to me, she said, "Read that and +you'll see what they say!"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>I read the announcement which stated that her husband had been missing +since September 29, and was now believed to have been killed. "This is +just what is sent to every one—" I began, but she interrupted me.</p> + +<p>"Look here!" she cried, leaning over my shoulder and pointing to the +two words "marginally noted"—"What does that mean?"</p> + +<p>I read it over again:—</p> + +<p>"We regret to inform you that the soldier marginally noted, who has +been declared missing since September 29, is now believed to have been +killed!"</p> + +<p>"There!" she cried, "can't you see?" pointing again to the two words. +"Don't you see what that means?—margin means the edge—and that means +that Fred was noted for being always on the edge of the army, trying +to escape, I suppose. But that's a lie, for Fred was not that kind, I +tell you—he was no coward!"</p> + +<p>I saw where the trouble lay, and tried to explain. She would not +listen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I looked in the dictionary and I know: 'margin' means 'the +edge,' and they are <a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>trying to say that Fred was always edging +off—you see—noted for being on the edge, that's what they say."</p> + +<p>We reasoned, we argued, we explained, but the poor little lonely soul +was obsessed with the idea that a deep insult had been put upon her +man's memory.</p> + +<p>Then my old friend had an idea. She opened her purse and brought out +the notice which she had received of the death of her last boy.</p> + +<p>We put the two notices side by side, and told her that these were +printed by the thousands, and every one got the same. Just the name +had to be filled in.</p> + +<p>Then she saw it!</p> + +<p>"Oh!" she cried, "I am so glad you showed me this, for I have been so +bitter. I hated every one; it sounded so hard and cold and +horrible—as if nobody cared. It was harder than losing Fred to have +him so insulted. But now I see it all!"</p> + +<p>"Isn't it too bad," said the old lady, as we walked home together, +"that they do not have these things managed by women? Women <a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>would +have sense enough to remember that these notices go to many classes of +people—and would go a bit slow on the high-sounding phrases: they +would say, 'The soldier whose name appears on the margin of this +letter,' instead of 'The soldier who is marginally noted'; it might +not be so concise, but it is a heap plainer. A few sentences of +sympathy, too, and appreciation, written in by hand, would be a +comfort. I tell you at a time like this we want something human, like +the little girl who was put to bed in the dark and told that the +angels would keep her company. She said she didn't want angels—she +wanted something with a skin face!—So do we all! We are panicky and +touchy, like a child that has been up too late the night before, and +we have to be carefully handled. All the pores of our hearts are open +and it is easy to get a chill!"</p> + +<p>As we rode home in the car she told me about the letter which had come +that day from her last boy:—</p> + +<p>"It seemed queer to look at this letter and know that I would never +get another one from <a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>the boys. Letters from the boys have been a big +thing to me for many years. Billy and Tom were away from me for a long +time before the war, and they never failed to write. Frank was never +away from me until he went over, and he was not much of a +letter-writer,—just a few sentences! 'Hello, mother, how are you? I'm +O.K. Hope you are the same. Sleeping well, and eating everything I can +lay my hands on. The box came; it was sure a good one. Come again. +So-long!' That was the style of Frank's letter. 'I don't want this +poor censor to be boring his eyes out trying to find state secrets in +my letters,' he said another time, apologizing for the shortness of +it. 'There are lots of things that I would like to tell you, but I +guess they will keep until I get home—I always could talk better than +write.' ... But this letter is different. He seemed to know that he +was going—west, as they say, and he wrote so seriously; all the +boyishness had gone from him, and he seemed to be old, much older than +I am. These boys of ours are all older than we are now,—they have +seen so much of life's <a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>sadness—they have got above it; they see so +many of their companions go over that they get a glimpse of the other +shore. They are like very old people who cannot grieve the way younger +people can at leaving this life."</p> + +<p>Then I read the boy's letter.</p> + +<p>"Dear Mother," it ran, "We are out resting now, but going in to-morrow +to tackle the biggest thing that we have pulled off yet. You'll hear +about it, I guess. Certainly you will if we are successful. I hope +that this letter will go safely, for I want you to know just how I +feel, and that everything is fine with me. I used to be scared stiff +that I would be scared, but I haven't been—there seems to be +something that stands by you and keeps your heart up, and with death +all around you, you see it is not so terrible. I have seen so many of +the boys pass out, and they don't mind it. They fight like wild-cats +while they can, but when their turn comes they go easy. The awful roar +of the guns does it. The silent tomb had a horrible sound to me when I +was at home, but it sounds like a welcome now. Anyway, mother, +<a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>whatever happens you must not worry. Everything is all right when you +get right up to it—even death. I just wish I could see you, and make +you understand how light-hearted I feel. I never felt better; my only +trouble is that you will be worried about me, but just remember that +everything is fine, and that I love you.</p> + +<p class="right">"<span class="smcap">Frank</span>."</p> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>AT THE LAST!</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>O God, who hears the smallest cry</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>That ever rose from human soul,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Be near my mother when she reads</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>My name upon the Honor Roll;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And when she sees it written there,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Dear Lord, stand to, behind her chair!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Or, if it be Thy sacred will</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>That I may go and stroke her hand,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Just let me say, "I'm living still!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And in a brighter, better land."</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>One word from me will cheer her so,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>O Lord, if you will let me go!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>I know her eyes with tears will blind,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>I think I hear her choking cry,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>When in the list my name she'll find—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Oh, let me—let me—let me try</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To somehow make her understand</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>That it is not so hard to die!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>She's thinking of the thirst and pain;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>She's thinking of the saddest things;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>She does not know an angel came</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And led me to the water-springs,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>She does not know the quiet peace</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>That fell upon my heart like rain,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>When something sounded my release,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>And something eased the scorching pain.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>She does not know, I gladly went</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And am with Death, content, content.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i2"><i>I want to say I played the game—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I played the game right to the end—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>I did not shrink at shot or flame,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But when at last the good old friend,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>That some call Death, came beckoning me,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>I went with him, quite willingly!</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Just let me tell her—let her know—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>It really was not hard to go!</i><br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE BELIEVING CHURCH</h3> +<br /> + +<p>The gates of heaven are swinging open so often these days, as the +brave ones pass in, that it would be a wonder if some gleams of +celestial brightness did not come down to us.</p> + +<p>We get it unexpectedly in the roar of the street; in the quiet of the +midnight; in the sun-spattered aisles of the forest; in the faces of +our friends; in the turbid stream of our poor burdened humanity. They +shine out and are gone—these flashes of eternal truth. The two worlds +cannot be far apart when the travel from one to the other is so heavy! +No, I do not know what heaven is like, but it could not seem strange +to me, for I know so many people now who are there! Sometimes I feel +like the old lady who went back to Ontario to visit, and who said she +felt more at home in the cemetery than anywhere else, for that is +where most of her friends had gone!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>These heavenly gleams have shown us new things in our civilization and +in our social life, and most of all in our own hearts. Above all other +lessons we have learned, or will learn, is the fallacy of hatred. +Hatred weakens, destroys, disintegrates, scatters. The world's disease +to-day is the withering, blighting, wasting malady of hatred, which +has its roots in the narrow patriotism which teaches people to love +their own country and despise all others. The superiority bug which +enters the brain and teaches a nation that they are God's chosen +people, and that all other nations must some day bow in obeisance to +them, is the microbe which has poisoned the world. We must love our +own country best, of course, just as we love our own children best; +but it is a poor mother who does not desire the highest good for every +other woman's child.</p> + +<p>We are sick unto death of hatred, force, brutality; blood-letting will +never bring about lasting results, for it automatically plants a crop +of bitterness and a desire for revenge which start the trouble all +over again. To kill a man does <a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>not prove that he was wrong, neither +does it make converts of his friends. A returned man told me about +hearing a lark sing one morning as the sun rose over the +shell-scarred, desolated battlefield, with its smouldering piles of +ruins which had once been human dwelling-places, and broken, +splintered trees which the day before had been green and growing. Over +this scene of horror, hatred, and death arose the lark into the +morning air, and sang his glorious song. "And then," said the boy, as +he steadied himself on his crutches, "he sang the very same song over +again, just to show us that he could do it again and meant every word +of it, and it gave me a queer feeling. It seemed to show me that the +lark had the straight of it, and we were all wrong. But," he added, +after a pause, "nobody knows how wrong it all is like the men who've +been there!"</p> + +<p>Of course we know that the world did not suddenly go wrong. Its +thought must have been wrong all the time, and the war is simply the +manifestation of it; one of them at least. But how did it happen? That +is the question <a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>which weary hearts are asking all over the world. We +all know what is wrong with Germany. That's easy. It is always easier +to diagnose other people's cases than our own—and pleasanter. We know +that the people of Germany have been led away by their teachers, +philosophers, writers; they worship the god of force; they recognize +no sin but weakness and inefficiency. They are good people, only for +their own way of thinking; no doubt they say the same thing of us.</p> + +<p>Wrong thinking has caused all our trouble, and the world cannot be +saved by physical means, but only by the spiritual forces which change +the mental attitude. When the sword shall be beaten into the +ploughshare and the spear into the pruning-hook, that will be the +outward sign of the change of thought from destructive, competitive +methods to constructive and coöperative regeneration of the world! It +is interesting to note that the sword and spear are not going to be +thrown on the scrap-heap; they are to be transformed—made over. All +energy is good; it is only its direction, which may become evil.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>It is not to be wondered at that the world has run to blind hatred +when we stop to realize that the Church has failed to teach the +peaceable fruits of the spirit, and has preferred to fight human +beings rather than prejudice, ignorance, and sin, and has too often +gauged success by competition between its various branches, rather +than by coöperation against the powers of evil.</p> + +<p>At a recent convention of a certain religious body, one sister, who +gave in her report as to how the Lord had dealt with the children of +men in her part of the vineyard, deeply deplored the hardness of the +sinners' hearts, their proneness to err, and the worldliness of even +professing Christians, who seemed now to be wholly given over to the +love of pleasure. She told also of the niggardly contributions; the +small congregations. It was, indeed, a sad and discouraging tale that +she unfolded. Only once did she show any enthusiasm, and that was in +her closing words: "But I thank my Lord and Heavenly Master that the +other church in our town ain't done no better!"</p> + +<p><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>The Church is our oldest and best organization. It has enough energy, +enough driving force, to better conditions for all if it could be +properly applied; but being an exceedingly respectable institution it +has been rather shy of changes, and so has found it hard to adapt +itself to new conditions. It has clung to shadows after the substance +has departed; and even holds to the old phraseology which belongs to a +day long dead. Stately and beautiful and meaningful phrases they were, +too, in their day, but now their fires are dead, their lights are out, +their "punch" has departed. They are as pale and sickly as the red +lanterns set to guard the spots of danger on the street at night and +carelessly left burning all the next day.</p> + +<p>Every decade sees the people's problems change, but the Church goes on +with Balaam and Balak, with King Ahasuerus, and the two she-bears that +came out of the woods. I shudder when I think of how much time has +been spent in showing how Canaan was divided, and how little time is +spent on showing how the Dominion of Canada should be divided; of how +much <a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>time has been given to the man born blind, and how little to a +consideration of the causes and prevention of that blindness; of the +time spent on our Lord's miraculous feeding of the five thousand, and +how little time is spent on trying to find out his plans for feeding +the hungry ones of to-day, who, we are bold to believe, are just as +precious in his sight.</p> + +<p>The human way is to shelve responsibility. The disciples came to +Christ when the afternoon began to grow into evening, and said, "These +people haven't anything to eat, send them away!" This is the human +attitude toward responsibility; that is why many a beggar gets a +quarter—and is told to "beat it"! In this manner are we able to +side-step responsibility. To-day's problems are apt to lead to +difficulties; it is safer to discuss problems of long ago than of the +present; for the present ones concern real people, and they may not +like it. Hush! Don't offend Deacon Bones; stick to Balaam—he's dead.</p> + +<p>In some respects the Church resembles a coal furnace that has been +burning quite a while <a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>without being cleaned out. There form in the +bottom certain hard substances which give off neither light nor heat, +nor allow a free current of air to pass through. These hard substances +are called "clinkers." Once they were good pieces of burning coal, +igniting the coal around them, but now their fire is dead, their heat +is spent, and they must be removed for the good of the furnace. +Something like this has happened in the Church. It has a heavy +percentage of human "clinkers," sometimes in the front pews, sometimes +in the pulpit. They were good people once, too, possessed of spiritual +life and capable of inspiring those around them. But spiritual +experiences cannot be warmed over—they must be new every day. That is +what Saint Paul meant when he said that the outer man decays, but the +inner man is renewed. An old experience in religion is of no more +value than a last year's bird's nest! You cannot feed the hungry with +last year's pot-pies!</p> + +<p>This is the day of opportunity for the Church, for the people are +asking to be led! <a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>It will have to realize that religion is a "here +and now" experience, intended to help people with their human worries +to-day, rather than an elaborate system of golden streets, big +processions, walls of jasper, and endless years of listless loafing on +the shores of the River of Life! The Church has directed too much +energy to the business of showing people how to die and teaching them +to save their souls, forgetting that one of these carefully saved +souls is after all not worth much. Christ said, "He that saveth his +life shall lose it!" and "He that loseth his life for my sake shall +find it!" The soul can be saved only by self-forgetfulness. The +monastery idea of retirement from the world in order that one may be +sure of heaven is not a courageous way of meeting life's difficulties. +But this plan of escape has been very popular even in Protestant +churches, as shown in our hymnology: "Why do we linger?" "We are but +strangers here"; "Father, dear Father, take Thy children home"; "Earth +is a wilderness, heaven is my home"; "I'm a pilgrim and a stranger"; +"I am only waiting here to <a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>hear the summons, child, come home." These +are some of the hymns with which we have beguiled our weary days of +waiting; and yet, for all this boasted desire to be "up and away," the +very people who sang these hymns have not the slightest desire to +leave the "wilderness."</p> + +<p>The Church must renounce the idea that, when a man goes forth to +preach the Gospel, he has to consider himself a sort of glorified +immigration agent, whose message is, "This way, ladies and gentlemen, +to a better, brighter, happier world; earth is a poor place to stick +around, heaven is your home." His mission is to teach his people to +make of this world a better place—to live their lives here in such a +way that other men and women will find life sweeter for their having +lived. Incidentally we win heaven, but it must be a result, not an +objective.</p> + +<p>We know there is a future state, there is a land where the +complications of this present world will be squared away. Some call it +a Day of Judgment; I like best to think of it as a day of +explanations. I want to hear God's side. <a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>Also I know we shall not +have to lie weary centuries waiting for it. When the black curtain of +death falls on life's troubled scenes, there will appear on it these +words in letters of gold, "End of Part I. Part II will follow +immediately."</p> + +<p>I know that I shall have a sweet and beautiful temper in heaven, where +there will be nothing to try it, no worries, misunderstandings, +elections, long and tedious telephone conversations; people who insist +on selling me a dustless mop when I am hot on the trail of an idea. +There will be none of that, so that it will not be difficult to keep +sweet and serene. I would not thank any one to hand me a sword and +shield when the battle is over; I want it now while the battle rages; +I claim my full equipment now, not on merit, but on need.</p> + +<p>Everything in life encourages me to believe that God has provided a +full equipment for us here in life if we will only take it. He would +not store up every good thing for the future and let us go short here.</p> + +<p>In a prosperous district in Ontario there <a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>stands a beautiful brick +house, where a large family of children lived long ago. The parents +worked early and late, grubbing and saving and putting money in the +bank. Sometimes the children resented the hard life which they led, +and wished for picnics, holidays, new clothes, ice-cream, and the +other fascinating things of childhood. Some of the more ambitious ones +even craved a higher education, but they were always met by the same +answer when the request involved the expenditure of money. The answer +was: "It will all be yours some day. Now, don't worry; just let us +work together and save all we can; it's all for you children and it +will all be yours some day. You can do what you like with it when we +are dead and gone!" I suppose the children in their heart of hearts +said, "Lord haste the day!"</p> + +<p>The parents passed on in the fullness of time. Some of the children +went before them. Those who were left fell heir to the big house and +the beautiful grounds, but they were mature men and women then, and +they had lost the art of enjoyment. The habit of saving and grubbing +<a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>was upon them, and their aspirations for better things had long ago +died out. Everything had been saved for the future, and now, when it +came, they found out that it was all too late. The time for learning +and enjoyment had gone by. A few dollars spent on them when they were +young would have done so much.</p> + +<p>If that is a poor policy for earthly parents to follow, I believe it +is not a good line for a Heavenly Parent to take.</p> + +<p>We need an equipment for this present life which will hold us steady +even when everything around us is disturbed; that will make us desire +the good of every one, even those who are intent upon doing us evil; +that will transform the humblest and most disagreeable task into one +of real pleasure; that will enable us to see that we have set too high +a value on the safety of life and property and too trifling an +estimate on spiritual things; that will give us a proper estimate of +our own importance in the general scheme of things, so that we will +not think we are a worm in the dust, nor yet mistake ourselves for the +President of the Company!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>The work of the Church is to teach these ethical values to the people. +It must begin by teaching us to have more faith in each other, and +more coördination. We cannot live a day without each other, and every +day we become more interdependent. Times have changed since the +cave-dwelling days when every man was his own butcher, baker, judge, +jury, and executioner; when no man attempted more than he could do +alone, and therefore regarded every other man as his natural enemy and +rival, the killing of whom was good business. Coöperation began when +men found that two men could hunt better than one, and so one drove +the bear out of the cave and the other one killed him as he went past +the gap, and then divided him, fifty-fifty. That was the beginning of +coöperation, which is built on faith. Strange, isn't it, that at this +time, when we need each other so badly, we are not kinder to each +other? Our national existence depends upon all of us—we have pooled +our interests, everything we have is in danger, everything we have +must be mobilized for its defense.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>Danger such as we are facing should drive the petty little meannesses +out of us, one would think, and call out all the latent heroism of our +people. People talk about this being the Church's day of opportunity. +So it is, for the war is teaching us ethical values, which has always +been a difficult matter. We like things that we can see, lay out, and +count! But the war has changed our appraisement of things, both of men +and of nations. A country may be rich in armies, ships, guns, and +wealth, and yet poor, naked, and dishonored in the eyes of the world; +a country may be broken, desolate, shell-riven, and yet have a name +that is honorable in all the earth. So with individuals. We have set +too high a value on property and wealth, too low an estimate on +service.</p> + +<p>Our ideas of labor have been wrong. Labor to us has meant something +disagreeable, which, if we endure patiently for a season, we may then +be able to "chuck." Its highest reward is to be able to quit it—to go +on the retired list.</p> + +<p>"Mary married well," declared a proud <a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>mother, "and now she does not +lift a hand to anything."</p> + +<p>Poor Mary! What a slow time she must have!</p> + +<p>The war is changing this; people are suddenly stripped of their +possessions, whether they be railroad stock, houses, or lands, or, +like that of a poor fellow recently tried for vagrancy here, whose +assets were found to be a third interest in a bear. It does not +matter—the wealthy slacker is no more admired than the poor one. +Money has lost its purchasing quality when it comes to immunity from +responsibility.</p> + +<p>The coördination of our people has begun, the forces of unity are +working; but they are still hindered by the petty little jealousies +and disputes of small people who do not yet understand the seriousness +of the occasion. So long as church bodies spend time fighting about +methods of baptism, and call conventions to pass resolutions against +church union, which would unquestionably add to the effectiveness of +the Church and enable it to make greater headway against the powers of +evil; so long as <a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>the channels through which God's love should flow to +the people are so choked with denominational prejudice, it is not much +wonder that many people are experiencing a long, dry spell, bitterly +complaining that the fountain has gone dry. Love, such as Christ +demonstrated, is the only hope of this sin-mad world. When the Church +shows forth that love and leads the people to see that the reservoirs +of love in the mountains of God are full to overflowing, and every man +can pipe the supply into his own heart and live victoriously, +abundantly, gloriously, as God intended us all to live, then it will +come about that the sword will be beaten into the ploughshare and the +spear into the pruning-hook, and the Lord will truly hear our prayer +and heal our land.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER XIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>THE LAST RESERVES</h3> +<br /> + +<p>To-day I read in one of our newspapers an account of a religious +convention which is going on in our city. It said that one of the lady +delegates asked if, in view of the great scarcity of men to take the +various fields, and the increased number of vacancies, the theological +course in their colleges would be opened to women? And the report +said, "A ripple of amusement swept over the convention."</p> + +<p>I know that ripple. I know it well! The Church has always been amused +when the advancement of women has been mentioned right out boldly like +that. There are two things which have never failed to bring a laugh—a +great, round, bold oath on the stage, and any mention of woman +suffrage in the pulpit. They have been sure laugh-producers. When we +pray for the elevation of the stage in this respect, we should not +forget the Church!</p> + +<p><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>I have been trying to analyze that ripple of amusement. Here is the +situation: The men have gone out to fight. The college halls are empty +of boys, except very young ones. One of the speakers at the same +session said, "We do not expect to get in boys of more than eighteen +years of age." Churches are closed for lack of preachers. What is to +be done about it? No longer can Brother M. be sent to England to bring +over pink-cheeked boys to fill the ranks of Canada's preachers. The +pink-cheeked ones are also "over there." There is no one to call upon +but women. So why was the suggestion of the lady delegate received +with amusement? Why was it not acted upon? For although there were +many kind and flattering things said about women, their great services +to Church and State, yet the theological course was not opened.</p> + +<p>The Church has been strangely blind in its attitude toward women, and +with many women it will be long remembered with a feeling of +bitterness that the Church has been so slow to move.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>The Government of the Western Provinces of Canada gave full equality +to women before that right was given by the Church. The Church has not +given it yet. The Church has not meant to be either unjust or unkind, +and the indifference and apathy of its own women members have given +the unthinking a reason for their attitude. Why should the vote be +forced on women? they have asked. It is quite true that the women of +the Church have not said much, for the reason that many of the +brightest women, on account of the Church's narrowness, have withdrawn +and gone elsewhere, where more liberty could be found. This is +unfortunate, and I think a mistake on the part of the women. Better to +have stayed and fought it out than to go out slamming the door.</p> + +<p>Many sermons have I listened to in the last quarter of a century of +fairly regular church attendance; once I heard an Englishman preaching +bitterly of the Suffragettes' militant methods, and he said they +should all "be condemned to motherhood to tame their wild spirits." +And I surely had the desire to slam <a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>the door that morning, for I +thought I never heard a more terrible insult to all womankind than to +speak of motherhood as a punishment. But I stayed through the service; +I stayed after the service! I interviewed the preacher. So did many +other women! He had a chastened spirit when we were through with him.</p> + +<p>I have listened to many sermons that I did not like, but I possessed +my soul in patience. I knew my turn would come—it is a long lane that +has no tomato-cans! My turn did come—I was invited to address the +conference of the Church, and there with all the chief offenders lined +up in black-coated, white-collared rows, I said all that was in my +heart, and they were honestly surprised. One good old brother, who I +do not think had listened to a word that I said, arose at the back of +the church and said: "I have listened to all that this lady has had to +say, but I am not convinced. I have it on good authority that in +Colorado, where women vote, a woman once stuffed a ballot-box. How can +the lady explain that?" I said I could explain it, though, indeed, I +could not see that it <a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>needed any explanation. No one could expect +women to live all their lives with men without picking up some of +their little ways! That seemed to hold the brother for a season!</p> + +<p>The Church's stiff attitude toward women has been a hard thing to +explain to the "world." Many a time I have been afraid that it would +be advanced as a reason for not considering woman suffrage in the +State. "If the Church," politicians might well have said, "with its +spiritual understanding of right and justice, cannot see its way clear +to give the vote to women, why should the State incur the risk?" +Whenever I have invited questions, at the close of an address, I have +feared that one. That cheerful air of confidence with which I urged +people to speak right up and ask any question they wished always +covered a trembling and fearful heart. You have heard of people +whistling as they passed a graveyard, and perhaps you thought that +they were frivolously light-hearted? Oh, no! That is not why they +whistled!</p> + +<p>When the vote was given to the women in <a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>our province and all the +other Western provinces, I confess that I thought our worst troubles +were over. I see now that they were really beginning. A second +Hindenburg line has been set up, and seems harder to pierce than the +first. It is the line of bitter prejudice! Some of those who, at the +time the vote was given, made eloquent speeches of welcome, declaring +their long devotion to the cause of women, are now busily engaged in +trying to make it uncomfortably hot for the women who dare to enter +the political field. They are like the employers who furnish seats for +their clerks in the stores, yet make it clear that to use them may +cost their jobs.</p> + +<p>The granting of the franchise to women in western Canada, was brought +about easily. It won, not by political pressure, but on its merits. +There is something about a new country which beats out prejudice, and +the pioneer age is not so far removed as to have passed out of memory. +The real men of the West remember gratefully how the women stood by +them in the old hard days, taking their full share of the <a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>hardships +and the sacrifice uncomplainingly. It was largely this spirit which +prompted the action of the legislators of the West. As Kipling says:—</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Now and not hereafter, while the breath is in our nostrils,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Now and not hereafter, ere the meaner years go by,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let us now remember many honorable women—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They who stretched their hands to us, when we were like to die!<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<p>There was not any great opposition here in western Canada. One member +did say that, if women ever entered Parliament, he would immediately +resign; but the women were not disturbed. They said that it was just +another proof of the purifying effect that the entrance of women into +politics would have! Sitting in Parliament does not seem like such a +hard job to those of us who have sat in the Ladies' Gallery and looked +over; there is such unanimity among members of Parliament, such +remarkable and unquestioning faith in the soundness of their party's +opinion. In one of the Parliaments of the West there sat for twelve +years an honored member who never once <a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>broke the silence of the back +benches except to say, "Aye," when he was told to say, "Aye." But on +toward the end of the thirteenth year he gave unmistakable signs of +life. A window had been left open behind him, and when the draft blew +over him—he sneezed! Shortly after, he got up and shut the window!</p> + +<p>Looking down upon such tranquil scenes as these there are women who +have said in their boastful way that they believe they could do just +as well—with a little practice!</p> + +<p>Women who sit in Parliament will do so by sheer merit, for there is +still enough prejudice to keep them out if any reason for so doing can +be found. Their greatest contribution, in Parliament and out of it, +will be independence of thought.</p> + +<p>Women have not the strong party affiliations which men have. They have +no political past, no political promises to keep, no political sins to +expiate. They start fair and with a clean sheet. Those who make the +mistake of falling into old party lines, and of accepting ready-made +opinions and prejudices, will make no <a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>difference in the political +life of the country except to enlarge the voters' list and increase +the expenses of elections.</p> + +<p>Just now partyism is falling into disfavor, for there are too many +serious questions to be fought out. There are still a few people who +would rather lose the war than have their party defeated, but not +many. "When the Empire is in danger is no time to think of men," +appeals to the average thinking man and woman. The independent man who +carefully thinks out issues for himself, and who is not led away by +election cries, is the factor who has held things steady in the past. +Now it seems that this independent body will be increased by the new +voters, and if so, they will hold in their hands the balance of power +in any province, and really become a terror to evil-doers as well as a +praise to those who do well!</p> + +<p>Old things are passing away, and those who have eyes to see it know +that all things are becoming new. The political ideals of the far-off, +easy days of peace will not do for these new and searching times. +Political ideals have been <a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>different from any other. Men who would +not rob a bank or sandbag a traveler, and who are quite punctilious +about paying their butcher and their baker, have been known to rob the +country quite freely and even hilariously, doctoring an expense sheet, +overcharging for any service rendered. "Good old country," they have +seemed to say, "if I do not rob you, some one else will!"</p> + +<p>This easy conscience regarding the treasury of the country is early +shown in the attitude toward road-work, those few days' labor which +the municipality requires men to do as part payment of their taxes. +Who has not noticed the languorous ease of the lotus-eating +road-workers as they sit on their plough-handles and watch the slow +afternoon roll by?</p> + +<p>Politics too long has been a mystical word which has brought visions +of a dark but fascinating realm of romantic intrigue, sharp deals, +good-natured tricks, and lucky strikes. The greatest asset a +politician can have is the ability to "put it over" and "get something +for us." The attitude of the average voter has been that <a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>of +expectancy. If he renders a public service, he expects to be +remunerated. His relation to his country has not been, "What can I +do?" but, "What can I get?" His hand has been outstretched palm +upward! Citizenship to us has not meant much; it has come too easy, +like money to the rich man's son! All things have been ours by +inheritance—free speech, freedom of religion, responsible government. +Somebody fought for these things, but it was a long time ago, and only +in a vague way are we grateful! These things become valuable only when +threatened.