The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-29
The Mother | Left Behind Me.

and wait. In piping strains the one has
appealed to a martial spirit which has
made possible the romance Of the other.
THE Mother l Left Benin Me" has been
left unsung.
But day after day, Mrs. Robert W.
Humphrey. 3511 Dearborn street, sits dut
the long hours waiting and expectant of
dire something, she knows not wnat.
Her youngest son is gone and on the
high front stoop OF her little cottage or
in its homenke rooms she sits with her
worn fingers twining and INTERVENING
as she looks and listens.
Leopold Humphrey, her youngest son,
is deserter from the United States army
no less than he is a deserter from home.
In the one the relentless shadow of mill
tarisTn is on his trail. In the other.
mothers love is reaching out to him.
Menaced by the one and yearned for by
the other, he is gone, no one knows
where
Yet in the government recruiting Sta
ton in West Madison street THE Cir
Left Behind Me" is piped, and from the
dangy stairway there are seen, in fancy,
the far-off, blue lines of the Philippines.
from which are heard the thunders and
the taps of war.
But they should not have taken my
They should have let me know. My
youngest boy-only 17-they should have
let me know-they should have let NE
know"
Sixteen years ago Robert Humphrey
came to Chicago from Canada. Four boys.
two girls, and Baby Leopold were of his
household. A carpenter by trade. ne has
labored in his grim, Scotch way. Two
sons have become citizens of the United
States, but he. doggedly, has stuck b. his
nationality and by the traditions of his
native country
He never looked much after the boys"
sobs the mother, brokenly: they were
mine-they never gave me trouble till
now-ive Of them, nearly all grown and
raised up in this big city and none Of
them bad. o, they ought to give my boy
back to me!'
Often of late the boy had spoken of
the Philippines and Of the glamour of
war. No one took him seriously until the
other night, coming home, he showed the
vaccination mark of the recruiting office
on his arm. Tears and protests from the
mother would not shake him. Then, when
in desperation, she went to Captain Be-
mus the boy rebeed and flung himself
out of the house.
For days no one saw him. Only the
mother kept vigil. Afraid Of her interfer-
ence, he hid from the recruiting office
until he was called ''deserter" At home,
under that higher law which evolved the
wondrous thing called mother-love, he
was only a Maynard son breaking a
mothers heart.
why did he do ito, why did he do
it?" was her cry. "He is only 17-neigh-
bors who were here when we came will
tell you so. They know it at the Webster
school, too. But the Captain says to bring
the boy before I bring the proof, and I
don't know where he is"
But out of the whirl of West Madi-
son street last Saturday afternoon the
missing son and missing soldier gave him
self up to militiarism. It's glamour is IN
his eyes, even as he sits silent in the
guardhoue at Fort Sheridan. TO the Old
mother only the word missing is worse
than prison
won't you ask the Captain to send
him back to me? They should have ask
ed me first, but they let him tell story
there-and he never told stories before.
have been so proud of my children, too.
Ask the Captain, won't you? Ask the
Captain to let him off; he is such a kind
man, / know he wouldn't hurt my boy.
1t is awful to have him go to prison
He didn't mean to desert He was on
ly afraid that 1 would keep him from go
ing-and ne is so young! His arm Is
crooked, too I didn't think they took
boys with crooked arms When you see
the Captain won't you plead for his Ola
mother? I don't want him to go to war;
1 don't want his to go to prison. Don't
you think they will let him come back to
me?"
Sitting crouched on the stoop of her
little home. the last view of the mother
was Of one silently wringing her hands.
With the hope of mother love and with
the despair of one who fears and doubts
the penalties OF smilitiarism, she waits
Somewhere and somehow in the intrica-
cies of a social evolution, he is lost to
her, but above the voice of her Despair.
blithe and buoyant, echo the staecato
notes of "The Girl Left Behind Me-"
Captain Bonus of the recruiting sta
ton has given rein to his synpathies for
the old mother. But the name of the re-
cruft is on the rolls of the United States
army. and the papers have gone to Wash
ington. If the boy is not of age, he has
deceived several individual experts. II
he is of age, he is deserter. IN either
case his return may earn for him a
court-martial and a prison sentence of
one or two years.
He looks the % years that he acknowl-
edged to me-" said the Captain, speaking
of the case zone Of the last things
urged upon him was the fact thai a cours
martial would await him if he were mai
ried or were under age. He accepted the
conditions, and only the department at
Washington can deal with him now"
Married men under no circumstances
and minors only with the consent of par
ents or guardians are admitted into the
United States army. Eighteen years Of
age is the limit above which minors will
be received, while IS years is the other
extreme for adults.
We have few cases Of anxious moth
ers," said the Captain, "but anxious
wives making inquiries are common. IL
is not always. however. that the wife's
anxiety is due TO affection.
q" I only wanted TO know II he's good
and gone is a common expression &C ore
form of anxiety, and If we can assure
the wife, she goes away happy"
Other wives. from affection or from the
need OF a husbands support. come TO
make trouble. If they are persistent. tire
case ends in the court-martial Of the re-
cruit t0r having enlisted under a false
affidavit
In these days, all day long the side
walk in front OF the recruiting sra-i0n
al 50 West Madison street Is thronged
with male specimens from the uudercgr-
rents OF that thoroUghfare. Hating and
hesitation are read in many OF the faces,
both white and black. Desperation IS IN
others. In few are the jaunty asaur-
ances that come only 10 the old-timsr
wao has come up again for re-enIs.nent,
and these In regimentai blue. syuare-
shOuldered and erect, pass and repass n
the conglomerate gatherings. the lesvan
that IS making for the peopiing q the