Glacier County chief., 1939-06-30

Of the county but of the country. The
people whose family had 1t for near
100 years never " .t MINDED strangers 60.
Is new owner now, and he won't let
anyone in. However, he's been made
to take so children. and I took the
trouble to see that they were all nice
clean children, like your dear little
And now it was Tuesday evening, 70
minutes to 10 by the luminous clock
Of the grand new town hall which had
been opened the week Of the corona
as mayor Of Casterbridge.
Who then had thought Of war and
OF wars alarms? The great bulk Of the
people Of England had believed that
there never would be another war.
But now deathly silence brooded
other human soul in Casterbridge, Milly
Barlock was sitting in the dark, walt
ing for the long drawn-out wailing
screams Of the sirens.
where she was, disregarding the order
to take her position in her appointed
air shelter. It was deep underground,
and she knew it would be terribly full
of that poor, terrified humanity for
which, in her heart, she felt fierce
She had put out her light 10 min
utes ago. There was only gas for cook
ing in that house, and she did the
fine needlework by which she earned
her living. by the dim light of kero-
She felt at peace, believing her child
to be not only in safety, but also in
what meant good deal to her, that
Is amid beautiful surroundings.
Her mind went back to the scenes
when! all the children of Casterbridge
had been evacuated, leaving the town
by rail and motor and even horsedrawn
vehicles. By special wish of the mayor
an effort had been made to gather
them all together in the huge old
had stood there for two long hours
bidding each group God-speed.
/ Milly Barlock, who had an eye for
a man. had noticed Hereford Wake
standing close to where she had placed
tbas h. Il baS was to please his mother
his parents. and when the orderly pro-
cession of which Rosie formed a part
I had been moving away, Mrs. Barlock
had heard his whispered,
How exciting it would be II the
peared! But I don't suppose Hitler
would care to spare him, though he
was part of the dear, romantic old
Germany Hitler has done his best to
destroy"
On the still air came the first long
wailing screams of the sirens. There
two more of those unearthly walls.
! Ml!ly Barlock stood up. She walked
swiftly across to her window for I'M
like almost anyone in that street she
had not drawn the blind.
She began to hear the rush of tramp
foot hafnrn hnv ay,,ar
! in the moonlit darkness. shadowy fig
ureS making their way towards their
! special shelter which had been dug
under the vaults of an ancient church.
They moved along swiftly in an I'M
canny silence.
Suddenly from high up above the
town came the deep whirring of the
huge bombers. A thousand Of them?
They sounded like ten thousand In
stinctively some of the people began
running.
There came an awful sound. a boom
which drowned the noise of the planes.
For a moment or two every shadowy
figure stopped. Then began a more
eager tramp Of feet. Indeed there
seemed new urgency in the clip, clip,
shoes of the factory hands of Caster
/ bridge.
! Again there came that ominous ear
shake the house and which, while it
lasted, made even Milly Barlock's
heart beat with fear. Then all at once
the tramping outside ended, and it
was an eerie feeling. that of being the
only woman in Casterbridge who had
not obeyed the order to take shelter.
Milly Barlock went into her back
room. She lay down on her bed fully
dressed and tried to rest She was
very. very tired and knew that on the
morrow wedding order had to be COM
/ pleted. But she was far too excited
and her heart was far too full of her
child. for her to rest. This was the
first night since RoSie's birth that she
had ever been parted from her.
The flaXen-haired, fragile-looking
little girl was curiously unlike her
mother and save in coloring, unlike
/ also the stalwart, fiercely masculine
looking man, who had been her father.
Rosie's father?
(To Be Continued