Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1914-11-05
CHAPTER v.
4 SUNDAY MornIna oall.

A Sunday Morning CAL.
Az q boy, Arthur Lanstron had per
sisted in being an exception 10 the In
fiuences Of both heredity and environ
ment. Though his father and both
grandfathers were ofiicers who DO
Iieved theirs to be the true gentle
mans profession, he had preferred
any kind Of mechanical toy 10 aErang-
ing the most gayly painted tin sol
diers in formation on the nursery
door; and he would rather read about
the wonders Of natural history and
electricity than the campaigns Of Ma
poIeon and Frederick the Great and
my Lord Nelson. Left to his own
choice, he would miss the parade OF
the garrison for inspection By an ex-
ceIlency in order to ask questions OF
man wiping the oil OF his hands with
cotton-waste, who was far more enter
tanning to him than the most spick-and-
span ramrod Of q sergeant.
Upon being told one day that he was
TO 60 to the military school the follow
ing autumn, he broke out In open 70
bellion.
II don't want to go to the armyl" he
said.
'Why?" asked his father. thinking
that when the boy had to give his rea-
sons he would soon be argued out OF
the heresy.
TITS drilling few hours day, then
nothing to do" Arthur replied. "All
your work waits on war and you don't
know that there will ever be any war.
II waits on something nobody wants
70 happen. Now, II you manufacturo
something, why, you see wool come
out cloth, steel come out en- autorno-
bile. II you build bridge you see Il
rising little by little. You're getting
your results every day; you see your
mistakes and your successes. You're
making something, creating, some
thing; there's something going ON all
the while that isn't guesswork. !
think that's what want to say. You
won't order me to be . soldier, will
your"
The father. loath to do this, called In
the assistance Of an able pleader then,
Eugene Partow, lately become chief Of
star Of the Browns. who was an OLD
friend Of the LAnstron family. PartOw
turned the balance on the side Of filial
affection. He kept watch Of the boy,
but without favoring him with iniiu-
ence. Young Lanstron, who wanted to
see results, had to earn them. He real
ICED in practice the truth Of Partow's
saying khat there was nothing he had
ever learned but what could be OF seTv-
ice to him as an officer.
Finding enough work to dot" Par
tow would ask with chuckle when
they met in these days; for he had
made Lanstron both chief Of intelli.
gence and chief aerostatic o6icer.
Young Colonel Lanstron's was the duty
Of gaining the secrets Of the Gray
stafI and keeping those Of the Brown
and organizing up-to-the-moment en-
cheney in the new forces Of the air.
He had remarked truly enough that
the injury to his left hand served 90
better reminder against the folly Of
wool-gathering than string, even .
large red string, tied around his fin-
ger. Thanks to skillful surgery, the
fingers, incapable Of spreading much,
were yet serviceable and had p firm
grip Of the wheel as he rose from the
aeroplane station on the Sunday morn
u. ing after Marta's return home for q
flight to La Tir.
He knew the pattern weaving under
his feet as one knows that of'his own
garden from an overlooking window.
Every detail OF the star map, ravines.
roads, buildings. battery positions. was
stitched together in the flowing reality
Of actual vision. No white posts were
necessary to tell him where the
boundary between the two nations lay.
The line was drawn in his brain.
Now that Lanstron was the organ
lxef of the av1atioh corp9 Ms own
flights were rare. Mostly they were
made 10 IA 1'ff His visits II Mattn
were his holidays All the time that
she was absent on her journey around
the world they had corresponded Her
letters, 30 revealing Of herself and her
peculiar angles Of observation, formed
9 bundle sacredly preserved. Her
mothers joking reference, about her
glriish resolution not to marry 9 sol
der often reodrfed to him. There, be
sometimes thought, wns the real Oh
Btacle 70 his great desire.
When hs allEhtsd trpm The plane hs