</p> + +<p>There hangs on the wall, in one of the missions in the city of +Winnipeg, a picture of a street in one of the Polish villages. In it +the people are huddled together, cowering with fear. The priest, +holding aloft the sacred crucifix, stands in front of them, while down +the street come the galloping Cossacks with rifles and bayonets. +Polish men and women have cried bitter tears before that picture. They +knew what happened. They knew that the sacred sign of the crucifix did +not stay the fury <a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>of the Cossacks! These are the people, these Polish +people, who have been seen to kiss the soil of Canada in an ecstasy of +gladness when they set foot upon it, for it is to them the land of +liberty. Liberty of speech and of action, safety of life and of +property mean something to them; but we have always enjoyed these +things, and esteem them lightly.</p> + +<p>The first blow between the eyes that our complacency received was +Belgium!—that heroic little country to whose people citizenship was +so much dearer than life or riches, or even the safety of their loved +ones, that they flung all these things away, in a frenzy of devotion, +for the honor of their country and her good name among nations. This +has disturbed us: we cannot forget Belgium. It has upset our +comfortable Canadian conscience, for it has given us a glimpse of the +upper country, and life can never be the same again. It is not all of +life to live—that is, grow rich and quit work.</p> + +<p>The heroism of the trenches is coming back to us. It is filtering +through. It is the need for heroism which is bringing it out. We are +<a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>playing a losing game, even though we are winning. There is only one +thing more disastrous than a victory, and that is a defeat. I do not +need to enumerate what we are losing—we know. What can we do to make +good the loss? Some of our people have always done all they could: +they have always stood in the front trench and "carried on"; others +have been in the "stand-to" trench, and have done well, too, in time +of stress. Many have not yet signed on, but they will: they are not +cowards, they are only indifferent. This has been true of the +protected woman in the home, who has not considered herself a citizen.</p> + +<p>We have come to the place now when our full force must be called out. +The women are our last reserves. If they cannot heal the world, we are +lost, for they are the last we have—we cannot call the angels down. +The trumpets are calling now in every street of every town, in every +country lane, even in the trackless fastnesses of the North Country. +The call is for citizens,—woman citizens,—who, with deft and +skillful fingers, will lovingly, patiently <a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>undertake the task of +piecing together the torn mantle of civilization; who will make it so +strong, so beautiful, so glorified, that never again can it be torn or +soiled or stained with human blood. The trumpets are calling for +healers and binders who will not be appalled at the task of nursing +back to health a wounded world, shot to pieces by injustice, greed, +cruelty, and wrong thinking.</p> + +<p>The sign of the Red Cross is a fitting emblem for the Order, worn not +only on the sleeve, but in the heart; red to remind its wearer that +God made all people of one blood, and is the Father of all; and the +Cross which speaks of the One whose mission on earth was to save; who +came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Every one who signs +on does so for "duration," and must consider herself under orders +until the coming in of that glad day</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When men shall brothers be<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And form one family<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The wide world o'er!"<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER XV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>LIFE'S TRAGEDY</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">It often happens that people die<br /></span> +<span class="i2">At the hand of that they loved the best;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One who loves horses all his days<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By a horse's hoof is laid to rest!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The swimmer who loves on the waves to lie<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is caught in the swell of a passing boat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the thing he loves breaks over his head<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And chokes the breath from his gasping throat.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And the Christ who loved all men so well<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That he came to earth their friend to be,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By one was denied, by one betrayed,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">By others nailed to the cursèd tree!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And more and more I seem to see<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That Love is the world's great Tragedy!<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>Love is a terrible thing—quite different from amiability, which is +sometimes confused with it. Amiability will never cause people to do +hard things, but love will tear the heart to pieces!</p> + +<p>It was because the people of Belgium loved their country that they +chose to suffer all things rather than have her good name tarnished +among the nations of the earth. It has <a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>been for love, love of fair +play, love of British traditions, that Canada has sent nearly four +hundred thousand men across the sea to fight against the powers of +darkness. Canada has nothing to gain in this struggle, in a material +way, as a nation, and even less has there been any chance of gain to +the individual who answered the call. There are many things that may +happen to the soldier after he has put on the uniform, but sudden +riches is not among them.</p> + +<p>Some of the men, whose love of country made them give up all and +follow the gleam, have come back to us now, and on pleasant afternoons +may be seen sitting on the balconies of the Convalescent Homes or +perhaps being wheeled in chairs by their more fortunate companions. +Their neighbors, who had an amiable feeling for the country instead of +love, and who therefore stayed at home, are very sorry for these +broken men, and sometimes, when the day is fine, they take the +"returned men" out in their big cars for a ride!</p> + +<p>There are spiritual and moral dead-beats in <a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>every community who get +through life easily by following a "safety-first" plan in everything, +who keep close to the line of "low visibility," which means, "Keep +your head down or you may get hit"; who allow others to do the +fighting and bear all the criticism, and then are not even gracious +enough to acknowledge the unearned benefits. The most popular man in +every community is the one who has never taken a stand on any moral +question; who has never loved anything well enough to fight for it; +who is broad-minded and tolerant—because he does not care.... +Amiability fattens, but love kills!</p> + +<p>Amiable patriots at the present time talk quite cheerfully of the +conscription of life, but say little of the conscription of wealth, +declaring quite truthfully that wealth will never win the war! Neither +will men! It will take both, and all we have, too, I am afraid. Surely +if the government feels that it can ask one man for his life, it need +not be so diffident about asking another man for his wealth. The +conscription of wealth might well begin with placing all <a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>articles of +food and clothing on the free list and levying a direct tax on all +land values. Then, if all profits from war-supplies were turned over +to the government, there would be money enough to pay a fair allowance +to our soldiers and their dependents. It does not seem fair that the +soldier should bear all the sacrifices of hardship and danger, and +then have the additional one of poverty for his family and the +prospect of it for himself, when he comes back unfit for his former +occupation. Hardship and danger for the soldier are inevitable, but +poverty is not. The honest conscription of wealth would make it +possible for all who serve the Empire to have an assurance of a decent +living as long as they live.</p> + +<p>If equal pay were given to every man, whether he is a private or a +major, equal pensions to every soldier's widow, and if all political +preference were eliminated, as it would have to be under this system; +when all service is put on the same basis and one man's life counts as +much as another's, there would be no need of compulsion to fill the +ranks of the Canadian <a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>army. We know that there never can be equality +of service—the soldier will always bear the heavy burden, and no +money can ever pay him for what he does; but we must not take refuge +behind that statement to let him bear the burdens which belong to the +people who stay at home.</p> + +<p>Heroism is contagious. It becomes easier when every one is practicing +it. What we need now, more than anything, are big, strong, heroic +leaders, men of moral passion, who will show us the hard path of +sacrifice, not asking us to do what they are not willing to do +themselves; not pointing the way, but traveling in it; men of heroic +mould who will say, "If my right eye offend me, I will pluck it out"; +men who are willing to go down to political death if the country can +be saved by that sacrifice. We need men at home who are as brave as +the boys in the trenches, who risk their lives every day in a dozen +different ways, without a trace of self-applause, who have laid all +their equipment on the altar of sacrifice; who "carry on" when all +seems hopeless; who stand up to death <a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>unflinchingly, and at the last, +ask only, that their faces may be turned to the West!—to Canada!</p> + +<p>We have always had plenty of amiability, but in this terrible time it +will not do. Our country is calling for love.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr /> +<br /> + +<a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"></a> +<h3>CHAPTER XVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3> + +<h3>WAITING!</h3> + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sing a song of the Next of Kin,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A weary, wishful, waiting rhyme,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That has no tune and has no time,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But just a way of wearing in!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sing a song of those who weep<br /></span> +<span class="i2">While slow the weary night hours go;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wondering if God willed it so,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That human life should be so cheap!<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Sing a song of those who wait,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Wondering what the post will bring;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Saddened when he slights the gate,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Trembling at his ring,—<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">The day the British mail comes in<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is a day of thrills for the Next of Kin.<br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> + +<p>When the Alpine climbers make a dangerous ascent, they fasten a rope +from one to the other; so that if one slips, the others will be able +to hold him until he finds his feet again; and thus many a catastrophe +is averted! We have a ring like that here—we whose boys are gone. +Somebody is almost sure to get a letter when the British mail comes +in; and even a letter <a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"></a>from another boy read over the 'phone is +cheering, especially if he mentions your boy—or even if he doesn't; +for we tell each other that the writer of the letter would surely know +"if anything had happened."</p> + +<p>Even "Posty" does his best to cheer us when the letters are far apart, +and when the British mail has brought us nothing tells us it was a +very small, and, he is sure, divided mail, and the other part of it +will be along to-morrow. He also tells us the U-boats are probably +accounting for the scarcity of French mail, anyway, and we must not be +worried. He is a good fellow, this "Posty"!</p> + +<p>We hold tight to every thread of comfort—we have to. That's why we +wear bright-colored clothes: there is a buoyancy, an assurance about +them, that we sorely need! We try to economize on our emotions, too, +never shedding a useless or idle tear! In the days of peace we could +afford to go to see "East Lynne," "Madame X," or "Romeo and Juliet," +and cry our eyes red over their sorrows. Now we must go easy on all +that! Some of us are <a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"></a>running on the emergency tank now, and there is +still a long way to go!</p> + +<p>There are some things we try not to think about, especially at night. +There is no use—we have thought it all over and over again; and now +our brains act like machines which have been used for sewing something +too heavy for them, and which don't "feed" just right, and skip +stitches. So we try to do the things that we think ought to be done, +and take all the enjoyment we can from the day's work.</p> + +<p>We have learned to divide our time into day-lengths, following the +plan of the water-tight compartments in ships, which are so arranged +that, if a leak occurs in one of these, the damaged one may be closed +up, and no harm is done to the ship. So it is in life. We can live so +completely one day at a time that no mournful yesterday can throw its +dull shadow on the sunshine of to-day; neither can any frowning +to-morrow reach back and with a black hand slap its smiling face. +To-day is a sacred thing if we know how to live it.</p> + +<p>I am writing this on the fourth day of <a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"></a>August, which is a day when +memory grows bitter and reflective if we are not careful. The August +sunshine lies rich and yellow on the fields, and almost perceptibly +the pale green of the wheat is absorbing the golden hue of the air. +The painted cup has faded from rosy pink to a dull, ashy color, and +the few wild roses which are still to be seen in the shaded places +have paled to a pastel shade. The purple and yellow of goldenrod, wild +sage, gallardia, and coxcomb are to be seen everywhere—the strong, +bold colors of the harvest.</p> + +<p>Everything spoke of peace to-day as we drove through the country. The +air had the indescribably sweet smell of ripening grain, +clover-blooms, and new hay; for the high stands of wild hay around the +ponds and lakes are all being cut this year, and even the timothy +along the roads, and there was a mellow undertone of mowing machines +everywhere, like the distant hum of a city. Fat cattle stood knee-deep +in a stream as we passed, and others lay contentedly on the +clover-covered banks. One restless spirit, with a poke on her neck, +sniffed at us as <a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"></a>we went by, and tossed her head in grim defiance of +public opinion and man-made laws. She had been given a bad name—and +was going to live up to it!</p> + +<p>Going over a hill, we came upon a woman driving a mower. It was the +first reminder of the war. She was a fine-looking woman, with a tanned +face, brown, but handsome, and she swung her team around the edge of +the meadow with a grace and skill that called forth our admiration.</p> + +<p>I went over and spoke to her, for I recognized her as a woman whom I +had met at the Farm-Woman's Convention last winter. After we had +exchanged greetings, and she had made her kind inquiry, "What news do +you get from the Front?" and had heard that my news had been good—she +said abruptly:—</p> + +<p>"Did you know I've lost my husband?"</p> + +<p>I expressed my sorrow.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, "it was a smashing blow—never believed Alex could be +killed: he was so big, and strong, and could do anything.... Ever +since I can remember, I thought Alex was <a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"></a>the most wonderful of all +people on earth ... and at first ... when the news came, it seemed I +could not go on living ... but I am all right now, and have thought +things out.... This isn't the only plane of existence ... there are +others; this is merely one phase of life.... I am taking a longer view +of things now.... You see that schoolhouse over there,"—she pointed +with her whip to a green-and-white school farther down the +road,—"Alex and I went to school there.... We began the same day and +left the same day. His family and mine settled in this neighborhood +twenty years ago—we are all Kincardine people—Bruce, you know. Our +road to school lay together on the last mile ... and we had a way of +telling whether the other one had passed. We had a red willow stick +which we drove into the ground. Then, when I came along in the morning +and found it standing, I knew I was there first. I pulled it out and +laid it down, so when Alex came he knew I had passed, and hurried +along after me. When he came first and found it standing, he always +waited for me, if he could, <a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"></a>for he would rather be late than go +without me. When I got the message I could not think of anything but +the loneliness of the world, for a few days; but after a while I +realized what it meant ... Alex had passed ... the willow was down ... +but he'll wait for me some place ... nothing is surer than that! I am +not lonely now.... Alex and I are closer together than plenty of +people who are living side by side. Distance is a matter of spirit ... +like everything else that counts.</p> + +<p>"I am getting on well. The children are at school now, both of +them,—they sit in the same seats we sat in,—the crops are in good +shape—did you ever see a finer stand of wild hay? I can manage the +farm, with one extra hired man in harvest-time. Alex went out on the +crest of the wave—he had just been recommended for promotion—the +children will always have a proud memory.</p> + +<p>"This is a great country, isn't it? Where can you find such abundance, +and such a climate, with its sunshine and its cool nights, and such a +chance to make good?... I suppose <a name="Page_254" id="Page_254"></a>freedom has to be paid for. We +thought the people long ago had paid for it, but another installment +of the debt fell due. Freedom is like a farm—it has to be kept up. It +is worth something to have a chance to work and bring up my +children—in peace—so I am living on from day to day ... not grieving +... not moping ... not thinking too much,—it hurts to think too +hard,—just living."</p> + +<p>Then we shook hands, and I told her that she had found something far +greater than happiness, for she had achieved power!</p> + +<hr style='width: 15%;' /> + +<p>There is a fine rainbow in the sky this evening, so bright and strong +that it shows again in a reflected bow on the clouds behind it. A +rainbow is a heartsome thing, for it reminds us of a promise made long +ago, and faithfully kept.</p> + +<p>There is shadow and shine, sorrow and joy, all the way along. This is +inevitable, and so we must take them as they come, and rejoice over +every sunny hour of every day, or, if the day is all dark, we must go +hopefully forward through the gloom.</p> + +<p><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"></a>To-day has been fine. There was one spattering shower, which pebbled +the dusty roads, and a few crashes of rolling thunder. But the western +sky is red now, giving promise of a good day to-morrow.</p> + +<br /> +<br /> + +<h3><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"></a>A PRAYER FOR THE NEXT OF KIN</h3> + + +<div class="center"><div class="content"> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>O Thou, who once Thine own Son gave</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>To save the world from sin,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Draw near in pity now we crave</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>To all the Next of Kin.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To Thee we make our humble prayer</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To save us from despair!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Send sleep to all the hearts that wake;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Send tears into the eyes that burn;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Steady the trembling hands that shake;</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Comfort all hearts that mourn.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>But most of all, dear Lord, we pray</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>For strength to see us through this day.</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>As in the wilderness of old,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>When Thou Thy children safely led,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>They gathered, as we have been told,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>One day's supply of heavenly bread,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>And if they gathered more than that,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>At evening it was stale and flat,—</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>So, Lord, may this our faith increase—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>To leave, untouched, to-morrow's load,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>To take of grace a one-day lease</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Upon life's winding road.</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Though round the bend we may not see,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Still let us travel hopefully!</i><br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"></a><i>Or, if our faith is still so small—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Our hearts so void of heavenly grace,</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>That we may still affrighted be</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>In passing some dark place—</i><br /></span> +<span class="i0"><i>Then in Thy mercy let us run</i><br /></span> +<span class="i2"><i>Blindfolded in the race.</i><br /></span> +</div></div></div></div> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + +<h4>THE END</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<h5><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"></a>The Riverside Press<br /> +CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS<br /> +U.S.A.</h5> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Next of Kin, by Nellie L. McClung + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEXT OF KIN *** + +***** This file should be named 16552-h.htm or 16552-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/5/16552/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/16552.txt b/16552.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d673419 --- /dev/null +++ b/16552.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5438 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Next of Kin, by Nellie L. McClung + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Next of Kin + Those who Wait and Wonder + +Author: Nellie L. McClung + +Release Date: August 19, 2005 [EBook #16552] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEXT OF KIN *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The Next of Kin + + _Those who Wait and Wonder_ + + By + + Nellie L. McClung + + Author of "Sowing Seeds in Denny," "The Second Chance," + "The Black Creek Stopping House," and + "In Times like These" + + + TORONTO + THOMAS ALLEN + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + 1917 + + + + + 1917, BY NELLIE L. McCLUNG + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + _Published November 1917_ + + +HOPE + + + Down through the ages, a picture has come of the woman who weepeth: + Tears are her birthright, and sorrow and sadness her portion: + Weeping endures for a night, and prolongeth its season + Far in the day, with the will of God + For a reason! + + Such has the world long accepted, as fitting and real; + Plentiful have been the causes of grief, without stinting; + Patient and sad have the women accepted the ruling, + Learning life's lessons, with hardly a word of complaint + At the schooling. + + But there's a limit to tears, even tears, and a new note is sounding: + Hitherto they have wept without hope, never seeing an ending; + Now hope has dawned in their poor lonely hearts, + And a message they're sending + Over the world to their sisters in weeping, a message is flashing, + Flashing the brighter, for the skies are so dark + And war thunders crashing! + And this is the message the war-stricken women send out + In their sorrow: + "Yesterday and to-day have gone wrong, + But we still have to-morrow!" + + + + +Contents + + + FOREWORD 1 + + I. BEACH DAYS 22 + + II. WORKING IN! 35 + + III. LET'S PRETEND 46 + + IV. PICTURES 53 + + V. SAVING OUR SOULS 58 + + VI. SURPRISES 70 + + VII. CONSERVATION 92 + +VIII. "PERMISSION" 112 + + IX. THE SLACKER--IN UNIFORM 142 + + X. NATIONAL SERVICE--ONE WAY 154 + + XI. THE ORPHAN 171 + + XII. THE WAR-MOTHER 193 + +XIII. THE BELIEVING CHURCH 210 + + XIV. THE LAST RESERVES 227 + + XV. LIFE'S TRAGEDY 241 + + XVI. WAITING! 247 + + + + +The Next of Kin + + +FOREWORD + + +It was a bleak day in November, with a thick, gray sky, and a great, +noisy, blustering wind that had a knack of facing you, no matter which +way you were going; a wind that would be in ill-favor anywhere, but in +northern Alberta, where the wind is not due to blow at all, it was +what the really polite people call "impossible." Those who were not so +polite called it something quite different, but the meaning is the +same. + +There are districts, not so very far from us, where the wind blows so +constantly that the people grow accustomed to it; they depend on it; +some say they like it; and when by a rare chance it goes down for a +few hours, they become nervous, panicky, and apprehensive, always +listening, expecting something to happen. But we of the windless +North, with our sunlit spaces, our quiet days and nights, grow +peevish, petulant, and full of grouch when the wind blows. We will +stand anything but that. We resent wind; it is not in the bond; we +will have none of it! + +"You won't have many at the meeting to-day," said the station agent +cheerfully, when I went into the small waiting-room to wait for the +President of the Red Cross Society, who wanted to see me before the +meeting. "No, you won't have many a day like this, although there are +some who will come out, wind or no wind, to hear a woman speak--it's +just idle curiosity, that's all it is." + +"Oh, come," I said, "be generous; maybe they really think that she may +have something to say!" + +"Well, you see," said this amateur philosopher, as he dusted the +gray-painted sill of the wicket with a large red-and-white +handkerchief, "it _is_ great to hear a woman speak in public, anyway, +even if she does not do it very well. It's sorto' like seeing a pony +walking on its hind legs; it's clever even if it's not natural. You +will have some all right--I'm going over myself. There would have been +a big crowd in if it hadn't been for the wind. You see, you've never +been here before and that all helps." + +Then the President of the Red Cross Society came and conducted me to +the house quite near the station where I was to be entertained. My +hostess, who came to the door herself in answer to our ring, was a +sweet-faced, little Southern woman transplanted here in northern +Canada, who with true Southern hospitality and thoughtfulness asked me +if I would not like to step right upstairs and "handsome up a bit" +before I went to the meeting,--"not but what you're looking right +peart," she added quickly. + +When I was shown upstairs to the spare room and was well into the +business of "handsoming up," I heard a small voice at the door +speaking my name. I opened the door and found there a small girl of +about seven years of age, who timidly asked if she might come in. I +told her that I was just dressing and would be glad to have her at +some other time. But she quickly assured me that it was right now that +she wished to come in, for she would like to see how I dressed. I +thought the request a strange one and brought the small person in to +hear more of it. She told me, + +"I heard my mamma and some other ladies talking about you," she said, +"and wondering what you would be like; and they said that women like +you who go out making speeches never know how to dress themselves, and +they said that they bet a cent that you just flung your clothes +on,--and do you? Because I think it must be lovely to be able to fling +your clothes on--and I wish I could! Don't you tell that I told you, +will you?--but that is why I came over. I live over there,"--she +pointed to a house across the street,--"and I often come to this +house. I brought over a jar of cream this morning. My mamma sent it +over to Mrs. Price, because she was having you stay here." + +"That was very kind of your mamma," I said, much pleased with this +evidence of her mother's good-will. + +"Oh, yes," said my visitor. "My mamma says she always likes to help +people out when they are in trouble. But no one knows that I am here +but just you and me. I watched and watched for you, and when you came +nobody was looking and I slipped out and came right in, and never +knocked--nor nothin'." + +I assured my small guest that mum was the word, and that I should be +delighted to have her for a spectator while I went on with the process +of making myself look as nice as nature would allow. But she was +plainly disappointed when she found that I was not one bit quicker +about dressing than plenty of others, even though she tried to speed +me up a little. + +Soon the President came for me and took me to the Municipal Hall, +where the meeting was to be held. + +I knew, just as soon as I went in, that it was going to be a good +meeting. There was a distinct air of preparedness about +everything--some one had scrubbed the floor and put flags on the wall +and flowers in the windows; over in the corner there was a long, +narrow table piled up with cups and saucers, with cake and sandwiches +carefully covered from sight; but I knew what caused the lumpiness +under the white cloth. Womanly instinct--which has been declared a +safer guide than man's reasoning--told me that there were going to be +refreshments, and the delightful odor of coffee, which escaped from +the tightly closed boiler on the stove, confirmed my deductions. Then +I noticed that a handbill on the wall spoke freely of it, and declared +that every one was invited to stay, although there did not seem to be +much need of this invitation--certainly there did not seem to be any +climatic reason for any one's leaving any place of shelter; for now +the wind, confirming our worst suspicions of it, began to drive frozen +splinters of sleet against the windows. + +By three o'clock the hall was full,--women mostly, for it was still +the busy time for the men on the farms. Many of the women brought +their children with them. Soon after I began to speak, the children +fell asleep, tired out with struggling with wind and weather, and +content to leave the affairs of state with any one who wanted them. +But the women watched me with eager faces which seemed to speak back +to me. The person who drives ten miles against a head wind over bad +roads to hear a lecture is not generally disposed to slumber. The +faces of these women were so bright and interested that, when it was +over, it seemed to me that it had been a conversation where all had +taken part. + +The things that I said to them do not matter; they merely served as an +introduction to what came after, when we sat around the stove and the +young girls of the company brought us coffee and sandwiches, and mocha +cake and home-made candy, and these women told me some of the things +that are near their hearts. + +"I drove fourteen miles to-day," said one woman, "but those of us who +live long on the prairie do not mind these things. We were two hundred +miles from a railway when we went in first, and we only got our mail +'in the spring.' Now, when we have a station within fourteen miles and +a post-office on the next farm, we feel we are right in the midst of +things, and I suppose we do not really mind the inconveniences that +would seem dreadful to some people. We have done without things all +our lives, always hoping for better things to come, and able to bear +things that were disagreeable by telling ourselves that the children +would have things easier than we had had them. We have had frozen +crops; we have had hail; we have had serious sickness; but we have not +complained, for all these things seemed to be God's doings, and no one +could help it. We took all this--face upwards; but with the war--it is +different. The war is not God's doings at all. Nearly all the boys +from our neighborhood are gone, and some are not coming back----" + +She stopped abruptly, and a silence fell on the group of us. She +fumbled for a moment in her large black purse, and then handed me an +envelope, worn, battered. It was addressed to a soldier in France and +it had not been opened. Across the corner, in red ink, was written the +words, "Killed in action." + +"My letters are coming back now," she said simply. "Alex was my eldest +boy, and he went at the first call for men, and he was only +eighteen--he came through Saint-Eloi and Festubert--But this happened +in September." + +The woman who sat beside her took up the theme. "We have talked a lot +about this at our Red Cross meetings. What do the women of the world +think of war? No woman ever wanted war, did she? No woman could bring +a child into the world, suffering for it, caring for it, loving it, +without learning the value of human life, could she? War comes about +because human life is the cheapest thing in the world; it has been +taken at man's estimate, and that is entirely too low. Now, we have +been wondering what can be done when this war is over to form a league +of women to enforce peace. There is enough sentiment in the world in +favor of human life if we could bind it up some way." + +I gazed at the eager faces before me--in astonishment. Did I ever hear +high-browed ladies in distant cities talk of the need of education in +the country districts? + +"Well-kept homes and hand-knit socks will never save the world," said +Alex's mother. "Look at Germany! The German women are kind, patient, +industrious, frugal, hard-working, everything that a woman ought to +be, but it did not save them, or their country, and it will not save +us. We have allowed men to have control of the big things in life too +long. While we worked--or played--they have ruled. My nearest neighbor +is a German, and she and I have talked these things over. She feels +just the same as we do, and she sews for our Red Cross. She says she +could not knit socks for our soldiers, for they are enemies, but she +makes bandages, for she says wounded men are not enemies, and she is +willing to do anything for them. She wanted to come to-day to hear +you, but her husband would not let her have a horse, because he says +he does not believe in women speaking in public, anyway! I wanted her +to come with us even if he did not like it, but she said that she +dared not." + +"Were you not afraid of making trouble?" I asked. + +Alex's mother smiled. "A quick, sharp fight is the best and clears up +things. I would rather be a rebel any time than a slave. But of +course it is easy for me to talk! I have always been treated like a +human being. Perhaps it is just as well that she did not come. Old +Hans has long generations back of him to confirm him in his theory +that women are intended to be men's bondservants and that is why they +are made smaller; it will all take time--and other things. The trouble +has been with all of us that we have expected time to work out all of +our difficulties, and it won't; there is no curative quality in time! +And what I am most afraid of is that we will settle down after the +war, and slip right back into our old ways,--our old peaceful +ways,--and let men go on ruling the world, and war will come again and +again. Men have done their very best,--I am not feeling hard to +them,--but I know, and the thoughtful men know, that men alone can +never free the world from the blight of war; and if we go on, too +gentle and sweet to assert ourselves, knitting, nursing, bringing +children into the world, it will surely come to pass, when we are old, +perhaps, and not able to do anything,--but suffer,--that war will +come again, and we shall see our daughters' children or our +granddaughters' children sent off to fight, and their heart-broken +mothers will turn on us accusing eyes and say to us, 'You went through +all this--you knew what this means--why didn't you do something?' That +is my bad dream when I sit knitting, because I feel hard toward the +women that are gone. They were a poor lot, many of them. I like now +best of all Jennie Geddes who threw the stool at somebody's head. I +forget what Jennie's grievance was, but it was the principle that +counts--she had a conviction, and was willing to fight for it. I never +said these things--until I got this." She still held the letter, with +its red inscription, in her hand. "But now I feel that I have earned +the right to speak out. I have made a heavy investment in the cause of +Humanity and I am going to look after it. The only thing that makes it +possible to give up Alex is the hope that Alex's death may help to +make war impossible and so save other boys. But unless we do something +his death will not help a bit; for this thing has always been--and +that is the intolerable thought to me. I am willing to give my boy to +die for others if I am sure that the others are going to be saved, but +I am not willing that he should die in vain. You see what I mean, +don't you?" + +I told her that I did see, and that I believed that she had expressed +the very thought that was in the mind of women everywhere. + +"Well, then," she said quickly, "why don't you write it? We will +forget this when it is all over and we will go back to our old +pursuits and there will be nothing--I mean, no record of how we felt. +Anyway, we will die and a new generation will take our places. Why +don't you write it while your heart is hot?" + +"But," I said, "perhaps what I should write would not truly represent +what the women are thinking. They have diverse thoughts, and how can I +hope to speak for them?" + +"Write what you feel," she said sternly. "These are fundamental +things. Ideas are epidemic--they go like the measles. If you are +thinking a certain thing, you may be sure you have no monopoly of it; +many others are thinking it too. That is my greatest comfort at this +time. Write down what you feel, even if it is not what you think you +ought to feel. Write it down for all of us!" + +And that is how it happened. There in the Municipal Hall in the small +town of Ripston, as we sat round the stove that cold November day, +with the sleet sifting against the windows, I got my commission from +these women, whom I had not seen until that day, to tell what we think +and feel, to tell how it looks to us, who are the mothers