The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1920-04-28

Because love you and would follow
you anywhere. No one can stop me
doing that no one, Dave-except you"
And again he stood. and she knew
that he was turning over In his mind
things weightier than life and death,
and that when he spoke again his
course would be set. Then. in the
partial shadow. she saw his arms
slowly extend; they rose, wide and
strong. and extended toward her.
There was quick step, and they met
about her, and the world swooned and
went by. .
81 can explain everything" She said,
when she could talk.
"You need explain nothing" he re-
turned IL have lived the torrents Of
the damned. Edith Duncan was right !;
she said If IT were real love ii would
never give up. 'Endureth all things,
she said. All things she said. :.
There is no limit"
'But must tell you, dear" she said,
$50 that you may understand" And
then she patched together the story,
from what she knew and from what
Edith. Duncan had told her, and Dave
filed in what neither had known, in
Guiding the incident earlier on that
fateful evening. She could see his
jaws harden as they pleced the plot
together and she knew what he was
thinking.
xvnt
whispered. 1T is better that way. And
what man you are in uniform!
think see you smashing heads instead
of bottles. Six out of six. Dave'l It's
awful, but you must do Ii. Already we
know what has happened in Belgium.
You will forget your own wrongs in
the greater wrongs OF others. :.
And / shall join the service as a nurse.
My father was doctor. and l can
soon pick 1t up"
She chatted on, but he had become
suddenly grave. 81 don't think that is
your course, Irene" he said. "This is
going to be a bigger job than it looked.
The government will get soldiers and
nurses; the popular imagination turns
to such things. But it will be neither
soldiers nor nurses that will win the
war. feel sure of that now. Millions
of men will be taken from production
and turned to purposes of destruction.
They will be taken from offices, where
they need little food, and put in the
trenches, where they need much food.
Countries will be devastated; armies
will retreat, destroying all food as they
go. Ships will 60 down with cargoes
of wheat; incendiary fires will swallow
warehouses of food. / believe my
place Is in the trenches; but those less
fit for the fight than / must. in some
form or other. produce food. That in
cludes the women; 1t includes you"
I'VE? But what can do?"
"Since / left home I've thought a
good deal of the old ranch. 1 de-
spised 1t In those prosperous days
those days we thought were prosperous
but the prosperity is gone and the
ranch remains. 1t still lies out there,
just as 1t did when you and your father
motored down that afternoon a dozen
years ago. think you'll have to go
back there, Reenie. / think you'll
have TO take the boy Charlie, and what
other help you can get, and go back to
the old ranch and raise something for
the soldiers to eat. You can do Ii.
There are good men to be had men
who can't very well carry a rifle, but
can drive a pillow. And believe me,
Reenie, It's the pillow that's going to
win. Go back and put them at it.
Think of every furrow as another
trench in the defenses which shall save
your home from the fate Of Belgium's
homes. It's not as easy as going to
the front; 1t hasn't got the heroic ring
to 1t, and / suppose there are many
who will commercialize 1t. Let them.
We shall need their profits after the
war to pay our debts. But it's the
thing that must be done. And you'll
do it, won't your
'Tll do whatever needs TO be done,
Dave. I'd rather be by your side, or
as near as may be, but If you say that
my duty lies back on the old ranch !
shall go back to the old ranch and
raise food for my soldier. And when
It's all over we shall ride those old
hillsides again. rs. Up the canyon,
you remember, Dave? The little niche
in the wall Of the canyon, and all the
silence and the sunlight? For
ever.