The Washington herald., 1921-11-10
CROWN OF NEW GLORY RESTS
ON OUR BUDDY'S HEAD TO-DAY
Boy Comes Home at Last From Mist and Cold
of Grave as Symbol of Worlds
} Resurrection.
oo.ts.ssd Fross Po0s oae.
Resurrection.

we became troubled when We
sonsed, what was not printsd. that
our soldiers were being thrown into
the great, struggle At . pace that
seemed Impossible. II was q time
Of dingst and stress. Then came
the word of the great work Of the
Second Division at Chateau Thierry
and Belleau- Wood We were proud
and We" began to wondor again
whstheF Buddy" was In the thick
Of u all But We had no word from
him. The men In the War Depart
ordS that would show where hs-was.
snsaes Deseeads. p d.
We asked them. They were kind.
But they could tell Us nothing. And
again we began to tell ourselves
that our boy had been too busy even
to write the briefest Of messages.
He was all right: he must be. Had
he not safely reached France after
lodging the submarines and the hoat-
ing mines7 OF course. we would have
liked to have just . line saying once
more: 'T am we'll" But II did not
come. And then came the word that
the American army was one great
united force and that 1t was taking
its own part on the battlefield that
stretched diagonally across Belgium
and France. The foe was being driv-
en- back. That salient at st. Mihlel
We had read so much about from
the very beginning Of the war had
been Strengthened. II was the Amer
leans who did It. Then came the
news Of additional fighting. We were
peeVish because there was such 1t.
tie detail. Who was delne all this
hghting7 Where was "Buddy's" out
ht? We asked many questions We
read everything that was printed. But
the information was, oh. so meager
The newspapers told Of the onward
push OF the American army under
its beloved commander -in-chief. The
columns were filed with names Of
those who had paid the price for
this success. We read every name.
We gathered near the newspaper Of
fee so that we could get copies Of
the papers as soon as possible. Each
day we would scan the list. Each:
day the same. Thank God: our Bud
dy'S' name Is not there" We knew.
We felt sure that he was all right.
OF course there were times when
We did not feel so certain. There
was the lcng nights when we could
not sleep Memories Of the past kept
crushing through our brain. The stall
wart form OF our boy, bulking so
large In his ill-htting uniform OF
khaki. was outlined just outside Of
the window in the ghostly moon
light. Sometimes We would try TO
speak to him, only to have the form
melt away into the shadows Of the
trees beyond.
A Vision POrtends.
Then came that night when we
woke trembling In every limb. Had
we been dreaming? We did not
know. II all was so strange. What
was 1t that had so frightened us?
We jumped out OF bed and wrapped
ourselves In q blanket. Then we
thought. Yes" II must have been
a dream. 1t had seemed we were
watching a field that was stranger
than anything We had ever seon be-
fore, The trees had few branches
Their tops seemed jagged as though
they had been the plaything for
lightning. There were no leaves
Like fantastic sign posts they stood
against the horizon. Many had fall
len over and were heaps OF splIn.
tered wood. Just In front Of me I
seemed to see men slashing around
in a serpent-like ditch. I heard the
noise of guns. Figures were lying
tangled up in twisted wire resem-
bling tanBles OF briars. There was
mist slowly clearing away. saw
Buddy" also recognized. Tom,
and Billy, and Steve and oil OF the
rest that had last seen grouped
with him on the old freight plat
form They appeared to be happy,
but oh, so in earnest. Then 1 heard
q sharp whistle that startled mo
so that fell forward. When
arose all had vanished, but 1 heard,
as from a long distance. "Good-by
take care Of yourselfI' It seemed
more OF a prayer than q salutation
and II fingered with me for hours
after awakened
"Buddy" to BE Feted.
When got the paper that morn
ing I read that Germany had ap-
pealed for an armistIce. Then came
the news that 1t had been granted
and, finally, that the terrible con-
fict had ended. Then we all he
gan to plan to greet Buddy" as
soon as he got back. There was to
be parties and dances. We would
make up for him the months he had
lost Of the Joy spirit Of which he
was SO full. And Of course with the
lighting ended we were sure we
could send word to Buddy" that
we had missed him, oh. SO much.
But when We triel to locate him we
could not trace him. Just as we
were going to the War Department
for information the letter carrier
came up the steps. He hesitated
a moment. Then he handed me a
long, important looking, envelope.
1t had the seal OF the adjutant gem
erals once on its corner. l tore
II open. do not remember much
that happened for sometime after
ward. The letters had blurred on
the big sheet Of paper, but I sensed
that II told me that the great gov
ernment Of the United States re-
gretted that my Buddy" was miss
ing. Missing. 10 said and then II
went on to tell me. under the cir
cumstancss, II must be assumed he
was dead. 1t couldn't be. was
so sure of that. II must all be a
mistake. Were not the fiags waving
everywhere Had not cheered and
been cheered because we had won
the war? knew that Buddy,
was all right. He was coming to
me soon, very soon.
But that was thraA vaara a0o