of soldiers, +and to whom even now the letter may be on its way with its curt +inscription across the corner. I got my commission there to tell +fearlessly and hopefully the story of the Next of Kin. + +It will be written in many ways, by many people, for the brand of this +war is not only on our foreheads, but deep in our hearts, and it will +be reflected in all that our people write for many years to come. The +trouble is that most of us feel too much to write well; for it is hard +to write of the things which lie so heavy on our hearts; but the +picture is not all dark--no picture can be. If it is all dark, it +ceases to be a picture and becomes a blot. Belgium has its tradition +of deathless glory, its imperishable memories of gallant bravery which +lighten its darkness and make it shine like noonday. The one +unlightened tragedy of the world to-day is Germany. + +I thought of these things that night when I was being entertained at +the Southern woman's hospitable home. + +"It pretty near took a war to make these English women friendly to +each other and to Americans. I lived here six months before any of +them called on me, and then I had to go and dig them out; but I was +not going to let them go on in such a mean way. They told me then that +they were waiting to see what church I was going to; and then I rubbed +it into them that they were a poor recommend for any church, with +their mean, unneighborly ways; for if a church does not teach people +to be friendly I think it ought to be burned down, don't you? I told +them I could not take much stock in that hymn about 'We shall know +each other there,' when they did not seem a bit anxious about knowing +each other here, which is a heap more important; for in heaven we will +all have angels to play with, but here we only have each other, and it +is right lonesome when they won't come out and play! But I tell you +things have changed for the better since the war, and now we knit and +sew together, and forgive each other for being Methodists and +Presbyterians; and, do you know? I made a speech one night, right out +loud so everybody could hear me, in a Red Cross meeting, and that is +what I thought that I could never do. But I got feeling so anxious +about the prisoners of war in Germany that I couldn't help making an +appeal for them; and I was so keen about it, and wanted every one of +those dear boys to get a square meal, that I forgot all about little +Mrs. Price, and I was not caring a cent whether she was doing herself +proud or not. And when I got done the people were using their +handkerchiefs, and I was sniffing pretty hard myself, but we raised +eighty-five dollars then and there, and now I know I will never be +scared again. I used to think it was so ladylike to be nervous about +speaking, and now I know it is just a form of selfishness. I was +simply scared that I would not do well, thinking all the time of +myself. But now everything has changed and I am ready to do anything I +can." + +"Go on," I said; "tell me some more. Remember that you women to-day +made me promise to write down how this war is hitting us, and I merely +promised to write what I heard and saw. I am not going to make up +anything, so you are all under obligation to tell me all you can. I am +not to be the author of this book, but only the historian." + +"It won't be hard," she said encouragingly. "There is so much +happening every day that it will be harder to decide what to leave out +than to find things to put in. In this time of excitement the lid is +off, I tell you; the bars are down; we can see right into the hearts +of people. It is like a fire or an earthquake when all the doors are +open and the folks are carrying their dearest possessions into the +street, and they are all real people now, and they have lost all +their little mincing airs and all their lawdie-daw. But believe me, we +have been some fiddlers! When I look around this house I see evidence +of it everywhere; look at that abomination now"--She pointed to an +elaborately beaded match-safe which hung on the wall. + +It bore on it the word, "Matches," in ornate letters, all made of +beads, but I noticed that its empty condition belied the inscription. + +"Think of the hours of labor that some one has put on that," she went +on scornfully, "and now it is such an aristocrat that it takes up all +its time at that and has no time to be useful. I know now that it +never really intended to hold matches, but simply lives to mock the +honest seeker who really needs a match. I have been a real sinner +myself," she went on after a pause; "I have been a fiddler, all right. +I may as well make a clean breast of it,--I made that match-safe and +nearly bored my eyes out doing it, and was so nervous and cross that I +was not fit to live with." + +"I can't believe that," I said. + +"Well, I sure was some snappy. I have teased out towel ends, and made +patterns on them; I've punched holes in linen and sewed them up +again--there is no form of foolishness that I have not committed--and +liked it! But now I have ceased to be a fiddler and have become a +citizen, and I am going to try to be a real good spoke in the wheel of +progress. I can't express it very well, but I am going to try to link +up with the people next me and help them along. Perhaps you know what +I mean--I think it is called team-play." + +When the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa were burning, the main switch +which controlled the lighting was turned off by mistake and the whole +place was plunged into darkness, and this added greatly to the horror +and danger. The switch was down a long passage through which the smoke +was rolling, and it seemed impossible for any one to make the journey +and return. Then the people who were there formed a chain, by holding +each other's hands--a great human chain. So that the one who went +ahead felt the sustaining power of the one who came behind him. If he +stumbled and fell, the man behind him helped him to his feet and +encouraged him to go on. In this way the switch was reached, the light +was turned on, and many lives were saved. + +Over the world to-day roll great billows of hatred and +misunderstanding, which have darkened the whole face of the earth. We +believe that there is a switch if we could get to it, but the smoke +blinds us and we are choked with our tears. Perhaps if we join hands +all of us will be able to do what a few of us could never do. This +reaching-out of feeble human hands, this new compelling force which is +going to bind us all together, this deep desire for cohesion which +swells in our hearts and casts out all smallness and all +self-seeking--this is what we mean when we speak of the Next of Kin. +It is not a physical relationship, but the great spiritual bond which +unites all those whose hearts have grown more tender by sorrow, and +whose spiritual eyes are not dimmed, but washed clearer by their +tears! + + + Sing a song of hearts grown tender, + With the sorrow and the pain; + Sorrow is a great old mender, + Love can give,--and give again. + Love's a prodigal old spender,-- + And the jolliest old lender, + For he never turns away + Any one who comes to borrow, + If they say their stock is slender, + And they're sorely pressed by sorrow! + Never has been known to say,-- + "We are short ourselves to-day,-- + Can't you come again to-morrow?" + That has never been Love's way! + And he's rich beyond all telling, + Love divine all love excelling! + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BEACH DAYS + + When a soldier's watch, with its luminous face, + Loses its light and grows dim and black, + He holds it out in the sun a space + And the radiance all comes back; + And that is the reason I'm thinking to-day + Of the glad days now long past; + I am leaving my heart where the sunbeams play: + I am trying to drive my fears away: + I am charging my soul with a spirit gay, + And hoping that it will last! + + +We were the usual beach crowd, with our sport suits, our silk +sweaters, our Panama hats, our veranda teas and week-end guests, our +long, lovely, lazy afternoons in hammocks beside the placid waters of +Lake Winnipeg. Life was easy and pleasant, as we told ourselves life +ought to be in July and August, when people work hard all year and +then come away to the quiet greenness of the big woods, to forget the +noise and dust of the big city. + +We called our cottage "Kee-am," for that is the Cree word which means +"Never mind"--"Forget it"--"I should worry!" and we liked the name. +It had a romantic sound, redolent of the old days when the Indians +roamed through these leafy aisles of the forest, and it seemed more +fitting and dignified than "Rough House," where dwelt the quietest +family on the beach, or "Dunwurkin" or "Neverdunfillin" or "Takitezi," +or any of the other more or less home-made names. We liked our name so +well that we made it, out of peeled poles, in wonderful rustic +letters, and put it up in the trees next the road. + +Looking back now, we wonder what we had to worry about! There was +politics, of course; we had just had a campaign that warmed up our +little province, and some of the beachites were not yet speaking to +each other; but nobody had been hurt and nobody was in jail. + +Religion was not troubling us: we went dutifully every Sunday to the +green-and-white schoolhouse under the tall spruce trees, and heard a +sermon preached by a young man from the college, who had a deep and +intimate knowledge of Amos and Elisha and other great men long dead, +and sometimes we wished he would tell us more about the people who +are living now and leave the dead ones alone. But it is always safer +to speak of things that have happened long ago, and aspersions may be +cast with impunity on Ahab and Jezebel and Balak. There is no danger +that they will have friends on the front seat, who will stop their +subscriptions to the building fund because they do not believe in +having politics introduced into the church. + +The congregations were small, particularly on the hot afternoons, for +many of our people did not believe in going to church when the weather +was not just right. Indeed, there had been a serious discussion in the +synod of one of the largest churches on the question of abolishing +prayers altogether in the hot weather; and I think that some one gave +notice of a motion that would come up to this effect at the annual +meeting. No; religion was not a live topic. There were evidently many +who had said, as did one little girl who was leaving for her holidays, +"Good-bye, God--we are going to the country." + +One day a storm of excitement broke over us, and for a whole +afternoon upset the calm of our existence. Four hardy woodmen came +down the road with bright new axes, and began to cut down the +beautiful trees which had taken so many years to grow and which made +one of the greatest beauties of the beach. It was some minutes before +the women sitting on their verandas realized what was happening; but +no army ever mobilized quicker for home defense than they, and they +came in droves demanding an explanation, of which there did not seem +to be any. + +"Big Boss him say cut down tree," the spokesman of the party said over +and over again. + +The women in plain and simple language expressed their unexpurgated +opinion of Big Boss, and demanded that he be brought to them. The +stolid Mikes and Peters were utterly at a loss to know what to do! + +"Big Boss--no sense," one woman roared at them, hoping to supplement +their scanty knowledge of English with volume of sound. + +There was no mistaking what the gestures meant, and at last the +wood-choppers prepared to depart, the smallest man of the party +muttering something under his breath which sounded like an +anti-suffrage speech. I think it was, "Woman's place is the home," or +rather its Bukawinian equivalent. We heard nothing further from them, +and indeed we thought no more of it, for the next day was August 4, +1914. + +When the news of war came, we did not really believe it! War! That was +over! There had been war, of course, but that had been long ago, in +the dark ages, before the days of free schools and peace conferences +and missionary conventions and labor unions! There might be a little +fuss in Ireland once in a while. The Irish are privileged, and nobody +should begrudge them a little liberty in this. But a big war--that was +quite impossible! Christian nations could not go to war! + +"Somebody should be made to pay dear for this," tearfully declared a +doctor's wife. "This is very bad for nervous women." + +The first news had come on the 9.40 train, and there was no more until +the 6.20 train when the men came down from the city; but they could +throw no light on it either. The only serious face that I saw was that +of our French neighbor, who hurried away from the station without +speaking to any one. When I spoke to him the next day, he answered me +in French, and I knew his thoughts were far away. + +The days that followed were days of anxious questioning. The men +brought back stories of the great crowds that surged through the +streets blocking the traffic in front of the newspaper offices reading +the bulletins, while the bands played patriotic airs; of the misguided +German who shouted, "Hoch der Kaiser!" and narrowly escaped the fury +of the crowd. + +We held a monster meeting one night at "Windwhistle Cottage," and we all +made speeches, although none of us knew what to say. The general tone of +the speeches was to hold steady,--not to be panicky,--Britannia rules +the waves,--it would all be over soon,--Dr. Robertson Nicholl and +Kitchener could settle anything! + +The crowd around the dancing pavilion began to dwindle in the +evenings--that is, of the older people. The children still danced, +happily; fluffy-haired little girls, with "headache" bands around +their pretty heads, did the fox-trot and the one-step with boys of +their own age and older, but the older people talked together in +excited groups. + +Every night when the train came in the crowds waited in tense anxiety +to get the papers, and when they were handed out, read them in +silence, a silence which was ominous. Political news was relegated to +the third page and was not read until we got back to the veranda. In +these days nothing mattered; the baker came late; the breakfast dishes +were not washed sometimes until they were needed for lunch, for the +German maids and the English maids discussed the situation out under +the trees. Mary, whose last name sounded like a tray of dishes +falling, the fine-looking Polish woman who brought us vegetables every +morning, arrived late and in tears, for she said, "This would be bad +times for Poland--always it was bad times for Poland, and I will never +see my mother again." + +A shadow had fallen on us, a shadow that darkened the children's +play. Now they made forts of sand, and bored holes in the ends of +stove-wood to represent gaping cannon's mouths, and played that half +the company were Germans; but before many days that game languished, +for there were none who would take the German part: every boat that +was built now was a battleship, and every kite was an aeroplane and +loaded with bombs! + +In less than a week we were collecting for a hospital ship to be the +gift of Canadian women. The message was read out in church one +afternoon, and volunteer collectors were asked for. So successful were +these collectors all over Canada that in a few days word came to us +that enough money had been raised, and that all moneys collected then +could be given to the Belgian Relief Fund. The money had simply poured +in--it was a relief to give! + +Before the time came for school to begin, there were many closed +cottages, for the happy careless freedom of the beach was gone; there +is no happiness in floating across a placid lake in a flat-bottomed +boat if you find yourself continually turning your head toward the +shore, thinking that you hear some one shouting, "Extra." + +There were many things that made it hard to leave the place where we +had spent so many happy hours. There was the rustic seat we had made +ourselves, which faced the lake, and on which we had sat and seen the +storms gather on Blueberry Island. It was a comfortable seat with the +right slant in its back, and I am still proud of having helped to make +it. There was the breakwater of logs which were placed with such feats +of strength, to prevent the erosion of the waves, and which withstood +the big storm of September, 1912, when so many breakwaters were +smashed to kindling-wood. We always had intended to make a long box +along the top, to plant red geraniums in, but it had not been done. +There was the dressing-tent where the boys ran after their numerous +swims, and which had been the scene of many noisy quarrels over lost +garments--garters generally, for they have an elusive quality all +their own. There was also the black-poplar stump which a misguided +relative of mine said "no woman could split." He made this remark +after I had tried in vain to show him what was wrong with his method +of attack. I said that I thought he would do better if he could manage +to hit twice in the same place! And he said that he would like to see +me do it, and went on to declare that he would bet me a five-dollar +bill that I could not. + +If it were not for the fatal curse of modesty I would tell how eagerly +I grasped the axe and with what ease I hit, not twice, but half a +dozen times in the same place--until the stump yielded. This victory +was all the sweeter to me because it came right after our sports day +when I had entered every available contest, from the nail-driving +competition to the fat woman's race, and had never even been mentioned +as among those present! + +We closed our cottage on August 24. That day all nature conspired to +make us feel sorry that we were leaving. A gentle breeze blew over the +lake and rasped its surface into dancing ripples that glittered in the +sun. Blueberry Island seemed to stand out clear and bold and +beckoning. White-winged boats lay over against the horizon and the +_chug-chug_ of a motor-boat came at intervals in a lull of the breeze. +The more tender varieties of the trees had begun to show a trace of +autumn coloring, just a hint and a promise of the ripened beauty of +the fall--if we would only stay! + +Before the turn in the road hid it from sight we stopped and looked +back at the "Kee-am Cottage"--my last recollection of it is of the +boarded windows, which gave it the blinded look of a dead thing, and +of the ferns which grandma had brought from the big woods beyond the +railway track and planted all round it, and which had grown so quickly +and so rank that they seemed to fill in all the space under the +cottage, and with their pale-green, feathery fringe, to be trying to +lift it up into the sunshine above the trees. Instinctively we felt +that we had come to the end of a very pleasant chapter in our life as +a family; something had disturbed the peaceful quiet of our lives; +somewhere a drum was beating and a fife was calling! + +Not a word of this was spoken, but Jack suddenly put it all into +words, for he turned to me and asked quickly, "Mother, when will I be +eighteen?" + + + Gay, as the skater who blithely whirls + To the place of the dangerous ice! + Content, as the lamb who nibbles the grass + While the butcher sets the price! + So content and gay were the boys at play + In the nations near and far, + When munition kings and diplomats + Cried, "War! War!! War!!!" + + + + +CHAPTER II + +WORKING IN! + + +The day after we went to the city I got my first real glimpse of war! +It was the white face of our French neighbor. His wife and two little +girls had gone to France a month before the war broke out, and were +visiting his family in a village on the Marne. Since the outbreak of +war he had had no word from them, and his face worked pitifully when +he told me this. "Not one word, though I cabled and got friends in +London to wire _aussi_," he said. "But I will go myself and see." + +"What about your house and motor?" he was asked. + +He raised his shoulders and flung out his hands. "What difference?" he +said; "I will not need them." + +I saw him again the day he left. He came out of his house with a small +Airedale pup which had been the merry playmate of Alette and Yvonne. +He stood on the veranda holding the dog in his arms. Strangers were +moving into the house and their boxes stood on the floor. I went over +to say good-bye. + +"I will not come back," he said simply; "it will be a long fight; we +knew it would come, but we did not know when. If I can but find wife +and children--but the Germans--they are devils--Boches--no one knows +them as we do!" + +He stood irresolute a moment, then handed me the dog and went quickly +down the steps. + +"It is for France!" he said. + +I sat on the veranda railing and watched him go. The Airedale blinded +his eyes looking after him, then looked at me, plainly asking for an +explanation. But I had to tell him that I knew no more about it than +he did. Then I tried to comfort him by telling him that many little +dogs were much worse off than he, for they had lost their people and +their good homes as well, and he still had his comfortable home and +his good meals. But it was neither meals nor bed that his faithful +little heart craved, and for many weeks a lonely little Airedale on +Chestnut Street searched diligently for his merry little playmates and +his kind master, but he found them not. + +There was still a certain unreality about it all. Sometimes it has +been said that the men who went first went for adventure. Perhaps they +did, but it does not matter--they have since proved of what sort of +stuff they were made. + +When one of the first troop trains left Winnipeg, a handsome young +giant belonging to the Seventy-ninth Highlanders said, as he swung +himself up on the rear coach, "The only thing I am afraid of is that +it will all be over before we get there." He was needlessly alarmed, +poor lad! He was in time for everything; Festubert, Saint-Eloi, Ypres; +for the gas attacks before the days of gas-masks, for trench-fever, +for the D.C.M.; and now, with but one leg, and blind, he is one of the +happy warriors at St. Dunstan's whose cheerfulness puts to shame those +of us who are whole! + +There were strange scenes at the station when those first trains went +out. The Canadians went out with a flourish, with cheers, with songs, +with rousing music from the bands. The serious men were the French and +Belgian reservists, who, silently, carrying their bundles, passed +through our city, with grim, determined faces. They knew, and our boys +did not know, to what they were going. That is what made the +difference in their manner. + +The government of one of the provinces, in the early days of the war, +shut down the public works, and, strange to say, left the bars open. +Their impulse was right--but they shut down the wrong thing; it should +have been the bars, of course. They knew something should be shut +down. We are not blaming them; it was a panicky time. People often, +when they hear the honk of an automobile horn, jump back instead of +forward. And it all came right in time. + +A moratorium was declared at once, which for the time being relieved +people of their debts, for there was a strong feeling that the cup of +sorrow was so full now that all movable trouble should be set off for +another day! + +The temperance people then asked, as a corresponding war measure, +that the bars be closed. They urged that the hearts of our people were +already so burdened that they should be relieved of the trouble and +sorrow which the liquor traffic inevitably brings. "Perhaps," they +said to the government, "when a happier season comes, we may be able +to bear it better; but we have so many worries now, relieve us of this +one, over which you have control." + +Then the financial side of the liquor traffic began to pinch. Manitoba +was spending thirteen million dollars over the bars every year. The +whole Dominion's drink bill was one hundred millions. When the people +began to rake and save to meet the patriotic needs, and to relieve the +stress of unemployment, these great sums of money were thought of +longingly--and with the longing which is akin to pain! The problem of +unemployment was aggravated by the liquor evil and gave another +argument for prohibition. + +I heard a woman telling her troubles to a sympathetic friend one day, +as we rode in an elevator. + +"'E's all right when 'e's in work," she said; "but when 'e's hidle +'e's something fierce: 'e knocks me about crool. 'E guzzles all the +time 'e's out of work." + +It was easy to believe. Her face matched her story; she was a poor, +miserable, bedraggled creature, with teeth out in front. She wore +black cotton gloves such as undertakers supply for the pallbearers, +and every finger was out. The liquor traffic would have a better +chance if there were not so many arguments against it walking round. + +About this time, too, the traffic suffered a great bereavement, for +the personal liberty argument fell, mortally wounded. The war did +that, too. + +All down the ages there have been men who believed that personal +liberty included the right to do what one wished to do, no matter who +was hurt. So, if a man wished to drink, by the sacred rights for which +his forefathers had bled and died he was at liberty to do so, and then +go home and beat up his own wife and family if he wanted to; for if +you can't beat your own wife, whom can you beat, I'd like to know? +Any one who disputed this sacred right was counted a spoil-fun and a +joy-killer! + +But a change came over the world's thought in the early days of the +war. Liberty grew to be a holy word, a sacred thing, when the blood of +our brightest and best was being poured out in its defense, and never +again will the old, selfish, miserable conception of liberty obtain +favor. The Kaiser helped here, too, for he is such a striking example +of the one who claims absolute liberty for himself, no matter who is +hurt, that somehow we never hear it mentioned now. I believe it is +gone, forever! + +The first step in the curtailment of the liquor traffic was the +closing of the bars at seven o'clock, and the beneficial effect was +felt at once. Many a man got home early for the first time in his +life, and took his whole family to the "movies." + +The economy meetings brought out some quaint speeches. No wonder! +People were taken unawares. We were unprepared for war, and the +changes it had brought;--we were as unprepared as the woman who said, +in speaking of unexpected callers, "I had not even time to turn my +plants." There was much unintentional humor. One lady, whose home was +one of the most beautiful in the city, and who entertained lavishly, +told us, in her address on "Economy," that at the very outbreak of the +war she reduced her cook's wages from thirty to twenty dollars, and +gave the difference to the Patriotic Fund; that she had found a +cheaper dressmaker who made her dresses now for fifteen dollars, where +formerly she had paid twenty-five; and she added artlessly, "They are +really nicer, and I do think we should all give in these practical +ways; that's the sort of giving that I really enjoy!" + +Another woman told of how much she had given up for the Patriotic +Fund; that she had determined not to give one Christmas present, and +had given up all the societies to which she had belonged, even the +Missionary Society, and was giving it all to the Red Cross. "I will +not even give a present to the boy who brings the paper," she declared +with conviction. Whether or not the boy's present ever reached the +Red Cross, I do not know. But ninety-five per cent of the giving was +real, honest, hard, sacrificing giving. Elevator-boys, maids, +stenographers gave a percentage of their earnings, and gave it +joyously. They like to give, but they do not like to have it taken +away from them by an employer, who thereby gets the credit of the +gift. The Red Cross mite-boxes into which children put their candy +money, while not enriching the Red Cross to any large extent, trained +the children to take some share in the responsibility; and one +enthusiastic young citizen, who had been operated on for appendicitis, +proudly exhibited his separated appendix, preserved in alcohol, at so +much per look, and presented the proceeds to the Red Cross. + +The war came home to the finest of our people first. It has not +reached them all yet, but it is working in, like the frost into the +cellars when the thermometer shows forty degrees below zero. Many a +cellar can stand a week of this--but look out for the second! Every +day it comes to some one. + +"I don't see why we are always asked to give," one woman said +gloomily, when the collector asked her for a monthly subscription to +the Red Cross. "Every letter that goes out of the house has a stamp on +it--and we write a queer old lot of letters, and I guess we've done +our share." + +She is not a dull woman either or hard of heart. It has not got to her +yet--that's all! I cannot be hard on her in my judgment, for it did +not come to me all at once, either. + +When I saw the first troops going away, I wondered how their mothers +let them go, and I made up my mind that I would not let my boy go,--I +was so glad he was only seventeen,--for hope was strong in our hearts +that it might be over before he was of military age. It was the +Lusitania that brought me to see the whole truth. Then I saw that we +were waging war on the very Princes of Darkness, and I knew that +morning when I read the papers, I knew that it would be better--a +thousand times better--to be dead than to live under the rule of +people whose hearts are so utterly black and whose process of +reasoning is so oxlike--they are so stupidly brutal. I knew then that +no man could die better than in defending civilization from this +ghastly thing which threatened her! + +Soon after that I knew, without a word being said, that my boy wanted +to go--I saw the seriousness come into his face, and knew what it +meant. It was when the news from the Dardanelles was heavy on our +hearts, and the newspapers spoke gravely of the outlook. + +One day he looked up quickly and said, "I want to go--I want to help +the British Empire--while there is a British Empire!" + +And then I realized that my boy, my boy, had suddenly become a man and +had put away childish things forever. + +I shall always be glad that the call came to him, not in the +intoxication of victory, but in the dark hour of apparent defeat. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +LET'S PRETEND + + Let's pretend the skies are blue, + Let's pretend the world is new, + And the birds of hope are singing + All the day! + + Short of gladness--learn to fake it! + Long on sadness--go and shake it! + Life is only--what you make it, + Anyway! + + There is wisdom without end + In the game of "Let's pretend!" + + +We played it to-day. We had to, for the boys went away, and we had to +send our boys away with a smile! They will have heartaches and +homesickness a-plenty, without going away with their memories charged +with a picture of their mothers in tears, for that's what takes the +heart out of a boy. They are so young, so brave, we felt that we must +not fail them. + +With such strong words as these did we admonish each other, when we +met the last night, four of us, whose sons were among the boys who +were going away. We talked hard and strong on this theme, not having +a very good grip on it ourselves, I am afraid. We simply harangued +each other on the idleness of tears at stations. Every one of us had +something to say; and when we parted, it was with the tacit +understanding that there was an Anti-Tear League formed--the boys were +leaving on an early train in the morning! + + * * * * * + +The morning is a dismal time anyway, and teeth will chatter, no matter +how brave you feel! It is a squeamish, sickly, choky time,--a winter +morning before the sun is up; and you simply cannot eat breakfast when +you look round the table and see every chair filled,--even the +five-year-old fellow is on hand,--and know that a long, weary time is +ahead of the one who sits next you before he comes again to his +father's house. Even though the conversation is of the gayest, every +one knows what every one else is thinking. + + * * * * * + +There is no use trying--I cannot write the story of that morning.... I +will tell you of other troop-trains I have seen go. I will tell you of +another boy who carried off all the good-byes with a high hand and +great spirits, and said something to every one of the girls who +brought him candy, telling one that he would remember her in his will, +promising another that he would marry her when he got to be Admiral of +the Swiss Navy, but who, when he came to say good-bye to his father, +suddenly grew very white and very limp, and could only say, "Oh, dad! +Good old dad!" + + * * * * * + +I will tell you of other troop-trains I have seen go out, with other +boys waving to other women who strained their eyes and winked hard, +hard, hard to keep back the tears, and stood still, quite still until +the last car had disappeared around the bend, and the last whistle had +torn the morning air into shreds and let loose a whole wild chorus of +echoes through the quiet streets! + + * * * * * + +There was a mist in the air this morning, and a white frost covered +the trees with beautiful white crystals that softened their leafless +limbs. It made a soft and graceful drapery on the telegraph poles and +wires. It carpeted the edges of the platform that had not been walked +on, and even covered the black roofs of the station buildings and the +flatcars which stood in the yard. It seemed like a beautiful white +decoration for the occasion, a beautiful, heavy, elaborate +mourning--for those who had gone--and white, of course--all +white,--because they were so young! + + * * * * * + +Then we came home. It was near the opening time of the stores, and the +girls were on their way to work, but their footfalls made no sound on +the pavement. Even the street-cars seemed to glide quietly by. The +city seemed grave and serious and sad, and disposed to go softly.... +In the store windows the blinds were still down--ghastly, shirred +white things which reminded me uncomfortably of the lining of a +coffin! Over the hotel on the corner, the Calgary Beer Man, growing +pale in the sickly dawn, still poured--and lifted--and drank--and +poured--and lifted--and drank,--insatiable as the gods of war. + + * * * * * + +I wandered idly through the house--what a desolate thing a house can +be when every corner of it holds a memory!--not a memory either, for +that bears the thought of something past,--when every corner of it is +full of a boyish presence!... I can hear him rushing down the stairs +in the morning to get the paper, and shouting the headlines to me as +he brings it up. I can hear him come in at the front door and thump +his books down on the hall seat, and call "Mother!" I sit down and +summon them all, for I know they will fade soon enough--the thin, +sharp edge of everything wears mercifully blunt in time! + + * * * * * + +Then I gathered up his schoolbooks, and every dog-eared exercise-book, +and his timetable, which I found pinned on his window curtain, and I +carried them up to the storeroom in the attic, with his baseball +mitt--and then, for the first time, as I made a pile of the books +under the beams, I broke my anti-tear pledge. It was not for myself, +or for my neighbor across the street whose only son had gone, or for +the other mothers who were doing the same things all over the world; +it was not for the young soldiers who had gone out that day; it was +for the boys who had been cheated of their boyhood, and who had to +assume men's burdens, although in years they were but children. The +saddest places of all the world to-day are not the battle fields, or +the hospitals, or the cross-marked hillsides where the brave ones are +buried; the saddest places are the deserted campus and playgrounds +where they should be playing; the empty seats in colleges, where they +should be sitting; the spaces in the ranks of happy, boisterous +schoolboys, from which the brave boys have gone,--these boys whose +boyhood has been cut so pitifully short. I thought, too, of the little +girls whose laughter will ring out no more in the careless, happy +abandonment of girlhood, for the black shadow of anxiety and dread has +fallen even on their young hearts; the tiny children, who, young as +they are, know that some great sorrow has come to every one; the +children of the war countries, with their terror-stricken eyes and +pale faces; the unspeakable, unforgivable wrong that has been done to +youth the world over. + + * * * * * + +There, as I sat on the floor of the storeroom, my soul wandered down a +long, dark, silent valley, and met the souls of the mothers of all +countries, who had come there, like me, to mourn ... and our tears +were very hot, and very bitter ... for we knew that it was the Valley +of Lost Childhood! + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +PICTURES + + Nothing is lost that our memories hold, + Nothing forgotten that once we knew; + And to-day a boy with curls of gold + Is running my fond heart through and through-- + In and out and round and round-- + And I find myself laughing without a sound + At the funny things he said that time + When life was one glad nursery rhyme. + + +It should not be so hard for mothers to give up their children. We +should grow accustomed to it, for we are always losing them. I once +had a curly-haired baby with eyes like blue forget-me-nots, who had a +sweet way of saying his words, and who coined many phrases which are +still in use in my family. Who is there who cannot see that +"a-ging-a-wah" has a much more refreshing sound than "a drink of +water"? And I am sure that nobody could think of a nicer name for the +hammer and nails than a "num and a peedaw." At an incredibly early age +this baby could tell you how the birdies fly and what the kitty says. + +All mothers who have had really wonderful children--and this takes us +all in--will understand how hard it is to set these things down in +cold print or even to tell them; for even our best friends are +sometimes dull of heart and slow of understanding when we tell them +perfectly wonderful things that our children did or said. We all know +that horrible moment of suspense when we have told something real +funny that our baby said, and our friends look at us with a dull +is-that-all expression in their faces, and we are forced to supplement +our recital by saying that it was not so much what he said as the way +he said it! + +Soon I lost the blue-eyed baby, and there came in his place a sturdy +little freckle-faced chap, with a distinct dislike for water as a +cleansing agent, who stoutly declared that washing his hands was a +great waste of time, for they were sure to get dirty again; which +seems to be reasonable, and it is a wonder that people have not taken +this fact into account more when dealing with the griminess of youth. +Who objected to going to church twice a day on the ground that he +"might get too fond of it." Who, having once received five cents as +recompense for finding his wayward sister, who had a certain +proclivity for getting lost, afterwards deliberately mislaid the same +sister and claimed the usual rates for finding her, and in this manner +did a thriving "Lost and Found" business for days, until his +unsuspecting parent overheard him giving his sister full directions +for losing herself--he had grown tired of having to go with her each +time, and claimed that as she always got half of the treat she should +do her share of the work. Who once thrashed a boy who said that his +sister had a dirty face,--which was quite true, but people do not need +to say everything they know, do they? Who went swimming in the gravel +pit long before the 24th of May, which marks the beginning of swimming +and barefoot time in all proper families, and would have got away with +it, too, only, in his haste to get a ride home, he and his friend +changed shirts by mistake, and it all came to light at bedtime. + +Then I lost him, too. There came in his place a tall youth with a +distinct fondness for fine clothes, stiff collars, tan boots, and +bright ties; a dignified young man who was pained and shocked at the +disreputable appearance of a younger brother who was at that time +passing through the wash-never period of his life and who insisted +upon claiming relationship even in public places. Who hung his room +with flags and pennants and photographs. Who had for his friends many +young fellows with high pompadours, whom he called by their surnames +and disputed with noisily and abusively, but, unlike the famous +quarrel of Fox and Burke, "with no loss of friendship." Who went in +his holidays as "mule-skinner" on a construction gang in the North +Country, and helped to build the railway into "The Crossing," and came +home all brown and tanned, with muscles as hard as iron and a luscious +growth of whiskers. Who then went back to college and really began to +work, for he had learned a few things about the value of an education +as he drove the mules over the dump, which can be learned only when +the muscles ache and the hands have blisters. + +Then came the call! And again I lost him! But there is a private in +the "Princess Pats" who carries my picture in his cap and who reads my +letter over again just before "going in." