Evening star., 1918-07-07
She had not had to answer.

.
for long time; the aged knight rose
from his chair and stretched his legs. :
not apparently from nerves. for he
never let the expression Of his grim
CID fsce change; q maid screamed.
braveiy rdwindling It into a si.4y- es5- :
gle. y, "a. ~. ss' = .;''-7. !.
'"That was a near one," said tho
older boy. Hear the glass;"
At last the gunflre now grew moro
distant; the rattle of machine guns
high in the air became inaudible.
And, by and by. a full hour afterwArd
the "all clear" sounded--silvery. two
notes. "ta-ra-a-a" = very comforts
ing. >@g. "a
With a great sigh of relief the
mother gathered up her Youngsters;
now sleepy, noddsng. stumbling, ana
led them to the lift, SO thFt they
might be put to bed.
She was wondering what might
have happened to other mothers ana
their babies through these hours. s,.
sweet, evenly breathing, moist-skin-
ned, splendid babies when they slept,
she read the American newspaper
/, clipping which had told her o. the
thousands of new airplanes, the hun
dreds of trained aviators. which had
been promised. from her native land.
From 1t she had gathered that which
she mad told her little boys. Then she
brought out of a dresser drawer the
statement by Sir Sydney Low In
which he solemnly declared that just
one aeroplane from the United States
had to that date arrived In Europe.
She laid the clipping down wte1 9
slow sigh. and looked at the TWO
sleeping youngsters! One OF them
smiled In his sleep.
officer husband was involved ~ his
microscopic portion of the great de-
Tense against the desperate enemys
massed millions; Of the Huns who
had attacked the sleeping city, un.
decent warfare. such as had escaped
/ the defensive Eunffre were humming
backward toward their Germany,
wondering how much murder they
had wrought, and se4ecting the grim
Of the raid to their superior oficers.
where are the American air-
planes?" she asked herself, and IN her
soul was bitterness. Where are
they? Why does not my country Keep
its word? Can It be possible that We
possibleithat we are mentally 80 small!
and petty that personal Quarrels and
disagreements can delay our enort
for q moment? VIII my boys escape.
next time" Il M
It was sucl, a situation as women ~
America probably never wfll know:
God save them from such knowledgel
But this woman lip a good American;
her husband fights for the same great
cause for which American boys are
little boys. s
f.a \ ~
From the taxicab. into which sosne
dead were loaded. at that sad spot
close by. blood oozed slowly UNDER
meath the door, and dripped upon the
pavement, after 1t had gone an OFF,
GER, lifting aside a broken. PROSTATE
door, which had been blown from Its
hinges, found another child. Anoth-
er taxicab was called.
The sun rose.
The two small boys lay quietly and
slept, but the mother did not sleep.
She sat with an open Bible on her
knee, an open Bible which she did not
her knee. repeating in tense and
wordless mind the thought:
Come! II the mothers there In
New York r city Ny. c,sca n wsshtnston nnston
Detroit -. st. Louis ss
Philadelphia sss all the cities that
/ know s's had been through this
night with me. with their small sons
at their knees, as mine were at mine;
IL they could have. heard the clamor
of the enemy birds of prey, II they
had listened to the whirr Of our
machine guns and to the roar of our
barrage: if they could have heard the
bursting of the bombs, and the fall
ing of the walls, would they. could
they, rest until they made the politi-
clans see, until they made the workers
show new haste and sent those air.
planes in their promised Thousands,
where they might have been long
since, and where they would do more
than any other measure could to stop
this slaughter of the innocent. to
break the spirit Of the Hunnish peo-
ple who applaud It, but shrink. cow
ards, when they themselves are
threatened, to prove to the German
leaders that humanity cannot forever
be outraged without terrible descent
of retributionf
The next night bombs were dropped
behind the front upon the hospital in
which her husband, wounded. lay,
supposed to be secure IN the protec-
tion Of the great Red Crosa.
lcopyright, l9ls, by the Edward Marshall syn
dicate. lnc.l
IS
l~nnrrs c;ko1n fs'4