The Monmouth inquirer., 1924-05-29

Trust me and forgive me. You'll hear
from me later. BILL"
His grandmother cried and cried till
guess there were no more tears to
! she'd And as for me, / confess 1 was
/, little disappointed In Bill. / hadn't
calculated Bill would run away
Then the gossips began to talk in
: earnest.
"Gone to avoid the draft" said
some; pleaded exemption on account
of his grandparents, and then, ashamed
to fnce his neighbors, has fed" said
others.
Some said as how they had seen him
In camp on the border. Others were
sure they had seen him working on a
farm in distant state. And all the
time his grandmother and I not hear
ing word from him.
Joel" said his grandmother to me,
how'll we stand it7' And / put my
arms around her and said:
Emily, was just about Bill's age
mACA LuO WaL WklA lllC QUILL ChInCs
Just about as sunny-hearted. and a.
laughing and a-singing as he was.
When the force Of the horribleness Of
the thing struck me / fell to brooding
like Bill did
"'War is awful I told myself
didn't want to leave peaceful meadows
to kill men. You see, my views were
selfish, Emily. / wasn't thinking about
the other fellow at all.
"And then one night, still brooding
fell into deep sleep. And in that
sleep came vision.
II saw a battlefield red with blood.
l heard the cries of the dying. And In
the midst of this chaos, this horror.
stood man.
"a tall, gaunt man. He looked at me,
the sorrowful eyes full of pleading,
and held out his hands entreatingly.
"'Will you conner he said. And,
Emily, it seemed as If the scales fell
from my eyes, A fragment Of song
they were singing then came exultant-
ly into my soul.
yes / answered him, we're COM
ing, we're coming, Father Abraham,
three hundred thousand strong
$50, you see. dear" told her, I'VE
don't know how Bill felt about this
war question. and we've just got to
live through 1t till we find out, that's
ALL"
After the War Was Over.
Well, one night bout three months
after the war was over, there was ter
rible excitement inathe village. A big
ovation to the returned heroes.
Pears like we'd better go, Joel, SO
as folks won't say we're ashamed to-"
said Emily.
Never did / see town hall look so
splendid. All flags and bunting, and
big band a-playing war songs.
The mayor stepped forward to In
troduce the speaker of the evening.
I can remember Emily's face, how
CHASTITY white 1t grew. For the speak
er. young and khaki-clad, with medal
or two ON his breast, was smiling right
into our very eyes. And above the
crowds approving cheers, Emily cried:
"Billl''
With a trembling finger touched
her wondering lips.
Flush, deari" I whispered And
then the boy spoke:
when the war clouds broke, the
horror Of 1t struck me to the heart.
Night and day l brooded, and Ques-
toned why men should leave peaceful
homes to murder their fellow men.
"One night a vision came to me.
saw the battlef1elds Of France, the an
guish Of, stricken Belgium. And in the
midst of these scenes stood man,
tall. gaunt man, with pleading eyes and
outstretched hands.
"'Will you conner he seemed to say.
And 1t seemed as If things we're clear
to me. l must think of the other fell
low, that was the answer to my prob
lem.
"And into my heart came bit Of
song my grandfather used to sing. II
would serve as an answer to the sor-
rowful man:
Yes said, we're coming, we're
coming, Father Abraham. three hundred
thousand strong"
And there sat Emily and I, crying
like two children, but no one heard as,
for the people were cheering, and the
band was playing:
Were coming, Father AbTa'am.
three hundred thousand strQpglF