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SAVING OUR SOULS + + O work--thrice blessed of the gods-- + Abundant may you be! + To hold us steady, when our hearts + Grow cold and panicky! + + I cannot fret--and drive the plough,-- + Nor weep--and ply the spade; + O blessed work--I need you now + To keep me unafraid! + + No terrors can invade the place + Where honest green things thrive; + Come blisters--backache--sunburnt face-- + And save my soul alive! + + +No wonder that increased production has become a popular cry. Every +one wants to work in a garden--a garden is so comforting and +reassuring. Everything else has changed, but seedtime and harvest +still remain. Rain still falls, seeds sprout, buds break into leaves, +and blossoms are replaced by fruit. + +We are forced back to the elemental things. Horses and cattle look +better to me every day. Read the war news--which to-day tells of the +destruction of French villages--and then look at the cattle grazing +peacefully on the grass which clothes the hillside, and see how good +they look! They look like sanctified Christians to me! + +Ever since the war I have envied them. They are not suspicious or +jealous; they are not worried, hurried, troubled, or afraid; they are +oblivious of public opinion; they have no debts to pay; they do not +weary you with explanations; they are not sorry for anything they have +ever done; they are not blaming God for anything! On every count the +cattle seem to have the best of us! + +It is a quiet evening here in northern Alberta, and the evening light +is glinting on the frozen ponds. I can see far up the valley as I +write, and one by one the lights begin to glimmer in the farmhouses; +and I like to think that supper is being prepared there for hungry +children. The thought of supper appeals to me because there is no +dining-car on the train, and every minute I am growing hungrier. The +western sky burns red with the sunset, and throws a sullen glow on the +banks of clouds in the east. It is a quiet, peaceful evening, and I +find it hard to believe that somewhere men are killing each other and +whole villages are burning.... The light on the ponds grows dimmer, +with less of rose and more of a luminous gray.... I grow hungrier +still, and I know it is just because I cannot get anything. I eat +apples and nut-bars, but they do not satisfy me; it is roast beef, +brown gravy, potatoes, and turnips that I want. Is it possible that I +refused lemon pie--last night--at Carmangay? Well--well--let this be a +lesson to you! + +The sunset is gone now, and there is only a brightness in the western +sky, and a big staring moon stands above the valley, shining down on +the patches of snow which seem to run together like the wolves we used +to see on the prairies of Manitoba long ago. The farmhouses we pass +are bright with lights, and I know the children are gathered around +the table to "do" their lessons. The North Country, with its long, +snowy winters, develops the love of home in the hearts of our people, +and drives the children indoors to find their comfort around the fire. +Solomon knew this when he said that the perfect woman "is not afraid +of the snow for her household." Indeed, no; she knows that the snow is +a home-developing agency, and that no one knows the joy and comfort of +home like those of us who have battled with cold and storm and drifted +roads all day, and at nightfall come safely to this blessed place +where warmth and companionship await us! Life has its compensations. + +Across the aisle from me two women are knitting--not in a neighborly, +gossipy way, chatting meanwhile, but silently, swiftly, nervously. +There is a psychological reason for women knitting just now, beyond +the need of socks. I know how these women feel! I, even I, have begun +to crochet! I do it for the same reason that the old toper in time of +stress takes to his glass. It keeps me from thinking; it atrophies the +brain; and now I know why the women of the East are so slow about +getting the franchise. They crochet and work in wool instead of +thinking. You can't do both! When the casualty lists are long, and +letters from the Front far apart--I crochet. + +Once, when I was in great pain, the doctor gave me chloroform, and it +seemed to me that a great black wall arose between me and pain! The +pain was there all right, but it could not get to me on account of the +friendly wall which held it back--and I was grateful! Now I am +grateful to have a crochet-needle and a ball of silcotton. It is a +sort of mental chloroform. This is for the real dark moments, when the +waves go over our heads.... We all have them, but of course they do +not last. + +More and more am I impressed with the wonderful comeback of the human +soul. We are like those Chinese toys, which, no matter how they are +buffeted, will come back to an upright position. It takes a little +longer with us--that is all; but given half a chance--or less--people +will rise victorious over sin and sorrow, defeat and failure, and +prove thereby the divinity which is in all of us! + +As the light dimmed outside, I had time to observe my two traveling +companions more closely. Though at first sight they came under the +same general description of "middle-aged women, possibly +grandmothers, industriously knitting," there was a wide difference +between them as I observed them further. One had a face which bore +traces of many disappointments, and had now settled down into a state +of sadness that was hopeless and final. She had been a fine-looking +woman once, too, and from her high forehead and well-shaped mouth I +should take her to be a woman of considerable mental power, but there +had been too much sorrow; she had belonged to a house of too much +trouble, and it had dried up the fountains of her heart. I could only +describe her by one word, "winter-killed"! She was like a tree which +had burst into bud at the coaxing of the soft spring zephyrs again and +again, only to be caught each time by the frost, and at last, when +spring really came, it could win no answering thrill, for the heart of +the tree was "winter-killed." The frost had come too often! + +The other woman was older, more wrinkled, more weather-beaten, but +there was a childlike eagerness about her that greatly attracted me. +She used her hands when she spoke, and smiled often. This childish +enthusiasm contrasted strangely with her old face, and seemed like the +spirit of youth fluttering still around the grave of one whom it +loved! + +I soon found myself talking to them; the old lady was glad to talk to +me, for she was not making much headway with her companion, on whom +all her arguments were beating in vain. + +"I tell her she has no call to be feeling so bad about the war!" she +began, getting right into the heart of the subject; "we didn't start +it! Let the Kings and Kaisers and Czars who make the trouble do the +fretting. Thank God, none of them are any blood-relation of mine, +anyway. I won't fret over any one's sins, only my own, and maybe I +don't fret half enough over them, either!" + +"What do you know about sins?" the other woman said; "you couldn't sin +if you tried----" + +"That's all you know about it," said the old lady with what was +intended for a dark and mysterious look; "but I never could see what +good it does to worry, anyway, and bother other people by feeling +sorry. Now, here she is worrying night and day because her boy is in +the army and will have to go to France pretty soon. She has two others +at home, too young to go. Harry is still safe in England--he may never +have to go: the war may be over--the Kaiser may fall and break his +neck--there's lots of ways peace may come. Even if Harry does go, he +may not get killed. He may only get his toe off, or his little finger, +and come home, or he may escape everything. Some do. Even if he is +killed--every one has to die, and no one can die a better way; and +Harry is ready--good and ready! So why does she fret? I know she's had +trouble--lots of it--Lord, haven't we all? My three boys went--two +have been killed; but I am not complaining--I am still hoping the last +boy may come through safe. Anyway, we couldn't help it. It is not our +fault; we have to keep on doing what we can.... + +"I remember a hen I used to have when we lived on the farm, and she +had more sense than lots of people--she was a little no-breed hen, and +so small that nobody ever paid much attention to her. But she had a +big heart, and was the greatest mother of any hen I had, and stayed +with her chickens until they were as big as she was and refused to be +gathered under wings any longer. She never could see that they were +grown up. One time she adopted a whole family that belonged to a +stuck-up Plymouth Rock that deserted them when they weren't much more +than feathered. Biddy stepped right in and raised them, with thirteen +of her own. Hers were well grown--Biddy always got down to business +early in the spring, she was so forehanded. She raised the Plymouth +Rocks fine, too! She was a born stepmother. Well, she got shut out one +night, and froze her feet, and lost some good claws, too; but I knew +she'd manage some way, and of course I did not let her set, because +she could not scratch with these stumpy feet of hers. But she found a +job all right! She stole chickens from the other hens. I often +wondered what she promised them, but she got them someway, and only +took those that were big enough to scratch, for Biddy knew her +limitations. She was leading around twenty-two chickens of different +sizes that summer. + +"You see she had personality--that hen: you couldn't keep her down; +she never went in when it rained, and she could cackle louder than any +hen on the ground; and above all, she took things as they came. I +always admired her. I liked the way she died, too. Of course I let her +live as long as she could--she wouldn't have been any good to eat, +anyway, for she was all brains, and I never could bear to make soup +out of a philosopher like what she was. Well, she was getting pretty +stiff--I could see that; and sometimes she had to try two or three +times before she could get on the roost. But this night she made it on +the first try, and when I went to shut the door, she sat there all +ruffled up. I reached out to feel her, she looked so humped-up, and +the minute I touched her, she fell off the roost; and when I picked +her up, she was dead! You see, she got herself balanced so she would +stay on the roost, and then died--bluffed it out to the last, and died +standing up! That's what we should all try to do!" she concluded; "go +down with a smile--I say--hustling and cheerful to the last!" + +I commended her philosophy, but the other woman sat silent, and her +knitting lay idle on her knee. + +After all, the biggest thing in life is the mental attitude! + + + This was the third time a boy on a wheel + Had come to her gate + With the small yellow slip, with its few curt words, + To tell her the fate + Of the boys she had given to fight + For the right to be free! + I thought I must go as a neighbor and friend + And stand by her side; + At least I could tell her how sorry I was + That a brave man had died. + + She sat in a chair when I entered the room, + With the thing in her hand, + And the look on her face had a light and a bloom + I could not understand. + Then she showed me the message and said, + With a sigh of respite,-- + "My last boy is dead. I can sleep. I can sleep + Without dreaming to-night." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +SURPRISES + + When all the evidence is in-- + When all the good--and all the sin-- + The Impulses--without--within + Are catalogued--with reasons showing-- + What great surprises will await + The small, the near-great and the great + Who thought they knew how things were going! + + +Stories crowd in upon me as I write. Let no one ever say that this is +a dull world! It is anything but dull! It is a pitiful, heartbreaking +world, full of injustice, misunderstandings, false standards, and +selfishness, but it is never dull. Neither is it a lost world, for the +darkest corners of it are illuminated here and there by heroic deeds +and noble aspirations. Men who hilariously sold their vote and +influence prior to 1914, who took every sharp turn within the law, and +who shamelessly mocked at any ideals of citizenship, were among the +first to put on the King's uniform and march out to die. + +To-day I read in the "paper from home" that Private William Keel is +"missing, believed killed"; and it took me back to the old days +before the war when the late Private Keel was accustomed to hold up +the little town. Mr. Keel was a sober man--except upon occasions. The +occasions were not numerous, but they left an undying impression on +his neighbors and fellow townsmen; for the late private had a way all +his own. He was a big Welshman, so strong that he never knew how +strong he was; and when he became obsessed with the desire to get +drunk, no one could stop him. He had to have it out. At such times his +one ambition was to ride a horse up the steps of the hotel, and +then--George Washington-like--rise in his stirrups and deliver an +impassioned address on what we owe to the Old Flag. If he were blocked +or thwarted in this, he became dangerous and hard to manage, and +sometimes it took a dozen men to remove him to the Police Station. +When he found himself safely landed there, with a locked door and +small, barred window between himself and liberty, his mood changed and +the remainder of the night was spent in song, mostly of "A life on the +ocean wave and a home on the rolling deep"; for he had been a sailor +before he came land-seeking to western Canada. + +After having "proved up" his land in southern Manitoba--the +_Wanderlust_ seized him and he went to South America, where no doubt +he enlivened the proceedings for the natives, as he had for us while +he lived among us. + +Six weeks after the declaration of war he came back--a grizzled man of +forty; he had sold out everything, sent his wife to England, and had +come to enlist with the local regiment. Evidently his speech about +what we owe to the Old Flag had been a piece of real eloquence, and +Bill himself was the proof. + +He enlisted with the boys from home as a private, and on the marches +he towered above them--the tallest man in the regiment. No man was +more obedient or trustworthy. He cheered and admonished the younger +men, when long marches in the hot sun, with heavy accouterments, made +them quarrelsome and full of complaints. "It's all for the Old Flag, +boys," he told them. + +To-day I read that he is "missing, believed killed"; and I have the +feeling, which I know is in the heart of many who read his name, that +we did not realize the heroism of the big fellow in the old days of +peace. It took a war to show us how heroic our people are. + +Not all the heroes are war-heroes either. The slow-grinding, searching +tests of peace have found out some truly great ones among our people +and have transmuted their common clay into pure gold. + +It is much more heartening to tell of the woman who went right rather +than of her who went wrong, and for that reason I gladly set down here +the story of one of these. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Tweed is the wife of Private William Tweed--small, +dark-eyed, and pretty, with a certain childishness of face which makes +her rouged cheeks and blackened eyebrows seem pathetically, innocently +wicked. + +Mrs. Elizabeth Tweed, wife of Private William Tweed, was giving +trouble to the Patriotic Society. It was bad enough for her to go out +evenings with an officer, and dance in the afternoon at the hotel +_dansant_ in a perfect outburst of gay garments; but there was no +excuse for her coming home in a taxi-cab, after a shopping expedition +in broad daylight, and to the scandal of the whole street, who watched +her from behind lace curtains. + +The evil effects of Mrs. Tweed's actions began to show in the +falling-off of subscriptions to the Patriotic Fund, and the collectors +heard many complaints about her gay habits of life and her many and +varied ways of squandering money. Mrs. Tweed became a perfect wall of +defense for those who were not too keen on parting with their money. +They made a moral issue of it, and virtuously declared, "That woman is +not going to the devil on my money." "I scrimp and save and deny +myself everything so I can give to the Patriotic Fund, and look at +her!" women cried. + +It was in vain that the collectors urged that she was only getting +five dollars a month, anyway, from the Patriotic Fund, and that would +not carry her far on the road to destruction or in any other +direction. When something which appears to set aside the obligation to +perform a disagreeable duty comes in view, the hands of the soul +naturally clamp on it. + +Mrs. Tweed knew that she was the bad example, and gloried in it. She +banged the front door when she entered the block late at night, and +came up the stairs gayly singing, "Where did Robinson Crusoe go with +Friday on Saturday night?" while her sleepy neighbors anathematized +all dependents of the Patriotic Fund. + +The Red Cross ladies discussed the matter among themselves and decided +that some one should put the matter before Mrs. Tweed and tell her how +hard she was making it for the other dependents of soldiers. The +president was selected for the task, which did not at first sight look +like a pleasant one, but Mrs. Kent had done harder things than this, +and she set out bravely to call on the wayward lady. + +The D.O.E. visitor who called on all the soldiers' wives in that block +had reported that Mrs. Tweed had actually put her out, and told her to +go to a region which is never mentioned in polite society except in +theological discussions. + +"I know," Mrs. Tweed said, when the Red Cross President came to see +her, "what you are coming for, and I don't blame you--I sure have been +fierce, but you don't know what a good time I've had. Gee, it's great! +I've had one grand tear!--one blow-out! And now I am almost ready to +be good. Sit down, and I'll tell you about it; you have more give to +you than that old hatchet-face that came first; I wouldn't tell her a +thing! + +"I am twenty-five years old, and I never before got a chance to do as +I liked. When I was a kid, I had to do as I was told. My mother +brought me up in the fear of the Lord and the fear of the neighbors. I +whistled once in church and was sent to bed every afternoon for a +week--I didn't care, though, I got in my whistle. I never wanted to do +anything bad, but I wanted to do as I liked--and I never got a chance. +Then I got married. William is a lot older than I am, and he +controlled me--always--made me economize, scrimp, and save. I really +did not want to blow money, but they never gave me a chance to be +sensible. Every one put me down for a 'nut.' My mother called me +'Trixie.' No girl can do well on a name like that. Teachers passed me +from hand to hand saying, 'Trixie is such a mischief!' I had a +reputation to sustain. + +"Then mother and father married me off to Mr. Tweed because he was so +sensible, and I needed a firm hand, they said. I began everything in +life with a handicap. Name and appearance have always been against me. +No one can look sensible with a nose that turns straight up, and I +will have bright colors to wear--I was brought up on wincey, color of +mud, and all these London-smoke, battleship-gray colors make me sick. +I want reds and blues and greens, and I am gradually working into +them." + +She held out a dainty foot as she spoke, exhibiting a bright-green +stocking striped in gold. + +"But mind you, for all I am so frivolous, I am not a fool exactly. All +I ask is to have my fling, and I've had it now for three whole months. +When William was at home I never could sit up and read one minute, and +so the first night he was away I burned the light all night just to +feel wicked! It was great to be able to let it burn. I've gone to bed +early every night for a week to make up for it. What do you think of +that? It is just born in me, and I can't help it. If William had +stayed at home, this would never have showed out in me. I would have +gone on respectable and steady. But this is one of the prices we pay +for bringing up women to be men's chattels, with some one always +placed in authority over them. When the authority is removed, there's +the devil to pay!" + +The President of the Red Cross looked at her in surprise. She had +never thought of it this way before; women were made to be protected +and shielded; she had said so scores of times; the church had taught +it and sanctioned it. + +"The whole system is wrong," Mrs. Tweed continued, "and nice women +like you, working away in churches ruled by men, have been to blame. +You say women should be protected, and you cannot make good the +protection. What protection have the soldiers' wives now? Evil +tongues, prying eyes, on the part of women, and worse than that from +the men. The church has fallen down on its job, and isn't straight +enough to admit it! We should either train our women to take their own +part and run their own affairs, or else we should train the men really +to honor and protect women. The church has done neither. Bah! I could +make a better world with one hand tied behind my back!" + +"But, Mrs. Tweed," said the president, "this war is new to all of +us--how did we know what was coming? It has taken all of us by +surprise, and we have to do our bit in meeting the new conditions. +Your man was never a fighting man--he hates it; but he has gone and +will fight, although he loathes it. I never did a day's work outside +of my home until now, and now I go to the office every day and try to +straighten out tangles; women come in there and accuse me of +everything, down to taking the bread out of their children's mouths. +Two of them who brought in socks the other day said, 'Do you suppose +the soldiers ever see them?' I did all I could to convince them that +we were quite honest, though I assure you I felt like telling them +what I thought of them. But things are abnormal now, everything is out +of sorts; and if we love our country we will try to remedy things +instead of making them worse. When I went to school we were governed +by what they called the 'honor system.' It was a system of +self-government; we were not watched and punished and bound by rules, +but graded and ruled ourselves--and the strange thing about it was +that it worked! When the teacher went out of the room, everything went +on just the same. Nobody left her desk or talked or idled; we just +worked on, minding our own affairs; it was a great system." + +Mrs. Tweed looked at her with a cynical smile. "Some system!" she +cried mockingly; "it may work in a school, where the little pinafore, +pig-tail Minnies and Lucys gather; it won't work in life, where every +one is grabbing for what he wants, and getting it some way. But see +here," she cried suddenly, "you haven't called me down yet! or told me +I am a disgrace to the Patriotic Fund! or asked me what will my +husband say when he comes home! You haven't looked shocked at one +thing I've told you. Say, you should have seen old hatchet-face when I +told her that I hoped the war would last forever! She said I was a +wicked woman!" + +"Well--weren't you?" asked the president. + +"Sure I was--if I meant it--but I didn't. I wanted to see her jump, +and she certainly jumped; and she soon gave me up and went back and +reported. Then you were sent, and I guess you are about ready to give +in." + +"Indeed, I am not," said the president, smiling. "You are not a +fool--I can see that--and you can think out these things for yourself. +You are not accountable to me, anyway. I have no authority to find +fault with you. If you think your part in this terrible time is to go +the limit in fancy clothes, theaters, and late suppers with men of +questionable character--that is for you to decide. I believe in the +honor system. You are certainly setting a bad example--but you have +that privilege. You cannot be sent to jail for it. The money you draw +is hard-earned money--it is certainly sweated labor which our gallant +men perform for the miserable little sum that is paid them. It is +yours to do with as you like. I had hoped that more of you young women +would have come to help us in our work in the Red Cross and other +places. We need your youth, your enthusiasm, your prettiness, for we +are sorely pressed with many cares and troubles, and we seem to be old +sometimes. But you are quite right in saying that it is your own +business how you spend the money!" + +After Mrs. Kent had gone, the younger woman sat looking around her +flat with a queer feeling of discontent. A half-eaten box of +chocolates was on the table and a new silk sweater coat lay across the +lounge. In the tiny kitchenette a tap dripped with weary insistence, +and unwashed dishes filled the sink. She got up suddenly and began to +wash the dishes, and did not stop until every corner of her apartment +was clean and tidy. + +"I am getting dippy," she said as she looked at herself in the mirror +in the buffet; "I've got to get out--this quiet life gets me. I'll go +down to the _dansant_ this afternoon--no use--I can't stand being +alone." + +She put on her white suit, and dabbing rouge on her cheeks and +penciling her eyes, she went forth into the sunshiny streets. + +She stopped to look at a display of sport suits in a window, also to +see her own reflection in a mirror placed for the purpose among the +suits. + +Suddenly a voice sounded at her elbow: "Some kid, eh? Looking good +enough to eat!" + +She turned around and met the admiring gaze of Sergeant Edward Loftus +Brown, recruiting sergeant of the 19-th, with whom she had been to the +theater a few nights before. She welcomed him effusively. + +"Come on and have something to eat," he said. "I got three recruits +to-day--so I am going to proclaim a half-holiday." + +They sat at a table in an alcove and gayly discussed the people who +passed by. The President of the Red Cross came in, and at a table +across the room hastily drank a cup of tea and went out again. + +"She came to see me to-day," said Mrs. Tweed, "and gave me to +understand that they were not any too well pleased with me--I am too +gay for a soldier's wife! And they do not approve of you." + +Sergeant Brown smiled indulgently and looked at her admiringly through +his oyster-lidded eyes. His smile was as complacent as that of the +ward boss who knows that the ballot-box is stuffed. It was the smile +of one who can afford to be generous to an enemy. + +"Women are always hard on each other," he said soothingly; "these +women do not understand you, Trixie, that's all. No person understands +you but me." His voice was of the magnolia oil quality. + +"Oh, rats!" she broke out. "Cut that understanding business! She +understands me all right--she knows me for a mean little selfish +slacker who is going to have a good time no matter what it costs. I +have been like a bad kid that eats the jam when the house is burning! +But remember this, I'm no fool, and I'm not going to kid myself into +thinking it is anything to be proud of, for it isn't." + +Sergeant Brown sat up straight and regarded her critically. "What have +you done," he said, "that she should call you down for it? You're +young and pretty and these old hens are jealous of you. They can't +raise a good time themselves and they're sore on you because all the +men are crazy about you." + +"Gee, you're mean," Mrs. Tweed retorted, "to talk that way about women +who are giving up everything for their country. Mrs. Kent's two boys +are in the trenches, actually fighting, not just parading round in +uniform like you. She goes every day and works in the office of the +Red Cross and tries to keep every tangle straightened out. She's not +jealous of me--she despises me for a little feather-brained pinhead. +She thinks I am even worse than I am. She thinks I am as bad as you +would like me to be! Naturally enough, she judges me by my company." + +Sergeant Brown's face flushed dull red, but she went on: "That woman +is all right--take it from me." + +"Well, don't get sore on me," he said quickly; "I'm not the one who +is turning you down. I've always stuck up for you and you know it!" + +"Why shouldn't you?" she cried. "You know well that I am straight, +even if I am a fool. These women are out of patience with me and my +class----" + +"Men are always more charitable to women than women are to each other, +anyway--women are cats, mostly!" he said, as he rolled a cigarette. + +"There you go again!" she cried,--"pretending that you know. I tell +you women are women's best friends. What help have you given to me to +run straight, for all your hot air about thinking so much of me? +You've stuck around my flat until I had to put you out--you've never +sheltered or protected me in any way. Men are broad-minded toward +women's characters because they do not care whether women are good or +not--they would rather that they were not. I do not mean all +men,--William was different, and there are plenty like him--but I mean +men like you who run around with soldiers' wives and slam the women +who are our friends, and who are really concerned about us. You are +twenty years older than I am. You're always blowing about how much you +know about women--also the world. Why didn't you advise me not to make +a fool of myself?" + +Sergeant Brown leaned over and patted her hand. "There now, Trixie," +he said, "don't get excited; you're the best girl in town, only you're +too high-strung. Haven't I always stood by you? Did I ever turn you +down, even when these high-brow ladies gave you the glassy eye? Why +are you going back on a friend now? You had lots to say about the +Daughter of the Empire who came to see you the last time." + +"She wasn't nice to me," said Mrs. Tweed; "but she meant well, anyway. +But I'm getting ashamed of myself now--for I see I am not playing the +game. Things have gone wrong through no fault of ours. The whole world +has gone wrong, and it's up to us to bring it right if we can. These +women are doing their share--they've given up everything. But what +have I done? I let William go, of course, and that's a lot, for I do +think a lot of William; but I am not doing my own share. Running +around to the stores, eating late suppers, saying snippy things about +other women, and giving people an excuse for not giving to the +Patriotic Fund. You and I sitting here to-day, eating expensive +things, are not helping to win the war, I can tell you." + +"But my dear girl," he interrupted, "whose business is it? and what +has happened to you anyway? I didn't bring you here to tell me my +patriotic duty. I like you because you amuse me with your smart +speeches. I don't want to be lectured--and I won't have it." + +Mrs. Tweed arose and began to put on her gloves. "Here's where we +part," she said; "I am going to begin to do my part, just as I see it. +I've signed on--I've joined the great Win-the-War-Party. You should +try it, Sergeant Brown. We have no exact rules to go by--we are +self-governed. It is called the honor system; each one rules himself. +It's quite new to me, but I expect to know more about it." + +"Sit down!" he said sternly; "people are looking at you--they think +we are quarreling; I am not done yet, and neither are you. Sit down!" + +She sat down and apologized. "I am excited, I believe," she said; +"people generally are when they enlist; and although I stood up, I had +no intention of going, for the bill has not come yet and I won't go +without settling my share of it." + +"Forget it!" he said warmly; "this isn't a Dutch treat. What have I +done that you should hit me a slam like this?" + +"It isn't a slam," she said; "it is quite different. I want to run +straight and fair--and I can't do it and let you pay for my meals; +there's no sense in women being sponges. I know we have been brought +up to beat our way. 'Be pretty, and all things will be added unto +you,' is the first commandment, and the one with the promise. I've +laid hold on that all my life, but to-day I am giving it up. The old +way of training women nearly got me, but not quite--and now I am +making a new start. It isn't too late. The old way of women always +being under an obligation to men has started us wrong. I'm not +blaming you or any one, but I'm done with it. If you see things as I +do, you'll be willing to let me pay. Don't pauperize me any more and +make me feel mean." + +"Oh, go as far as you like!" he said petulantly. "Pay for me, too, if +you like--don't leave me a shred of self-respect. This all comes of +giving women the vote. I saw it coming, but I couldn't help it! I like +the old-fashioned women best--but don't mind me!" + +"I won't," she said; "nothing is the same as it was. How can anything +go on the same? We have to change to meet new conditions and I'm +starting to-day. I'm going to give up my suite and get a +job--anything--maybe dishwashing. I'm going to do what I can to bring +things right. If every one will do that, the country is safe." + + * * * * * + +In a certain restaurant there is a little waitress with clustering +black hair and saucy little turned-up nose. She moves quickly, deftly, +decidedly, and always knows what to do. She is young, pretty, and +bright, and many a man has made up his mind to speak to her and ask +her to "go out and see a show"; but after exchanging a few remarks +with her, he changes his mind. Something tells him it would not go! +She carries trays of dishes from eight-thirty to six every day except +Sunday. She has respectfully refused to take her allowance from the +Patriotic Fund, explaining that she has a job. The separation +allowance sent to her from the Militia Department at Ottawa goes +directly into the bank, and she is able to add to it sometimes from +her wages. + +The people in the block where Mrs. Tweed lived will tell you that she +suddenly gave up her suite and moved away and they do not know where +she went, but they are very much afraid she was going "wrong." What a +lot of pleasant surprises there will be for people when they get to +heaven! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CONSERVATION + + +There are certain words which have come into general circulation since +the war. One of the very best of these is "Conservation." + +Conservation is a fine, rich-sounding, round word, agreeable to the +ear and eye, and much more aristocratic than the word "Reform," which +seems to carry with it the unpleasant suggestion of something that +needs to be changed. The dictionary, which knows everything, says that +"Conservation means the saving from destructive change the good we +already possess," which seems to be a perfectly worthy ambition for +any one to entertain. + +For many people, changes have in them an element of wickedness and +danger. I once knew a little girl who wore a sunbonnet all summer and +a hood all winter, and cried one whole day each spring and fall when +she had to make the change; for changes to her were fearsome things. + +This antagonism to change has delayed the progress of the world and +kept back many a needed reform, for people have grown to think that +whatever is must be right, and indeed have made a virtue of this +belief. + +"It was good enough for my father and it is good enough for me," cries +many a good tory (small _t_, please), thinking that by this utterance +he convinces an admiring world that all his folks have been +exceedingly fine people for generations. + +But changes are inevitable. What is true to-day may not be true +to-morrow. All our opinions should be marked, "Subject to change +without notice." We cannot all indulge ourselves in the complacency of +the maiden lady who gave her age year after year as twenty-seven, +because she said she was not one of these flighty things who say "one +thing to-day and something else to-morrow." + +Life is change. Only dead things remain as they are. Every living +thing feels the winds of the world blowing over it, beating and +buffeting it, marking and bleaching it. Change is a characteristic of +life, and we must reckon on it! Progress is Life's first law! In order +to be as good as we were yesterday, we have to be better. Life is +built on a sliding scale; we have to keep moving to keep up. There are +no rest stations on Life's long road! + +The principle of conservation is not at enmity with the spirit of +change. It is in thorough harmony with it. + +Conservation becomes a timely topic in these days of hideous waste. In +fact it will not much longer remain among the optional subjects in +Life's curriculum. Even now the Moving Finger, invisible yet to the +thoughtless, is writing after it the stern word "Compulsory." Four +hundred thousand men have been taken away from the ranks of producers +here in Canada, and have gone into the ranks of destroyers, becoming a +drain upon our resources for all that they eat, wear, and use. Many +thousand other men are making munitions, whose end is destruction and +waste. We spend more in a day now to kill and hurt our fellow men than +we ever spent in a month to educate or help them. Great new ways of +wasting and destroying our resources are going on while the old leaks +are all running wide open. More children under five years old have +died since the war than there have been men killed in battle!