Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1944-06-23

and-Span concrete floor, the shining
lathes and other power tools, the
clean benches with every screw
driver in its proper place, and the
work in hand left and waiting in
good order from the day before.
Mr.. Wrinkle and the other men of
his age had assured each other that
they would never be used as SOL
diers. They were of that lost gen.
Grafton between rounds of the world
war, too young for the first session,
and too old for the second.
Even after the draft registration
for them, they had said the same
things. 1--WE couldn't stand the life,"
they proposed. marching all night
and crawling on your stomach in a
ditch is for the young fellows"
Yet Mr.. Wrinkle had wondered. If
there wasn't some plan for using
them, why were they registered?
There followed a period of listen
ing to every scrap of further infor-
nation to be found in the papers,
over the radio and in the magazines.
Most of this was conflicting, with
no one able to make up his mind.
Finally few bold facts became
plain, at least in relation to Mr.
Wrinkles draft board in the town Of
Springville. 1t began to call older
men. Right now it had reached
those married without children, but
with wives who had independent in
comes of their own.
Mr.. Wrinkle met the first require
ment. Mrs. Wrinkle lived up to the
second regulation. Her small in
come, together with the fifty dollars
a month allotment paid to the wives
of soldiers, would be enough for her
to support herself
Sitting there in his shop, Mr.. Win
kle thought of his fighting back
ground. 1t had not been much. Up
until the time he was ten, he was
| known in his neighborhood for hav-
ing won several fights. There was
a certain group of boys he could
bully and bluff, or lick, if it came
right down to it.
Then that proves had come to a
quick end. His teeth, growing in
crookedly, were being Strengthened
by that ignominious process of hav-
ing wire bands put around them to
draw them into place. Returning
home from school one day with
two other boys, a discussion rose
| among them as to whether or not
he could lick one of them.
During the experiment of proving
he could not, the inside of his mouth
was cut to ribbons by the copper
bands-the main contributing cause
of his humiliating and painful de-
feat
From then on Mr.. Wrinkle, boy
and man, ceased to be warrior.
That was the extent of Mr.. Win
kle's fighting history. Now, belated-
ly, at forty-four-the moment made
him think of his age as being only
six years until he was fifty-it
seemed as if it were to have future
Why, he thought, this is impossi-
BILE. It's really incredible.
Mr.. Wrinkle wasn't in the least
sure about how he would fight. II
would be different if he were young.
er, or happened to be a great big
strapping sort of fellow.
He wanted to uphold his country
He questioned not at all his coun.
try's calling upon him to do it. But
he felt doubtful of what kind OF
soldier he would make.
He hoped there was no question
about this matter in the mind of any
one who detected in him signs of not
looking forward to going to war.
Mr.. Wrinkle reused himself and be
gan to work on bicycle. The rep
resentative from the newspaper ar.
rived in the middle of the morning
He was a tall brash-looking young
man with wild mop of hair who
introduced himself, I'm Onward
the reportographer."
1.-The what?' asked Mr.. Wrinkle
staring at him with assurance that
he was not going to like Mr.. On
being interviewed.
Mr.. Onward set down the camera
he carried and explained with broad
patience, Reportographer. It's e
contraction of reporter and photog
rapher. Technically, I'm only the
last part. But with so many re
porters gone off to war, I got to be
both. l made up the name myself
Listen" he said as he opened his
camera, II got one divorced wife
two kids. l got one married wife
three kids. l haven't taken a vaca
ton the last two years because
couldn't stand being home all day
I tried to enlist to get away from
it. They wouldn't have me. 1 guess
they figured if l got killed they'c
have too much to support"
The reasons why men went to war
Mr.. Wrinkle thought, were varied.
Mr.. Onward regarded Mr.. Wrinkle
with some amusement. He seemed
to think it little funny that he
was being drafted. When Mr.. Win
kle protested that his activity was
somewhat premature, and that he
might not be accepted by the Army
Mr.. Onward grinned and began or
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