Oxford eagle., 1918-06-06
LETTER IN THE
MORNING MAIL
How Mrs. Lane Finally Realized
That Thousands of Other
Mothers Sons Are at War
Scared Battle Front.
BY MAMMALIAN FOSTER
OF the NicIIantsg.

. BY MACMILLAN FOSTER
OF the virlIantss
VI Mathematics teach us that from ]
7 leaves nothing. and there is also the
I well known biological theorem that
yeu cannot get blood from a turnip.
I II Is also assumed, Sir Isaac Newton
, having demonstrated the law. that
, what goes UP is bound to come down,
. but this is SDly abstract Mrs. Lane
probably would have denied IL
! The fat rent, previously s1-2o0 q
year, now was S1.400. and II showed no
siEns whatever Of coming down The
, same condition applied also 10 her
children's shoes. The shoes now cost
81. whereas they formerly had cost "a
Bui this was merely q detail A sinai
lar phenemenon occurred ax 10 beef
sxaks. potatoes, butter, fish and the
~ other varieties of domestic essen
tals. All had gene up; none had
come down About the only thing sta
he In Mrs. Lanes cosmos was Mn
lanes yearly income This was s7.09
year. Already Mrs. Lane had given
up one maid The war literally was al
! her door. True, Mrs. Lane had no SON
I no brother-no kin of any kind-in thi
WAL, but the war still was at her door.
Hard 20 Make Ends Meet
Give money for the warf What ID
ven think she was doing, anyway
She was giving every cent she had
trying 10 make both ends meet In hes
. household II hurt. though. Mrs
Lane WAS kindly, warm hearted wo
Ensn, and she would have liked to give
The war Was dreadful II was q
dreadful she'd stopped reading about 1t
But one must read letters. On,
mas do that when q friend takes the
! trouble 10 write them.
The letter came in the morning mail
Mrs. Lane read IL then she read B
, again Afterward she sat there an
ssrbed, silent. rigid The color had crep
ouf Of her face, and her breath Cam
swiftly from between her parted lipn.
II hoUe jGsf come back from the
canteen," a read. "Suck on after
soOHi A troinIoad OF seriously
G0snoed 10 be fed at once, spAscH
q fT1paap, Gs one hss 70 clsrrsb into
eH fhe carriages. one after the osA-
er. We begin acsfh the saen scho
ere soea enough 10 sii up and hos-
de Their cups, and those soho are
500 ~ eDeH 10 lift fkeir heads. o,
cosrse, aoe hare TO Arf aud feed
ourselpes. Feeding the ones scsfA
bad face acOznds are the ho-dest
con- stand ordinary teou~ds OF
blood, bEf aChen O nass ouch. 70
hare nose and mouth aud oil hs
hos s-rchf-f fakes ell youy
courage 10 get through feeding.
managed 20 pet half O pint OF
mix and beaten egg and some
srendp dorm tAe throat Of boy OF
ssoenfp soho had no nsossh left. e~S
had 20 cseas q befceex epers
NosihfEl he had ksS no food for
fteen h0s-e end spGs 20 sAsrsts
that he scGs neorly s.sone. I Asl6
hss head against sne. and I paSee6
al the time. bsi I yssf kept thss.k-
sc, 'SHppose % sDGs rsy bog rAo
seeded drsnk s.d fhers spss no
one 20 rioe d 20 hss,' SO spers
Through trsfh IL. and he fncuy scexs
90 sleep. Oh. ksrfks, karfAs Lo~s.
ere necd cv-yfhsne-ou pes asS
she rest can sendr"
N Lawrence Had Gene 70 War
one O'Clock struck Mrx. Lane stu
J - with the letter clutched in he
hand Whats for dinnerY" asked Han
nAh, the maid Mrs. Lane hardly hear
hsr- She was stil sitting there whe,
olivia nounoered in Olivia was four
teen, the conscious age. Mother" sh
eatd frefully, Il can't 20 TO dancln,
school again in brown gloves when al
the other girls have white ones" Tn
pEAinf reminded Mrs Lane that Law
renee al boarding school had write,
sAAi morning about his socks He hs,
eaiy two pairs OF silk ones left .And
mother, said Olivia, continuing Bu
what Olivia said Mrs Lane didn't hes,
She had dropped her head on the tsbl
ann unaccountably was weeping. .Jus
suppose IL was my boy-mine ~ sh
was sobbing.
why. motherI" calculated Olivia
She hurried toward her mothe,
what is IT, mOtheri You're acting tus
rs thoueh Lawrence had gone 10 war I
Mrs Lane looked up, the tear
sueaking down her face.
That's just what is the matter wifi
mei should be acting as II Lawrenc
we're there. And SO should youi i
Willie were Ike these, the boys there
she pointed TO the letter that had s,Ir
peo from her lap to the fioor--tf b
were Ike them. in need. dying, wan,
ing eggs milk. brandy. to keep hir
ahre' would you be buying whit
giovesf And would we think what 9th.
people wear or how they live or vhetb
er we had only one servant nowf II M
boy was over there, II my son we're
but other women's sons are owe
there Mrs. Lane had al last realise
this The Tears x..s,,. III