--and +largely from preventable "dirt-diseases" and poverty. Rats, weeds, +extravagance, general shiftlessness are still doing business at the +old stand, unmolested. + +But it is working in on us that something must be done. Now is the +time to set in force certain agencies to make good these losses in so +far as they can be repaired. Now is the time, when the excitement of +the war is still on us, when the frenzy is still in our blood, for the +time of reaction is surely to be reckoned with by and by. Now we are +sustained by the blare of the bands and the flourish of flags, but in +the cold, gray dawn of the morning after, we shall count our dead with +disillusioned eyes and wonder what was the use of all this bloodshed +and waste. Trade conditions are largely a matter of the condition of +the spirit, and ours will be drooping and drab when the tumult and +the shouting have died and the reign of reason has come back. + +Personal thrift comes naturally to our minds when we begin to think of +the lessons that we should take to heart. Up to the time of the war +and since, we have been a prodigal people, confusing extravagance with +generosity, thrift with meanness. The Indians in the old days killed +off the buffalo for the sport of killing, and left the carcases to +rot, never thinking of a time of want; and so, too, the natives in the +North Country kill the caribou for the sake of their tongues, which +are considered a real "company dish," letting the remainder of the +animal go to waste. + +This is a startling thought, and comes to one over and over again. You +will think of it when you order your twenty-five cents' worth of +cooked ham and see what you get! You will think of it again when you +come home and find that the butcher delivered your twenty-five cents' +worth of cooked ham in your absence, and, finding the door locked, +passed it through the keyhole. And yet the prodigality of the Indian +and the caribou-killer are infantile compared with the big +extravagances that go on without much comment. Economy is a broad term +used to express the many ways in which other people might save money. +Members of Parliament have been known to tell many ways in which women +might economize; their tender hearts are cut to the quick as they +notice the fancy footwear and expensive millinery worn by women. Great +economy meetings have been held in London, to which the Cabinet +Ministers rode in expensive cars, and where they drank champagne, +enjoining women to abjure the use of veils and part with their pet +dogs as a war measure; but they said not a word about the continuance +of the liquor business which rears its head in every street and has +wasted three million tons of grain since the war began. What wonder is +it that these childish appeals to the women to economize fall on deaf +or indignant ears! Women have a nasty way of making comparisons. They +were so much easier to manage before they learned to read and write. + +The war wears on its weary course. The high cost of living becomes +more and more of a nightmare to the people, yet the British Government +tolerates a system which wastes more sugar than would feed the army, +impairs the efficiency of the working-man one sixth, and wastes two +million dollars every day in what is at best a questionable +indulgence, and at worst a national menace. Speaking of economy, +personal thrift, conservation, and other "win-the-war" plans, how +would the elimination of the liquor traffic do for a start? + +There are two ways of practicing economy: one is by refusing to spend +money, which is not always a virtue; and the other is by increasing +production, which is the greatest need of this critical time. The +farmers are doing all they can: they are producing as much as they +have means and labor for. But still in Canada much land is idle, and +many people sit around wondering what they can do. There will be women +sitting on verandas in the cities and towns in the summer, knitting +socks, or maybe crocheting edges on handkerchiefs, who would gladly be +raising potatoes and chickens if they knew how to begin; and a +corresponding number of chickens and potatoes will go unraised. But +the idea of cooeperation is taking root, and here and there there is a +breaking away from the conventional mode of life. The best thing about +it is that people are thinking, and pretty soon the impact of public +opinion will be so strong that there will be a national movement to +bring together the idle people and the idle land. We are paying a high +price for our tuition, but we must admit that the war is a great +teacher. + +There is a growing sentiment against the holding-up of tracts of land +by speculators waiting for the increase in value which comes by the +hard work of settlers. Every sod turned by the real, honest settler, +who comes to make his home, increases the value of the section of land +next him, probably held by a railway company, and the increase makes +it harder for some other settler to buy it. By his industry the +settler makes money for the railway company, but incidentally makes +his own chance of acquiring a neighbor more remote! + +The wild-lands tax which prevails in the western provinces of the +Dominion, and which we hope will be increased, will make it +unprofitable to hold land idle, and will do much, if made heavy +enough, to liberate land for settlement. + +As it is now, people who have no money to buy land have to go long +distances from the railroad to get homesteads, and there suffer all +the inconveniences and hardships and dangers of pioneer life, miles +from neighbors, many miles from a doctor, and without school or +church; while great tracts of splendid land lie idle and unimproved, +close beside the little towns, held in the tight clasp of a +hypothetical owner far away. + +Western Canada has a land problem which war conditions have +intensified. But people are beginning to talk of these things, and the +next few years will see radical changes. + +The coming of women into the political world should help. Women are +born conservationists. Their first game is housekeeping and +doll-mending. The doll, by preference, is a sick doll, and in need of +care. Their work is to care for, work for something, and if the +advent of women into politics does not mean that life is made easier +and safer for other women and for children, then we will have to +confess with shame and sorrow that politically we have failed! But we +are not going to fail! Already the angel has come down and has +troubled the water. Discussions are raging in women's societies and +wherever women meet together, and out of it something will come. Men +are always quite willing to be guided by women when their schemes are +sound and sane. + +In New Zealand the first political activity of women was directed +toward lowering the death-rate among children, by sending out trained +nurses to care for them and give instruction to the mothers. Ours will +follow the same line, because the heart of woman is the same +everywhere. Dreams will soon begin to come true. Good dreams always +do--in time; and why not? There is nothing too good to be true! Here +is one that is coming! + +Little Mary Wood set out bravely to do the chores; for it was +Christmas Eve, and even in the remoteness of the Abilene Valley, some +of the old-time festivity of Christmas was felt. Mary's mother had had +good times at Christmas when she was a little girl, and Mary's +imagination did the rest. Mary started out singing. + +It was a mean wind that came through the valley that night; a wind +that took no notice of Christmas, or Sunday, or even of the brave +little girl doing the chores, so that her father might not have them +to do when he came home. It was so mean that it would not even go +round Mary Wood, aged eleven, and small for her age--it went straight +through her and chattered her teeth and blued her hands, and would +have frozen her nose if she had not at intervals put her little hand +over it. + +But in spite of the wind, the chores were done at last, and Mary came +back to the house. Mary's mother was always waiting to open the door +and shut it quick again, but to-night, when Mary reached the door she +had to open it herself, for her mother had gone to bed. + +Mary was surprised at this, and hastened to the bedroom to see what +was wrong. + +Mary's mother replied to her questions quite cheerfully. She was not +sick. She was only tired. She would be all right in the morning. But +Mary Wood, aged eleven, had grown wise in her short years, and she +knew there was something wrong. Never mind; she would ask father. He +always knew everything and what to do about it. + +Going back to the kitchen she saw the writing-pad on which her mother +had been writing. Her mother did not often write letters; certainly +did not often tear them up after writing them; and here in the +home-made waste-paper basket was a torn and crumpled sheet. Mary did +not know that it was not the square thing to read other people's +letters, and, besides, she wanted to know. She spread the letter on +the table and pieced it together. Laboriously she spelled it out:-- + +"I don't know why I am so frightened this time, Lizzie, but I am black +afraid. I suppose it is because I lost the other two. I hate this +lonely, God-forsaken country. I am afraid of it to-night--it's so big +and white and far away, and it seems as if nobody cares. Mary does +not know, and I cannot tell her; but I know I should, for she may be +left with the care of Bobbie. To-night I am glad the other two are +safe. It is just awful to be a woman, Lizzie; women get it going and +coming, and the worst of it is, no one cares!" + +Mary read the letter over and over, before she grasped its meaning. +Then the terrible truth rolled over her, and her heart seemed to stop +beating. Mary had not lived her eleven years without finding out some +of the grim facts of life. She knew that the angels brought babies at +very awkward times, and to places where they were not wanted a bit, +and she also knew that sometimes, when they brought a baby, they had +been known to take the mother away. Mary had her own opinion of the +angels who did that, but it had been done. There was only one hope: +her father always knew what to do. + +She thawed a hole in the frosted window and tried to see down the +trail, but the moon was foggy and it was impossible to see more than a +few yards. + +Filled with a sense of fear and dread, she built up a good fire and +filled the kettle with water; she vigorously swept the floor and +tidied the few books on their home-made shelf. + +It was ten o'clock when her father came in, pale and worried. Mary saw +that he knew, too. + +He went past her into the bedroom and spoke hurriedly to his wife; but +Mary did not hear what they said. + +Suddenly she heard her mother cry and instinctively she ran into the +room. + +Her father stood beside the bed holding his head, as if in pain. +Mary's mother had turned her face into the pillow, and cried; and even +little Bobbie, who had been awakened by the unusual commotion, sat up, +rubbing his eyes, and cried softly to himself. + +Mary's father explained it to Mary. + +"Mrs. Roberts has gone away," he said. "I went over to see her to-day. +We were depending on her to come over and take care of your +mother--for a while--and now she has gone, and there is not another +woman between here and the Landing." + +"It's no use trying, Robert," Mrs. Wood said between her sobs; "I +can't stay--I am so frightened. I am beginning to see things--and I +know what it means. There are black things in every corner--trying to +tell me something, grinning, jabbering things--that are waiting for +me; I see them everywhere I look." + +Mr. Wood sat down beside her, and patted her hand. + +"I know, dear," he said; "it's hell, this lonely life. It's too much +for any woman, and I'll give it all up. Better to live on two meals a +day in a city than face things like this. We wanted a home of our own, +Millie,--you remember how we used to talk,--and we thought we had +found it here--good land and a running stream. We have worked hard and +it is just beginning to pay, but we'll have to quit--and I'll have to +work for some one else all my life. It was too good to be true, +Millie." + +He spoke without any bitterness in his voice, just a settled sadness, +and a great disappointment. + +Suddenly the old dog began to bark with strong conviction in every +bark, which indicated that he had really found something at last that +was worth mentioning. There was a sudden jangle of sleighbells in the +yard, and Mary's father went hastily to the door and called to the dog +to be quiet. A woman walked into the square of light thrown on the +snow from the open door, and asked if this was the place where a nurse +was needed. + +Mr. Wood reached out and took her big valise and brought her into the +house, too astonished to speak. He was afraid she might vanish. + +She threw off her heavy coat before she spoke, and then, as she wiped +the frost from her eyebrows, she explained:-- + +"I am what is called a pioneer nurse, and I am sent to take care of +your wife, as long as she needs me. You see the women in Alberta have +the vote now, and they have a little more to say about things than +they used to have, and one of the things they are keen on is to help +pioneer women over their rough places. Your neighbor, Mrs. Roberts, on +her way East, reported your wife's case, and so I am here. The +Mounted Police brought me out, and I have everything that is needed." + +"But I don't understand!" Mr. Wood began. + +"No!" said the nurse; "it is a little queer, isn't it? People have +spent money on pigs and cattle and horses, and have bonused railways +and elevator companies, or anything that seemed to help the country, +while the people who were doing the most for the country, the +settlers' wives, were left to live or die as seemed best to them. +Woman's most sacred function is to bring children into the world, and +if all goes well, why, God bless her!--but when things go wrong--God +help her! No one else was concerned at all. But, as I told you, women +vote now in Alberta, and what they say goes. Men are always ready to +help women in any good cause, but, naturally enough, they don't see +the tragedy of the lonely woman, as women see it. They are just as +sympathetic, but they do not know what to do. Some time ago, before +the war, there was an agitation to build a monument to the pioneer +women, a great affair of marble and stone. The women did not warm up +to it at all. They pointed out that it was poor policy to build +monuments to brave women who had died, while other equally brave women +in similar circumstances were being let die! So they sort of frowned +down the marble monument idea, and began to talk of nurses instead. + +"So here I am," concluded Mrs. Sanderson, as she hung up her coat and +cap. "I am a monument to those who are gone, and the free gift of the +people of Alberta to you and your wife, in slight appreciation of the +work you are doing in settling the country and making all the land in +this district more valuable. They are a little late in acknowledging +what they owe the settler, but it took the women a few years to get +the vote, and then a little while longer to get the woman's point of +view before the public." + +Mary Wood stood at her father's side while the nurse spoke, drinking +in every word. + +"But who pays?" asked Mary's father--"who pays for this?" + +"It is all simple enough," said the nurse. "There are many millions +of acres in Alberta held by companies, and by private owners, who live +in New York, London, and other places, who hold this land idle, +waiting for the prices to go up. The prices advance with the coming-in +of settlers like yourself, and these owners get the benefit. The +Government thinks these landowners should be made to pay something +toward helping the settlers, so they have put on a wild-lands tax of +one per cent of the value of the land; they have also put a telephone +tax on each unoccupied section, which will make it as easy for you to +get a telephone as if every section was settled; and they have also a +hospital tax, and will put up a hospital next year, where free +treatment will be given to every one who belongs to the municipality. + +"The idea is to tax the wild land so heavily that it will not be +profitable for speculators to hold it, and it will be released for +real, sure-enough settlers. The Government holds to the view that it +is better to make homes for many people than to make fortunes for a +few people." + +Mary's father sat down with a great sigh that seemed half a laugh and +half a sob. + +"What is it you said the women have now?" asked Mary. + +The nurse explained carefully to her small but interested audience. +When she was done, Mary Wood, aged eleven, had chosen her life-work. + +"Now I know what I'll be when I grow big," she said; "I intended to be +a missionary, but I've changed my mind--I am going to be a Voter!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"PERMISSION" + + He walked among us many years, + And yet we failed to understand + That there was courage in his fears + And strength within his gentle hand: + We did not mean to be unkind, + But we were dull of heart and mind! + + * * * * * + + But when the drum-beat through the night + And men were called, with voice austere, + To die for England's sake--and right, + He was the first to answer, "Here!" + His courage, long submerged, arose, + When at her gates, knocked England's foes! + + * * * * * + + And so to-day, where the brave dead + Sleep sweetly amid Flemish bowers, + One grave, in thought, is garlanded + With prairie flowers! + + And if the dead in realms of bliss + Can think on those they knew below, + He'll know we're sorry, and that this + Is our poor way of saying so! + + +The war has put a new face on our neighborhood life; it has searched +out and tried the hidden places of our souls, and strange, indeed, +have been its findings. By its severe testings some of those who we +thought were our strongest people have been abased, and some of the +weak ones have been exalted. There were some of our people who were +good citizens in the normal times of peace, but who could not stand +against the sterner test of war; and then again we have found the true +worth of some of those whom in our dull, short-sighted way we did not +know! + +Stanley Goodman came to our neighborhood when he was a lad of sixteen. +The Church of England clergyman, who knew his people in England, +brought him to Mrs. Corbett, who kept the Black Creek Stopping House, +and asked her if she could give him a room and look after him. He told +her of the great wealth and social position of the family who were +willing to pay well for the boy's keep. + +"If they are as well off as all that," said Mrs. Corbett, "why are +they sending the wee lad out here, away from all of them?" + +The clergyman found it hard to explain. "It seems that this boy is not +quite like the other members of the family--not so bright, I take +it," he said; "and the father particularly is a bit disappointed in +him!" + +"Do you mean," said Mrs. Corbett, "that they are ashamed of the poor +little fellow, and are sending him out here to get rid of him? Faith, +if that's the kind of heathen there is in England I don't know why +they send missionaries out here to preach to us. Bad and all as we +are, there is none of us that would do the like of that!" + +"They will provide handsomely for him in every way, Mrs. Corbett, and +leave no wish ungratified," the minister said uneasily. + +Mrs. Corbett was a difficult person in some ways. + +"Oh, sure, they will give him everything but love and home, and +that'll be what the poor wee lad will hunger for! Money is a queer +thing for sure, when it will make a mother forget the child that she +brought into the world!" + +"I think the mother--from what I can gather--wanted to keep the boy, +but the father is a very proud man, and this lad aggravated him some +way just to see him, and the mother yielded to his wishes, as a true +wife should, and for the sake of peace has withdrawn her objections." + +"A poor soft fool, that's all she is, to let a domineering old +reprobate send her poor lad away, just because he did not like to see +him around, and him his own child! And even you, Mr. Tilton, who have +been out here living with civilized people for three years, have +enough of the old country way in you yet to say that a true wife +should consent to this to please the old tyrant! Faith, I don't blame +the Suffragettes for smashing windows, and if I wasn't so busy feeding +hungry men, I believe I would go over and give them a hand, only I +would be more careful what I was smashing and would not waste my time +on innocent windows!" + +"But you will take him, won't you, Mrs. Corbett? I will feel quite +easy about him if you will!" + +"I suppose I'll have to. I can't refuse when his own have deserted +him! I would be a poor member of the Army if I did not remember Our +Lord's promise to the poor children when their fathers and mothers +forsake them, and I will try to carry it out as well as I can." + +Stanley was soon established in the big white-washed room in Mrs. +Corbett's boarding-house. He brought with him everything that any boy +could ever want, and his room, which he kept spotlessly clean, with +its beautiful rug, pictures, and books, was the admiration of the +neighborhood. + +Stanley understood the situation and spoke of it quite frankly. + +"My father thought it better for me to come away for a while, to see +if it would not toughen me up a bit. He has been rather disappointed +in me, I think. You see, I had an accident when I was a little fellow +and since then I have not been--quite right." + +"Just think of that," Mrs. Corbett said afterwards in telling it to a +sympathetic group of "Stoppers." "It wouldn't be half so bad if the +poor boy didn't know that he is queer. I tried to reason it out of +him, but he said that he had heard the housekeeper and the parlor-maid +at home talking of it, and they said he was a bit looney. It wouldn't +be half so bad for him if he was not so near to being all right! If +ever I go wrong in the head I hope I'll be so crazy that I won't know +that I'm crazy. Craziness is like everything else--it's all right if +you have enough of it!" + +"Stanley is not what any one would call crazy," said one of the +Stoppers; "the only thing I can see wrong with him is that you always +know what he is going to say, and he is too polite, and every one can +fool him! He certainly is a good worker, and there's another place he +shows that he is queer, for he doesn't need to work and still he does +it! He likes it, and thanked me to-day for letting him clean my team; +and as a special favor I'm going to let him hitch them up when I am +ready to go!" + +Stanley busied himself about the house, and was never so happy as when +he was rendering some service to some one. But even in his happiest +moments there was always the wistful longing for home, and when he was +alone with Mrs. Corbett he freely spoke of his hopes and fears. + +"It may not be so long before they begin to think that they would like +to see me; do you think that it is really true that absence makes the +heart grow fonder--even of people--like me? I keep thinking that maybe +they will send for me after a while and let me stay for a few days +anyway. My mother will want to see me, I am almost sure,--indeed, she +almost said as much,--and she said many times that she hoped that I +would be quite happy; and when I left she kissed me twice, and even +the governor shook hands with me and said, 'You will be all right out +there in Canada.' He was so nice with me, it made it jolly hard to +leave." + +Another day, as he dried the dishes for her, assuring her that it was +a real joy for him to be let do this, he analyzed the situation +again:-- + +"My father's people are all very large and handsome," he said, "and +have a very commanding way with them; my father has always been +obeyed, and always got what he wanted. It was my chin which bothered +him the most. It is not much of a chin, I know; it retreats, doesn't +it? But I cannot help it. But I have always been a bitter +disappointment to him, and it really has been most uncomfortable for +mother--he seemed to blame her some way, too; and often and often I +found her looking at me so sadly and saying, 'Poor Stanley!' and all +my aunts, when they came to visit, called me that. It was--not +pleasant." + +Every week his letter came from home, with books and magazines and +everything that a boy could wish for. His delight knew no bounds. +"They must think something of me," he said over and over again! At +first he wrote a letter to his mother every day, but a curt note came +from his father one day telling him that he must try to interest +himself in his surroundings and that it would be better if he wrote +only once a week! The weekly letter then became an event, and he +copied it over many times. Mrs. Corbett, busy with her work of feeding +the traveling public, often paused long enough in her work of peeling +the potatoes or rolling out pie-crust to wipe her hands hastily and +read the letter that he had written and pass judgment on it. + +Feeling that all green Englishmen were their legitimate prey for +sport, the young bloods of the neighborhood, led by Pat Brennan, Mrs. +Corbett's nephew, began to tell Stanley strange and terrible stories +of Indians, and got him to send home for rifles and knives to defend +himself and the neighborhood from their traitorous raids, "which were +sure to be made on the settlements as soon as the cold weather came +and the Indians got hungry." He was warned that he must not speak to +Mrs. Corbett about this, for it is never wise to alarm the women. "We +will have trouble enough without having a lot of hysterical women on +our hands," said Pat. + +After the weapons had come "The Exterminators" held a session behind +closed doors to see what was the best plan of attack, and decided that +they would not wait for the Indians to begin the trouble, but would +make war on them. They decided that they would beat the bushes for +Indians down in the river-bottom, while Stanley would sit at a certain +point of vantage in a clump of willows, and as the Indians ran past +him, he would pot them! + +Stanley had consented to do this only after he had heard many tales of +Indian treachery and cruelty to the settlers and their families! + +The plan was carried out and would no doubt have been successful, but +for the extreme scarcity of Indians in our valley. + +All night long Stanley sat at his post, peering into the night, armed +to the teeth, shivering with the cold wind that blew through the +valley. His teeth chattered with fright sometimes, too, as the bushes +rustled behind him, and an inquisitive old cow who came nosing the +willows never knew how near death she had been. Meanwhile his +traitorous companions went home and slept soundly and sweetly in their +warm beds. + +"And even after he found out that we were fooling him, he was not a +bit sore," said Pat. "He tried to laugh! That is what made me feel +cheap--he is too easy; it's too much like taking candy from a kid. And +he was mighty square about it, too, and he never told Aunt Maggie how +he got the cold, for he slipped into bed that morning and she didn't +know he was out." + +Another time the boys set him to gathering the puff-balls that grew in +abundance in the hay meadow, assuring him that they were gopher-eggs +and if placed under a hen would hatch out young gophers. + +Stanley was wild with enthusiasm when he heard this and hastened to +pack a box full to send home. "They _will_ be surprised," he said. +Fortunately, Mrs. Corbett found out about this before the box was +sent, and she had to tell him that the boys were only in fun. + +When she told him that the boys had been just having sport there came +over his face such a look of sadness and pain, such a deeply hurt +look, that Mrs. Corbett went back to the barn and thrashed her sturdy +young nephew, all over again. + +When the matter came up for discussion again, Stanley implored her not +to speak of it any more, and not to hold it against the boys. "It was +not their fault at all," he said; "it all comes about on account of my +being--not quite right. I am not quite like other boys, but when they +play with me I forget it and I believe what they say. There +is--something wrong with me,--and it makes people want--to have sport +with me; but it is not their fault at all." + +"Well, they won't have sport with you when I am round," declared Mrs. +Corbett stoutly. + +Years rolled by and Stanley still cherished the hope that some day +"permission" would come for him to go home. He grew very fast and +became rather a fine-looking young man. Once, emboldened by a +particularly kind letter from his mother, he made the request that he +should be allowed to go home for a few days. "If you will let me come +home even for one day, dearest mother," he wrote, "I will come right +back content, and father will not need to see me at all. I want to +stand once more before that beautiful Tissot picture of Christ holding +the wounded lamb in his arms, and I would like to see the hawthorn +hedge when it is in bloom as it will be soon, and above all, dear +mother, I want to see you. And I will come directly away." + +He held this letter for many days, and was only emboldened to send it +by Mrs. Corbett's heartiest assurances that it was a splendid letter +and that his mother would like it! + +"I do not want to give my mother trouble," he said. "She has already +had much trouble with me; but it might make her more content to see me +and to know that I am so well--and happy." + +After the letter had been sent, Stanley counted the days anxiously, +and on the big map of Canada that hung on the kitchen wall he followed +its course until it reached Halifax, and then his mind went with it +tossing on the ocean. + +"I may get my answer any day after Friday," he said. "Of course I do +not expect it right off--it will take some little time for mother to +speak to father, and, besides, he might not be at home; so I must not +be disappointed if it seems long to wait." + +Friday passed and many weeks rolled by, and still Stanley was hopeful. +"They are considering," he said, "and that is so much better than if +they refused; and perhaps they are looking about a boat--I think that +must be what is keeping the letter back. I feel so glad and happy +about it, it seems that permission must be coming." + +In a month a bulky parcel came to him by express. It contained a +framed picture of the Good Shepherd carrying the lost lamb in his +arms; a box of hawthorn blossoms, faded but still fragrant, and a book +which gave directions for playing solitaire in one hundred and +twenty-three ways!! + +Mrs. Corbett hastened to his room when she heard the cry of pain that +escaped his lips. He stood in the middle of the floor with the book in +his hand. All the boyishness had gone out of his face, which now had +the spent look of one who has had a great fright or suffered great +pain. The book on solitaire had pierced through his cloudy brain with +the thought that his was a solitary part in life, and for a few +moments he went through the panicky grief of the faithful dog who +finds himself left on the shore while his false master sails gayly +away! + +"I will be all right directly," he stammered, making a pitiful effort +to control his tears. + +Mrs. Corbett politely appeared not to notice, and went hastily +downstairs, and although not accustomed to the use of the pen, yet she +took it in hand and wrote a letter to Stanley's father. + +"It is a pity that your poor lad did not inherit some of your hardness +of heart, Mr. Goodman," the letter began, "for if he did he would not +be upstairs now breakin his and sobbin it out of him at your cruel +answer to his natural request that he might go home and see his +mother. But he has a heart of gold wherever he got it I don't know, +and it is just a curse to him to be so constant in his love for home, +when there is no love or welcome there for him. He is a lad that any +man might well be proud of him, that gentle and kind and honest and +truthful, not like most of the young doods that come out here drinkin +and carousin and raisin the divil. mebbe you would like him better if +he was and this is just to tell you that we like your boy here and we +dont think much of the way you are using him and I hope that you will +live to see the day that you will regret with tears more bitter than +he is sheddin now the way you have treated him, and with these few +lines I will close M corbett." + +How this letter was received at Mayflower Lodge, Bucks, England, is +not known, for no answer was ever sent; and although the letters to +Stanley came regularly, his wish to go home was not mentioned in any +of them. Neither did he ever refer to it again. + +"Say, Stan," said young Pat one day, suddenly smitten with a bright +thought, "why don't you go home anyway? You have lots of money--why +don't you walk in on 'em and give 'em a surprise?" + +"It would not be playing the game, Pat; thank you all the same, old +chap," said Stanley heartily, "but I will not go home without +permission." + +After that Stanley got more and more reticent about the people at +home. He seemed to realize that they had cut him off, but the homesick +look never left his eyes. His friends now were the children of the +neighborhood and the animals. Dogs, cats, horses, and children +followed him, and gave him freely of their affection. He worked happy +hours in Mrs. Corbett's garden, and "Stanley's flowers" were the +admiration of the neighborhood. + +When he was not busy in the garden, he spent long hours beside the +river in a beautifully fashioned seat which he had made for himself, +beneath a large poplar tree. "It is the wind in the tree-tops that I +like," he said. "It whispers to me. I can't tell what it says, but it +says something. I like trees--they are like people some way--only more +patient and friendly." + +The big elms and spruce of the river valley rustled and whispered +together, and the poplars shook their coin-like leaves as he lay +beneath their shade. The trees were trying to be kind to him, as the +gray olive trees in Gethsemane were kind to One Other when his own had +forgotten Him! + + * * * * * + +When the news of the war fell upon the Pembina Valley, it did not +greatly disturb the peacefulness of that secluded spot. The well-to-do +farmers who had held their grain over openly rejoiced at the prospect +of better prices, and the younger men, when asked to enlist, replied +by saying that the people who made the war had better do the fighting +because they had no ambition to go out and stop German bullets. The +general feeling was that it would soon be over. + +At the first recruiting meeting Stanley volunteered his services by +walking down the aisle of the church at the first invitation. The +recruiting officer motioned to him to be seated, and that he would see +him after the meeting. + +Stanley waited patiently until every person was gone, and then timidly +said, "And now, sir, will you please tell me what I am to do?" + +The recruiting officer, a dapper little fellow, very pompous and +important, turned him down mercilessly. Stanley was dismayed. He +wandered idly out of the church and was about to start off on his +four-mile walk to the Stopping House when a sudden impulse seized him +and he followed the recruiting agent to the house where he was +staying. + +He overtook him just as he was going into the house, and, seizing him +by the arm, cried, "Don't you see, sir, that you must take me? I am +strong and able--I tell you I am no coward--what have you against me, +I want to know?" + +The recruiting officer hesitated. Confound it all! It is a hard thing +to tell a man that he is not exactly right in the head. + +But he did not need to say it, for Stanley beat him to it. "I know +what's wrong," he said; "you think I'm not very bright--I am not, +either. But don't you see, war is an elemental sort of thing. I can do +what I'm told--and I can fight. What does it matter if my head is not +very clear on some things which are easy to you? And don't you see how +much I want to go? Life has not been so sweet that I should want to +hold on to it. The young men here do not want to go, for they are +having such a good time. But there is nothing ahead of me that holds +me back. Can't you see that, sir? Won't you pass me on, anyway, and +let me have my chance? Give me a trial; it's time enough to turn me +down when I fail at something. Won't you take me, sir?" + +The recruiting officer sadly shook his head. Stanley watched him in an +agony of suspense. Here was his way out--his way of escape from this +body of death that had hung over him ever since he could remember. He +drew nearer to the recruiting officer,--"For God's sake, sir, take +me!" he cried. + +Then the recruiting officer pulled himself together and grew firm and +commanding. "I won't take you," he said, "and that's all there is +about it. This is a job for grown-up men and men with all their wits +about them. You would faint at the sight of blood and cry when you saw +the first dead man." + +In a few weeks another recruiting meeting was held, and again Stanley +presented himself when the first invitation was given. The recruiting +officer remembered him, and rather impatiently told him to sit down. +Near the front of the hall sat the German-American storekeeper of the +neighboring town, who had come to the meeting to see what was going +on, and had been interrupting the speaker with many rude remarks; and +when Stanley, in his immaculate suit of gray check, his gray spats, +and his eyeglass, passed by where he was sitting, it seemed as if all +his slumbering hatred for England burst at once into flame! + +"My word!" he mimicked, "'ere's a rum 'un--somebody should warn the +Kaiser! It's not fair to take the poor man unawares--here is some of +the real old English fighting-stock." + +Stanley turned in surprise and looked his tormentor in the face. His +look of insipid good-nature lured the German on. + +"That is what is wrong with the British Empire," he jeered; "there are +too many of these underbred aristocrats, all pedigree and no brains, +like the long-nosed collies. God help them when they meet the +Germans--that is all I have to say!" + +He was quite right in his last sentence--that was all he had to say. +It was his last word for the evening, and it looked as if it might be +his last word for an indefinite time, for the unexpected happened. + +Psychologists can perhaps explain it. We cannot. Stanley, who like +charity had borne all things, endured all things, believed all things, +suddenly became a new creature, a creature of rage, blind, consuming, +terrible! You have heard of the worm turning? This was a case of a +worm turning into a tank! + +People who were there said that Stanley seemed to grow taller, his +eyes glowed, his chin grew firm, his shoulders ceased to be +apologetic. He whirled upon the German and landed a blow on his jaw +that sounded like a blow-out! Before any one could speak, it was +followed by another and the German lay on the floor! + +Then Stanley turned to the astonished audience and delivered the most +successful recruiting speech that had ever been given in the Pembina +Valley. + +"You have sat here all evening," he cried, "and have listened to this +miserable hound insulting your country--this man who came here a few +years ago without a cent and now has made a fortune in Canada, and I +have no doubt is now conspiring with Canada's enemies, and would +betray us into the hands of those enemies if he could. For this man I +have the hatred which one feels for an enemy, but for you Canadians +who have sat here and swallowed his insults, I have nothing but +contempt. This man belongs to the race of people who cut hands off +children, and outrage women; and now, when our Empire calls for men to +go out and stop these devilish things, you sit here and let this +traitor insult your country. You are all braver than I am, too; I am +only a joke to most of you, a freak, a looney,--you have said so,--but +I won't stand for this." + +That night recruiting began in the valley and Stanley was the first +man to sign on. The recruiting agent felt that it was impossible to +turn down a man who had shown so much fighting spirit; and, besides, +he was a small man and he had a face which he prized highly! + +When the boys of the valley went to Valcartier there was none among +them who had more boxes of home-made candy or more pairs of socks than +Stanley; nor was any woman prouder of her boy than Mrs. Corbett was +of the lad she had taken into her home and into her heart ten years +before. + +They were sent overseas almost at once, and, after a short training in +England, went at once to the firing-line. + + * * * * * + +It was a dull, foggy morning, and although it was quite late the +street-lamps were still burning, and while they could not make much +impression on the darkness, at least they made a luminous top on the +lamp-posts and served as a guide to the travelers who made their way +into the city. In the breakfast-room of Mayflower Lodge it was dark, +and gloomier still, for "the master" was always in his worst mood in +the morning, and on this particular morning his temper was aggravated +by the presence of his wife's mother and two sisters from Leith, who +always made him envious of the men who marry orphans, who are also the +last of their race. + +Mr. Goodman was discussing the war-situation, and abusing the +Government in that peculiarly bitter way of the British patriot. + +His wife, a faded, subdued little woman, sat opposite him and +contributed to the conversation twittering little broken phrases of +assent. Her life had been made up of scenes like this. She was of the +sweet and pliable type, which, with the best intentions in the world, +has made life hard for other women. + +Mr. Goodman gradually worked back to his old grievance. + +"This is a time for every man to do his bit, and here am I too old to +go and with no son to represent me--I who came from a family of six +sons! Anyway, why doesn't the Government pass conscription and drag +out the slackers who lounge in the parks and crowd the theaters?" + +Aunt Louisa paused in the act of helping herself to marmalade and +regarded him with great displeasure; then cried shrilly:-- + +"Now, Arthur, that is nothing short of treason, for I tell you we will +not allow our dear boys to be taken away like galley-slaves; I tell +you Britons never, never shall be slaves, and I for one will never let +my Bertie go--his young life is too precious to be thrown away. I +spent too many nights nursing him through every infantile +disease--measles, whooping-cough,--you know yourself, my dear +Clara,--beside the times that he broke his arm and his leg; though I +still think that the cold compress is the best for a delicate +constitution, and I actually ordered the doctor out of the house--" + +"What has that to do with conscription?" asked her brother-in-law +gruffly. "I tell you it is coming and no one will be gladder than I +am." + +"I think it is nothing short of unkind the way that you have been +speaking of the Germans. I know I never got muffins like the muffins I +got in Berlin that time; and, anyway, there are plenty of the commoner +people to go to fight, and they have such large families that they +will not miss one as I would miss my Bertie, and he has just recently +become engaged to such a dear girl! In our home we simply try to +forget this stupid war, but when I come here I hear nothing else--I +wonder how you stand it, dear Clara." + +Aunt Louisa here dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief in a way that +her brother-in-law particularly detested. + +"You will hear more about the war some of these days," he said, "when +a German Zeppelin drops bombs on London." + +Aunt Louisa came as near snorting as a well-bred lady could come, so +great was her disdain at this suggestion. + +"Zeppelin!" she said scornfully--"on England!! You forget, sir, that +we are living in a civilized age! Zeppelin! Indeed, and who would let +them, I wonder! I am surprised at you, sir, and so is mother, although +she has not spoken." + +"You will probably be more surprised before long; life is full of +surprises these days." + +Just then the butler brought him a wire, the contents of which seemed +to bear out this theory, for it told him that Private Stanley Goodman, +of the First Canadian Battalion, for conspicuous bravery under fire +had been recommended for the D.C.M., but regretted to inform him that +Private Goodman had been seriously wounded and was now in the Third +Canadian Hospital, Flanders. + +The nursing sister, accustomed to strange sights, wondered why this +wounded man was so cold, and then she noticed that he had not on his +overcoat, and she asked him why he was not wearing it on such a bitter +cold night as this. In spite of all his efforts his teeth chattered as +he tried to answer her. + +"I had to leave a dead friend of mine on the field to-night," said +Stanley, speaking with difficulty. "And I could not leave him there +with the rain falling on him, could I, sister? It seemed hard to have +to leave him, anyway, but we got all the wounded in." + + * * * * * + +In twenty-four hours after they received the telegram his father and +mother stood by his bedside. Only his eyes and his forehead could be +seen, for the last bullet which struck him had ploughed its way +through his cheek; the chin which had so offended his father's +artistic eye--what was left of it--was entirely hidden by the bandage. +The chill which he had taken, with the loss of blood, and the shock of +a shrapnel wound in his side, made recovery impossible, the nurse +said. While they stood beside the bed waiting for him to open his +eyes, the nurse told them of his having taken off his coat to cover a +dead comrade. + +When at last Stanley opened his eyes, there was a broken and sorrowful +old man, from whose spirit all the imperious pride had gone, kneeling +by his bedside and humbly begging his forgiveness. On the other side +of the bed his mother stood with a great joy in her faded face. + +"Stanley--Stanley," sobbed his father, every reserve broken down; "I +have just found you--and now how can I lose you so soon. Try to live +for my sake, and let me show you how sorry I am." + +Stanley's eyes showed the distress which filled his tender heart. + +"Please don't, father," he said, speaking with difficulty; "I am only +very happy--indeed, quite jolly. But you mustn't feel sorry, father--I +have been quite a duffer! thanks awfully for all you have done for +me--I know how disappointed you were in me--I did want to make good +for your sakes and it is a bit rough that now--I should be +obliged--to die.... But it is best to go while the going is +good--isn't it, sir? It's all a beautiful dream--to me--and it does +seem--so jolly--to have you both here." + +He lay still for a long time; then, rousing himself, said, "I'm afraid +I have been dreaming again--no, this is father; you are sure, sir, are +you?