Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-07-26

upon MIN Tor support. He had no good
posi'ion TO lose, and there was no
sweetheart to tell him with her Inns
10 60 while her eyes pleaded for him
to stay.
Every time he saw a recruiting SER
seant ned stink around the corner ont
VI slgnt, with a terrible fear gnawing
at MS heart. When passing the big re-
crultlng posters, and on his wav To
business and back he passed MANY he
would pull down his cap and look the
other way from that awful finger
polntlng at him, under the caption
our King and Country Need You ="
or the boring eyes of Kitchener, which
burned into his very soul, causing him
to shudder
Then the Zeppelin raids-durine
them, he used to crouch in a corner Of
his clearinghouse cellar, whimpering
ike whipped puppy and calling upon
the Lord to protect him.
Even his landlady despised him. a..
though she had to admit that he wss
good pay"
He very seldom read the papers, but
one momentous morning the landladv
put the morning paper at his place be-
fore he came down to breakfast. TAX
Ing MS seat he read the flaring head
line, transcription Bill Passed." and
nearly tainted. Excusing himself he
stumbled upstairs to his bedroom
with the horror Of it gnawing into his
vitals.
Having saved up a few pounds. he
decided not to leave the house, and TO
sham sickness, so he stayed in his room
and had the landlady serve his meals
there.
Every time there was a knock at the
door he trembled all over, imagining it
was a policeman who had come to take
him away to the army.
One morning his fears were realized.
Sure enough, there stood q policeman
with the fatal paper. Taking it in his
trembling hand he read that he. Albert
Lloyd was ordered to report himself
to the nearest recruiting station for
physical examination. He reported i'm
mediately, because he was afraid to
disObey.
The doctor looked with approval
upon Lloyds six feet of physical per-
lection, and thought what fine
guardsman he would make, but exam
ined his heart twice before he passed
him as physically fit" it was beating
so fast.
From the recruiting depot Lloyd was
taken, with many others, in charge of
a sergeant, to the training depot at AL
dershot, where he was given an outfit
OF khaki, and drew his other equip
ment. He made fine-looking soldier,
except for the slight shrinking in his
shoulders and the hunted look in his
eyes.
At the training depot it does not
take long to find out mans character,
and Lloyd was promptly dubbed
windy" In the English army "windy"
means cowardly.
The smallest recruit in the barracks
looked on him with contempt, and was
not slow to show it in many ways.
Lloyd was a good soldier, learned
quickly, obeyed every order promptly,
never groused at the hardest fatigues.
He was afraid to. He lived in deadly
fear Of the officers and "noncoms" over
him. They also despised him.
One morning about three months
after his enlistment Lloyd's company
was paraded, and the names picked out
for the next draft to France were read.
When his name was called, he did not
step out smartly, two PAGES to the
front, and answer cheerfully, Here,
sir" as the others did. He just faint
ed in the ranks and was carried to bar
racks amid the sneers of the rest.
That night was an agony of misery
to him. He could not sleep: Just cried
and whimpered in his bunk, because
on the morrow the draft was to sail
for France, where he would see death
on all sides, and perhaps be killed him.
self. On the steamer, crossing the
channel, he would have jumped over
board to escape, but was afraid of
drowning.
Arriving in France. he and the rest