Evening star., 1917-10-07

see the harbor. he walked slowly, devour-
ing it with his eyes. For some time. in
silence. he repeated this maneuver; and
then the complaints % Of the dyDswrissF Ds dis, Inv
struggles. Under his scornful eye. In my
embarrassment, frequently hit the right
letter. You a newspaper man. too?" he
asked. I boasted was, but begged not
IT got some great stories to write when
I get back to Gods country" he an
nounced. II was reporter for two years
in Kansas City, and now I'm going back
to lecture and to write my own book on
the war l got enough material to keep
me at work for five years. All kinds OF
stuff-specials. fiction stories. personal
experiences. maybe a novel-and, anyway,
my own book on the war"
l regarded him with envy. For the war
correspondents in this greatest Of all
wars the pickings had been meager.
'You are to be congratulated" I said.
He brushed aside my congratulations.
FOR what?" he demanded. II didn't
go after the stories; they came to me.
get away from 'em. I've been with the
British. serving in the r. A. M. c.
Been hospital steward. stretcher-bearer.
ambulance driver. I've been sixteen
months at the front and all the time on
the firing line. I was in the retreat from
Mons. with the French on the Marne at
Ypres, all through the winter fighting
along the canal. on the Gallipoli penin-
sula, and just lately in Serbia. I've
seen more Of this war than any soldier.
Because they give a soldier a rest. but
they never give the medical corps a rest.
The only rest I got was when l was
wounded"
And he had been wounded. too, Some
met get all the luck.
AS he seemed no worse for his wounds.
again I rendered congratulations. This
time he accepted them. The recollec-
tion of the things he had seen: things
tnn {v,k kytr,N
perience. stirred him to talk on: not
boastfully. but in tone of awe and
disbelief, as though assuring himself
that II was really he to whom such
things had happened.
IT don't believe there's any kind of
fighting / haven't seen," he declared,
"hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets.
grenade. gun butts. I've seen 'em
their knees choking each other, beating
each other with their bare fists. I've
seen every kind Of airship. bomb. shell.
poison gas. every kind of wound. Seen
whole villages turned into a brickyard
of women frozen to death, bodies of
babies starved to death, seen men in
Belgium swinging from trees: along the
User / saw the bodies of men I'd known
sticking out of the mud. or hung on
barbed wire, for three months, with the
crows picking them.
''Ive seen the nerviest stunts that ever
were pulled of in history. I've seen
real heroes. Time and time again I've
seen a man throw away his life for his
ofncer. or for a chap he didn't know,
just as though 1t was a cigarette butt.
I've seen the woman nurses of onr CORDS
steer car into a village and yank out
a wounded man while shells were break
ing under their wheels and the houses
were pitching into the streets" He
stonped and laughed consciously.
Understand" he warned me. I'm not
talking about myself only OF the things
I've seen. The things I am going to
put in my book It ought to be a pretty
good book-what%
Ny envy had been washed clean in ad-
miration.
"It will make a wonderful book" I
agreed. Are you going to syndicate
1t frst?"
Young Hamlin frowned Importantly.
IL was thinking" he said. "of ask
ing John for letters to the magazine
editors So they'll know I'm not taking
that I've really been through it all
Letters from John would help a lot"
Then he asked anxiously. "They would,
wouldn't they?"
assured him. Remembering the
Kids gibes at John and his numerous
dependents. i said. You another college
chum of John's?" The young man an
swered my question quite seriously.
NO" he said. John graduated before
] entered; but we belong to the same
fraternity. 1t was the luckiest chance
in the world. my finding him. There
was q month-old COPY Of the Balkan