--about the medal and all that--and this is mother, is it?--it is +all quite like going home--I am so happy; it seems as if permission +had come." + +He laughed softly behind his bandages, a queer, little, choking, happy +laugh; and there, with his mother's arms around him, while his father, +stern no longer, but tender and loving, held his hand, "permission" +came and the homesick, hungry heart of the boy entered into rest. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SLACKER--IN UNIFORM + + +Mrs. P.A. Brunton was convinced that she was an exceptional woman in +every way. She would tell you this in the first fifteen minutes of +conversation that you had with her, for many of her sentences began, +"Now, I know, of course, that I am peculiar in many ways"; or, "I am +afraid you will not understand me when I say this"; or, "I am afraid I +am hopelessly old-fashioned in this." She would explain with +painstaking elaboration that she did not know why she was so peculiar, +but her manner indicated that she was quite content to be so; indeed, +it can only be described as one of boastful resignation. She seemed to +glory in her infirmity. + +Mrs. Brunton was quite opposed to women voting, and often spoke with +sorrow of the movement, which to her meant the breaking-up of the home +and all its sacred traditions. She did not specify how this would be +done, but her attitude toward all new movements was one of keen +distrust. She often said that of course she would be able to vote +intelligently, for she had had many advantages and had listened to +discussions of public matters all her life, having been brought up in +an atmosphere of advanced thinking; but she realized that her case was +an exceptional one. It was not the good fortune of every woman to have +had a college course as she had, and she really could not see what +good could come from a movement which aimed at making all women equal! +Why, if women ever got the vote, an ignorant washwoman's vote might +kill hers! It was so much better to let women go on as they were +going, exerting their indirect influence; and then it was the woman of +wealth and social prestige who was able to exert this influence, just +as it should be! She certainly did not crave a vote, and would do all +she could to prevent other women from getting it. + +Mrs. Brunton had come from the East, and although she had lived many +years in the West, she could never forget what a sacrifice she had +made by coming to a new country. Being a college graduate, too, seemed +to be something she could not outgrow! + +When her only boy was old enough to go to school, she became the +teacher's bad dream, for she wrote many notes and paid many calls to +explain that Garth was not at all like other children and must not be +subjected to the same discipline as they, for he had a proud and +haughty spirit that would not submit to discipline unless it were +tactfully disguised. Garth was a quiet, mild little lad who would have +been much like other boys if left alone. + +Garth was twenty years old when the war began, and he was then +attending the university. He first spoke of enlisting when the war had +gone on a year. + +"Enlist!" his mother cried, when he mentioned it to her, "I should say +not--you are my only child, and I certainly did not raise you to be a +soldier. There are plenty of common people to do the fighting; there +are men who really like it; but I have other ambitions for you--you +are to be a university man." + +When the Third University Company went, he spoke of it again, but his +mother held firm. + +"Do you think I am going to have you sleeping in those awful trenches, +with every Tom, Dick, and Harry? I tell you soldiering is a rough +business, and I cannot let a boy of mine go--a boy who has had your +advantages must not think of it." + +"But, mother, there are lots of boys going who have had just as good +advantages as I have." + +Just then came in Emily Miller, the little girl from next door whose +brother was going away the next day. Emily was an outspoken young lady +of fourteen. + +"When are you going, Garth?" she asked pointedly. + +"He is not going," said his mother firmly. "His duty is at home +finishing his education, and I am simply amazed at your mother for +letting Robert go. Does she not believe in education? Of course I know +there are not many who lay the stress on it that I do, but with me it +is education first--always." + +"But the war won't wait," said Emily; "my mother would be very glad to +have Bob finish his education, but she's afraid it will be over then." + +"War or no war, I say let the boys get their education--what is life +without it?" + +Emily surveyed her calmly, and then said, "What would happen to us if +every mother held her boy back--what if every mother took your +attitude, Mrs. Brunton?" + +"You need not speculate on that, child, for they won't. Most mothers +run with the popular fancy--they go with the crowd--never thinking, +but I have always been peculiar, I know." + +"Oh, mother, cut out that 'peculiar' business--it makes me tired!" +said Garth undutifully. + +When Robert Miller came in to say good-bye, he said: "You'll be +lonesome, Garth, when we all go and you are left with the women and +the old men--but perhaps you will enjoy being the only young man at +the party." + +"Garth may go later," said his mother,--"at least if the war lasts +long enough,--but not as a private. I will not object to his taking +the officers' classes at the university." + +"See, Bob," crowed Garth, "I'll have you and Jim Spaulding for my two +batmen over there. But never mind, I'll be good to you and will see +that you get your ha'pennyworth of 'baccy and mug of beer regular." + +Mrs. Brunton laughed delightedly. "Garth always sees the funny side," +she cooed. + +"That certainly is a funny side all right," said Robert, "but he'll +never see it! These pasteboard officers never last after they get +over--they can only carry it off here. Over there, promotions are on +merit, not on political pull." + +The third, fourth, and fifth contingents went from the university, and +still Garth pursued the quest of learning. His mother openly rebuked +the mothers of the boys who had gone. "Let the man on the street go! +Look at the unemployed men on our streets!" she said; "why aren't they +made to go--and leave our university boys at home?" + +"Every man owes a duty to his country," one of the mothers said. "If +one man neglects or refuses to pay, that is no reason for others to +do the same. This is a holy war--holier than any of the crusades--for +the crusader went out to restore the tomb of our Lord, and that is +only a material thing; but our boys are going out to give back to the +world our Lord's ideals, and I know they are more precious to Him than +any tomb could be!" + +"My dear Mrs. Mason," said Garth's mother, "you are simply war-mad +like so many women--it is impossible to reason with you." + +A year went by, and many of the university boys were wounded and some +were killed. To the mothers of these went Mrs. Brunton with words of +sympathy, but came away wondering. Some way they did not seem to +receive her warmly. + +"Where is Garth now?" asked one of these women. + +"He's thinking of taking the officers' training," answered Mrs. +Brunton, "as soon as the college term closes. A boy meets the very +nicest people there, and I do think that is so important, to meet nice +people." + +"And no Germans!" said the other woman tartly. + + * * * * * + +Mrs. Brunton gave a very select and intellectual farewell party for +Garth when he went to another city to take the officers' training, and +she referred to him as "my brave soldier laddie," much to the +amusement of some of the party. + +In two weeks he came home on leave of absence, very elegant in his new +uniform. He also brought cabinet-sized photographs which cost eighteen +dollars a dozen. Another party was held--the newspaper said he was the +"_raison d'etre_ for many pleasant social gatherings." + +At the end of two weeks he went out again to take more classes. He was +very popular with the girls, and the mother of one of them came to +visit Mrs. Brunton. They agreed on the subject of military training +and education, and exceptional women, and all was gay and happy. + +At the end of three months Garth again came home. No hero from the +scenes of battle was ever more royally received, and an afternoon +reception was held, when patriotic songs were sung and an uncle of the +young man made a speech. + +Soon after that Garth went to Toronto and took another course, because +his mother thought it was only right for him to see his own country +first, before going abroad; and, besides, no commission had yet been +offered him. The short-sightedness of those in authority was a subject +which Mrs. Brunton often dwelt on, but she said she could not help +being glad. + +Meanwhile the war went wearily on; battalion after battalion went out +and scattering remnants came home. Empty sleeves, rolled trousers +legs, eyes that stared, and heads that rolled pitifully appeared on +the streets. On the sunshiny afternoons many of these broken men sat +on the verandas of the Convalescent Home and admired the smart young +lieutenant who went whistling by--and wondered what force he was with. + +The war went on to the completion of its third year. Garth had +attended classes in three cities, and had traveled Canada from end to +end. There had been four farewell parties and three receptions in his +honor. He came home again for what his mother termed "a well-earned +rest." + +He sat on the veranda one day luxuriously ensconced in a wicker chair, +smoking a cigarette whose blue wreaths of smoke he blew gayly from +him. He was waiting for the postman--one of Mae's letters had +evidently gone astray, and the postman, who seemed to be a stupid +fellow, had probably given it to some one else. He had made several +mistakes lately, and Garth determined that it was time he was +reprimanded--the young officer would attend to that. + +"Posty" came at last, a few minutes late again, and Garth rapped +imperiously with his cane, as "Posty," peering at the addresses of the +letters, came up the steps. + +"See here," cried Garth, "let me see what you have!" + +"Posty" started nervously and the letters dropped from his hands. +While he gathered them up, Garth in his most military manner delivered +himself of a caustic rebuke:-- + +"You have left letters here which belong elsewhere, and I have lost +letters through your carelessness. What is the matter with you +anyway--can't you read?" he snapped. + +"Yes, sir," stammered "Posty," flushing as red as the band on his hat. + +"Well, then," went on the young officer, "why don't you use your +eyes--where do you keep them anyway?" + +"Posty" stood at attention as he answered with measured +deliberation:-- + +"I have one of them here ... but I left the other one at Saint-Eloi. +Were you thinking of hunting it up for me, sir,--when--you--go--over?" + + * * * * * + +That was six weeks ago. Still the war goes on. Returned men walk our +streets, new pale faces lie on hospital pillows, telegraph boys on +wheels carry dread messages to the soldiers' homes. + +Garth has gone back to an Eastern city for another course (this time +in signaling). He gave a whole set of buttons off his uniform to Mae +before he went--and he had his photograph taken again! + +Even if he does not get over in time to do much in this war, it is +worth something to have such a perfectly trained young officer ready +for the next war! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +NATIONAL SERVICE--ONE WAY + + +There are some phrases in our conversations now that are used so often +that they seem to be in some danger of losing their meaning. The snap +goes out of them by too much handling, like an elastic band which has +been stretched too far. One of these is "national service." + +If the work of the soldier, who leaves home, position, and safety +behind him, and goes forth to meet hardship and danger, receiving as +recompense one dollar and ten cents per day, is taken as the standard +of comparison, the question of national service becomes very simple, +indeed, for there is but one class, and no other that is even +distantly related to it, but if national service is taken to mean the +doing of something for our country's good which we would not feel it +our duty to do but for the emergencies created by the war, then there +are many ways in which the sincere citizen may serve. + +The Abilene Valley School was closed all last year, and weeds are +growing in the garden in which the year before flowers and vegetables, +scarlet runners and cabbages, poppies and carrots, had mingled in wild +profusion. The art-muslin curtains are draggled and yellow, and some +of the windows, by that strange fate which overtakes the windows in +unoccupied houses, are broken. + +The school was not closed for lack of children. Not at all. Peter +Rogowski, who lives a mile east, has seven children of school-age +himself, from bright-eyed Polly aged fourteen to Olga aged six, and +Mr. Rogowski is merely one of the neighbors in this growing +settlement, where large families are still to be found. There are +twenty-four children of school-age in the district, and in 1915, when +Mr. Ellis taught there, the average attendance was nineteen. At the +end of the term Mr. Ellis, who was a university student, abandoned his +studies and took his place in the ranks of the Army Medical Corps, and +is now nursing wounded men in France. He said that it would be easy to +find some one else to take the school. He was thinking of the droves +of teachers who had attended the Normal with him. There seemed to be +no end of them, but apparently there was, for in the year that +followed there were more than one hundred and fifty schools closed +because no teacher could be found. + +After waiting a whole year for a teacher to come, Polly Rogowski, as +the spring of 1917 opened, declared her intention of going to Edmonton +to find work and go to school. Polly's mother upheld her in this +determination, and together they scraped up enough money to pay her +railway fare, and board for one week, although it took all that they +had been putting away to get Mrs. Rogowski's teeth fixed. But Polly's +mother knew that when her Polly began to teach there would be money +and plenty for things like that, and anyway they had not ached so bad +for a while. + +The city, even Edmonton, is a fearsome place for a fourteen-year-old +girl who has no friends, seven dollars in money, and only an intense +desire for an education to guide her through its devious ways. But +the first night that Polly was away, her mother said an extra prayer +before the Blessed Virgin, who, being a mother herself, would +understand how much a young girl in a big city needs special care. + +It was a cold, dark day when Polly with her small pack arrived at the +C.N.R. Station, and looked around her. Surely no crusader going forth +to restore the tomb of his Lord ever showed more courage than +black-eyed Polly when she set forth on this lonely pilgrimage to find +learning. She had heard of the danger of picking up with strangers, +and the awful barred windows behind which young girls languished and +died, and so refused to answer when the Travelers' Aid of the Y.W.C.A. +in friendliest tones asked if she might help her. + +Polly was not to be deceived by friendly tones. The friendly ones were +the worst! She held her head high and walked straight ahead, just as +if she knew where she was going. Polly had a plan of action. She was +going to walk on and on until she came to a house marked in big +letters "BOARDING-HOUSE," and she would go in there and tell the lady +that she wanted to get a room for one day, and then she would leave +her bundle and go out and find a school and see the teacher. Teachers +were all good men and would help you! Then she would find a place +where they wanted a girl to mind a baby or wash dishes, or maybe milk +a cow; and perhaps she would have a bed all to herself. City houses +were so big and had so many rooms, and she had heard that in some of +the beds only one person slept! Having her programme so well laid out, +it is no wonder that she refused to confide in the blue serge lady who +spoke to her. + +Polly set off at a quick pace, looking straight ahead of her across +the corner of the station yard, following the crowd. The Travelers' +Aid followed close behind, determined to keep a close watch on the +independent little Russian girl. + +At the corner of First and Jasper, Polly stopped confused. A great +crowd stood around the bulletin board and excitedly read the news of +the Russian revolution; automobiles honked their horns, and +street-cars clanged and newsboys shouted, and more people than Polly +had ever seen before surged by her. For the first time Polly's stout +heart failed her. She had not thought it would be quite like this! + +Turning round, she was glad to see the woman who had spoken to her at +the station. In this great bustling, pushing throng she seemed like an +old friend. + +"Do you know where I could find a boarding-house?" asked Polly +breathlessly. + +The Travelers' Aid took her by the hand and piloted her safely across +the street; and when the street-car had clanged by and she could be +heard, she told Polly that she would take her to a boarding-house +where she would be quite safe. + +Polly stopped and asked her what was the name of the place. + +"Y.W.C.A.," said the Aid, smiling. + +Polly gave a sigh of relief. "I know what that is," she said. "Mr. +Ellis said that was the place to go when you go to a city. Will you +let me stay until I find a school?" + +"We'll find the school," said the other woman. "That is what we are +for; we look after girls like you. We are glad to find a girl who +wants to go to school." + +Polly laid her pack down to change hands and looked about her in +delight. The big brick buildings, the store-windows, even the +street-signs with their flaring colors, were all beautiful to her. + +"Gee!" she said, "I like the city--it's swell!" + +Polly was taken to the office of the secretary of the Y.W.C.A., and +there, under the melting influence of Miss Bradshaw's kind eyes and +sweet voice, she told all her hopes and fears. + +"Our teacher has gone to be a soldier and we could not get another, +for they say it is too lonesome--out our way--and how can it be +lonesome? There's children in every house. But, anyway, lady-teachers +won't come and the men are all gone to the war. I'll bet I won't be +scared to teach when I grow up, but of course I won't be a lady; it's +different with them--they are always scared of something. We have a +cabin for the teacher, and three chairs and a painted table and a +stove and a bed, and a brass knob on the door, and we always brought +cream and eggs and bread for the teacher; and we washed his dishes for +him, and the girl that had the best marks all week could scrub his +floor on Friday afternoons. He was so nice to us all that we all cried +when he enlisted, but he explained it all to us--that there are some +things dearer than life and he just felt that he had to go. He said +that he would come back if he was not killed. Maybe he will only have +one arm and one leg, but we won't mind as long as there is enough of +him to come back. We tried and tried to get another teacher, but there +are not enough to fill the good schools, and ours is twenty miles from +a station and in a foreign settlement.... I'm foreign, too," she added +honestly; "I'm Russian." + +"The Russians are our allies," said the secretary, "and you are a real +little Canadian now, Polly, and you are not a bit foreign. I was born +in Tipperary myself, and that is far away from Canada, too." + +"Oh, yes, I know about it being a long way there," Polly said. "But +that doesn't matter, it is the language that counts. You see my mother +can't talk very good English and that is what makes us foreign, but +she wants us all to know English, and that is why she let me come +away, and I will do all I can to learn, and I will be a teacher some +day, and then I will go back and plant the garden and she will send me +butter, for I will live in the cabin. But it is too bad that we cannot +have a teacher to come to us, for now, when I am away, there is no one +to teach my mother English, for Mary does not speak the English well +by me, and the other children will soon forget it if we cannot get a +teacher." + +While she was speaking, the genial secretary was doing some hard +thinking. This little messenger from the up-country had carried her +message right into the heart of one woman, one who was accustomed to +carry her impulses into action. + + * * * * * + +The Local Council of Women of the City of Edmonton met the next day in +the club-room of the Y.W.C.A., and it was a well-attended meeting, +for the subject to be discussed was that of "National Service for +Women." As the time drew near for the meeting to begin, it became +evident that great interest was being taken in the subject, for the +room was full, and animated discussions were going on in every corner. +This was not the first meeting that had been held on this subject, and +considerable indignation was heard that no notice had been taken by +the Government of the request that had been sent in some months +previous, asking that women be registered for national service as well +as men. + +"They never even replied to our suggestion," one woman said. "You +would have thought that common politeness would have prompted a reply. +It was a very civil note that we sent--I wrote it myself." + +"Hush! Don't be hard on the Government," said an older woman, looking +up from her knitting. "They have their own troubles--think of Quebec! +And then you know women's work is always taken for granted; they know +we will do our bit without being listed or counted." + +"But I want to do something else besides knitting," the first speaker +said; "it could be done better and cheaper anyway by machinery, and +that would set a lot of workers free. Why don't we register ourselves, +all of us who mean business? This is our country, and if the +Government is asleep at the switch, that is no reason why we should +be. I tell you I am for conscription for every man and woman." + +"Well, suppose we all go with you and sign up--name, age, present +address; married?--if so, how often?--and all that sort of thing; what +will you do with us, then?" asked Miss Wheatly, who was just back from +the East where she had been taking a course in art. "I am tired of +having my feelings all wrought upon and then have to settle down to +knitting a dull gray sock or the easy task of collecting Red Cross +funds from perfectly willing people who ask me to come in while they +make me a cup of tea. I feel like a real slacker, for I have never yet +done a hard thing. I did not let any one belonging to me go, for the +fairly good reason that I have no male relatives; I give money, but I +have never yet done without a meal or a new pair of boots when I +wanted them. There is no use of talking of putting me to work on a +farm, for no farmer would be bothered with me for a minute, and the +farmer's wife has trouble enough now without giving her the care of a +greenhorn like me--why, I would not know when a hen wanted to set!" + +"You do not need to know," laughed the conscriptionist; "the hen will +attend to that without any help from you; and, anyway, we use +incubators now and the hen is exempt from all family cares--she can +have a Career if she wants to." + +"I am in earnest about this," Miss Wheatly declared; "I am tired of +this eternal talk of national service and nothing coming of it. Now, +if any of you know of a hard, full-sized woman's job that I can do, +you may lead me to it!" + +Then the meeting began. There was a very enthusiastic speaker who told +of the great gift that Canada had given to the Empire, the gift of men +and wheat, bread and blood--the sacrament of empire. She then told of +what a sacrifice the men make who go to the front, who lay their +young lives down for their country and do it all so cheerfully. "And +now," she said, "what about those of us who stay at home, who have +three good meals every day, who sleep in comfortable beds and have not +departed in any way from our old comfortable way of living. Wouldn't +you like to do something to help win the war?" + +There was a loud burst of applause here, but Miss Wheatly sat with a +heavy frown on her face. + +"Wasn't that a perfectly wonderful speech?" the secretary whispered to +her when the speaker had finished with a ringing verse of poetry all +about sacrifice and duty. + +"It is all the same old bunk," Miss Wheatly said bitterly; "I often +wonder how they can speak so long and not make one practical +suggestion. Wouldn't you like to help win the war? That sounds so +foolish--of course we would like to win the war. It is like the +old-fashioned evangelists who used to say, 'All who would like to go +to heaven will please stand up.' Everybody stood, naturally." + +While they were whispering, they missed the announcement that the +president was making, which was that there was a young girl from the +North Country who had come to the meeting and wished to say a few +words. There was a deep, waiting silence, and then a small voice began +to speak. It was Miss Polly Rogowski from the Abilene Valley District. + +There was no fear in Polly's heart--she was not afraid of anything. +Not being a lady, of course, and having no reputation to sustain, and +being possessed with one thought, and complete master of it, her +speech had true eloquence. She was so small that the women at the back +of the room had to stand up to see her. + +"I live at Abilene Valley and there are lots of us. I am fourteen +years old and Mary is twelve, and Annie is eleven, and Mike is ten, +and Peter is nine, and Ivan is seven, and Olga is six, and that is all +we have old enough to go to school; but there are lots more of other +children in our neighborhood, but our teacher has gone away to the war +and we cannot get another one, for lady-teachers are all too scared, +but I don't think they would be if they would only come, for we will +chop the wood, and one of us will stay at night and sleep on the +floor, and we will light the fires and get the breakfast, and we bring +eggs and cream and everything like that, and we could give the teacher +a cat and a dog; and the girl that had done the best work all week +always got to scrub the floor when our last teacher was there; and we +had a nice garden--and flowers, and now there is not anything, and the +small children are forgetting what Mr. Ellis taught them; for our +school has been closed all last summer, and sometimes Peter and Ivan +and the other little boys go over to the cabin and look in at the +windows, and it is all so quiet and sad--they cry." + +There was a stricken silence in the room which Polly mistook for a +lack of interest and redoubled her efforts. + +"We have twenty-four children altogether and they are all wanting a +teacher to come. I came here to go to school, but if I can get a +teacher to go back with me, I will go back. I thought I would try to +learn quick and go back then, but when I saw all so many women able +to read right off, and all looking so smart at learning, I thought I +would ask you if one of you would please come. We give our teacher +sixty-five dollars a month, and when you want to come home we will +bring you to the station--it is only twenty miles--and the river is +not deep only when it rains, and then even I know how to get through +and not get in the holes; and if you will come we must go to-morrow, +for the ice is getting rotten in the river and won't stand much sun." + +That was the appeal of the country to the city; of the foreign-born to +the native-born; of the child to the woman. + +The first person to move was Miss Wheatly, who rose quietly and walked +to the front of the room and faced the audience. "Madam President," +she began in her even voice, "I have been waiting quite a while for +this, I think. I said to-day that if any one knew of a real, +full-sized woman's job, I would like to be led to it.... Well--it +seems that I have been led" + +She then turned to Polly and said, "I can read right off and am not +afraid, not even of the river, if you promise to keep me out of the +holes, and I believe I can find enough of a diploma to satisfy the +department, and as you have heard the river won't stand much sun, so +you will kindly notice that my address has changed to Abilene Valley +Post-Office." + +Polly held her firmly by the hand and they moved toward the door. +Polly turned just as they were passing through the door and made her +quaint and graceful curtsy, saying, "I am glad I came, and I guess we +will be for going now." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE ORPHAN + + Just a little white-faced lad + Sitting on the "Shelter" floor; + Eyes which seemed so big and sad, + Watched me as I passed the door. + Turning back, I tried to win + From that sober face a smile + With some foolish, trifling thing, + Such as children's hearts beguile. + + But the look which shot me through + Said as plain as speech could be: + "Life has been all right for you! + But it is no joke for me! + I'm not big enough to know-- + And I wonder, wonder why + My dear 'Daddy' had to go + And my mother had to die! + + "You've a father, I suppose? + And a mother--maybe--too? + You can laugh and joke at life? + It has been all right for you? + Spin your top, and wave your fan! + You've a home and folks who care + Laugh about it those who can! + Joke about it--those who dare + --But excuse me--if I'm glum + I can't bluff it off--like some!" + + Then I sadly came away + And felt guilty, all the day! + + +Dr. Frederick Winters was a great believer in personal liberty for +every one--except, of course, the members of his own family. For them +he craved every good thing except this. He was kind, thoughtful, +courteous, and generous--a beneficent despot. + +There is much to be said in favor of despotic government after all. It +is so easy of operation; it is so simple and direct--one brain, one +will, one law, with no foolish back-talk, bickerings, murmurings, +mutinies, letters to the paper. A democracy has it beaten, of course, +on the basis of liberty, but there is much to be said in favor of an +autocracy in the matter of efficiency. + +"King Asa did that which was right in the sight of the Lord"; and in +his reign the people were happy and contented and had no political +differences. There being only one party, the "Asaites," there were no +partisan newspapers, no divided homes, no mixed marriages, as we have +to-day when Liberals and Conservatives, disregarding the command to be +not unequally yoked together, marry. All these distressing +circumstances were eliminated in good King Asa's reign. + +It is always a mistake to pursue a theory too far. When we turn the +next page of the sacred story we read that King Omri, with the same +powers as King Asa had had, turned them to evil account and oppressed +the people in many ways and got himself terribly disliked. Despotism +seems to work well or ill according to the despot, and so, as a form +of government, it has steadily declined in favor. + +Despotic measures have thriven better in homes than in states. Homes are +guarded by a wall of privacy, a delicate distaste for publicity, a +shrinking from all notoriety such as rebellion must inevitably bring, +and for this reason the weaker ones often practice a peace-at-any-price +policy, thinking of the alert eyes that may be peering through the filet +lace of the window across the street. + +Mrs. Winters submitted to the despotic rule of Dr. Winters for no such +reason as this. She submitted because she liked it, and because she +did not know that it was despotic. It saved her the exertion of making +decisions for herself, and her conscience was always quite clear. "The +Doctor will not let me," she had told the women when they had asked +her to play for the Sunday services at the mission. "The Doctor +thought it was too cold for me to go out," had been her explanation +when on one occasion she had failed to appear at a concert where she +had promised to play the accompaniments; and in time people ceased to +ask her to do anything, her promises were so likely to be broken. + +When the Suffrage agitators went to see her and tried to show her that +she needed a vote, she answered all their arguments by saying, "I have +such a good husband that these arguments do not apply to me at all"; +and all their talk about spiritual independence and personal +responsibility fell on very pretty, but very deaf, ears. The women +said she was a hopeless case. + +"I wonder," said one of the women afterwards in discussing her, "when +Mrs. Winters presents herself at the heavenly gate and there is asked +what she has done to make the world better, and when she has to +confess that she has never done anything outside of her own house, and +nothing there except agreeable things, such as entertaining friends +who next week will entertain her, and embroidering 'insets' for +corset-covers for dainty ladies who already have corset-covers enough +to fill a store-window,--I wonder if she will be able to put it over +on the heavenly doorkeeper that 'the Doctor would not let her.' If all +I hear is true, Saint Peter will say, 'Who is this person you call the +Doctor?' and when she explains that the Doctor was her husband, Saint +Peter will say, 'Sorry, lady, we cannot recognize marriage relations +here at all--it is unconstitutional, you know--there is no marrying or +giving in marriage after you cross the Celestial Meridian. I turned +back a woman this morning who handed in the same excuse--there seems +to have been a good deal of this business of one person's doing the +thinking for another on earth, but we can't stand for it here. I'm +sorry, lady, but I can't let you in--it would be as much as my job is +worth.'" + +Upon this happy household, as upon some others not so happy, came the +war!