The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-11-24
When Jack Came Back From Over
There.
(By Anna steese Richardson)


togs ther. Our friendship has sur
vived the intervening years. SO you
will understand that from this hour
In which her youngest boy slipped
away from their Maine camp. in his
gay red runabout, to turn up only
the other day In a British uniform.
with a dull little cross which he
shows only on demand. she and / have
talked OF little except her boy some
whore In France.
She Is the sort of woman who can
maintain a town and country es-
tablishment without friction, enter
tain her husbands friends suavely.
dispense personal charities gracious
iy and pray noontimes in quiet
churches unostentatiously. I imagine
thar most OF her petitions for the
past fieteen years have been for Jack.
For I will not try to gloss the trutl.
about Jack. All the wildness AMI
spirit OF misrule on both sides of the
.
holds record for suspensions IN
good schools. The unspoken uues-
ton on his mothers lips no matter
at what hour the house was closed.
was always-"I wonder where Jack
isf" But whatever his sins of omis-
sion or OF commission. he has al
ways been truthful. brutaily truth
fui. His teachers may have expelled
him from school In the cause of dis
eipiine. but they believed every word
he said.
And he lived up to this record dur
Ing his three years. somewhere in
France. Three times he was made an
officer and three times he fell back
into the ranks for defying military
regulations. Three times he landed in |
a hospital and the third time in the
hospital at Bath. England, the doc
tors decided that Jack could never
again go over the top. never again
shoulder rifle. After that came
King George, the little cross-and |
passage for America.
Now you can picture the mother
and the home TO which Jack return
ed. and the Jack who rose stirly and |
srinned cheerfully as I entered his
mothers morning room. His khaki |
uniform struck an alien note among
the cretonne fixings. all gay flowers
and paraquettes. the luxurious "trip
peries OF woman-made home. But
the boy snuggled among pillows as If
the touch OF them filled a long exist
ing void.
You must find New York q bit
dull after camp life." suggested.
How do you spend the timer"
49, He tuggied a sewing -trinket and
grinned again. ,... h
I'm the busiest man i'm town. 1 sec
two shows day. / have seen all the
best cabarets and eaten at all my OLD
restaurants. And when there's moth
Ing better. / sit at the window in
Dads club and watch the girls trail
up and down the Avenue. My word.
you don't know what summers Ameri-
can girls are-till YOU live in the
trenches! Look at mother-the sleek
ness OF her hair--like satin, ism IL I?
And her cheek-like the inside of q
rose petal And that lacy stuff at her
throat. That's what you think of In
the trenches. Just of fine womanly |
stuf-something sweet and clean and
kissable. You remember the Scot i'm |
Barrie's Trhe Old Lady Shows Her
Medals? chiffons-thats what we
think of--not Fritz. not glory--chif-
fons. could look at 'em for year,"
He laughed shortly. Perhaps my
face showed surprise. Chiffons-from
a man with a cross under his coat!
lie rose and made a restless tour
CT the room.
Oh. yes. Jack walks-with a limp
His right leg was saved by one of
those marvellous operations which
military surgeons In France perform
as frequently as civilian surgeons In
America remove appendices
But they could not put his right
arm back into commission because
bit OF shrapnel struck n spot In the
spine which set that arm into per-
petual motion. A small piece OF his
Jaw Is missing and his mother in
formed me privately that between all
the pleasurings which he named
above. he Is having sad time with
the dentist.
SO we talked about the efficiency