Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1918-07-12

III lIC 1uSt lCA ~0A0 ! AOvO 0SNSAs~A
times read stories in magazines Of
towards changing, in a charge, to he
I rOes. used to laugh at 1t. 1t seemed
easy for story-writers. but I said,
sMen aren't made that way" But\Over
In France / learned once that the
/ streak Of yellow can turn all white. l
picked up the story, bit by bit, from
{ the captain Of the company, the SEN
tries who guarded the poor fellow, as
well as from my own observations. At
first / did not realize the whole Of his
story, but after week Of investiga-
ton it stood out as clear In my mind
as the mountains of my native West In
the spring sunshine. 1t impressed me
50 much that I wrote 1t all down In
/ rest billets on scraps of odd paper.
The incidents are, as say, every bit
true; the feelings Of the man are true
- know from all underwent in the
fighting over In France.
We will call him Albert Lloyd. That
wasn't his name, but it will do:
Albert Lloyd was what the world
terms coward.
In London they called him Stacker.
His country had been at war nearly
eighteen months, and still he was not
I In khaki. 80
He had no good reason for not en-
listing, being alone in the world. hav-
Y ing been educated in an orphan asy-
I lum, and there being no one dependent
upon him for support. He had no good
position to lose, and there was no
sweetheart to tell him with her lips
to 60, while her eyes pleaded for him
to stay.
Every time he saw recruiting SER
reant 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,
aYour King and Country Need You;"
for the boring eyes of Kitchener, which
burned into his very soul, causing him
to shudder. -. -s-."
Then the Zeppelin raids-during
them, he used to crouch In corner Of
Ills boarding house cellar. whimpering
Ike whipped puppy and calling upon
1 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 flaring head
line, Transcription Bill Passed." and
nearly tainted. Excuslng himself, he
stumbled upstairs to his bedroom,
with the horror of 1t 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 1t
was policeman who had come to take
him away to the army.
One morning his fears were realized.
Sure enough, there stood a policeman
= tN1tu tuC xuluA RuPCAs AOhAA6 ~ 40 AAAS
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
meiliately, because he was afraid to
;dlsobey.
5, The doctor looked with approval
upon Lloyd's six feet of physical per
lection, and thought what q fine
IGuardsman he wsuld make, but exam
iiined his heart twice before he passed
I. him as physically fit;" it was beating
70 fast.
From the recruiting depot Lloyd was
Itaken, with many others, In charge Of
. sergeant, to the training depot at Al
dershot, where he was given an outft
of khaki, and drew his other equip
ment. He made q fine-looking soldier.
except for the slight shrinking In his
shoulders and the hunted look In his
eyes. 4.
At the training depot 1t 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.
i Lloyd was q 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 Llcyd'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
8 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
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