Glacier County chief., 1939-02-17


DIER'S WIDOW IN THE
SCENE OF BOMBINGS
OVER CHINA.
IA AT RS. TANCILL, being an old
NW China hand, spoke CURLY
to the No. 1 boy, saying: 81
am not to be disturbed until Miss
Hastings returns" Curtness was
necessary because the No. 1 boy
said "Okay, okay," and went by
the name of Bob Chang and had
been spoiled by Mr.. Sanderson,
the American oil man whose house
this used to be. Then Mrs. Tan
Gill added: Gwen if the laps
come, no one is to tap on my door.
You savvy?" Bob Changes 81 get
you Missy, and his bland cackle
assured Mrs. Tancill that he respected
both her stern way with servants and
her humor, although he would continue
to resent her as a white woman and a
temporary boss.
1t was well to make such a Joke about
the Japs, since Bob Chang would re-
peat 1t to the other servants and by
morning all the village would know
that the two strange American shes
were fearless or, at least, kept a brave
face.
All, brave face-always that, Mrs.
Tanclll repeated to herself as she dis
missed Chang with a cold nod and
hastily slid the door bolt home. Turn
ing. Mrs. Tancill resisted an impulse
to run to the bed and throw herself
upon 1t and cry out her terror like a
schoolgirl. She walked instead to the
rooms south window which overlooked
compound and village roofs and a small
stretch of the Yangtze
1t was not this drowsy mid-afternoon
prospect which moved her to close the
shutter so quickly, but the sight of
poppies blowing in a box garden on a
gallery outside the window. Sudden
tears spilled down Mrs. Tancill's cheeks.
Ashamed, she wiped them roughly with
her scarf.
II will not go to pieces now" she
told herself. Il have no time for such
foolishneSs-there!" A tall, spare, IRON
gray woman, her body tenSed like a
sheath around her emotions. She had
no time, now. Soon Christine would re-
turn from the village and she must
have an answer for the girl. An answer
simple Il am with you" or Il
'oN ot4iipie Vii,
Mrs. Tancill. her hands calm and
purposeful, undid the fastenings of her
battered old kitbag and found the Jade
chest in which she kept The Letters
They had been capitalized in Mrs. Tan
ellis life long years since, read and
re-read, pored over. brooded upon.
They were John Tancills voice, his
r,oi,o oil tHot l,o laf
her of the one love. the one man. With
a desperate hope she had watched their
son. Jack. through boyhood, but Jack
was not John in looks or personality
and no sentimental distortion could
dislodge the letters from their sad i'm
Lafayette Escadrille,
France, Jan. 9, 1917.
Dearest:
left your Christmas gift what
a tenderly eXtravagant wrist watch)
wrapped in an old sock, but I took
your letter over the lines with me
this morning :.
No, no, not that one. It would not
help her with Christine and Jack
Softened by its sweetness. she would
make common cause with Christine and
outweighed all other elements in their
problem.
There was so little time Jack was
coming down the river with his gun
boat in the morning. Ensign Tancill
=. % years old :. two years out OF
the academy . she must remember
those facts Jack always accused her
of treating him like a l2-year-old.
Shades of the prison house and
mothers eyes begin to close upon the
growing boy-no nonsense, now. Mrs
r.
turlate Jack. Their ideas of humor were
tricky Mrs. Tancill had discovered
Nor was there any real escape for her
through CynciSm or laughter. Grimly
she told herself the truth: The war
which took John away had never end
ed and, now, Johns son and a girl
were facing it as she and John in their
brief time together had faced it.
Il must hurry" she said, half aloud
and her obdient fingers sought through
familiar pages for the passage which
had helped her when Jack announced
he was determined to go to Annapolis
Oh dear, wise john
.. so you took Jackie's toy soldiers
away? That was a mistake. think,
Edith. When I come home I shall
give him belly full of them and
pack him off to a military school,
a tough, harsh one, and rub his
14OSt llidt 4OOIISIl SlSiIllOliI
until he is fed up with swords and
bugles.
Well. she had not been as wise as
John. In her bitterness, she had fled
from America to a mission school in
China, taking Jack along. There had
been no playing at soldier for Jack.
and she had set her will on a method
ical campaign to curse war and sheer
at patriotism. Yes, even to the point
Nf hi 20 avg hn
fore Jack by crying out: He threw
his life away! They tricked him and
cheated you and mel"
But the boy had quietly and stub
bornly refused to accept this Judgment.
In secret he idolized John Tancill,
searched out by himself the story of
an heroic death and despite Mrs. Tan
ellis watchfulness, fell in love with his
country. When Mrs. Tancill discovered
she was going to lose her son to a
profession she loathed-
.syr1,o,a,, NEatt,a-