Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-12-27
BY MARGARET WILDE


So he is coming home to you
your boy who went away to war.
How your heart thrills with the
thoughts of it, and how your soul
warns in pride as you remeber your
son so stalWart, rugged and tail in
longing the slackers, eye to eye,
whom he passes on the streets OF
your little town., eye to eye. man TO
man. They nod, pass on. What
was it you saw, barely glimpSing as
it were. that fleeting look, that swift,
glitter your son shot forth at once
beloved comrades as he swept along
the dingy little streets he used to
love?
You, stepping along proudly at his
side, sense the change, and wonder,
and, because of his nearness, and
the sweetness of the present moment
with him, you lay your straying
thoughts aside, because his furlough
soon, and God speed the day, he is
coming home to stay!
To stay.
Will he be satisfied. ever again, to
remain at home, now that he has
travelled affair?
Will not the wanderlust call to him,
now that he has been away, and seek
to wean him from home ties, per-
hapS forever?
VIII he forget the near. now that
he has seen and been a. part, a vital,
throbbing part, of another world?
out here he always lived, way
back from Nowhere; heswent to coun-
try schools five months out oil
twelve, sometimes it was but three
or four months, because Pa needed
him to work in the field, or measles
or whooping. cough, or even the
itch" would break up the strug-
CLING little school. so Johnny didn't
have a fair chance.
When He Went Away
You remember when he went away
and they held a meeting at the Int
tie country church, how you crled.
then, and the preacher had handshak-
ing and he wept and everybody crled
together; your sobs broke forth, and
Johnny sobbed in terror-tor ne hau
never been farther than Atlanta pc
fore-now he was doomed to be shot
to pieces, because, to him, that was
all the war was for. To you II
meant all that and more. For you,
too, were denied your chance. You
grew up without much Schooling
and the small town misses who were
sent out to teach you were too busy
thinking of their best fellow to wor-
nv anything about teaching you pa
triotism. or indeed. if they knew II
to teach. They merely taught Tor
wer1 lust an ''unicivilized little bar
barian" to them; that's all.
And, so YOU grew up IN the man
ner of your kind, and while put a
child you married your mate. First
there was Johnny; in due time tthe
others came to you. So it was the
draft caught Johnny in its net You
argued loudly that ITS a rich man
war and a poor mans fight. You
argued wrong, but you didn't know
Just like the time you fed little BIZ
rDfa a11d cal p when he
was only a wee baby. You argued
II was all right. but 1t was wrong
and YOU didn't know any better tnan
to Iav his death on the dear LORD!
YOU say they lie! You say news can
not come from the dingy little town
10 your house straight- and so how
can it travel across the waters ana
be so when it gets here!
You didn't know In the great cities
It was the millionaires sons who vol
unteered, never waited to be drafted
and that the daughters on Fifth ave
nue. were among the first to go as
Red Cross nurses. You heard lies
about the Red Cross and took great
pleasure in passing the lies along
YOU to know they were lies? Nothing
to read. and even if read, you dubbed
it a lie, No navy boy TO tell you
how the boys salute he Red cross
nurses and honor them as If they
were their sister or mother. Your
own son went away. stubborn, ugly.
rebelious to the core. But time
brought its changes. 1t was slow,
and he had a hard row to hoe, before
enlightenment began to pierce
through the stubborn nature you
helped to build around his heart. But
time works miracles.
You remember how re would not
eat the bread at the camp because
he said it was unclean, since he'd
seen a boy carrying it in his naked
hands. He didn't know bread is
oftentimes handled in hands at bake