Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1905-06-17
THE SN ORD OF HONOR.


house and put them into the wood cellar
You know the window from that cellar
opens under the steps leading up to the
| Dig door. Well, it was from that cellar
that | overheard the conversation be-
tween two of the German officers quar-
tered with us-we had then a colonel
three other officers, a doctor and more
| than sixty men on the farm. Not TO
! brighten the hens-which, even as it was,
were wild enough, though we had moved
| them as carefully as we could, taking
them in their nests after dark-I did not
bring a light into the cellar, but only left
| the door ajar to the staircase, where the
day was still lingering, while ] looked in
to see if the poor little disturbed mothers
We're all in their right places for the
night. The officers were speaking softly !;
but when | heard their voices | stole
nearer the open window, and from there
| could hear every word they were say
| ing. And when | heard what it was
about, you may he sure that l listened
with both my ears open, and so | came
to know that they were to break up at 3
o'clock in the morning to meet some 9th
er troops at the crossroad near Ollerup,
and then go on so as to be at Kiddelund
| just before dawn that our men quartered
there might be taken by surprise.
| When | think of it | always wonder
how the words heard did away with my
| body, and, so to speak, set free my soul
| or spirit, or whatever it is that / am,
| from all considerations of it, Just as you
don your clothes to look after themselves
as best they may. 1t would seem
that the body has separate life of its
own, some skind of home rule or self
government by which it is preserved, and
even makes itself useful when left to it
self Mine did so that afternoon. 1t
saw the hens into their places, it locked
the door and put the key on the proper
nail; and then it called my little help,
i Grethe, and carried me off across the
! yard to the henhouse with the evening
meal for the other hens. And all the
time | was thinking OF nothing but what
| | had heard, and of what ! could do to
save our men.
Now, when my husband left for the
army some of the very last words he said
to me We're: If you don't know what
to do while | am away, speak to Soren."
Soren had been on the farm ever since
my husband was a child. He was an
invalid now, having lost one leg in the
war of '48; but he could tell every mans
duty, every beasts right and every
| things place, so that in most cases it was
the natural thing for all of us to turn
| to him for advice Besides, | thought !
was sure of Screens sympathy in this
case, for he had good healthy hate of
the Germans, such as one can only feel
when the enemy is in ones country. 1t
was Soren who had said: Il am not
bloodthirsty, but / could easily hold Bis
marck while he was being skinned" And
| knew he did not boast. So | told
Grethe to 60 and find Soren and send
him to me.
child of twenty was not very
strong head for big place like Kelk jaer-
gard, and when my husband was to
leave for the army my parents thought
that it might do as well without me, and
that l should do great deal better
at home with them. But Bertel and /
agreed that if we expected every one to
stop and do their duty. we could not
very well run away ourselves. "And of
course you will like to serve, as well as
the rest of us" he had said, and knew
from the way he looked at me when he
as sorry for me- And those words ran
in my head, and, together with my great
youth and my inexperience, went good
way to keeping my spirits and my cour-
age when some months later the enemy
| came and took possession of the whole
house, and, making themselves masters
on the farm, made us all realize that war
is war.
how - d 7
let them be. | remembered being both
vexed and hurt by the coloners indul
gence toward me. 1t seemed to me that
he looked upon me as a mere child
which very probably he did And VET. in
a certain way, they mortified me the verv
| first day by locking up the steward in
his own room. and leaving me to be both
master and steward to the whole place
as best | might. 1t was not nearly so
trying as You might think it would he
Tor somehow, when the enemy is in the
country, You shake off from your shoul-
ders the whole load of daily cares.
As | stood waiting for Soren that aft
erhoon the men and horses came home
from the field, and as | watched these
men who were either boys or white
halred' all the real men being with the
/ ny ''NaAN hIl9SdNe rue. 10 whom
could | trust my message? Soren him
self when he came did not give me sncb
sympathy as l had looked for from him.
He had the soldiers dislike of Civilians
meddling with the war"
Very well. Soren,' said angrily, "let
us pull our blankets over our heads not
TO hear them start to kill our men,"
And then | turned my back upon him.
and made believe that l was going back
INTO the house. But Soren stopped me,
as thought he would. and said that he
would speak to the boys. and try to YET
one of them off with a message. aIt
won't be easy, ma'am, for he will have
| to wait till they have all gone to roost
ana then he Nid need a horse to take
/ him there IN time
But 70" viii manage it, Soren?9 |
III tell you when we have had onr
{ M ,V,,