The bee., 1916-01-07
Truth Is Stranger
Than Fiction
BY RUTH GRAHAM

nothing to do but tell It. This tale, the
incidents Of which really happened. is
one Of the improbable kind which go to
prove that truth is stranger than &C.
ton. The only change In It from the
truth Is the names Of the actors and
the locations.
We must 60 back to that period when
a GermPk army was thrown into Bel
GUM; when the French gathered their
forces to defend their capital and the
English threw across the channel what
troops were available to assist their
allieaL Yet II was not there that our
story begins, but In a colony Of the
British empire. War had not yet open
cd when a girl and her mother in Can
ada were discussing ball dress for the
former, though the girl was more inter-
ested in the expected appearance at the
ball Of an Englishman than in her ap-
parel.
II hear" said Edith Warren to her
mother, '"that q son of the MRcDer-
motts has come out from bonny Scot
land to see his father and mother.
Maybe he will be at the Scotia ball
this evening"
81 think" replied her mother, that
you had better wear your pink silk to
the ball, Edith. 1t is just the shade for
| your complexion"
Edith wore her pink silk to the Scotia
ball and met Ian MacDermott, a cap
| tain I'm a Scotch regiment. Whether it
was the dress or Edith's beauty or her
! charming manners that won the cap
tain there is no record. Certain it is
that she won him, and he carried her
back with him to Scotland from her
home in America on a honeymoon trip.
Scarcely had the newly welded pair
| got settled in their home I'm Edinburgh
when England declared war against
Germany and threw force across the
channel into France. The honeymoon
| of the MacDermotts had not ended be-
fore the captain bade an adieu to his
bride and went in command Of his com.
pany to the front.
One night the English and Germans
met In a hot fight. MacDermott's regi-
ment was obliged to give ground be-
fore a superior force. The captain was
struck by a fragment of a shell and
left on the field among the dead and
wounded. Then the British rallied and
recovered the lost grouDi.
When 1t became possible for the Red
Cross and the army surgeons to rescue
the wounded a surgeon, coming upon
the body of Captain MacDermott, took
the Identification tag from it and re-
ported him dead.
1t was a sharp blow to the bride
when she received news Of the death of
her husband. She gave up her home In
| Edinburgh and removed to another 10.
cality, but only temporarily, for she de-
signed to return to her parents in
| America. She was not able to leave at
once, but as soon as arrangements
could be made she sailed from a Scotch
port for New York.
There was the usual hustle upon the
sailing of a steamer. Mrs. MacDermott,
in deep mourning, stood on the deck
looking out upon the country in which
so much happiness had been expected,
grieving over the wreck Of her hopes.
The announcement had been made that
all who were to go ashore must leave.
When time had expired for this an or
der was given to draw In the gang
plank.
At this moment an auto came dash
ing up on the dock, sounding signals for
persons to get out of the way. Evi-
dently some belated passenger had ar
rived, and the hauling in Of the gang
plank ceased. An officer In uniform
jumped from the car and hurried aboard
the ship.
A thrill shot through the breast of
the woman In mourning. She saw In
the newcomer her husband. Was she
dreaming? ImpOssiblel Had she be-
come demented by the shock of passing
so suddenly from a bride to a widow?
Her brain was In whlrl until the off,
Ger, coming up on the deck, spied her
and, running toward her, clasped her in
his arms.
|
We left Captain MacDermott on the
field Of battle, the Identification tag be-
ing taken from his body. Later while
I