Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-10-26
Her
Patriotism
Ii Showed Itself Strongly
In Wartime
By N q. o q

followed the printed list of those named
to answer their country's call. Yes,
there it was undoubtedly, the black let
tiers seeming to threaten him, "John
Williams, Elm avenue"
There was no defect in either years
or physical fitness to excuse him from
duty. He had been chosen to serve
his country. yet every fiber of his be-
ing revolted. Not that John Williams
was a coward. Courageously he might
face the fighting line of battle, but to
leave his little invalid sister helpless
and alone TINT was a task which SEEM
ed an inpossilility.
Years before she had been left to his
care, when the automobile carrying the
child and her ~larents had met with an
accident, leaving her orphaned as well
as disabled. There had been some in
jury to the spine-just what the doc
tors could~no determine. AS the years
passed I.illias lad in a degree outgrown
her serious trouble, but the shock of the
accident had left her in a state of al
most hysterical dependence, and mo
one could do anything for her but Jack"
At least that is what various women
said who had been called for OCCASION
al attendance during his absences. With
the assurance of her brothers presence
the wraithlike girl could go about her
slight household duties, waiting like
some patient, soft eyed spaniel at even
ing for his return and 1t had taken all
his efforts to ketp the modest home
throughout his course of study.
Jack had avoided the distraction of
love by devoting himself unswervingly
to his sister. So now this was the
crisis he faced as the letters of his
own name twinkled back from the
printed page. He must tell Lillias of
the coming separation.
"Lillias." he said desperately, "Tll
have to be away tonight. Do you
think Mrs. Holmes would come in to
stay with you?" 1t had occurred to
him suddenly that away from the dis
tracing appeal of her eyes he. might
come to some solution of the problem.
The eyes now widened in the appre-
hension his absence always caused.
"Oh," fretted the girl, "must you go"
He had gone. The destination did
not much matter, so he boarded a sub
urban trolley and went flying along
through the glories of summer time in
the country. A small station at the
foot of a steep hill attracted his atten-
49,. Tool Whit ,or lnff Tho 10 fol
low a broad tree bordered road. 1t was
a very sleepy village. The road wander
ed, fragrant with the breath Of clover,
through a struggling business street,
then on again past the white steepled
church into dusty silence. Houses widely
scattered at last seemed to ceane alto
gether, and Jack had decided to sink
back upon the grass and think things
over when a garden wall doomed up be-
fore him. He had not noticed it at the
turn. 1t was a cool looking old stone
wall, with vines ~clambering Over its
sides and directly before him was a
door. The door being slightly ajar,
Jack stared inside, then followed his
W inquiring stare. The place seemed
to have been unattended, uninhabited
for a hundred years. Tangled bushes
caught at ones clothing, growing things
spread themselves half over the traced
out pathways, an old sundial was
crumb4ing unheeded in company with a
stone Cupid aiming his arrow. How
had this estate of long past grandeur
been so utterly deserted? Back in the
distance doomed a great w~eatherbeaten
house. Jack passed the imposing door
way, vines growing impudently across
it's very openings, and for a moment the
thought came to him, a thought as hys-
terical as any Lillias might entertain,
that here would be a place for a man to
hide, a man who was forced away from
his own. Then rounding the silent old
house, he came suddenly upon a picture,
which, after the first start of surprise,
held him in breathless silence. Upon
an old stone bench heaped with cushions
lay sleeping as beautiful a maid as a
certain sleeping princess in an enchant-
ed garden of long age.
AT the first bewildered glance Jack
might have supposed the girl to be
dead, for all above her white gown
were flowers and bundles Of flowers,
great punches of scarlet and white
geraniums, with eenters of bachelor
blue. 1t was a remarkable tableau.
Across the girls breast was pinned a
small satin American flag. The soft
wind rumpled the waves of her dark
hofr hn-nrtfn son Of hnr ahnnkC nn6
lips belied any first notion of death.
Near by lay the waters of an old, silent
fountain.
Perplexed, entranced, Jack stood mo-
tionless; then, like a certain princess
of old, the girls eyes trembled into
wide awakcness, and she looked up al
him. Hers was not a dreamy gaze
however. for she sat up Immediately
and asked briskly: what is it? What