--and Dr. Winters's heroic soul responded to the trumpet's call. +He was among the first to present himself for active service in the +Overseas Force. When he came home and told his wife, she got the first +shock of her life. It was right, of course, it must be right, but he +should have told her, and she remonstrated with him for the first time +in her life. Why had he not consulted her, she asked, before taking +such a vital step? Then Dr. Winters expressed in words one of the +underlying principles of his life. "A man's first duty is to his +country and his God," he said, "and even if you had objected, it would +not have changed my decision." + +Mrs. Winters looked at him in surprise. "But, Frederick," she cried, +"I have never had any authority but you. I have broken promises when +you told me to, disappointed people, disappointed myself, but never +complained--thinking in a vague way that you would do the same for me +if I asked you to--your word was my law. What would you think if I +volunteered for a nurse without asking you--and then told you my +country's voice sounded clear and plain above all others?" + +"It is altogether different," he said brusquely. "The country's +business concerns men, not women. Woman's place is to look after the +homes of the nation and rear children. Men are concerned with the big +things of life." + +Mrs. Winters looked at him with a new expression on her face. "I have +fallen down, then," she said, "on one part of my job--I have brought +into the world and cared for no children. All my life--and I am now +forty years of age--has been given to making a home pleasant for one +man. I have been a housekeeper and companion for one person. It +doesn't look exactly like a grown woman's whole life-work, now, does +it?" + +"Don't talk foolishly, Nettie," he said; "you suit me." + +"That's it," she said quickly; "I suit you--but I do not suit the +church women, the Civic Club women, the Hospital Aid women, the +Children's Shelter women; they call me a slacker, and I am beginning +to think I am." + +"I would like to know what they have to do with it?" he said hotly; +"you are my wife and I am the person concerned." + +Without noticing what he said, she continued: "Once I wanted to adopt +a baby, you remember, when one of your patients died, and I would have +loved to do it; but you said you must not be disturbed at night and I +submitted. Still, if it had been our own, you would have had to be +disturbed and put up with it like other people, and so I let you rule +me. I have never had any opinion of my own." + +"Nettie, you are excited," he said gently; "you are upset, poor girl, +about my going away--I don't wonder. Come out with me; I am going to +speak at a recruiting meeting." + +Her first impulse was to refuse, for there were many things she wanted +to think out, but the habit of years was on her and she went. + +The meeting was a great success. It was the first days of the war, +when enthusiasm seethed and the little town throbbed with excitement. +The news was coming through of the destruction and violation of +Belgium; the women wept and men's faces grew white with rage. + +Dr. Winters's fine face was alight with enthusiasm as he spoke of the +debt that every man now owes to his country. Every man who is able to +hold a gun, he said, must come to the help of civilization against +barbarism. These dreadful outrages are happening thousands of miles +away, but that makes them none the less real. Humanity is being +attacked by a bully, a ruffian,--how can any man stay at home? Let no +consideration of family life keep you from doing your duty. Every +human being must give an account of himself to God. What did you do in +the great day of testing? will be the question asked you in that great +day of reckoning to which we are all coming. + +When he was through speaking, amid the thunderous applause, five young +men walked down to the front and signified their intention of going. + +"Why, that's Willie Shepherd, and he is his mother's only support," +whispered one of the women; "I don't think he should go." + +When they went home that night Mrs. Winters told the Doctor what she +had heard the women say, and even added her remonstrance too. + +"This is no time for remonstrance," he had cried; "his mother will get +along; the Patriotic Fund will look after her. I tell you human +relationships are forgotten in this struggle! We must save our +country. One broken heart more or less cannot be taken into +consideration. Personal comfort must not be thought of. There is only +one limit to service and sacrifice, and that is capacity." + +Every night after that he addressed meetings, and every night recruits +came to the colors. His speeches vibrated with the spirit of sacrifice +and the glory of service, and thrilled every heart that listened, and +no heart was more touched than that of his wife, who felt that no +future in the world would be so happy as to go and care for the +wounded men. + +She made the suggestion one night, and was quite surprised to find +that the Doctor regarded it favorably. All that night she lay awake +from sheer joy: at last she was going to be of service--she was going +to do something. She tried to tell herself of the hardships of the +life, but nothing could dim her enthusiasm. "I hope it will be hard," +she cried happily. "I want it hard to make up for the easy, idle years +I have spent. I hate the ease and comfort and selfishness in which I +have lived." + +The next day her application went in and she began to attend the +ambulance classes which were given in the little city by the doctors +and nurses. + +The Doctor was away so much that she was practically free to go and +come as she liked, and the breath of liberty was sweet to her. She +also saw, with further pangs of conscience, the sacrifices which other +women were making. The Red Cross women seemed to work unceasingly. + +The President of the Red Cross came to her office every morning at +nine, and stayed till five. + +"What about lunch?" Mrs. Winters asked her, one day. "Do you go home?" + +"Oh, no," said the other woman; "I go out and get a sandwich." + +"But I mean--what about your husband's lunch?" + +"He goes home," the president said, "and sees after the children when +they come in from school--of course I have a maid, you know." + +"But doesn't he miss you dreadfully?" asked Mrs. Winters. + +"Yes, I think he does, but not any more than the poor fellows in the +trenches miss their wives. He is not able to go to the front himself +and he is only too glad to leave me free to do all I can." + +"But surely some other woman could be found," said Mrs. Winters, "who +hasn't got as many family cares as you have." + +"They could," said the president, "but they would probably tell you +that their husbands like to have them at home--or some day would be +stormy and they would 'phone down that 'Teddy' positively refused to +let them come out. We have been busy people all our lives and have +been accustomed to sacrifice and never feel a bit sorry for it--we've +raised our six children and done without many things. It doesn't hurt +us as it does the people who have always sat on cushioned seats. The +Red Cross Society knows that it is a busy woman who can always find +time to do a little more, and I am just as happy as can be doing +this." + +Mrs. Winters felt the unintentional rebuke in these words, and turned +them over in her mind. + +One day, three months after this, the Doctor told her that it was +quite probable he would not be going overseas at all, for he was +having such success recruiting that the major-general thought it +advisable to have him go right on with it. "And so, Nettie," he said, +"you had better cancel your application to go overseas, for of course, +if I do not go, you will not." + +For a moment she did not grasp what he meant. He spoke of it so +casually. Not go! The thought of her present life of inactivity was +never so repulsive. But silence fell upon her and she made no reply. + +"We will not know definitely about it for a few weeks," he said, and +went on reading. + +After that, Mrs. Winters attended every recruiting meeting at which +her husband spoke, eagerly memorizing his words, hardly knowing why, +but she felt that she might need them. She had never been able to +argue with any one--one adverse criticism of her position always +caused her defense to collapse. So she collected all the material she +could get on the subject of personal responsibility and sacrifice. Her +husband's brilliant way of phrasing became a delight to her. But +always, as she listened, vague doubts arose in her mind. + +One day when she was sewing at the Red Cross rooms, the women were +talking of a sad case that had occurred at the hospital. A soldier's +wife had died, leaving a baby two weeks old and another little girl of +four, who had been taken to the Children's Shelter, and who had cried +so hard to be left with her mother. One of the women had been to see +the sick woman the day before she died, and was telling the others +about her. + +"A dear little saint on earth she was--well bred, well educated, but +without friends. Her only anxiety was for her children and sympathy +for her husband. 'This will be sad news for poor Bob,' she said, 'but +he'll know I did my best to live--I cannot get my breath--that's the +worst--if I could only get my breath--I would abide the pain _some +way_.' The baby is lovely, too,--a fine healthy boy. Now I wonder if +there is any woman patriotic enough to adopt those two little ones +whose mother is dead and whose father is in the trenches. The baby +went to the Shelter yesterday." + +"Of course they are well treated there," said Mrs. Winters. + +"Well treated!" cried the president--"they are fed and kept warm and +given all the care the matron and attendants can give them; but how +can two or three women attend to twenty-five children? They do all +they can, but it's a sad place just the same. I always cry when I see +the mother-hungry look on their faces. They want to be owned and +loved--they need some one belonging to them. Don't you know that +settled look of loneliness? I call it the 'institutional face,' and I +know it the minute I see it. Poor Bob Wilson--it will be sad news for +him--he was our plumber and gave up a good job to go. At the station +he kept saying to his wife to comfort her, for she was crying her +heart out, poor girl, 'Don't cry, Minnie dear, I'm leaving you in +good hands; they are not like strangers anymore, all these kind +ladies; they'll see you through. Don't you remember what the Doctor +said,'--that was your husband, Mrs. Winters,--'the women are the best +soldiers of all--so you'll bear up, Minnie.' + +"Minnie was a good soldier right enough," said the president, "but I +wonder what Bob will think of the rest of us when he comes home--or +doesn't come home. We let his Minnie die, and sent his two babies to +the Children's Shelter. In this manner have we discharged our +duty--we've taken it easy so far." + +Mrs. Winters sat open-eyed, and as soon as she could, left the room. +She went at once to the Shelter and asked to see the children. + +Up the bare stairs, freshly scrubbed, she was taken, and into the +day-nursery where many children sat on the floor, some idly playing +with half-broken toys, one or two wailing softly, not as if they were +looking for immediate returns, but just as a small protest against +things in general. The little four-year-old girl, neatly dressed and +smiling, came at once when the matron called her, and quickly said, +"Will you take me to my mother? Am I going home now?" + +"She asks every one that," the matron said aside. + +"I have a little brother now," said the child proudly; "just down from +heaven--we knew he was coming." + +In one of the white cribs the little brother lay, in an embroidered +quilt. The matron uncovered his face, and, opening one navy-blue eye, +he smiled. + +"He's a bonnie boy," the matron said; "he has slept ever since he +came. But I cannot tell--somebody--I simply can't." + +Mrs. Winters went home thinking so hard that she was afraid her +husband would see the thoughts shining out, tell-tale, in her face. + +She told him where she had been and was just leading up to the appeal +which she had prepared, for the children, when a young man called to +see the Doctor. + +The young fellow had called for advice: his wife would not give her +consent to his enlisting, and his heart was wrung with anxiety over +what he should do. + +The Doctor did not hesitate a minute. "Go right on," he said; "this is +no time to let any one, however near and dear, turn us from our duty. +We have ceased to exist as individuals--now we are a Nation and we +must sacrifice the individual for the State. Your wife will come +around to it and be glad that you were strong enough to do your duty. +No person has any right to turn another from his duty, for we must all +answer to Almighty God in this crisis, not to each other." + +The next day, while the Doctor was away making a recruiting speech in +another town, the delivery van of the leading furniture store stood at +his back door and one high chair stood in it, one white crib was being +put up-stairs in his wife's bedroom, and many foreign articles were in +evidence in the room. The Swedish maid was all excitement and moved +around on tip-toe, talking in a whisper. + +"There ban coming a baby hare, and a li'l' girl. Gee! what will the +Doctor man say! He ban quick enough to bring them other houses, no +want none for self--oh, gee!" + +Then she made sure that the key was not in the study door, for Olga +was a student of human nature and wanted to get her information +first-hand. + + * * * * * + +When the Doctor came in late that night, Mrs. Winters met him at the +door as usual. So absorbed was he in telling her of the success of his +meetings that he did not notice the excitement in her face. + +"They came to-night in droves, Nettie," he said, as he drank the cocoa +she had made for him. + +"They can't help it, Fred," she declared enthusiastically, "when you +put it to them the way you do. You are right, dear; it is not a time +for any person to hold others back from doing what they see they +should. It's a personal matter between us and God--we are not +individuals any more--we are a state, and each man and woman must get +under the burden. I hate this talk of 'business as usual'--I tell you +it is nothing as usual." + +He regarded her with surprise! Nettie had never made so long a speech +before. + +"It's your speeches, Fred; they are wonderful. Why, man alive, you +have put backbone even into me--I who have been a jelly-fish all my +life--and last night, when I heard you explain to that young fellow +that he must not let his wife be his conscience, I got a sudden +glimpse of things. You've been my conscience all my life, but, thank +God, you've led me out into a clear place. I'm part of the State, and +I am no slacker--I am going to do my bit. Come, Fred, I want to show +you something." + +He followed her without a word as she led the way to the room upstairs +where two children slept sweetly. + +"They are mine, Fred,--mine until the war is over, at least, and +Private Wilson comes back; and if he does not come back, or if he will +let me have them, they are mine forever." + +He stared at this new woman, who looked like his wife. + +"It was your last speech, Fred,--what you said to that young man. You +told him to go ahead--his wife would come around, you said--she would +see her selfishness. Then I saw a light shine on my pathway. Every +speech has stiffened my backbone a little. I was like the mouse who +timidly tiptoed out to the saucer of brandy, and, taking a sip, went +more boldly back, then came again with considerable swagger; and at +last took a good drink and then strutted up and down saying, 'Bring on +your old black cat!' That's how I feel, Fred,--I'm going to be a +mother to these two little children whose own mother has passed on and +whose father is holding up the pillars of the Empire. It would hardly +be fair to leave them to public charity, now, would it?" + +"Well, Nettie," the Doctor said slowly, "I'll see that you do not +attend any more recruiting meetings--you are too literal. But all the +same," he said, "I am proud of my convert." + +Olga Jasonjusen tiptoed gently away from the door, and going down the +back stairs hugged herself gayly, saying, "All over--but the kissing. +Oh, gee! He ain't too bad! He's just needed some one to cheek up to +him. Bet she's sorry now she didn't sass him long ago." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR-MOTHER + + +I saw my old train friend again. It was the day that one of our +regiments went away, and we were all at the station to bid the boys +good-bye. + +The empty coaches stood on a siding, and the stream of khaki-clad men +wound across the common from the Fair buildings, which were then used +as a military camp. The men were heavily loaded with all their +equipment, but cheerful as ever. The long-looked-for order to go +forward had come at last! + +Men in uniform look much the same, but the women who came with them +and stood by them were from every station in life. There were two +Ukrainian women, with colored shawls on their heads, who said good-bye +to two of the best-looking boys in the regiment, their sons. It is no +new thing for the Ukrainian people to fight for liberty! There were +heavily veiled women, who alighted from their motors and silently +watched the coaches filling with soldiers. Every word had been said, +every farewell spoken; they were not the sort who say tempestuous +good-byes, but their silence was like the silence of the open grave. +There were many sad-faced women, wheeling go-carts, with children +holding to their skirts crying loudly for "Daddy." There were tired, +untidy women, overrun by circumstances, with that look about them +which the Scotch call "through-other." There were many brave little +boys and girls standing by their mothers, trying hard not to cry; +there were many babies held up to the car-window to kiss a big brother +or a father; there were the groups of chattering young people, with +their boxes of candy and incessant fun; there were brides of a day, +with their white-fox furs and new suits, and the great new sorrow in +their eyes. + +One fine-looking young giant made his way toward the train without +speaking to any one, passing where a woman held her husband's hands, +crying hysterically--we were trying to persuade her to let him go, +for the conductor had given the first warning. + +"I have no one to cry over me, thank God!" he said, "and I think I am +the best off." But the bitterness in his tone belied his words. + +"Then maybe I could pretend that you are my boy," said a woman's voice +behind me, which sounded familiar; "you see I have no boy--now, and +nobody to write to--and I just came down to-night to see if I could +find one. I want to have some one belonging to me--even if they are +going away!" + +The young man laid down his bag and took her hand awkwardly. "I sure +would be glad to oblige you," he said, "only I guess you could get one +that was lots nicer. I am just a sort of a bo-hunk from the North +Country." + +"You'll do me," said the old lady, whom I recognized at once as my +former train companion,--"you'll do me fine. Tell me your name and +number, and I'll be your war-mother,--here's my card, I have it all +ready,--I knew I'd get some one. Now, remember, I am your Next of Kin. +Give in my name and I'll get the cable when you get the D.S.O., and +I'll write to you every week and send you things. I just can't keep +from sending parcels." + +"Gee! This is sudden!" said the boy, laughing; "but it's nice!" + +"I lost my boys just as suddenly as this," she said. "Billy and Tom +went out together--they were killed at Saint-Eloi, but Frank came +through it all to Vimy Ridge. Then the message came ... sudden too. +One day I had him--then I lost him! Why shouldn't nice things come +suddenly too--just like this!" + +"You sure can have me--mother," the big fellow said. + +The conductor was giving the last call. Then the boy took her in his +arms and kissed her withered cheek, which took on a happy glow that +made us all look the other way. + +She and I stood together and watched the grinding wheels as they began +to move. The spirit of youth, the indomitable, imperishable spirit of +youth was in her eyes, and glowed in her withered face as she murmured +happily,-- + +"I am one of the Next of Kin ... again, and my new boy is on that +train." + +We stood together until the train had gone from our sight. + +"Let me see," I said, "how many chickens did you tell me that Biddy +hen of yours had when the winter came?" + +"Twenty-two," she laughed. + +"Well," I said, "it's early yet." + +"I just can't help it," she said seriously; "I have to be in it! After +I got the word about my last boy, it seemed for a few days that I had +come to the end of everything. I slept and slept and slept, just like +you do when you've had company at your house,--the very nicest +company, and they go away!--and you're so lonely and idle, and tired, +too, for you've been having such a good time you did not notice that +you were getting near the edge. That's how I felt; but after a week I +wanted to be working at something. I thought maybe the Lord had left +my hands quite free so I could help some one else.... You have played +croquet, haven't you? You know how the first person who gets out has +the privilege of coming back a 'rover,' and giving a hand to any one. +That's what I felt; I was a 'rover,' and you'd be surprised at all I +have found to do. There are so many soldiers' wives with children who +never get downtown to shop or see a play, without their children. I +have lots to do in that line, and it keeps me from thinking. + +"I want you to come with me now," she went on, "to see a woman who has +something wrong with her that I can't find out. She has a sore +thought. Her man has been missing since September, and is now +officially reported killed. But there's something else bothering her." + +"How do you know?" I asked. + +She turned quickly toward me and said, "Have you any children?" + +"Five," I said. + +"Oh, well, then, you'll understand. Can't you tell by a child's cry +whether it is hungry, or hurt, or just mad?" + +"I can, I think," I said. + +"Well, that's how I know. She's in deep grief over her husband, but +there's more than that. Her eyes have a hurt look that I wish I could +get out of them. You'll see it for yourself, and maybe we can get her +to tell us. I just found her by accident last week--or at least, I +found her; nothing happens by accident!" + +We found her in a little faded green house, whose veranda was broken +through in many places. Scared-looking, dark-eyed children darted +shyly through the open door as we approached. In the darkened front +room she received us, and, without any surprise, pleasure, or +resentment in her voice, asked us to sit down. As our eyes became +accustomed to the gloom, we wondered more and more why the sunshine +was excluded, for there was no carpet to fade, nor any furniture which +would have been injured. The most conspicuous object in the room was +the framed family group taken just before "her man" went away. He was +a handsome young fellow in his tidy uniform, and the woman beside him +had such a merry face that I should never have known her for the sad +and faded person who had met us at the door. In the picture she was +smiling, happy, resolute; now her face was limp and frazzled, and had +an indefinable challenge in it which baffled me. My old friend was +right--there was a sore thought there! + +The bright black eyes of the handsome soldier fascinated me; he was so +much alive; so fearless; so confident, so brave,--so much needed by +these little ones who clustered around his knee. Again, as I looked +upon this picture, the horrors of war rolled over my helpless heart. + +My old friend was trying hard to engage the woman in conversation, but +her manner was abstracted and strange. I noticed her clothes were all +black, even the flannel bandage around her throat--she was recovering +from an attack of quinsy--was black too; and as if in answer to my +thoughts, she said:-- + +"It was red--but I dyed it--I couldn't bear to have it red--it +bothered me. That's why I keep the blinds down too--the sun hurts +me--it has no right to shine--just the same as if nothing had +happened." Her voice quivered with passion. + +"Have you any neighbors, Mrs. C----?" I asked; for her manner made me +uneasy--she had been too much alone. + +"Neighbors!" she stormed,--"neighbors! I haven't any, and I do not +want them: they would only lie about me--the way they lied about +Fred!" + +"Surely nobody ever lied about Fred," I said,--"this fine, brave +fellow." + +"He does look brave, doesn't he?" she cried. "You are a stranger, but +you can see it, can't you? You wouldn't think he was a coward, would +you?" + +"I would stake everything on his bravery!" I said honestly, looking at +the picture. + +She came over and squeezed my hand. + +"It was a wicked lie--all a lie!" she said bitterly. + +"Tell us all about it," I said; "I am sure there has been a mistake." + +She went quickly out of the room, and my old friend and I stared at +each other without speaking. In a few minutes she came back with a +"paper" in her hand, and, handing it to me, she said, "Read that and +you'll see what they say!" + +I read the announcement which stated that her husband had been missing +since September 29, and was now believed to have been killed. "This is +just what is sent to every one--" I began, but she interrupted me. + +"Look here!" she cried, leaning over my shoulder and pointing to the +two words "marginally noted"--"What does that mean?" + +I read it over again:-- + +"We regret to inform you that the soldier marginally noted, who has +been declared missing since September 29, is now believed to have been +killed!" + +"There!" she cried, "can't you see?" pointing again to the two words. +"Don't you see what that means?--margin means the edge--and that means +that Fred was noted for being always on the edge of the army, trying +to escape, I suppose. But that's a lie, for Fred was not that kind, I +tell you--he was no coward!" + +I saw where the trouble lay, and tried to explain. She would not +listen. + +"Oh, but I looked in the dictionary and I know: 'margin' means 'the +edge,' and they are trying to say that Fred was always edging +off--you see--noted for being on the edge, that's what they say." + +We reasoned, we argued, we explained, but the poor little lonely soul +was obsessed with the idea that a deep insult had been put upon her +man's memory. + +Then my old friend had an idea. She opened her purse and brought out +the notice which she had received of the death of her last boy. + +We put the two notices side by side, and told her that these were +printed by the thousands, and every one got the same. Just the name +had to be filled in. + +Then she saw it! + +"Oh!" she cried, "I am so glad you showed me this, for I have been so +bitter. I hated every one; it sounded so hard and cold and +horrible--as if nobody cared. It was harder than losing Fred to have +him so insulted. But now I see it all!" + +"Isn't it too bad," said the old lady, as we walked home together, +"that they do not have these things managed by women? Women would +have sense enough to remember that these notices go to many classes of +people--and would go a bit slow on the high-sounding phrases: they +would say, 'The soldier whose name appears on the margin of this +letter,' instead of 'The soldier who is marginally noted'; it might +not be so concise, but it is a heap plainer. A few sentences of +sympathy, too, and appreciation, written in by hand, would be a +comfort. I tell you at a time like this we want something human, like +the little girl who was put to bed in the dark and told that the +angels would keep her company. She said she didn't want angels--she +wanted something with a skin face!--So do we all! We are panicky and +touchy, like a child that has been up too late the night before, and +we have to be carefully handled. All the pores of our hearts are open +and it is easy to get a chill!" + +As we rode home in the car she told me about the letter which had come +that day from her last boy:-- + +"It seemed queer to look at this letter and know that I would never +get another one from the boys. Letters from the boys have been a big +thing to me for many years. Billy and Tom were away from me for a long +time before the war, and they never failed to write. Frank was never +away from me until he went over, and he was not much of a +letter-writer,--just a few sentences! 'Hello, mother, how are you? I'm +O.K. Hope you are the same. Sleeping well, and eating everything I can +lay my hands on. The box came; it was sure a good one. Come again. +So-long!' That was the style of Frank's letter. 'I don't want this +poor censor to be boring his eyes out trying to find state secrets in +my letters,' he said another time, apologizing for the shortness of +it. 'There are lots of things that I would like to tell you, but I +guess they will keep until I get home--I always could talk better than +write.' ... But this letter is different. He seemed to know that he +was going--west, as they say, and he wrote so seriously; all the +boyishness had gone from him, and he seemed to be old, much older than +I am. These boys of ours are all older than we are now,--they have +seen so much of life's sadness--they have got above it; they see so +many of their companions go over that they get a glimpse of the other +shore. They are like very old people who cannot grieve the way younger +people can at leaving this life." + +Then I read the boy's letter. + +"Dear Mother," it ran, "We are out resting now, but going in to-morrow +to tackle the biggest thing that we have pulled off yet. You'll hear +about it, I guess. Certainly you will if we are successful. I hope +that this letter will go safely, for I want you to know just how I +feel, and that everything is fine with me. I used to be scared stiff +that I would be scared, but I haven't been--there seems to be +something that stands by you and keeps your heart up, and with death +all around you, you see it is not so terrible. I have seen so many of +the boys pass out, and they don't mind it. They fight like wild-cats +while they can, but when their turn comes they go easy. The awful roar +of the guns does it. The silent tomb had a horrible sound to me when I +was at home, but it sounds like a welcome now. Anyway, mother, +whatever happens you must not worry. Everything is all right when you +get right up to it--even death. I just wish I could see you, and make +you understand how light-hearted I feel. I never felt better; my only +trouble is that you will be worried about me, but just remember that +everything is fine, and that I love you. + + "FRANK." + + +AT THE LAST! + + O God, who hears the smallest cry + That ever rose from human soul, + Be near my mother when she reads + My name upon the Honor Roll; + And when she sees it written there, + Dear Lord, stand to, behind her chair! + + Or, if it be Thy sacred will + That I may go and stroke her hand, + Just let me say, "I'm living still! + And in a brighter, better land." + One word from me will cheer her so, + O Lord, if you will let me go! + + I know her eyes with tears will blind, + I think I hear her choking cry, + When in the list my name she'll find-- + Oh, let me--let me--let me try + To somehow make her understand + That it is not so hard to die! + + She's thinking of the thirst and pain; + She's thinking of the saddest things; + She does not know an angel came + And led me to the water-springs, + She does not know the quiet peace + That fell upon my heart like rain, + When something sounded my release, + And something eased the scorching pain. + She does not know, I gladly went + And am with Death, content, content. + + I want to say I played the game-- + I played the game right to the end-- + I did not shrink at shot or flame, + But when at last the good old friend, + That some call Death, came beckoning me, + I went with him, quite willingly! + Just let me tell her--let her know-- + It really was not hard to go! + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE BELIEVING CHURCH + + +The gates of heaven are swinging open so often these days, as the +brave ones pass in, that it would be a wonder if some gleams of +celestial brightness did not come down to us. + +We get it unexpectedly in the roar of the street; in the quiet of the +midnight; in the sun-spattered aisles of the forest; in the faces of +our friends; in the turbid stream of our poor burdened humanity. They +shine out and are gone--these flashes of eternal truth. The two worlds +cannot be far apart when the travel from one to the other is so heavy! +No, I do not know what heaven is like, but it could not seem strange +to me, for I know so many people now who are there! Sometimes I feel +like the old lady who went back to Ontario to visit, and who said she +felt more at home in the cemetery than anywhere else, for that is +where most of her friends had gone! + +These heavenly gleams have shown us new things in our civilization and +in our social life, and most of all in our own hearts. Above all other +lessons we have learned, or will learn, is the fallacy of hatred. +Hatred weakens, destroys, disintegrates, scatters. The world's disease +to-day is the withering, blighting, wasting malady of hatred, which +has its roots in the narrow patriotism which teaches people to love +their own country and despise all others. The superiority bug which +enters the brain and teaches a nation that they are God's chosen +people, and that all other nations must some day bow in obeisance to +them, is the microbe which has poisoned the world. We must love our +own country best, of course, just as we love our own children best; +but it is a poor mother who does not desire the highest good for every +other woman's child. + +We are sick unto death of hatred, force, brutality; blood-letting will +never bring about lasting results, for it automatically plants a crop +of bitterness and a desire for revenge which start the trouble all +over again. To kill a man does not prove that he was wrong, neither +does it make converts of his friends. A returned man told me about +hearing a lark sing one morning as the sun rose over the +shell-scarred, desolated battlefield, with its smouldering piles of +ruins which had once been human dwelling-places, and broken, +splintered trees which the day before had been green and growing. Over +this scene of horror, hatred, and death arose the lark into the +morning air, and sang his glorious song. "And then," said the boy, as +he steadied himself on his crutches, "he sang the very same song over +again, just to show us that he could do it again and meant every word +of it, and it gave me a queer feeling. It seemed to show me that the +lark had the straight of it, and we were all wrong. But," he added, +after a pause, "nobody knows how wrong it all is like the men who've +been there!" + +Of course we know that the world did not suddenly go wrong. Its +thought must have been wrong all the time, and the war is simply the +manifestation of it; one of them at least. But how did it happen? That +is the question which weary hearts are asking all over the world. We +all know what is wrong with Germany. That's easy. It is always easier +to diagnose other people's cases than our own--and pleasanter. We know +that the people of Germany have been led away by their teachers, +philosophers, writers; they worship the god of force; they recognize +no sin but weakness and inefficiency. They are good people, only for +their own way of thinking; no doubt they say the same thing of us. + +Wrong thinking has caused all our trouble, and the world cannot be +saved by physical means, but only by the spiritual forces which change +the mental attitude. When the sword shall be beaten into the +ploughshare and the spear into the pruning-hook, that will be the +outward sign of the change of thought from destructive, competitive +methods to constructive and cooeperative regeneration of the world! It +is interesting to note that the sword and spear are not going to be +thrown on the scrap-heap; they are to be transformed--made over. All +energy is good; it is only its direction, which may become evil. + +It is not to be wondered at that the world has run to blind hatred +when we stop to realize that the Church has failed to teach the +peaceable fruits of the spirit, and has preferred to fight human +beings rather than prejudice, ignorance, and sin, and has too often +gauged success by competition between its various branches, rather +than by cooeperation against the powers of evil. + +At a recent convention of a certain religious body, one sister, who +gave in her report as to how the Lord had dealt with the children of +men in her part of the vineyard, deeply deplored the hardness of the +sinners' hearts, their proneness to err, and the worldliness of even +professing Christians, who seemed now to be wholly given over to the +love of pleasure. She told also of the niggardly contributions; the +small congregations. It was, indeed, a sad and discouraging tale that +she unfolded. Only once did she show any enthusiasm, and that was in +her closing words: "But I thank my Lord and Heavenly Master that the +other church in our town ain't done no better!" + +The Church is our oldest and best organization. It has enough energy, +enough driving force, to better conditions for all if it could be +properly applied; but being an exceedingly respectable institution it +has been rather shy of changes, and so has found it hard to adapt +itself to new conditions. It has clung to shadows after the substance +has departed; and even holds to the old phraseology which belongs to a +day long dead. Stately and beautiful and meaningful phrases they were, +too, in their day, but now their fires are dead, their lights are out, +their "punch" has departed. They are as pale and sickly as the red +lanterns set to guard the spots of danger on the street at night and +carelessly left burning all the next day. + +Every decade sees the people's problems change, but the Church goes on +with Balaam and Balak, with King Ahasuerus, and the two she-bears that +came out of the woods. I shudder when I think of how much time has +been spent in showing how Canaan was divided, and how little time is +spent on showing how the Dominion of Canada should be divided; of how +much time has been given to the man born blind, and how little to a +consideration of the causes and prevention of that blindness; of the +time spent on our Lord's miraculous feeding of the five thousand, and +how little time is spent on trying to find out his plans for feeding +the hungry ones of to-day, who, we are bold to believe, are just as +precious in his sight. + +The human way is to shelve responsibility. The disciples came to +Christ when the afternoon began to grow into evening, and said, "These +people haven't anything to eat, send them away!" This is the human +attitude toward responsibility; that is why many a beggar gets a +quarter--and is told to "beat it"! In this manner are we able to +side-step responsibility. To-day's problems are apt to lead to +difficulties; it is safer to discuss problems of long ago than of the +present; for the present ones concern real people, and they may not +like it. Hush! Don't offend Deacon Bones; stick to Balaam--he's dead. + +In some respects the Church resembles a coal furnace that has been +burning quite a while without being cleaned out. There form in the +bottom certain hard substances which give off neither light nor heat, +nor allow a free current of air to pass through. These hard substances +are called "clinkers." Once they were good pieces of burning coal, +igniting the coal around them, but now their fire is dead, their heat +is spent, and they must be removed for the good of the furnace. +Something like this has happened in the Church. It has a heavy +percentage of human "clinkers," sometimes in the front pews, sometimes +in the pulpit. They were good people once, too, possessed