The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1918-05-03
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 ViuiIantss.

Mathematics teach us that ! from
leaves nothing, and there Is also the
well known biological theorem that
you cannot get blood from turnip.
1t Is also assumed, Sir Isaac Newton
4 having demonstrated the law, that
what goes up is bound to come down,
but this is only abstract. Mrs. Lane
probably would have denied 1t.
The fiat rent, previously $1,000
year, now was $1,4OO, and 1t showed no
signs whatever OF coming down. The
same condition applied also TO her
children's shoes. The shoes now cost
81, whereas they formerly had cost S4.
But this was merely a detail. A simi-
lar phenomenon occurred as to beef.
steaks, potatoes, butter, fish and the
81 other varieties of domestic essen
tials. All had gone up; none had
come down. About the only thing sta
BILE in Mrs. Lanes cosmos was Mr..
Lanes yearly income. This was $1,000
q year. Already Mrs Lane had given
! mp one maid. The war literally was at
her door. True, Mrs Lane had no SON,
Awar, but the war gill was at her door.
Hard to Make Ends Meet.
Give money for the war? What do
1 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 1t
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.
81 haze Just come back from the
/ ca,steen," 1t read. "Sach an after
Z noon! A trainIoad of seriously
! scoanded to be fed at once. sohich
i u trying, as one has to climb into
aH the carriages, one after the 9th
d er. We begin scith the men 1ohO
ere sceH enough to sit ap aud hGn-
ii de their cups, and those scho are
TOO III erea to lift their heads, OF
course, zoe haze to lift and feed
OurselDes. Feeding the ones t0tfh
s bad face acOu..ds are the hardest.
/ cen stand ordinary sconnds OF
j blood, out tchen naaH ought to
Il kare O nose and mouth end all he
!, hos is-ugh!-t takes all your
courage to get through q feeding.
Il managed to get half pint OF
4 milk and beaten egg and some
brandy doaon the Throat OF boy OF
tsosnty sbho had no mouth left, and
II had to clean it bettceen eccry
j nsoxthfuI. He had had no food for
fifteen hours and t0Gs so thirsty
that he s1as nearly insane. held
Z Ne head agai,sst me, and gagged
all the time, bat jast kept think
q Ssg, Suppose II tcds my boy aoho
Rsedcd drink and there tcds no
one to oice II to HIM So I sceHt
through acith 1t, and he finally ace,.t
80 sleep. Oh, Martha, MarfhG Lane,
zoe need cverything-aH you Gnx
the rest can send"
II ~ Lawrence Had Gone to War.
* One o'clock struck. Mrs Lane stin
eat 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 fioundered in. Olivia was four.
teen, the conscious age. "Mother," she
! said fretfully, ~ 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
enly 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
auppose e was my boy-minei" she