The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1918-05-25
IN THE
MORNING mail
How Mrs. Lane Finally Realized
That Thousands of Other
Mothers Sons Are at War
Scared Battle Front.
BY MACMILLAN FOSTER
Of the Viujlantes.

Mathematics teach us that l from
well known biological theorem that
you cannot get blood from Il turnip.
1t is also assumed, Sir Isaac Newton
having demonstrated the law, that
what goes up Is bound to come down,
hut this is only abstract. Mrs. Lane
probably would have denied it.
The fiat rent, previously $1,000
year, now was 81 400, and it showed no
signs whatever of coming down. The
saline condition applied also to her
ehi.l-en's shoes. The shoes now cost
=. whereas they formerly had cost 81.
Hut This was merely a detail. A SINH
lar phenomenon occurred as to beef.
steaks, potatoes. butter, fish and the
81 other varieties of domestic essen.
tails. All had gone up; none had
come down. About the only thing sta
bic in Mrs. Lanes cosmos was Mr..
Lanes yearly income. This was 5000
year. Already Mrs. Lane had given
Up one maid. The war literally was at
her door. True, Mrs. Lane had no son,
no brother-no kin of any kind-in the
war, but the war still was at her door.
Hard to Make Ends Meet.
Give money for the war? What do
you think she was doing. anyway
She was giving every cent she had,
trying to make both ends meet In her
household. 1t hurt, though. Mrs.
Lane was a kindly, warm hearted wO-
man, and she would have liked to give:
The war was dreadful! 1t was so
dreadful she'd stopped reading about it.
But one must read letters. One
must do that when a friend takes the
trouble to write them.
The letter came in the morning mail.
Mrs. Lane read it, then she read it
again. Afterwartl she sat there alb
sorbed, silent, rigid. The color had crept
out of her face, and her breath came
swiftly from between her parted lips.
81 hare just come back from the
!, cdntcoa," it read. "Such an after.
! noon! a trdinl0dd of seriously
rounded to be fed at once, schich
; is trying, as one has to Climb into
/, oil the carriages, one after the 9th
! or. We begin srith the men sCho
{; are trcH enough to sit up and han
/! die their cups, and those achO are
| too i'll eren to lift their heads Of
f! course. zoe hare to lift and feed
/, Ourselves. Feeding the ones 4cith
/; bad face acOunds are the hardest.
: l can stand ordinary tcoumds Of
! blood, but lchcn a man ought to
. hare q nose and mouth and ali he
: has is-ugh!-i takes all your
j courage to get through feeding.
. 1 managed to get half a pint Of
! milk and a beaten egg and some
! brandy dozen the throat Of a boy of
t,ccnfy ach0 had no mouth left, and
! I had TO clean it bettceen euerp
n1oMthful. He had had no food f0s
fifteen hours and icds so thirsty
that he acGs nearly insane. held
his head against me, and gagged
all the time, but just KEPT think
ing, Suppose it tras my bog echo
needed drink and there tUds no
one to gire it to him So / 4oemt
through soith it, and he finally .cemt
to sleep. Oh, Martha, Martha Lane,
zee need euerythino-aH you and
the rest can send!'
it Lawrence Had Gone to War.
One O'Clock struck. Mrs. Lane stinl
sat with the letter clutched in her
hand. whats for dinner? asked Han.
nah. the maid. Mrs. Lane hardly heard |
her. She was still sitting there when
Olivia f1oundered in. Olivia was four
teen, the conscious age Mother" she
said fretfully, Il can't 70 to DANCING
school again in brown gloves when ali |
the other girls have white ones" The
plant reminded Mrs Lane that Law
renee at boarding school had written
that morning about his socks. He had |
only two pairs Of silk ones left. "And
mother. said Olivia. continuing Bus
what Olivia said Mrs. Lane didn't hear |
She had dropped her head ON the tab,s
and unaccountably was weeping. "Juss |
suppose it was my boy-mine =" she !
was sObbing.
why, mother!'' calculated Olivia.
She hurried toward her mother
What g I, M0ther1 You're acting iuse