of spiritual +life and capable of inspiring those around them. But spiritual +experiences cannot be warmed over--they must be new every day. That is +what Saint Paul meant when he said that the outer man decays, but the +inner man is renewed. An old experience in religion is of no more +value than a last year's bird's nest! You cannot feed the hungry with +last year's pot-pies! + +This is the day of opportunity for the Church, for the people are +asking to be led! It will have to realize that religion is a "here +and now" experience, intended to help people with their human worries +to-day, rather than an elaborate system of golden streets, big +processions, walls of jasper, and endless years of listless loafing on +the shores of the River of Life! The Church has directed too much +energy to the business of showing people how to die and teaching them +to save their souls, forgetting that one of these carefully saved +souls is after all not worth much. Christ said, "He that saveth his +life shall lose it!" and "He that loseth his life for my sake shall +find it!" The soul can be saved only by self-forgetfulness. The +monastery idea of retirement from the world in order that one may be +sure of heaven is not a courageous way of meeting life's difficulties. +But this plan of escape has been very popular even in Protestant +churches, as shown in our hymnology: "Why do we linger?" "We are but +strangers here"; "Father, dear Father, take Thy children home"; "Earth +is a wilderness, heaven is my home"; "I'm a pilgrim and a stranger"; +"I am only waiting here to hear the summons, child, come home." These +are some of the hymns with which we have beguiled our weary days of +waiting; and yet, for all this boasted desire to be "up and away," the +very people who sang these hymns have not the slightest desire to +leave the "wilderness." + +The Church must renounce the idea that, when a man goes forth to +preach the Gospel, he has to consider himself a sort of glorified +immigration agent, whose message is, "This way, ladies and gentlemen, +to a better, brighter, happier world; earth is a poor place to stick +around, heaven is your home." His mission is to teach his people to +make of this world a better place--to live their lives here in such a +way that other men and women will find life sweeter for their having +lived. Incidentally we win heaven, but it must be a result, not an +objective. + +We know there is a future state, there is a land where the +complications of this present world will be squared away. Some call it +a Day of Judgment; I like best to think of it as a day of +explanations. I want to hear God's side. Also I know we shall not +have to lie weary centuries waiting for it. When the black curtain of +death falls on life's troubled scenes, there will appear on it these +words in letters of gold, "End of Part I. Part II will follow +immediately." + +I know that I shall have a sweet and beautiful temper in heaven, where +there will be nothing to try it, no worries, misunderstandings, +elections, long and tedious telephone conversations; people who insist +on selling me a dustless mop when I am hot on the trail of an idea. +There will be none of that, so that it will not be difficult to keep +sweet and serene. I would not thank any one to hand me a sword and +shield when the battle is over; I want it now while the battle rages; +I claim my full equipment now, not on merit, but on need. + +Everything in life encourages me to believe that God has provided a +full equipment for us here in life if we will only take it. He would +not store up every good thing for the future and let us go short here. + +In a prosperous district in Ontario there stands a beautiful brick +house, where a large family of children lived long ago. The parents +worked early and late, grubbing and saving and putting money in the +bank. Sometimes the children resented the hard life which they led, +and wished for picnics, holidays, new clothes, ice-cream, and the +other fascinating things of childhood. Some of the more ambitious ones +even craved a higher education, but they were always met by the same +answer when the request involved the expenditure of money. The answer +was: "It will all be yours some day. Now, don't worry; just let us +work together and save all we can; it's all for you children and it +will all be yours some day. You can do what you like with it when we +are dead and gone!" I suppose the children in their heart of hearts +said, "Lord haste the day!" + +The parents passed on in the fullness of time. Some of the children +went before them. Those who were left fell heir to the big house and +the beautiful grounds, but they were mature men and women then, and +they had lost the art of enjoyment. The habit of saving and grubbing +was upon them, and their aspirations for better things had long ago +died out. Everything had been saved for the future, and now, when it +came, they found out that it was all too late. The time for learning +and enjoyment had gone by. A few dollars spent on them when they were +young would have done so much. + +If that is a poor policy for earthly parents to follow, I believe it +is not a good line for a Heavenly Parent to take. + +We need an equipment for this present life which will hold us steady +even when everything around us is disturbed; that will make us desire +the good of every one, even those who are intent upon doing us evil; +that will transform the humblest and most disagreeable task into one +of real pleasure; that will enable us to see that we have set too high +a value on the safety of life and property and too trifling an +estimate on spiritual things; that will give us a proper estimate of +our own importance in the general scheme of things, so that we will +not think we are a worm in the dust, nor yet mistake ourselves for the +President of the Company! + +The work of the Church is to teach these ethical values to the people. +It must begin by teaching us to have more faith in each other, and +more cooerdination. We cannot live a day without each other, and every +day we become more interdependent. Times have changed since the +cave-dwelling days when every man was his own butcher, baker, judge, +jury, and executioner; when no man attempted more than he could do +alone, and therefore regarded every other man as his natural enemy and +rival, the killing of whom was good business. Cooeperation began when +men found that two men could hunt better than one, and so one drove +the bear out of the cave and the other one killed him as he went past +the gap, and then divided him, fifty-fifty. That was the beginning of +cooeperation, which is built on faith. Strange, isn't it, that at this +time, when we need each other so badly, we are not kinder to each +other? Our national existence depends upon all of us--we have pooled +our interests, everything we have is in danger, everything we have +must be mobilized for its defense. + +Danger such as we are facing should drive the petty little meannesses +out of us, one would think, and call out all the latent heroism of our +people. People talk about this being the Church's day of opportunity. +So it is, for the war is teaching us ethical values, which has always +been a difficult matter. We like things that we can see, lay out, and +count! But the war has changed our appraisement of things, both of men +and of nations. A country may be rich in armies, ships, guns, and +wealth, and yet poor, naked, and dishonored in the eyes of the world; +a country may be broken, desolate, shell-riven, and yet have a name +that is honorable in all the earth. So with individuals. We have set +too high a value on property and wealth, too low an estimate on +service. + +Our ideas of labor have been wrong. Labor to us has meant something +disagreeable, which, if we endure patiently for a season, we may then +be able to "chuck." Its highest reward is to be able to quit it--to go +on the retired list. + +"Mary married well," declared a proud mother, "and now she does not +lift a hand to anything." + +Poor Mary! What a slow time she must have! + +The war is changing this; people are suddenly stripped of their +possessions, whether they be railroad stock, houses, or lands, or, +like that of a poor fellow recently tried for vagrancy here, whose +assets were found to be a third interest in a bear. It does not +matter--the wealthy slacker is no more admired than the poor one. +Money has lost its purchasing quality when it comes to immunity from +responsibility. + +The cooerdination of our people has begun, the forces of unity are +working; but they are still hindered by the petty little jealousies +and disputes of small people who do not yet understand the seriousness +of the occasion. So long as church bodies spend time fighting about +methods of baptism, and call conventions to pass resolutions against +church union, which would unquestionably add to the effectiveness of +the Church and enable it to make greater headway against the powers of +evil; so long as the channels through which God's love should flow to +the people are so choked with denominational prejudice, it is not much +wonder that many people are experiencing a long, dry spell, bitterly +complaining that the fountain has gone dry. Love, such as Christ +demonstrated, is the only hope of this sin-mad world. When the Church +shows forth that love and leads the people to see that the reservoirs +of love in the mountains of God are full to overflowing, and every man +can pipe the supply into his own heart and live victoriously, +abundantly, gloriously, as God intended us all to live, then it will +come about that the sword will be beaten into the ploughshare and the +spear into the pruning-hook, and the Lord will truly hear our prayer +and heal our land. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE LAST RESERVES + + +To-day I read in one of our newspapers an account of a religious +convention which is going on in our city. It said that one of the lady +delegates asked if, in view of the great scarcity of men to take the +various fields, and the increased number of vacancies, the theological +course in their colleges would be opened to women? And the report +said, "A ripple of amusement swept over the convention." + +I know that ripple. I know it well! The Church has always been amused +when the advancement of women has been mentioned right out boldly like +that. There are two things which have never failed to bring a laugh--a +great, round, bold oath on the stage, and any mention of woman +suffrage in the pulpit. They have been sure laugh-producers. When we +pray for the elevation of the stage in this respect, we should not +forget the Church! + +I have been trying to analyze that ripple of amusement. Here is the +situation: The men have gone out to fight. The college halls are empty +of boys, except very young ones. One of the speakers at the same +session said, "We do not expect to get in boys of more than eighteen +years of age." Churches are closed for lack of preachers. What is to +be done about it? No longer can Brother M. be sent to England to bring +over pink-cheeked boys to fill the ranks of Canada's preachers. The +pink-cheeked ones are also "over there." There is no one to call upon +but women. So why was the suggestion of the lady delegate received +with amusement? Why was it not acted upon? For although there were +many kind and flattering things said about women, their great services +to Church and State, yet the theological course was not opened. + +The Church has been strangely blind in its attitude toward women, and +with many women it will be long remembered with a feeling of +bitterness that the Church has been so slow to move. + +The Government of the Western Provinces of Canada gave full equality +to women before that right was given by the Church. The Church has not +given it yet. The Church has not meant to be either unjust or unkind, +and the indifference and apathy of its own women members have given +the unthinking a reason for their attitude. Why should the vote be +forced on women? they have asked. It is quite true that the women of +the Church have not said much, for the reason that many of the +brightest women, on account of the Church's narrowness, have withdrawn +and gone elsewhere, where more liberty could be found. This is +unfortunate, and I think a mistake on the part of the women. Better to +have stayed and fought it out than to go out slamming the door. + +Many sermons have I listened to in the last quarter of a century of +fairly regular church attendance; once I heard an Englishman preaching +bitterly of the Suffragettes' militant methods, and he said they +should all "be condemned to motherhood to tame their wild spirits." +And I surely had the desire to slam the door that morning, for I +thought I never heard a more terrible insult to all womankind than to +speak of motherhood as a punishment. But I stayed through the service; +I stayed after the service! I interviewed the preacher. So did many +other women! He had a chastened spirit when we were through with him. + +I have listened to many sermons that I did not like, but I possessed +my soul in patience. I knew my turn would come--it is a long lane that +has no tomato-cans! My turn did come--I was invited to address the +conference of the Church, and there with all the chief offenders lined +up in black-coated, white-collared rows, I said all that was in my +heart, and they were honestly surprised. One good old brother, who I +do not think had listened to a word that I said, arose at the back of +the church and said: "I have listened to all that this lady has had to +say, but I am not convinced. I have it on good authority that in +Colorado, where women vote, a woman once stuffed a ballot-box. How can +the lady explain that?" I said I could explain it, though, indeed, I +could not see that it needed any explanation. No one could expect +women to live all their lives with men without picking up some of +their little ways! That seemed to hold the brother for a season! + +The Church's stiff attitude toward women has been a hard thing to +explain to the "world." Many a time I have been afraid that it would +be advanced as a reason for not considering woman suffrage in the +State. "If the Church," politicians might well have said, "with its +spiritual understanding of right and justice, cannot see its way clear +to give the vote to women, why should the State incur the risk?" +Whenever I have invited questions, at the close of an address, I have +feared that one. That cheerful air of confidence with which I urged +people to speak right up and ask any question they wished always +covered a trembling and fearful heart. You have heard of people +whistling as they passed a graveyard, and perhaps you thought that +they were frivolously light-hearted? Oh, no! That is not why they +whistled! + +When the vote was given to the women in our province and all the +other Western provinces, I confess that I thought our worst troubles +were over. I see now that they were really beginning. A second +Hindenburg line has been set up, and seems harder to pierce than the +first. It is the line of bitter prejudice! Some of those who, at the +time the vote was given, made eloquent speeches of welcome, declaring +their long devotion to the cause of women, are now busily engaged in +trying to make it uncomfortably hot for the women who dare to enter +the political field. They are like the employers who furnish seats for +their clerks in the stores, yet make it clear that to use them may +cost their jobs. + +The granting of the franchise to women in western Canada, was brought +about easily. It won, not by political pressure, but on its merits. +There is something about a new country which beats out prejudice, and +the pioneer age is not so far removed as to have passed out of memory. +The real men of the West remember gratefully how the women stood by +them in the old hard days, taking their full share of the hardships +and the sacrifice uncomplainingly. It was largely this spirit which +prompted the action of the legislators of the West. As Kipling says:-- + + Now and not hereafter, while the breath is in our nostrils, + Now and not hereafter, ere the meaner years go by, + Let us now remember many honorable women-- + They who stretched their hands to us, when we were like to die! + +There was not any great opposition here in western Canada. One member +did say that, if women ever entered Parliament, he would immediately +resign; but the women were not disturbed. They said that it was just +another proof of the purifying effect that the entrance of women into +politics would have! Sitting in Parliament does not seem like such a +hard job to those of us who have sat in the Ladies' Gallery and looked +over; there is such unanimity among members of Parliament, such +remarkable and unquestioning faith in the soundness of their party's +opinion. In one of the Parliaments of the West there sat for twelve +years an honored member who never once broke the silence of the back +benches except to say, "Aye," when he was told to say, "Aye." But on +toward the end of the thirteenth year he gave unmistakable signs of +life. A window had been left open behind him, and when the draft blew +over him--he sneezed! Shortly after, he got up and shut the window! + +Looking down upon such tranquil scenes as these there are women who +have said in their boastful way that they believe they could do just +as well--with a little practice! + +Women who sit in Parliament will do so by sheer merit, for there is +still enough prejudice to keep them out if any reason for so doing can +be found. Their greatest contribution, in Parliament and out of it, +will be independence of thought. + +Women have not the strong party affiliations which men have. They have +no political past, no political promises to keep, no political sins to +expiate. They start fair and with a clean sheet. Those who make the +mistake of falling into old party lines, and of accepting ready-made +opinions and prejudices, will make no difference in the political +life of the country except to enlarge the voters' list and increase +the expenses of elections. + +Just now partyism is falling into disfavor, for there are too many +serious questions to be fought out. There are still a few people who +would rather lose the war than have their party defeated, but not +many. "When the Empire is in danger is no time to think of men," +appeals to the average thinking man and woman. The independent man who +carefully thinks out issues for himself, and who is not led away by +election cries, is the factor who has held things steady in the past. +Now it seems that this independent body will be increased by the new +voters, and if so, they will hold in their hands the balance of power +in any province, and really become a terror to evil-doers as well as a +praise to those who do well! + +Old things are passing away, and those who have eyes to see it know +that all things are becoming new. The political ideals of the far-off, +easy days of peace will not do for these new and searching times. +Political ideals have been different from any other. Men who would +not rob a bank or sandbag a traveler, and who are quite punctilious +about paying their butcher and their baker, have been known to rob the +country quite freely and even hilariously, doctoring an expense sheet, +overcharging for any service rendered. "Good old country," they have +seemed to say, "if I do not rob you, some one else will!" + +This easy conscience regarding the treasury of the country is early +shown in the attitude toward road-work, those few days' labor which +the municipality requires men to do as part payment of their taxes. +Who has not noticed the languorous ease of the lotus-eating +road-workers as they sit on their plough-handles and watch the slow +afternoon roll by? + +Politics too long has been a mystical word which has brought visions +of a dark but fascinating realm of romantic intrigue, sharp deals, +good-natured tricks, and lucky strikes. The greatest asset a +politician can have is the ability to "put it over" and "get something +for us." The attitude of the average voter has been that of +expectancy. If he renders a public service, he expects to be +remunerated. His relation to his country has not been, "What can I +do?" but, "What can I get?" His hand has been outstretched palm +upward! Citizenship to us has not meant much; it has come too easy, +like money to the rich man's son! All things have been ours by +inheritance--free speech, freedom of religion, responsible government. +Somebody fought for these things, but it was a long time ago, and only +in a vague way are we grateful! These things become valuable only when +threatened. + +There hangs on the wall, in one of the missions in the city of +Winnipeg, a picture of a street in one of the Polish villages. In it +the people are huddled together, cowering with fear. The priest, +holding aloft the sacred crucifix, stands in front of them, while down +the street come the galloping Cossacks with rifles and bayonets. +Polish men and women have cried bitter tears before that picture. They +knew what happened. They knew that the sacred sign of the crucifix did +not stay the fury of the Cossacks! These are the people, these Polish +people, who have been seen to kiss the soil of Canada in an ecstasy of +gladness when they set foot upon it, for it is to them the land of +liberty. Liberty of speech and of action, safety of life and of +property mean something to them; but we have always enjoyed these +things, and esteem them lightly. + +The first blow between the eyes that our complacency received was +Belgium!--that heroic little country to whose people citizenship was +so much dearer than life or riches, or even the safety of their loved +ones, that they flung all these things away, in a frenzy of devotion, +for the honor of their country and her good name among nations. This +has disturbed us: we cannot forget Belgium. It has upset our +comfortable Canadian conscience, for it has given us a glimpse of the +upper country, and life can never be the same again. It is not all of +life to live--that is, grow rich and quit work. + +The heroism of the trenches is coming back to us. It is filtering +through. It is the need for heroism which is bringing it out. We are +playing a losing game, even though we are winning. There is only one +thing more disastrous than a victory, and that is a defeat. I do not +need to enumerate what we are losing--we know. What can we do to make +good the loss? Some of our people have always done all they could: +they have always stood in the front trench and "carried on"; others +have been in the "stand-to" trench, and have done well, too, in time +of stress. Many have not yet signed on, but they will: they are not +cowards, they are only indifferent. This has been true of the +protected woman in the home, who has not considered herself a citizen. + +We have come to the place now when our full force must be called out. +The women are our last reserves. If they cannot heal the world, we are +lost, for they are the last we have--we cannot call the angels down. +The trumpets are calling now in every street of every town, in every +country lane, even in the trackless fastnesses of the North Country. +The call is for citizens,--woman citizens,--who, with deft and +skillful fingers, will lovingly, patiently undertake the task of +piecing together the torn mantle of civilization; who will make it so +strong, so beautiful, so glorified, that never again can it be torn or +soiled or stained with human blood. The trumpets are calling for +healers and binders who will not be appalled at the task of nursing +back to health a wounded world, shot to pieces by injustice, greed, +cruelty, and wrong thinking. + +The sign of the Red Cross is a fitting emblem for the Order, worn not +only on the sleeve, but in the heart; red to remind its wearer that +God made all people of one blood, and is the Father of all; and the +Cross which speaks of the One whose mission on earth was to save; who +came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Every one who signs +on does so for "duration," and must consider herself under orders +until the coming in of that glad day + + "When men shall brothers be + And form one family + The wide world o'er!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LIFE'S TRAGEDY + + It often happens that people die + At the hand of that they loved the best; + One who loves horses all his days + By a horse's hoof is laid to rest! + + The swimmer who loves on the waves to lie + Is caught in the swell of a passing boat, + And the thing he loves breaks over his head + And chokes the breath from his gasping throat. + + And the Christ who loved all men so well + That he came to earth their friend to be, + By one was denied, by one betrayed, + By others nailed to the cursed tree! + + And more and more I seem to see + That Love is the world's great Tragedy! + + +Love is a terrible thing--quite different from amiability, which is +sometimes confused with it. Amiability will never cause people to do +hard things, but love will tear the heart to pieces! + +It was because the people of Belgium loved their country that they +chose to suffer all things rather than have her good name tarnished +among the nations of the earth. It has been for love, love of fair +play, love of British traditions, that Canada has sent nearly four +hundred thousand men across the sea to fight against the powers of +darkness. Canada has nothing to gain in this struggle, in a material +way, as a nation, and even less has there been any chance of gain to +the individual who answered the call. There are many things that may +happen to the soldier after he has put on the uniform, but sudden +riches is not among them. + +Some of the men, whose love of country made them give up all and +follow the gleam, have come back to us now, and on pleasant afternoons +may be seen sitting on the balconies of the Convalescent Homes or +perhaps being wheeled in chairs by their more fortunate companions. +Their neighbors, who had an amiable feeling for the country instead of +love, and who therefore stayed at home, are very sorry for these +broken men, and sometimes, when the day is fine, they take the +"returned men" out in their big cars for a ride! + +There are spiritual and moral dead-beats in every community who get +through life easily by following a "safety-first" plan in everything, +who keep close to the line of "low visibility," which means, "Keep +your head down or you may get hit"; who allow others to do the +fighting and bear all the criticism, and then are not even gracious +enough to acknowledge the unearned benefits. The most popular man in +every community is the one who has never taken a stand on any moral +question; who has never loved anything well enough to fight for it; +who is broad-minded and tolerant--because he does not care.... +Amiability fattens, but love kills! + +Amiable patriots at the present time talk quite cheerfully of the +conscription of life, but say little of the conscription of wealth, +declaring quite truthfully that wealth will never win the war! Neither +will men! It will take both, and all we have, too, I am afraid. Surely +if the government feels that it can ask one man for his life, it need +not be so diffident about asking another man for his wealth. The +conscription of wealth might well begin with placing all articles of +food and clothing on the free list and levying a direct tax on all +land values. Then, if all profits from war-supplies were turned over +to the government, there would be money enough to pay a fair allowance +to our soldiers and their dependents. It does not seem fair that the +soldier should bear all the sacrifices of hardship and danger, and +then have the additional one of poverty for his family and the +prospect of it for himself, when he comes back unfit for his former +occupation. Hardship and danger for the soldier are inevitable, but +poverty is not. The honest conscription of wealth would make it +possible for all who serve the Empire to have an assurance of a decent +living as long as they live. + +If equal pay were given to every man, whether he is a private or a +major, equal pensions to every soldier's widow, and if all political +preference were eliminated, as it would have to be under this system; +when all service is put on the same basis and one man's life counts as +much as another's, there would be no need of compulsion to fill the +ranks of the Canadian army. We know that there never can be equality +of service--the soldier will always bear the heavy burden, and no +money can ever pay him for what he does; but we must not take refuge +behind that statement to let him bear the burdens which belong to the +people who stay at home. + +Heroism is contagious. It becomes easier when every one is practicing +it. What we need now, more than anything, are big, strong, heroic +leaders, men of moral passion, who will show us the hard path of +sacrifice, not asking us to do what they are not willing to do +themselves; not pointing the way, but traveling in it; men of heroic +mould who will say, "If my right eye offend me, I will pluck it out"; +men who are willing to go down to political death if the country can +be saved by that sacrifice. We need men at home who are as brave as +the boys in the trenches, who risk their lives every day in a dozen +different ways, without a trace of self-applause, who have laid all +their equipment on the altar of sacrifice; who "carry on" when all +seems hopeless; who stand up to death unflinchingly, and at the last, +ask only, that their faces may be turned to the West!--to Canada! + +We have always had plenty of amiability, but in this terrible time it +will not do. Our country is calling for love. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +WAITING! + + Sing a song of the Next of Kin, + A weary, wishful, waiting rhyme, + That has no tune and has no time, + But just a way of wearing in! + + Sing a song of those who weep + While slow the weary night hours go; + Wondering if God willed it so, + That human life should be so cheap! + + Sing a song of those who wait, + Wondering what the post will bring; + Saddened when he slights the gate, + Trembling at his ring,-- + + The day the British mail comes in + Is a day of thrills for the Next of Kin. + + +When the Alpine climbers make a dangerous ascent, they fasten a rope +from one to the other; so that if one slips, the others will be able +to hold him until he finds his feet again; and thus many a catastrophe +is averted! We have a ring like that here--we whose boys are gone. +Somebody is almost sure to get a letter when the British mail comes +in; and even a letter from another boy read over the 'phone is +cheering, especially if he mentions your boy--or even if he doesn't; +for we tell each other that the writer of the letter would surely know +"if anything had happened." + +Even "Posty" does his best to cheer us when the letters are far apart, +and when the British mail has brought us nothing tells us it was a +very small, and, he is sure, divided mail, and the other part of it +will be along to-morrow. He also tells us the U-boats are probably +accounting for the scarcity of French mail, anyway, and we must not be +worried. He is a good fellow, this "Posty"! + +We hold tight to every thread of comfort--we have to. That's why we +wear bright-colored clothes: there is a buoyancy, an assurance about +them, that we sorely need! We try to economize on our emotions, too, +never shedding a useless or idle tear! In the days of peace we could +afford to go to see "East Lynne," "Madame X," or "Romeo and Juliet," +and cry our eyes red over their sorrows. Now we must go easy on all +that! Some of us are running on the emergency tank now, and there is +still a long way to go! + +There are some things we try not to think about, especially at night. +There is no use--we have thought it all over and over again; and now +our brains act like machines which have been used for sewing something +too heavy for them, and which don't "feed" just right, and skip +stitches. So we try to do the things that we think ought to be done, +and take all the enjoyment we can from the day's work. + +We have learned to divide our time into day-lengths, following the +plan of the water-tight compartments in ships, which are so arranged +that, if a leak occurs in one of these, the damaged one may be closed +up, and no harm is done to the ship. So it is in life. We can live so +completely one day at a time that no mournful yesterday can throw its +dull shadow on the sunshine of to-day; neither can any frowning +to-morrow reach back and with a black hand slap its smiling face. +To-day is a sacred thing if we know how to live it. + +I am writing this on the fourth day of August, which is a day when +memory grows bitter and reflective if we are not careful. The August +sunshine lies rich and yellow on the fields, and almost perceptibly +the pale green of the wheat is absorbing the golden hue of the air. +The painted cup has faded from rosy pink to a dull, ashy color, and +the few wild roses which are still to be seen in the shaded places +have paled to a pastel shade. The purple and yellow of goldenrod, wild +sage, gallardia, and coxcomb are to be seen everywhere--the strong, +bold colors of the harvest. + +Everything spoke of peace to-day as we drove through the country. The +air had the indescribably sweet smell of ripening grain, +clover-blooms, and new hay; for the high stands of wild hay around the +ponds and lakes are all being cut this year, and even the timothy +along the roads, and there was a mellow undertone of mowing machines +everywhere, like the distant hum of a city. Fat cattle stood knee-deep +in a stream as we passed, and others lay contentedly on the +clover-covered banks. One restless spirit, with a poke on her neck, +sniffed at us as we went by, and tossed her head in grim defiance of +public opinion and man-made laws. She had been given a bad name--and +was going to live up to it! + +Going over a hill, we came upon a woman driving a mower. It was the +first reminder of the war. She was a fine-looking woman, with a tanned +face, brown, but handsome, and she swung her team around the edge of +the meadow with a grace and skill that called forth our admiration. + +I went over and spoke to her, for I recognized her as a woman whom I +had met at the Farm-Woman's Convention last winter. After we had +exchanged greetings, and she had made her kind inquiry, "What news do +you get from the Front?" and had heard that my news had been good--she +said abruptly:-- + +"Did you know I've lost my husband?" + +I expressed my sorrow. + +"Yes," she said, "it was a smashing blow--never believed Alex could be +killed: he was so big, and strong, and could do anything.... Ever +since I can remember, I thought Alex was the most wonderful of all +people on earth ... and at first ... when the news came, it seemed I +could not go on living ... but I am all right now, and have thought +things out.... This isn't the only plane of existence ... there are +others; this is merely one phase of life.... I am taking a longer view +of things now.... You see that schoolhouse over there,"--she pointed +with her whip to a green-and-white school farther down the +road,--"Alex and I went to school there.... We began the same day and +left the same day. His family and mine settled in this neighborhood +twenty years ago--we are all Kincardine people--Bruce, you know. Our +road to school lay together on the last mile ... and we had a way of +telling whether the other one had passed. We had a red willow stick +which we drove into the ground. Then, when I came along in the morning +and found it standing, I knew I was there first. I pulled it out and +laid it down, so when Alex came he knew I had passed, and hurried +along after me. When he came first and found it standing, he always +waited for me, if he could, for he would rather be late than go +without me. When I got the message I could not think of anything but +the loneliness of the world, for a few days; but after a while I +realized what it meant ... Alex had passed ... the willow was down ... +but he'll wait for me some place ... nothing is surer than that! I am +not lonely now.... Alex and I are closer together than plenty of +people who are living side by side. Distance is a matter of spirit ... +like everything else that counts. + +"I am getting on well. The children are at school now, both of +them,--they sit in the same seats we sat in,--the crops are in good +shape--did you ever see a finer stand of wild hay? I can manage the +farm, with one extra hired man in harvest-time. Alex went out on the +crest of the wave--he had just been recommended for promotion--the +children will always have a proud memory. + +"This is a great country, isn't it? Where can you find such abundance, +and such a climate, with its sunshine and its cool nights, and such a +chance to make good?... I suppose freedom has to be paid for. We +thought the people long ago had paid for it, but another installment +of the debt fell due. Freedom is like a farm--it has to be kept up. It +is worth something to have a chance to work and bring up my +children--in peace--so I am living on from day to day ... not grieving +... not moping ... not thinking too much,--it hurts to think too +hard,--just living." + +Then we shook hands, and I told her that she had found something far +greater than happiness, for she had achieved power! + + * * * * * + +There is a fine rainbow in the sky this evening, so bright and strong +that it shows again in a reflected bow on the clouds behind it. A +rainbow is a heartsome thing, for it reminds us of a promise made long +ago, and faithfully kept. + +There is shadow and shine, sorrow and joy, all the way along. This is +inevitable, and so we must take them as they come, and rejoice over +every sunny hour of every day, or, if the day is all dark, we must go +hopefully forward through the gloom. + +To-day has been fine. There was one spattering shower, which pebbled +the dusty roads, and a few crashes of rolling thunder. But the western +sky is red now, giving promise of a good day to-morrow. + + +A PRAYER FOR THE NEXT OF KIN + + + O Thou, who once Thine own Son gave + To save the world from sin, + Draw near in pity now we crave + To all the Next of Kin. + To Thee we make our humble prayer + To save us from despair! + + Send sleep to all the hearts that wake; + Send tears into the eyes that burn; + Steady the trembling hands that shake; + Comfort all hearts that mourn. + But most of all, dear Lord, we pray + For strength to see us through this day. + + As in the wilderness of old, + When Thou Thy children safely led, + They gathered, as we have been told, + One day's supply of heavenly bread, + And if they gathered more than that, + At evening it was stale and flat,-- + + So, Lord, may this our faith increase-- + To leave, untouched, to-morrow's load, + To take of grace a one-day lease + Upon life's winding road. + Though round the bend we may not see, + Still let us travel hopefully! + + Or, if our faith is still so small-- + Our hearts so void of heavenly grace, + That we may still affrighted be + In passing some dark place-- + Then in Thy mercy let us run + Blindfolded in the race. + + +THE END + + + + + The Riverside Press + CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS + U.S.A. + + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Next of Kin, by Nellie L. McClung + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEXT OF KIN *** + +***** This file should be named 16552.txt or 16552.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/5/5/16552/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Jeannie Howse and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/16552.zip b/16552.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..60aad73 --- /dev/null +++ b/16552.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..522c373 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #16552 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16552) |