Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1922-06-30

me out an idiot!"
"What did you call herr" Fred
asked.
"Just nothin' at all. / started to call
her something or other hundred
times, l guess, and then I'd balk. I'd
get all ready, and kind of make sort
Of sound, and then I'd have to quit"
"She may have thought you had a
cold" said Fred, still keeping his back
turned.
II expect maybe she did-though l
don't know; most the time she didn't
seem to notice me much, kind Of"
"She didn't?"
mo. She was too upset, guess, by
what she was thinkin' about"
but II it hadn't been for that"
Fred suggested, 'you mean she'd have
certainly paid more attention to who
was sitting on the bench with herr"
"Get out You know how it was.
Everybody those few days thought we
were goin' to have war, and she was
just sure of 1t, and it upset her. Of
course most people were a lot more
upset by what those Dutchmen did to
the Lusitania than by the idea of war /;
and she seemed to feel as broken up as
anybody could be about the Lusitania,
but what got her the worst was the
notion of her country Wantin' to fight,
she said. She really was upset, too,
Fred; there wasn't no putin on
about 1T. / guess that ole girl GER
tainly must have good deal Of feel
ing, because, doggoned, after we'd
have to get out her handkerchief! She
kept her face turned away from me
just the same as you're dom now to
keep from laughin'-but honestly, she
cried like somebody at funeral. !
felt like the darndest FOOL"
I'm not laughing" said Fred, but
he did not prove it by turning so that
his face could be seen. what did she
say?"
ooh, she didn't say such an awful
lot She said one kind o. funny thing
though: size said she was sorry she
couldn't quite control herself, but If
anybody had to see her cry she minded
it less because it was an old school
mate What struck me so kind O.
funny about that is-why, it looks as
if she never knew the way I always
hated her So"
EYES," said Fred. "It wasn't fat
tering"
well, sir, it isn't, kind Of" Ram
sey agreed, musingly. ut certainly
isn't when you look at it that way"
What did you say when she said
that" Fred asked.
-Noship'. started to, but I sort Of
baked again. Well, we kept on sitting
there, and afterwhile she began to
talk again and got kind Of excited
about how no war could do anything
or anybody any good, and all war was
wicked, no matter what it was about,
and nothin' could be good that was
founded on fear and hate and every
war that ever was fought was always
founded on fear sad hate. She said
If the Germans wanted to fight us we
ought to go to meet them and tell
them we wouldn't fight"
''What did you say?"
"Nothin'. I kind O. started to-but
what's the use? She's got that In her
head. Besides, how are you goin' to
argue about thing with a person
that's crying about it? tell you, Fred,
| guess we got to admit, after all, that
ole girl certainly must have a lot of
heart about her, anyway There may
not be much fun to her-though of
course | wouldn't know hardly any
way to tell about that-but there
couldn't be hardly any doubt she's got
a lot of feeling. Well, and then she
went on and said old men made wars,
but didn't fight; they left the fighting
to the boys, and the suffering to the
boys mothers"
"Yesr Fred exclaimed, and upon
that he turned, free Of mirth for the
moment. "That's the woman Of 1t, /
guess. Send the old men to do the
fighting! For the matter Of that, !
guess my father'd about thousand
times rather go himself than see me
and my brothers go; but Fathers so
fat he can't stoop! You got to be able
to stoop to dig trench, guess Well,
suppose we sent our old men up
against those Dutchmen; the Dutch
men would just kill the old men, and
then come after the boys anyway and
the boys wouldn't be ready, and they'd
get killed, too; and then there
wouldn't be anybody but the Dutchmen
left, and that'd be one fine world,
wouldn't it!''
Eyes, said Ramsey. "Course ]
thought of that"
did you tell herr"
"No."
"What did you sayw
"Nothin'. I couldn't get started any
way, but, besides, what was the use?
But she didn't want the old men to go;
she didn't want anybody to 60"
"What did she want the country to