Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-06-23
When His Fond Mother Saw
Him Drilling in Full Uniform
in Answer to His COunty'S
Call, 1t Was Different


No, she hadn't raised her boy to be a
soldier. She was afraid of a gun, she
detested war. But as she stood near the
doorway of the auditorium-armonyM Mon
day night and caught sight of the man
ly figure of her son as he marched
swiftly by, she began to think that it
wasn't so very terrible after all.
There she stood-bareheaded, motion
less. Her fingers We're nervously try
ing to clutch the red brick of the arm=
DRY wall She watched the boy she had
brought up TO be a banker as he moved
briskly down the street. His olive drab
uniform seemed a bit different from the
rest.
He was so erect, so manly, so con-
fident, she thought. Her fears vanished.
Genuine pride supplanted her distress.
One more time she gazed longingly,
wistfully at the figure of her son drill
ing in the open street. I'll miss you
my boy" she sighed, but I'm going
to let you go, and God bless you"
This was only one of the significant
little happenings at the armory Mon
day night. There were other mothers
there who were greatly opposed to 1t
all at first but who became reconciled be-
fore they left. The sweethearts stayed
home Monday night.
ORDERLY EXCITEMENT.
The auditorium was in a buzz of or
Derby excitement The men and the boys
were so busy they hardly saw the
woman. The building was crowded.
There were officers and privates, non
CONS and new recruits. And then there
were on-lookers who wanted to see
everything and who had been think
ing of enlisting but who hadn't quite
made up their mind. To a politician
just dropping in from a place where
they didn't sell newspapers it would
look like some sort of an election was
in full swing.
All over the armory, on the first
second and third floors, there were
groups of men. Most of them wore
service uniforms and they were all talk
ing about the same thing-Mexico.
Crumpled i'm their hands were newspa-
pers, bought for the information con-
tanned on the glowing first page. Base
ball scores frightened the columns, but
were not noticed. 1t was the news from
the border which was being religiously
read.
The call to the colors brought to the
auditorium men and boys from every
where. Under a DeKalb county sun
man was laboring on his little farm
about . o'clock Monday afternoon. Then
the news first reached him. He laid
aside his pillow, locked the door of his
rickety farm house and at o'clock
Monday night he was a full-fiedged sol
der He had enlisted he had passed the
physical examination. He was ready to
go to war.
Then this man, with others. was
placed i'm the school of the soldier. He
picked up a gun for the first time, he
placed il on his right shoulder, where
he had been accustomed to carrying
hoe. He was an ambitious, but a raw
recruit.
The recruiting staff. under the direc-
ton Of Major a. II. Lindorme and Lieu
Phillips, worked as assiduously as did
Griffiths drill instructors in The Birth
Of Nation"
1t was the regular monthly regimental
drill which took place Monday night,
but it was a different sort of drill.
The step of the private was quicker.
the command of the lieutenant was
clearer.
There was energy. spirit, sprightli-
ness in every movement. Buglers
blowed the assembly calls more dis
tinctly than ever in the past. The
formation Of the companies followed.
Each company marched out of the
armory and proceeded in different di-
rections. The different companies. which
had been strengthened during the day
by recruits, marched over Belgium
blocks and asphalt as they might march
in the future over the alkali desert of
the border under a roasting Mexican
sun.
The companies enlisted their men in
rooms. On some of the doors
were tackled signs which read: En-
list Here-Come In" Sometimes a man
would pass along the hall peeping in