The Benson signal., 1918-08-10

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position to lose, and there was no
sweetheart to tell him with her lips
to go, while her eyes pleaded for him
to stay.
Every time he saw q recruiting SER
geant he'd stink around the corner out
of sight, with terrible fear gnawing
at his heart. When passing the big re-
cruiting posters, and on his way to
business and back he passed many, he
would pull down his cap and look the
other way from that awful finger
pointing at him, under the caption,
"Your 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-during
them, he used to crouch In a corner Of
his clearinghouse cellar, whmpering
like whipped puppy and calling upon
the Lord to protect him.
Even his landlady despised him. al
though she had to admit that he was
''good pay"
He very seldom read the papers. but
one momentous morning the landlady
put the morning paper at his place be-
fore he came down to breakfast. TAX
ing his seat he read the tiaring 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 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 knock at the
door he trembled all over, imagining it
was q policeman who had come to take
him away to the army.
One morning his fears were realized.
Sure enough, there stood a 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 inn
mediately, because he was afraid to
disobey.
The doctor looked with approval
upon Lloyd's six feet of physical per-
fection, and thought what a fine
guardsman he would make, but exam
ined his heart twice before he passed
him as physically fit ;" 1t 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 a 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