St. Tammany farmer., 1922-04-08

his hand. TITS a pretty big thing TO
you to do. VIII you shake hands?"
But Ramsey shook his head. "
didn't do 1t. wouldn't ever have don,
anything just on account Of her talk
In that way. She shut the door OF
met was good while ago."
"She did! What for?"
well, I'm not much of a talker. yor
know, Fred" said Ramsey, staring al
the pen he played with. I'm not much
OF anything, for that matter, prob1y
but I-well-I-"
"You what?'
well, l had to tell her I didn't fee
about things the way she did. She'd
thought had, all along, guess. Any.
way, 1t made her hate me or some
thing, I guess; and she called it all
OF. I expect there wasn't much to call
on, SO far as she was concerned, any
how" He laughed feebly. "She told
me better 60 and enlist"
pleasant Of her!" Fred muttered.
Especially as we know what she
thinks enlisting means" He raised his
voice cheerfully. "Well that's settled ;
and, thank God, old Mr.. Bernstorfrs on
his way to his sweet little vine-clad
cottage home! They're getting guns
on the ships, and the big shows liable
to commence any day. We can hold
up our heads now, and we're going to
see some great times, old Ramsey boy |!
It's hard on the home folks-Gosh I
don't like to think Of that! And
guess It's going to be hard on lot of
boys that haven't understood what it's
all about, and hard on some that their
family affairs, and business, and so on,
have got 'em tied up so It's hard to 20
and OF course there's plenty that just
can't, and some that aren't husky
enough-but the rest of us are going
to have the big time in our lives. We
got an awful lot to learn; 1t scares me
to think Of what l don't know about
being any sort of a rear-rank prl-
vate. Why, it's regular profession,
like practicing law, or selling for a
drug house on the road.
"Golly! Do you remember how we
talked about that, way back In fresh
man year, what we were going to do
when we got out Of college? You were
going to be practicing law, for in
stance, and well, f'r instance, re-
member Colburn; he WAS going to be
a doctor, and he did go to some medi-
cal school for one year. Now he's in
the Red Cross, somewhere In Persia.
Gollyl" s-.rs -.,--... ..-..
He paused, then chartered bris!sly
on. 'Well, there's one: good old boy
was with our class for while, back
In freshman year; bet we won't see
him In any good old army! Old rough.
neck Linski that you put the knob on
his nose for. Tommie Hopper. says he
saw him last summer in Chicago soap.
boxin'. yellin' his head off cusstn' ever,
government under the SUM-, but mustl,
ours and the al'iss'. YOU bet. an;. :uir5
b run the earth by revolution and rep
resentatives Of unskilled labor immi-
grants. nobody that can read or write
allowed to vote, except Linski. Tom
mie Hopper says he knows all about
Linski: he never did a days work In
bis nfe-too busy trying to get the
stirred up against the peo-
pie that exploit 'em! Tommie says he
had big crowd to hear him, though,
and took up quite a little money for
q cause or something. Well, let him
hollerl l guess we can attend to him
when we get back from over yonder.
BY George, old Ram, I'm gettin' kind
Of f1oppy in the gills" He admins
tered a resounding slap to his COM
rade's shoulder. ut certainly looks as
Il our big days we're walking toward
usl"
He was right The portentous days
came on apace, and each one brought
4 new and greater portent. The faces
Of men lost driven look besetting
them in the days Of badgered waiting,
and instead of that heavy apprehen-
sion one saw the look mems faces must |
have worn in 1915 and 1861, and the |
history Of the old days grew clearer
n the new. The President went to |
The congress, and the true indictment
le made there reached scofting Pots |
lam with an unspoken prophecy some
what chilling, even to Potsdam, one !
then through an April |
1ight went almost quietly the steady |
word: we were at war with Germany. |
The bugles sounded across the CONT
tent; drums and flies played up and
lown the city streets and in town and |
7illage squares and through the coun-
rysides. Family In all ears there was
i multitud1nous noise like distant,
loarse cheering and a sound
Ike that was what Dora Yocum heard,
me night, as she sat lonely In her
Dom. The bugles and flies and drums
lad been heard about the streets Of
hot oh