The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1918-10-11
"A Letter To
Mr.. Somebody"
BY LOUISE OLIVER

Philip sat thoughtfully down on the
fire step of the trench. The German
musketry had ceased for the time and
all was quiet along the line. Three of
the men in his platoon had been
wounded and taken back to the first
aid stations behind the lines. But he
hadn't a scratch.
Beside him, crOuching in q variety
of attitudes, were five of the boys
playing cards. Someone had produced
u dog cared, muddy pack, and now they
seEa having a round of jaclzpots. The
He crowd had an aggregate Of less
collar, all told.
lssao IN In, Pearson, the lettings
)6rgan. "Sky's the limit"
nook his head. SIT hurts
nv 70 see my fellow be-
fngs Iais: afnortal souls.
can't be y5l r. l1sa outrage. Be-
sides, Tn bril-
'Poor Phiflv drew three
cards Lonely agafsa
"Who's he got To Ia lonely fcr''l
Kearney, new to the eo taia's
know Phirs history.
Nobody. That's the trouble We
cusses here think we're killed Decause,
we can't see our folks. But did you
any folks to get homesick for? That's
Pills trouble. He just naturally hasn't
got anybody. That's what he's think
ing this minute. I'll bet jitney. New
er gets any mail-neyer hears from
anyone. By George, here comes Bandy
now with letters. Hurrah The mails
in, Jimmy! All those for me, chap
lain? Well, this is my day."
Philip sat stolidly on the fire step
without moving. He knew the chap
lain had no mail for him. All the 9th
er boys were busily tearing open let
ters and papers and hungrily devouring
every word.
Then the chaplain stopped in front
of him and put a hand on his shoulder.
'My boy, l wonder if" He put his
other hand in his pocket and drew out
a letter. 81 don't approve of this
much. I don't have any idea what's
inside, but I'm going to leave it with
YOU
Philip took the letter eagerly and
scanned the address. It was written in
a rather angular feminine hand on
plain white paper and directed to:
MIR. SOMEBODY,
American Expeditionafy Forces,
France.
Puzzled, he slid his trench knife IN
der the flap and drew out the closely
written folded pages. The letter be-
gan: "Dear Mr.. Somebody: Before
you read my letter I'm going to ask
whether or not you are getting mail
from home and friends. If you are,
will you please give this to someone
who is not, for this is not your letter.
then, but his. ] ain writing to lonely
man who has no one to care about him
not to YOU"
Philip paused. Strange that the
chaplain had followed the directions
so closely without divining the con-
tents. He turned again to the letter.
Surely the letter had reached it's in
tended destination. Who else had a
better right to it than he? Then sud-
| denly a revulSion of feeling seized him.
| He didn't want sympathy, he didn't
want to read lot of Sunday school
stuff about patiently bearing ones lot
and being sustained by pride in what
he was doing.
His eyes ran rebelliously over the
| next few words, then he read more
eagerly, and before he knew it-but let
| US read the letter.
i "First of ALL" it ran, s'I'm going to
wish a family onto you, Mr.. Some
body-my family. And I'm going to
/ tell you all about what we've been
| doing. Maybe you'll want to hear
about them and maybe you won't, but
I absolutely refuse to sympathize with
your loneliness and write consoling
! things like that. And as I have to
will just have to be patient. And I'm
not going to introduce them. I will
| speak of them as though you'd known
US all forever.
'To begin, Mr.. Peabody finally came
across and gave Dad the position as
( department head that he should have
had years ago. Oh, you don't know
what it meant to us Or, forgot, you
! do know, of course. When Dad came
home that night and told US, Buddy
stood right up in the middle of the
/ dining-rOom table and started to recite
| Websters Grafton, knocking over my
/ vase of Glove shrub, the first out of the
garden, and running a bran clean table
! cloth that had taken me forty-seven
minutes to iron. But [ was in q for
/ giving humor, of course, and merely
| kissed him and ordered him down
| Lofty gave Dad hug that nearly
strangled him and marched right up
stairs and returned with everyone
| everyone-mind you, of her old dresses
over her arm"
SHOW, Sis she demanded, cant
give these to the poor Harbisons right
away, and get that pink-embroided
/ wolfe and the Peter Tom suit tomor
row?
| was ready to promise anything
my dear sir, but all the while / was
thinking how fine 1t would be to have