The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1918-05-21

On the lapel Of my coat | wear
little pin, pin with 4 single star. ruby
red on a bar OF white. My only son IS
a member of the American Expedition.
arr Force in France. Hundreds o.
thousands Of American women wear
pins like mine. Some have two stars
three. even four. and every one covers
: heart heavy with anxiety anu FORE
ootlinS. Tia: little service pin which
mothers wear, fathers. ,oo: sisters.
swcethearts. wives. IS = sy-,:bol O. sac
:iace Il SHOULD be something l>'rc
than Ga.
Ny si.lr hrs como 20 ra'.:.;I lose "
country lar .sIT:,,asctnS lie mix! "a
rio,isI:o II otts4 days. l: ::t.anS s'>nn-
c~3::r ard courage 10. wh*tcvec II
-h,=.+ tragic times SHALL nocc ccIf-
age. II riea1s prids IL tic young rran-
hood o; AElec:c:. And hope :nhoGndct
Gu- tae fuuors. 81 a:ncri,.:L. wlici! :;eS
n their tcEtls. Before / went to
france wore ny service pm for one
Sa.Gier-n: son. | wear IL loW for
the American :cmy. II | can. BY
writing of that army as have jus!
seen it in France, lessen little for
and dread l shall count my journey
worth while.
went to France as a correspondent,
q reporter, to write about the war. l
was sent, not because | am woman,
but in spite of the fact. and merely
because my editors believed that
could handle that particular job. Ny
letter Of credentials to the French For
eign Office said that had reported the
Russian revolution for this paper. and
that I was now assigned to France
with the view Of informing readers in
the United States as to participation Of
United States troops in war and the
political situations Of the allied coun-
tries in the war.
7 hope that my EDITORS confidence in
me was not entirely misplaced and that
did not quite fall down on my job.
Sut what I experienced in France and
what I brought out with me- were not
exactly what ] had expected. | went
t? France as correspondent. deeply
Interested in my work. but very soon
after I arrived and almost with my
first contact with our marvellous new
army forgot all about my work. I
forgot that was III Franc" after mill
tary 2nd political facts.
I forgot tkat | was r correspondent. I
was conscious only that I was Il mother.
The mother Of 4 bog in France. 7
was ono in heart with a million other
American women I have never seen and
will never soc: ono with every woman
in the land who wears Il service pin.
discovered that try as 7 might TO
think of armies. s;rateSies aud dplo-
kh.~ No. tb1ll
cerned me in France was u find gu;
hrw my san was Earring. and tn doing SO
l was finding "ut tho things that Uiicr
mothers wanted to know about their
boys
Where they are. how they 1.-Two. who
their comrades arr. how thu! work and
play what they are learning. how they
set along with their strang" now neigh
nnrs tn" French people. hrd what the
war is doing to their minds and souls.
"a vol! as their bodies. I wanted. fer
v"nrly. "a kf"w al; this ahou; ono ''"l-
dior aud T believed that the other WON.
on WOULD Ike e. kaoN about their OWL.
Oar soldiers ar" rrnre than "."ha miles
away from h"'r. and ;ha:. have gou.
on a terrific erranh. We know loss
about war than ANY ":h'T women IN the
world but "" know that Il ia n ghastlr.
brutal h:ihdly pi,iisss. bi"odth'rs;y
business. We Hnow ;ha: bodies perish
ia war. and sometimes souls. which is
worse Going over m the S;eanlr! ~ t"r-
Ribs story was Told ne. story whicE
turned gu: 20 b" quite untrue. nut
which when heard i cost m" sleep
less night: It was I" tn" "ff"ct 'hrt
..ice was s" rampant in all the armies
tina; whole shipload of Lopeiessly dis
cased Australian soldiers had racsrn+
sailed from England. The hospitals nat'
salvaScd MAN.. 1t was said. but these
men. who had loft home clean. whole
some, decent boys. v"rr nov being sent
back u die. physical and moral wrecks.
Some. it was certain. would commit sui
eide during the voyage.
That taiH filled me with such terror