Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1918-05-25
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 ViqiIantes.

Mathematics teach Us that | from
leaves nothing, and there is also lhe
well known biological theorem that
you cannot get blood from a turuip.
1t is also assumed, Sir Isaac Newton
having demonstrated the law that
what goes up is bound TO come dow n,
but this is only abstract Mrs. Lane
probably would have denied IT,
The fiat rent, previously 81 200 a
year. now was $1,400, and it showed no
signs whatever of coming down. The
same condition applied also to her
childrenAs shoes. The shoes now cost
81, whereas they formerly had cost 81.
But this was merely detail 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 sla-
BILE in Mrs. Lanes cosmos was Mr..
Lanes yearly income. This was 5000
a 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 WARP What 10
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 Airs.
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 friend takes the
trouble to write them.
The letter came in the morning mail
Mrs. Lane read it, then she read IL
again. Afterward she sat there abb
sorbed, silent, rigid. The color had crept
out of her face, and her breath came
swiftly from between her parted lips.
II haze Just come back from the
cGnteeR," it read. "Such an after
noon! A trdinlOGd OF seriously
1c0unded to be fed at once. tOhich
is trying, as one has to climb into
all the carriages, one after the 9th
er. We begin 10Th the men tohO
are tCeH enough TO sit up aud han
too III eUen to lfft their heads. ~
course, zoe hare to hft and feed
OurSetUeS. Feeding the ones Nth
Dad face aC0unds are the hardest.
1 can stand ordinary tCOundS Of
blood, but t0hen a man ought to
hare nose and mouth and all he
has is-ughI-it takes all your
courage to get through a feeding.
J mGRGged to get halt pint NJ
milk and a beaten egg and some
brandy doIon the throat of a bop OF
ttoenty iohO had no mouth left. aud
had to clean 1t bettoeen every
moutbfuI He had had no food for
fifteen hours aud tods so thirsty
that he tCds nearly insane. hNM
his head against me, aud ! 0Gy9ed
all the time, but just Kept think
ING, Suppose IL tods nap ! rehO
Reeded drink and there ,CaS no
one to Oive IL to him SO rent
through tCith 1t, aud he finally trent
to sleep. oh, Martha. Martha Lane.
zee need everythin0-GH DOu aud
the rest can sendf"
If Lawrence Had Gone to War.
One o'clock struck. Mrs. Lane still
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 floundered in. Olivia was four
teen, the conscious age Mother" she
said fretfully, 81 can't go to dancing
school again in brown gloves when all
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 But
what Olivia said Mrs Lane didn't hear.
She had dropped her head on the table
and unaccountably was weeping. Just
suppose it was my boy-mine r. she
was sobbing.
'Why, motherr calculated Olivia.
She hurried toward her mother.
"What is it, mother? You're acting just
as though Lawrence had gone to war;"
Mrs Lane looked up. the tears
streaking down her face.
That's just what is the matter with
mel I should be acting as If Lawrence
were there. And so should you'll IL
Willie were like these, the boys there"
she pointed to the letter that had Slip
ped from her lap to the floor-''if he
were, like them, In need. dying, want
ing eggs, milk, brandy. to keep him
alive, would you be buying white
gloves? And would we think what other
people wear or how they live or wheth-
er we had only one servant now? If my
boy was over there, If my son were"
But other women's sons are over
there Mrs. Lane had AT last realized
this The tears were rolling down her