Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-11-16

1 COunlIf Is Il UNIVERSAL IIa1L IN every
nation, her more moderate father said.
Exactly! And as Mr.. Brown has
pointed out, we English have a tenden-
/ cy to be somewhat superior also" As
he spoke, Streetman rose He was be
coming restless under the CALLING of
| that one-sided discussion of the merits
of the nations.
well, I hope there isn't any warr
Guy FaIconer said fervently. IF there
is, you can bet your boots I'm not
going near it"
Guy" Sir George turned upon him
with Incredibly writ large upon his
fine face.
''Oh, mean it, Sir George" Guy
insisted shamelessly. IF it comes to
war, this viii be a war of millions.
If there are thousand men killed in
| battle or only nine hundred and
ninety-nine, what difference does it
make except to the thousandth man?
. None! But if I happened to
be he, it'd represent a deuce of lot
to me, and, with my luck, I'd be the
first man shot anyhow. No.
sir! Military service is not compuI-
sorry in England, thank heaven! And
if there is a wa. I'm going to sit
home at my club and discuss very
harShly the mistakes of the war Office
Guys mother regarded him with no
less amazement than did Sir George.
My son-yOU're not seriOus?" she
exclaimed, scarcely believing what she
heard.
"Of course he isr' said Georgy. 81
never saw a man who thought as
much of his own precious hide-so
much more than anyone else thinks of
it.'
'.'If you're quite in earnest, Guy, I
am positively ashamed of you" Sir
George Wagstaff told him. As man
who was high in the councils of his
country, Sir George did indeed hear
the young mans declaration with
something bordering upon alarm, as
| well as mere disapprovaI If other
English youths should take the same
attitude as Guys, he foresaw endless
trouble for the recruiting stations.
IF I were shot" Guy retorted, 81
suppose the fact that I could say,
Now, Sir George is not ashamed of
me- would ease the pain a bit?
No, thank you! I tell you, if worse
| comes to worst I shall sail for Cuba"
| At that his mother approached him
| much as she must have when as a
small boy he had been guilty of naugh-
| tiness. She thought it high time to
assert her authority.
Guy" she said, st forbid you to
talk like that"
ooh, now, mother" he remon-
strated
81 think he's spoofng," Charlie
Brown told them, as quick to adopt a
new word as he was to detect AIgns of
shamming on Guys part. IF war
comes, I bet he'll go to the front. He's
like the rest of you English-haIf
ashamed to say what he really feels"
The embarrassed Guy faced him
sheepishIy.
ooh, I say-thats all swankr' he re-
monstrated.
"'swankr That's a good wordr
! Charlie Brown exclaimed. I'm going
| to take that back tQ America, too"
And then, returning to the subject of
| their conversation, who was manifest
| Iy i'll at ease, Mr.. Brown continued,
"Once you do touch Guy on the raw
Of his patriotism he'd go through and
go through big"
81 think Mr. Brown is right" Street
/
ago at the Ritz in Paris that I met
young English officer. We got to chat
ting. He seemed very down in the
! montb-sOme trouble over girl: he'd
! been Tilted, or hadn't enough money to
| propose, or she'd married someone else
usual sort Of thing, so [ paid no at
tention to the incident. But one night,
walking along the Champs EIysees, a
man ahead of me suddenly turned
aside behind one Of the trees. SiIhouet-
ted against the moonlight I saw MS
hand go to his pocket, as if to draw
| revolver I ran up to him, and seized
the pistol It was my young
English friend. I dare say the moon
had gone to his head. He was quite
| desperate-reaIly started to struggle
with me at first. We stood there for
an hour talking, I'd taken quite q
fancy to him. 1t seemed such a waste
Of good material for him to kill him
self; but he was quite firm. Finally,
[ appealed to him as an English officer
in his majesty's seEyice. Some day his
country might need him told him
and he wouldn't be there. because he
was cOWard-a traitor. That
hit him. I pressed the point. And
eventually he gave me his word
They had ali listened eagerly to
Streetman's vivid recital
Did he keep his word?' Ethel asked.
Il don't know! I've never seen him
since; but he's the sort of man who
would. l merely mention the incident
to show that when nothing else count
ed. his country did. And most men
are like that" Streetman added as he
rs~t'o3 CIV Falca~or -, 40 1s0n7-
Somehow, GUy resented the familiar
ity. But he merely moved away. So
far as be knew, Streetman was a de-
cent enough chap. But he did not rel
ish being patrOnized by him.
All at once Sir George Wagstaff no
ticed for the first time that the after
noon light was fast fading. Looking
at his watch, he rose hastily.
by lover he said, I'D no idea it