The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1944-12-09
THEY DREAM OF HOME

Soon it will be Christmas and American boys all
the worl will want to come home. Meanwhile
And American boy is slowly cutting his way through a
tangled Jungle Each step forward three feet down. the
mud sucks and pulls at his boots he tortured
step after STEP He brushes insects from his eyes peer
into the dense jungle ahead and at either side,
alert for japanese snpers He reaches fallen tree stops
comes a picture of crowded sidewalks It's five o'clock;
Christmas shoppers and workers hurry through the Streets
he hears the nkhng bell of Salvation Army Santa Claus;
for moment he smells the crisp cold air and feels the
glow from the bright store windows bullet whines
past him
Somewhere in ermany boy from Vermont is fight
ing from house to house in the rubblesrewn streets As
he advances cautiously, waiting for the shot from
ahead or behind, he ducks into doorway For Sec
ond, he relaxes The the rubble suddenly be-
picture of snowcovered Vermont hills quiet peace
full serene He his town. feathering the ems,
candles shining in windows, awaiting the Christmas
oilers who singing at the far end of the street.
On a hillside in northern Italy, kid from Chicago
considers himself lucky He won't have to dig foxhoe
tonight He crawls into small cave, out of the bitter
wind. AS he falls asleep exhausted he hears the wind
bowling around the rocks 1t sounds like the wind roaring
off Lake Michigan and he dreams he's back home The
Christmas tree lights and Nom and Pop sitting
around listening to Sis play Silent Night
In the Pacific, hundreds of miles from anywhere,
tack that morning his sub is disabled, it barely
in the water, dares think how long it keep
afloat No knows whether the next planes will be
rescue planeson the Jap planes returning. The surge
of the continuous incessant becomes wheat field
pies over them.
What we doing at home? What discomfort have
we? Are we cold? Are we hungry? Are we homeless?
Or are deciding to make this good odfashoned lux
urou Christmas Did buy that $50 handbag for sister?
Did we buy the fur coat for mother? Did buy that
china to dress the Christmas table? Did de-
eide not to go to work today?
How many of the simplest things asked to
do are we doing? Are we saving waste paper? Coec-
tons at a-time low. Are saving waste fats?
Even red points in exchange longer bring the
sary amount Ar contributing blood to the Red Cross
bank? Many appointments made kept; more
appointments are nevermade. Are buying more War
Bonds? Redemptions are higher than ever before
Production has been falling in war plants. Absen-
teesm is high There still strikes for whatever
son. ustifiable or not in peace time the don't
sound good right Our obligations our response
bilitles to our bous all over the world weighty
Ii the Japs return to the KILL will the Kansas kid
have the ammunition to stave them off again? Will the
rescue planes not because they're still in the fac
tories? Will the barrage preceding the boy Cologne
fall silent because the batteries out of shells Will
the kid in the hills of Italy freeze death because
has no blanket to wrap around him? Will the boy in
Burma die because didn't buy enough War Bonds at
home?
ALI of us in hearts know whether we are doing
our share; whether fulfilling moral obligations
to the millions of Americans scattered around the world
IN struggle for survival-theirs and ours.