Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1918-07-04
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 VioiIantes.

hutneiudtlCS ttdCn us tndt i from
leaves nothing. and there Is also the
well known biological theorem that
you cannot get blood from a turnip.
II Is also assumed. Sir Isaac Newton
having demonstrated the law, that
what goes up is bound TO come down,
but this is only abstract Mrs. Lane
probably would have denied IL.
The fiat rent, previously $1,000 a
year. now was 81 400, and 1t showed no
signs whatever OF coming down. The
same condition applied also TO her
ch!ldren's shoes. The shoes now cost
81. whereas they formerly had cost 81.
But this was merely 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 81 900
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
II.
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 10 make both ends meet In her
household. Ii hurt, though. Mrs.
Lane was a kindly. warm hearted wo-
man. and she would have liked 10 give.
The war was dreadful II 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 IL, then she read IL
again. Afterward she sat there abb
sorbed, silent. rigid The color had crepi
out Of her face. and her breath came
swiftly from between her parted lips.
n hare Just come back from the
cdnfeen," il read. "Such an after
noon! A trainIoad OF seriously
- trying, as one has to climb into
all the carriages, one after the 9th
err. We begin 10Th the men tcho
are ioeH enough to sit up and han
die their cups, and those UhO are
too III epen to UT their heads, OF
course, 700 hare to Hn and feed
Ourselves. Feeding the ones tOtfk
bad foce wounds are the hardest.
can stand ordinary wounds of
blood, but schen a man ought to
haze nose owd mouth and oil no
has I-~0hi-t takes all your
courage to get through q feeding.
I managed to get half pint Of
milk and beaten egg and some
brandy dopn the throat of boy Of
tCentp pho had no mouth left, and
had to clean II betceex evcrp
mouthful. He had had no food for
fifteen hours ond toas so thirsty
that he toas nearly insane. hell
his head o0ainst me, o~d gagged
all the time. bet jSsf Kept think
ing, Suppose ii p0s my Aoy Uho
Reeded q drink and there scds no
one to oice II to him SO trent
through ,oifh IL. and he finally icent
TO sleep. on. Martha, Martha Lane.
zoe need everpthin0-dH you and
the rest can sendi"
II 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 foundered In. Olivia was four
teen. the conscious age. Mother" she
said freffully. II can't go 10 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 Blu,
what Olivia said Mrs. Lane didn't hear
She had dropped her head on the table
and unaccountably was weeping. "Just
suppose Ii was my boy-mine !" she
was sobbing.
"why, mother I" CALCULATED Olivia.
She hurried toward her mother
"what is II, mother7 You're acting jus
as though Lawrence had gone to war +
Mrs. Lane looked up. the tear,
streaking down her face
That's just what Is the matter with
me | should be acting as II Lawrence
were there. And so should you'll II
Willie were like these, the boys there.
she pointed to the letter that had slip
ped from her lap to the fioor-"if h,
were. like them, in need, dying, want
ing eggs, milk, brandy. TO keep hin
alive, would you be buying white
gloves7 And would we think what othel
people wear or how they live or wheth
er we had only one servant nowi II m,
boy was over there, IL my son were"
But other women's sons are ovel
there. Mrs Lane had at last realized
this The tears were rolling down hel
cheekA