The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1917-07-23

to her, offering to take her IN his arms.
but she shook her head with q little
smile.
mot here" she begged, mot here,
Don dear-while there's moonlight IN
the patio!"
Catching his hand she drew him
with her through the doorway. .
The patio was very still and peace
full and deserted. The moonlight sill
vered it exquisitely. Its air was sweet
with the scent of flowers. In the
shadow Of the old well in its center.
Patria released Donald's hand, and
turned to him, lifting up her face to
his lips. .
Perhaps for the last time
How she found it possible to let him
20, In the end, she never understood.
With q sense Of the %unreality Of it all
she watched his soldierly figure, in its
khaki field uniform, stride away
through the chiaroscuro of milk-white
moonlight and inky shadow, till he
disappeared in the passageway lead
ing to the front Of the house.
And for a long time after he had
gone she stood clasping the hands
upon which his parting kisses had
been pressed, and staring at the spot
where she had last seen him.
It seemed S hideously wrong that
these things could be, that this world
SO beautiful could be made the slaugh-
ter-pen Of embattled humanity. She
thought of France, the land she knew
and loved SO well; her last night in
France had been a summers night,
moonsmitten and warm and sweet
even as this night. She had sailed
for New York the next day; and a
week later the great war had broken
out. And now all northern France
was the theater Of horrors unspeak-
able.
And tomorrow would see the incep-
ton of an effort to render her own
United States a counterpart Of
The most she could hope for was
that the preparations she had made
would check temporarily the invading
forces, give the country time to real
lie its peril and arm against it. Fer
the invasion, once launched, would
never be stayed but by overwhelming
force. II checked where the Chan
ming property met the border, 1t would
only recoil to strike a new and more
effective blow. Even assuming the i'm.
possible-that the Claiming ranch
should prove an impregnable obstacle 4,
in its path-it would need only to
sweep round 1t in order to reach a
peaceful and d~efenseless land and
blacken 1t with the infamy Of war,
turn 1t into a place Of death and terror
and torment and hideous waste, make
It q sister to Belgium.
And all because a purblind people
refused to e that the n way to
stave of the sin Of war was to make
the country SO strong for defense that
no invader would ever dar0 set foot
across its borders.
Slowly the girl ascended 10 her bed
chamber.
it, windows overlooked the south
she stood iii one Of them tor . long |
time staring Internationally ct the
distances that lay beyond
the boundary line betweea tie two
countries the shadowed enigma Of
hszico that rested % quietly there in
he face q he neon
SomsRhses out thsEs, seoevasre
estweea the border and thoDe segsated
hat walled n ths sostAern
aosison, housands upoA thousands ,oe
nsa. armed aDd -Agsippsd. wsrs
naFehlne nsethwsra: tzoaos q 0y1t
y wsgo marching VIA thsm; trains /
4 aaAnonltioa. eeupanlesl o1 ort1l-
~: neeAfns-Sun corps. III ~ a.
u modern military ssrvice.
vses as1f. nedsr r. deak - ~
light
Her imaeinatioa eooc1tvsd tAat
Ifmy ~ invastoA n the guise a .
Ifsat serpent crawling through the
lhedews 70 Strike ut TIE heart Of q
giant. . healthy. deadly.
thing that squirmed foully
Ipon IL way 10 DO Z deed Of inexcus-
BILE trsachexy and cruelty. :.
The Vision Of that ereet serpent
launted Ill her dreams. She alept III,
Between maps she lay awake,
w1de-eyed into the darkness,
very sense alert. straining to hear
my sound that might be the over
ure to tomorrow's tragedy, fancy
az that she heard the confused but
shufle Of those Thousands OF
aarching feet.
Towards dawn she fell into q pro-
ound and dreamless slumber Of ex-
.austion, from which she was awak-
ned in broad daylight by the sound
I distant firing. |,
Leaping from her bed she seized
and ran to the window.
But the glasses showed her nothing, !
t first. The sounds Of firing persist
d-great thuddins detonations ac-
Ompanied by the screaming Of shrap- f,
in the air and shattering explo-
[Ong "a the Ahella f0nnd fholp hilyofa 4