Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-15
THEN READ THIS

THEN READ THIS
pUT it was plain that the opponents
- who were advancing across the
square were not deferred by this buster;
patriotism has its clarion appeal-and
these Frenchmen who had taken the
vows Of citizenship were patriots;
they were the men Of the valley who
remembered the benefits Representa-
five Clifford had brought north from
the hands. OF their Yankee neighbors.
They were men who had been made
dizzy for a moment by the harangues
of Louis Blais, but who had promptly
recovered their sane senses. They
followed Norman Aldrich courageous
", their eyes shining as they glanced
at the eagle on his cap, their
mercurial natures suddenly hot for
combat with these rascals who had
rushed across the border TO take away
from them the rights their adopted
country had given them.
The girl saw and understood She
began to run.
Between the factions she came so
suddenly-unseen until the last
minute-that she seemed like an in
voked spirit OF intercession.
She was an apparition; her gown Of
pure white seemed whittier by contrast
with those dusty ranks.
In her haste her hair had fallen
from it's loose bonds The men stared
at her, blinking wonderment and adj
miration.
The men of Attegat knew her and
they were those who wondered: the
hired miscreants of Roi did not know
her, and their flushed faces showed the
araxniration that their wagging tongues
tried to express.
Aldrich stopped in his tracks, as
founded, aghast. His first thought
was that she had come to search for
him; he was about to cry out to her.
But though her eyes swept him as
she took her stand between the lines
I lof men, she did not address him.
This was no shrinking girl appre-
shensive for the safety of lover!
He saw her transformed, as she had
faced him once before. her eyes alight
with the fires of her soul!
In the center of the square. near
where she stood, was the platform of
the village trough where sweet waters
splashed and tinkled from their
wooden spout.
She leaped upon the platform. She
raised her arm, and the sleeve fell
away from the rounded flesh. A hush
SO profound that their stertorous
breathing could be heard, fell upon
them ALL This girl of the unbound
hair. the wide. flashing eyes, who had
& burst upon them so suddenly was an
influence they had not expected; but
they instinctively responded to it: they
listened with open mouths and cooked
ears for what she was to say to them
She faced the crowding men who
blocked the door. She knew the mer
Of Attegat. These who massed at the
door were not men Of Attegat. But
she recognized the type; she had seen
them across the border at st. Basil
They were swarthy men-men Of
black boards or tall youths with dark
eyes and a swagger Of the shoulders
They were French Canadians, most OF
them. Her eyes told her that in ar
instant.
"Messieurs, I know your hearts, fol
you are OF my race. I know you viii
listen to a woman"
She spoke to ther2 in French. II
that hush her low, vibrant, thrilling
tones carried to every ear
IT do not come because want t.
NEEDLE in great affairs, my gentlemen
] am only a poor Acadian girl VIII,
loves the good name of the men of he
blood. / do not like to see men lei
astray by the few who desire ruil
and wickedness, so that they ma,
carry out bad plans to help themselves
Those men let others take the blow:
and they take the profit"
She had seen the malevolent face Q
Dave Roi where he was intrenche
among his supporters, and her won
ans perception told her the reason fo
the preStHCc VI tlloSc slIdU6tIS i
Attegat.
"For few moments here today yo
win be fighting men il you persis
Messieurs. But in the end 1t mean
fighting women and children. Yo
are fighting the women who will
s kept out OF their homes on the di
puted lands. If more trouble happer
here on the border. You are fightin
poor children who need an. education
look into your faces, and l do M
think you are the sort who care
fisht women and children. May M
tho men vote here as they feel the
should vote for the women and th
children? Win you fight and go ava
without blushing when you think ,
those who must suffer the most? !. a
III AHn6iau xirl appeaI To YOU out OF