Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-04-13
and mud and encouragement, a,

&AAhN
lino letters came. Once or twice he
attempted to- write a respectable let
ter to hts mother, but he. felt so ham
pered with the thought Of VAIN
wright having to see 1t that he kept
it securely in his pocket, and CON
tented himself with gay-pictured
postcards which he had pu>.hased in
Brest, on which he inscribed 4 few
non-committal sentences, always re-
mindfng them of the censor, and his
inability to say what he would, and
always ending, Remember me to my
friend, and tell her ] have forgotten
nothing but cannot write at present
for reasons which I cannot explain"
At night he lay or his watery
couch and composed long letters to
Ruth which he dared not put on pa
per lest somehow they should come
into the hands Of Wainwright. He
TOOK great satisfaction in the Nfact
that he had succeeded in slipping
herself from Brest, through the
kindness and understanding Of a
small boy who agreed to mail 1t in
exchange for a package Of chewing
gum. Here at the camp: there was
no such opportunity, but he would
wait and watch for another chance.
Meantime the long separation of
miles. /, and the ckecping days, gave
him a feeling Of desolaMon such as
he had never experienced before. He
began to grow interpretive. He
fancied that perhaps he had yer
estimated Rufh's friendship for him.
The dear memories he had cherished
during the voyage were brought out
in the ~nightwatches ana ruthlessly
reviewed, until his own shy hope that
the light in her eyes had been for
him began to fade, and in its place
there grew~a conviction that happi-
ness of earth was never for him.
For, he reasoned. if she cared, why
did she not write? At least a post
card? Other fellows were getting
letters now and then. Day after day
he waited when the mail was dis
tributed, but nothing ever came, His
mother seemed to have forgotten,
too. Surely, all these weeks, some
word would have come through. 1t
was not in reason that Ris mail
should be s>delayed beyond Others.
Could 1t be that there was false play
somehow? Was Wainwright at the
bottom Of this Or had something
happened to his mother,> and, had
Ruth forgotten?<
XVII.
The weeks rolled by. The drilling
went on. AT last word came that he
company was to o up FARTHER to-
ward the front. They prepared for a
hike almost eagerly, not know
ing vet what was before then. ANY
thing vas better than this intoler-
able waiting:
Solemnly Under a leaden sky they
gathered: sullenly went through
their. inspection; stolidly, duly, they
M a rnh I'D n Sryny d :.
mud and d~es6lation. The niRhtg
were cold and their clothes, seemed
thin and inadequate. They had not
been paid since they came over. so
there was no chance to buy any little
comfort, even If 1t had been for sale.
"A longing for sweets and home pud-
dings and pies haunted their waking
hours a. they trudged YEARLY hour
after hour. kiiometer after kilometer,
coming e~Ser>nearer, nearer
For two days they liked, and then.
en.fsinsd 9 2 lonE uncfmiortable
Soul was crying out within him Tor,
the living God. In these days, he
read much in the little Testament
whenever There was q rest by tho
wayside, andshe could draw apart
from the others. Ever his soul
0Eew hunErters az he neared the
and knew his time now was
short. There were days when he had
the feeling that he must stop tramp
n something aboutNsthis
great matter ,that hung over him.
and then wainwright would pass BY
ant~cast = sharp diraetion. At him
with a]sneer In the curl Of his mou-
tache. apd 1.-THE fury Of hts being
would rise up, until he would clench
fists In helpless wrath, "a VAIN