Newark evening star and Newark advertiser., 1914-11-06
BY HAKMoNY MEI.tER.

cOnSelouSneSS and she wished the
troops had taken another route to the
ance of any kind, for she was selfish
and self-centred.
Where will these troops sleep?"
she asked of her old servant.
ION the veranda, Miss Barbara, and
In the garden" replied Jenkins, more
excited than the soldiers themselves
I'VE will feed them in the servants
hall"
When Jenkins had gone Barbara's
brow puckered. She well knew that
lighting men were accustomed to
hardship, but the thought of them
sleeping on wooden floors or perhaps
in the dew dampened garden was not
pleasant. Certainly 1t would disturb
her own nights rest to have them
there. During the day, however, she
tried to harden herself by the thought
that there was much worse ahead OF
them than sleeping in sheltered gar
dens.
In the evening when a score OF
more of tired but Laughing soldiers in
khaki came trooping through the
great hedge gate Barbara watched
rhem with quickly beating heart.
somehow and without warning
sharp emotion gripped her. She tried
10 stiiie a desire to cry, and wondered
why she should feel so helpless all OF
u sudden. The men were big and
brave and We're going off happily to
fight for their country and their
! Women folk. She, Barbara. who was
nourished and cared for as if she
we're a hothouse bud. was miserable,
and the realization OF her own small
hess dawned on her.
She looked again at the men, now
going toward the back of the house,
and their war kits brought fresh
emotions to Barbara's heart. They
were going to battle for perhaps
months and maybe years with that
small provision for comfort. Never
before had Barbara seen the troops
in full. war kit and the meagreness
OF their equipment appalled, her. She
who had slept beneath rose -colored
+ eiderdowns all her life cou d conceive
of nothing so terrible as that pitiful
supply of Mhuman comforts. She
turned fFpHi the window and to the
telephones
Jenkins" she called down to her
.4old servant, "see that cook provides
the best of everything for these men.
Spare no expense or trouble 10 make
them comfortable"
When she had hung up the receiver
Barbara felt a trifie more like her
self After all, most of the men
would return from the war. She was
upsetting herself for vague fears.
She tried to throw off the ghastly
pictures that the sight of the troops
had But before her, but it was USE
less now that her very doorstep was
thronged with soldiers to feel other
than fearful of their fate. Again she
wished that the burden of worry had
not been flung upon her. The thought
sent a wave of shame over her Per-
haps for the first time in her entire
life Barbara knew how despicably
selfish she was She was regretting
the. entrance into her life of that
score of brave men, and the women
who had lost them were~n no doubt
weeping in anguish. Barbara felt the
ssting of her own weakness and the
utter uselessness of her life.
Even my servants are doing some-
thing for those men," she told her
self when she heard a burst of
laughter from the direction of the
lower dining hall "They don't know
I am in the house." she added
1houghtfully. Il am an atom III this
world, and each of those men is
King Barbara pondered then as she
had never pondered before. Her own
insignifcance, the desperate reality
of war and it's suffering, together
with the misery that must come In
the wake Of battle, all these thoughts
held BarAra Heathcote in grip of
introspection. So long did she sit in
the darkness that before she knew 1t
he troops billeted on her had ceased
their laughter and flung themselves
down on veranda and garden lawn to
WOO sleep as best they might.
Barbara jumped up and peered
down at them, and the tears blurred
her sight. A pale moon threw her
radiance on the upturned faces of the
men and on their rifles and caps. An
occasional murmur told Barbara that
sleep had not as yet claimed them.
With sudden inspiration Barbara
went into the drawing-room and be-
gan singing gently, so as not to
startle the men. Her voice filtered
through the open windows swept like
the touch of an angels wings over
the soldiers'' emotions, and not one of
them spoke a word.
A young lieutenant surreptitiously
brushed the moisture from his eyes
with khaki colored sleeve His sweet
= heart had tried to sing for him that
song at parting, but her voice had
broken.
Stop! Barbara's voice. too, had
broken. She jumped up and went
swiftly into the moonlight among the
soldiers. They arose as one man at
her coming and stood looking at the
slim white figure.
Il can't stand it to have you sleep
ing out here" she said breathlessly.
You must all come inside. l will
have all the room necessary" She
smiled when they demurred, and
demanded in most adorable man
ner. fPlease let me have my way"
she said. II have never done any
thing in my whole life for any one
save myself. Please let me do what
r can now And because she was
CRYING Barbara hastened to help
Jenkins make up the many beds In
the great house. 1t cheered her con-
siderably to be doing some trifing
thing in the war movement, and out
of the joy she derived from making
up those beds Barbara knew that
never more could she be happy while
: there were those in the world less
fortunate than she.
The troops remained only until tho
morning of the third day, and whom
they had marched off with their
bands playing and smile on their
lips Barbara wept as IL her heart
would break.
Bedfordshire was impossible to her
after that. The life of ease and lux
hry was not to be borne She could
MT sit idly by and wait for news
from the front; she must go and be
{ part of that working contingent