The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-09-21

lat u,ssive which his chiid-~ffe would
have to read and CRY over for many a long
week It read:
MY Dear Little Sweethesrt:-Be q good
little girl and remember I win write you
often from the Philippines. / have only ten
minutes before the boat calls, and I've
worked night and day to get away"
This brief message. hurrtedly written and
unsigned. the child bride wept over and
kissed and wept over again, for many a
long, weary week. until. one Joyful day. q
great. much-worn envelope bearing the I'M
familiar Manila postmark made her heart
| almost stop beating.
! The weary months wore on. one after an
other. The letters came onstantly-lettsT
bristling with adventure and palpitatinE
with the mystery and beauty OF the far-on
tropical isles where the sweetheart soldier
was doing his duty.
As the months dragged along a strange
and terrible fear seized the absent soldiers
wife. She had a secret which she dare not
impart to a living soul-not even to the
man she loved in the far-oH Philippines
for on the night that he kissed her and
held her IN his arms for the last time
had he not whispered OF that very same,
sweet possibility into her pretty ear. and
had hi not declared solemnly that IL that
sweet possibility should indeed become q
reality he would desert and let Uncle Sam
hang?
Thu II was that in her numerous letters
(for she wrote every week. the child wife
breathed never a word Of her secret To
write one word Of that she knew only too
well would bring the young husband homo
at the risk OF deserving.
No ONE TO GO TO
FOR ADVICE.
The girls mother was dead, and IN her
extremity she had no one to go TO for ad-
vice and wise guidance in the awful situa-
ton in which she found herself. For, AZ
has already been mentioned, she could not
even announce TO the world the fact that
she was an honestly welded wife any more
than she could conide to her husband that
she was about to become a mother. II to
announce the latter meant the risk of her
husbands deserving the army. to nnounce
the former meant what seemed to her hon.
est nature an equally hazardous alterna-
tive, a court-martaling of her husband for
perjury In e~nlisting as an unmarried man.
1t was the latter fact alone that had
Obliged them to keep their marriage secret
after the soldiers departure to the Far
East.
All these innocent receptions on the part
of a pair OF infatuated, impatient, dis
traughf young sweethearts. and the penal
ties for those receptions once they became
public. the poor little child bride remem-
bered only too vividly. Under the stress
and strain and tortured anxiety Of ap-
preaching maternity these penalties as
sumed gigantic and frightful proportions
But come what would she m never
a word OF the secret which, while It meant !
the restoration OF her own honor among |
her family and friends. meant, on the other \
hand. dishonor for her husband before his
comrades. or. worse still. the ignoble pun /!
ishment Of q deserter.
Borne through the anxious months of 1
cruel suspicious on all sides by q faith
and love almost fanatical in its Intensity
and steadfastness. Katherine Hamm. the :
welded wife. wrote cheerful. hopeful let }
full of tender passion. to the unsuspect-
ing husband. while Katherine Cummings
the school girl. almost crushed by the bat
terry scornful lips and uplifted eyebrows
turned upon her. bore her terrible position
with a silence little less than sublime.
Nor would the cross have been lifted from
her tender, innocent shepia~se 49, 49, a