Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-03-22

There's long, long IdslaSW AAANAubs 4
Into the land Of our Dreams
and behind came the nluffled tramp
ing OF feet not accustomed to march.
ing together.
Ruth suddenly sat upt very straight
and began to watch, an unfamiliar
awe upor-her. This must beEthe first
draft men Just going aways OF
course! why had she not Thought Of
# at once. She had read about their
going and heard people mention it
the last week. but it had not entered
much into her thoughts. She had
realized that It would be q cere-
mony of public interest like this. She
had no friends whom 1t would touch.
The young mIen OF her circle had all
taken warning in plenty Of time ana
found themselves q : commission
somewhere, two Of them having set
tied up matters but q few days be-
fore. She had thought OF these DRAFT
men. when she had thought Of them
at all, only when she saw mention Of
them in the newspapers. and then as
Ia lot of workingmen or farmers boys
who were reluctant to leave their
|triotism in this way. It had not oc-
Cured to her>that there were many
honorable young men who would
take this way Of putting themselves
at the disposal Of their country In her
time Of need, without attempting to
feather a nice little nest for them
selves. Now she watched them seri-
ously and found to her establishment
that she knew many Of them. There
were three college fellows in the
front ranks whom she had met. She
en- out to supper by them, and had,a
acquaintance with their sis
ters. The sister of one stood on the
sidewalk now in the common crowd,
quite near to the runabout, and SEEM
ed to have forgotten that anybody
was by. Her face was drenched with
tears and her lips were ruiverinG.
Behind her was a gray-haired wom-
an with q skewey blouse and a faded
dark blue serge skirt too long for the
prevailing fashion. The tears were
.Itrickiing down her checks also; and
an old man with a crutch, and a lit
tile round-eyed girl, seemed to belong
to the party. The old.Jnan's4 lips were
set and he was looking at the-boys
with his heart in his eyes.
Ruth shrank ,bapk not. to- intrude
upon such open sorrow: and glanced
at the line again as they struggled
down the road to the yplatform; fifty
serious, graye-eyed young men with
determined mien and sorrow in the
very droop Of their shoulders. One
publicity and display, this tense
moment Of farewell in theaseyes Of
the town; and yet how tender they
felt toward those dear Ones who had
gathered thus to do them honor as
they went away to do theiE part in
the great. world-strugslc for liberty.
As w looked closer the girl saw
lfhsy We're mo mature men, as at first
glance they had seemed, but most Of
them mere boys. There was the boy
that moved the Macdonald lawn, and
the yellow-hair&r grocery boy. There
was the q man and the nice young
/ plumber who fixed the leak in the
water pipes the other. day, and the
clerk from the post ONCE, and the
tcashier from the bank!. What made
them look so old at first sight?, Why.
attf was as If sorrow and responsibility
had suddenly been put upon. them
Ialniform. and they walked in the
shadow of the great sadness that had
came upon he world. She UNDER
stood that perhaps even up to the
Very day before, they had most of
them beenamerry. careless boys; but
now they were men. made so in a
night by the horrible sin that had
ABOUT THIS thing called war.
Tor the first time since the war be-
gan Ruth Macdonald had a vision Of
what the war meant. She had been
knitting. of course. with all the rest;
she. had spent long mornings at the
Red Cross rqoms-she was on her
way there this very minute when MI
chael and the procession had inter
rupted her course-she had made
miles Of surgical dressings and picked
tons Of oakum. She had babe her
men friends CHEEKY good-byes when
they went to Officers Training
Camps, and with the other girls vel
comed and admired their uniforms
when they came home on short fur
loughs. one by one winning. his
stripes and commission. They were
ali nen whom she had known in So
ctety. They had wealth and position
land found it easy to get Into the
tkind OF thing that pleasedl them in
dEt. (Contfnued On m Ga tlsA