The Washington times., 1931-10-22
INSTALLMENT 10

waves Bally across CL1e SCTeeC
in the direction of the little
house. "Cheero, you old
horsebox! Home is the sailor!
We propose to wait for him,
but Willy refuses. "We'l see
Ludwig home first" he says,
spelling for fight. III be
getting my potato salad and
my curtain lectures soon
enough"
We stop q while on the
road to spruce ourselves UP
so that our parents shall not
see we have come fresh from
a fight. wipe Ludwig'S
face and we take off his ban
dage to cover up the traces
of blood, so that his mother
may not be alarmed. Later.
of course, he will have to go
to the hospital and get his
bandageS renewed.
We arrive without further
disturbance. Ludwig still looks
rather the worse for his drub-
bing. Don't let that worry
you," I say, shaking him by
the hand. Willy puts a great
paw on his shoulder. Sort
of thing might happen to
any one, old boy. If it hadn't
been for the wound, you'd have
made mince meat Of them"
=. In the House
Ludwig mods to us and goes
indoors. We watch to see
that he manages the stairs
all right. He is already half
way up when another point
suddenly occurs to Willy. "Kick,
next time, Ludwig" he shouts
after him; lust kick, that's
ALI Don't let 'em get near
you. understand me?" Then,
well content, he slams to the
door.
Like to know what's been
up with him the last few
weeks" says I.
Willy scratches his head.
It'll be the dysentery," he
suggests. why otherwise
well, you remember how he
cleaned up that tank at Blk
choote! On his own, too.
That was no child's play, eh?"
He settles his pack. well,
good luck, ERNST Now I'll be
after seeing what the Homeyer
family's been A'ing the last
six months. One hour of Senti-
ment, I expect, and then full
steam ahead with the lectures.
My mother-Oh, boy, but what
q sergeant major she would
have made! A heart of gold
the old lady has-in a casing
Of granite"
] go on alone and all at
once the world seems to have
altered. There is a noise in
my ears as if river ran
under the pavement and I
neither see nor hear anything
till I am standing in front of
our house. I go slowly up the
stairs. Over the door hangs a
banner, welcome Home" and
beside it a bunch of flowers.
They have seen me coming
already and are all standing
there, my mother in front on
the stairs, nay father, my
sisterS-Beyond them I can see
into the dining room; there is
food on the table, everything
Is gay and jubilant. Whats
all this nonsense you've been
up to?" I say. Flowers and
everything - what's that for?
It's not so important as all
that-But, Mother! What are
you crying for? - I'm back
again-and the wars ended
surely there is nothing to cry
about" Then I feel the salt
tears trickling down my own
nose.
s. A Great Meal
We have had potato cakes
with eggs and SAUSAGE won
derful meal. It is two years
since I last saw an egg, and
potato cakes - heaven only
knows.
Comfortable and full, we now
Sit around the big table IN the
living room, drinking coffee
with saccharine. The lamp is
burning, the canary singing,
the stove is warm, and under
the table Wolf lies asleep. It
is as lovely as can be.
+. Now tell us all about your
experiences, Ernst" says my
father.
Experience-" repeat, and
think to myself, I haven't ex-
perienced anything. It was
just war all the time; how
should a man have expert.
ences there?
No matter how I rack nv
brains, nothing suitable occurs
to me. A man cannot talk
about the things out there
with civilians, and know
nothing else. "You folk here
have experienced much more,
I'm sure" I say, by way of
excuStng myself.
All Grown Up
That they have, indeed! MY
sisters tell how they had to
forage to get the supper to-
gether. Twice the gendarmes
took everything from them at
the station. The third time
they sewed the eggs inside their
cloaks, put the sausages INTO
their blouSes and hid the
potatoes in pockets inside their