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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1918)
o e THE BEE; OMAHA; SATURDAY, MAY 25, 191& " . ' V o " .... V . y mil affii Laudet? in tfie Waf Zone cf oYitrrsrct trt France' 7h?fsfis ZFersoxsl experiences orr tAe Western ttgtttng tfOftr- . ' . aun. . lata 5l : COVGHT 1916 CHAPTER VII. ; Waiting for Newt, John's mother, his weetheart and 1 all saw him off at Glasgow. The fear was in all our hearts, and I think it must have been in all our eyes as well the fear that every father and mother and sweetheart in Britain shared with us in these days when ever they saw a boy off for France and the trenches. Was it for the last time? Were we seeing him now so strong and hale and hearty, only to have to go the rest of our lives with no more than a memory of him to Aweel, we could not be telling thatl W could only hope and pray! And we had learned again to pray long since, I have wondered often, and Mrs. Lauder has wondered with me, what the fathers and mothers of Britain would do in these black days without prayer to ' guide them' and sustain them. So we could but stand there, keeping back our tears and our feara and hoping for the best. One thin was sure: we might not let the laddie aee how close we were to greeting. It was for us to be so brave as God would let us be. It was hard for him. He was no boy, you ken, going blindly and gaylv to a great adventure; he had need of the finest courage and devotion a man could muster that day. For he knew fully now what it was that he was going back to. He knew .. t . 1 II 1 I .J. ...At. tne neu xne xiuns nu uut ui which had been bad enough, in all rftn science, before thev did their part to make it worse. And he was higb- strung. tit conia live over, ana i make no doubt he did, in those days after he had his orders to go back, every grim and dreadful thing that was waiting for him out there. He had been through it all. and he was going back. He had come out of the valley of the shadow and now he was to ride down into it again. And it was with a smile he lett usi I shall never forget that. His thought was all for us, lest we should worry too greatly and think too much of him. .... . , , "I'll be all right," he told us. "You're, not to fret about me, any of you. A man does take his chances out there but they're the chances every man must take these days if he's a man at alt I'd rather be tak ing them than be safe at home." We did our best to match the lad die's spirit and be worthy of him. But it was cruelly hard. We had lost him atd found him again, and now he was being taken from ua for the second time. It wai harder, much harder, to see him go this aecond time than it had beeo at first, and it had been hard enough then.- and bad enough. But there wai nothing else for it So much we knew. It was a thing or dered and inevitable, . And it was not many days before f ' we had slipped back Into the way r ' valided at home. It it a arrange thing BDOUl JlIC, 11 JO WJ IU. VMH vm ww 2 come used to thing, do it was wun r' us. ? Strange things, terrible things. outrageous things, that in time of d peace we would never have dared to I much as to think possible, came to be the mattert of every day for ut. , It 3 wai so with John, We came to think of it at natural that he should be t away from us, and in peril of hit life i every minute of every hour. It was . not easier for ut. Indeed. It was harder than it had been before, just V- ? ?' : Hi 2 I 1 t "J V I s I f.t t II V k II I f F V. I S' i I' e r -. S f US r Britain. But I carried on and did the best I could. That winter I was in the big review at the Shaftesbury theater, in Lon don, that was called 'Three Cheers." It was one of the gay shows that London liked because it gave some relief from the war and made the Zeppelin raids that the Huns were beginning to make so often now a little easier to bear. And it was a great place for the men who were back from France. It was partly be cause of them that I could go on as I did. We owed them all we could give them. And when they came back from the mud and the grime and the dreariness of the trenches they needed something to cheer them up needed the sort of production we gave them. A man who has two days' leave in London does not want to see a serious play or a problem drama, as a rule. He wants some thing light, with lots of pretty girls and jolly tunes and people to make him laugh. And we gave him that. The house was full of officers and men, night after night. ' Soon word came from John that he was to have leave, just after Christ mas, that would bring him home for the New Year's holidays. His mother went home to make things ready, for John was to be married when he got is leave. I had my plans all made. I meant to build a wee hoose for the two of them, near our own hoose at Dunoon, so that we might be all to gether, even though my laddie was in a home of his own. And I counted the hours and the day against the time when John would be home again. While we were playing at the Shaftesbury I lived at a hotel in Southampton Row called the Bon nington. But it was lonely for me there. On New Year's eve it fell on a Sunday Tom Vallance, my brother-in-law. asked me to tea with him and his family in Claphara, where he lived. That is a pleasant place, a suburb of London on the southwest, and I was glad to go. And so I drove out wiht a friend of mine in a taxicab and was glad to get out of the crowded part of the city for a time. I did not feel right that day. Hol iday timet were bad. hard times for me then. We had always made so much of Christmas, and here was the third Christmas that our boy had been away. And so I wat depressed. And then, there had been no word for me from John for a day or two. I was not worried, for I thought it likely that hit mother or his tweetheart had heard and had not time yet to let me know. But. whatever the reason. I wat depressed and blue and I could not enter into the festive spirit that folk were trying to keep alive despite the war. I must have been poor company during that ride to Clapham In the taxicab. We acarcely exchanged a word, my friend and I. I did not feel like talking, and he respected my mood and kept quiet himself. I felt et last that I ought to apologize to him. "I don't know what't the matter with me," I told him. "I limply don't want to talk. I feel tad and lonely. I wonder if my boy it all right?" "Of courae he isl" my friend told me. "Cheer up, Htrry. Thit is a '-" '-hrn no news it good news. If anything were wrong with him they'd let yoo know." Well. I knew that. too. And I tried to cheer up and feel better so I 1! I i the others at Tom Vallance't house. I tried to picture John at I thought he must be well and happy and smiling the old, familiar boyish tmile knew so well. I had tent him a box of cinars only a few days ucioi. and he would be handing it around among his fellow officers. I knew thatl But it wat no use. i coma think of John, but it was only with sorrow and longing. And I wondered f this same time in a year would see him still out there in the trenches. Would this war ever end? And to the-shadows still hung about me when' we reached John's house. ' They made me very welcome, did Tom and all hit family. They tried to cheer me, and Tom did all he could to make me feel better and to reassure me. But I was still de pressed when we left the house, and began the drive back to London. It's the holiday I'm out of gear .0 V $5 9 it f: : i: at it had been harder for ua to say t woum not anoil the nleasure of gooaoy tne second urns. o wt thought lest often of the ttrangeness of it. We were really growing used to the war, and it wat lest the mon trout, ttrange thing than it had been in our daily lives. War had become our daily life and portion in Britain. All who were not alackert were do ing their part every one. Man and woman and child were in it, making sacrifices. Those happy dayt of peace lay far behind us, and we had lost Our touch with 1 them and our memory of them was growing dim. We were all in it We had all to auffer alike; we we're all in the tame boat, we mothers and fathera and weethearts of Britain. And to it wii eiaier for ua not to think too much and too often of our own griefs . and caret and anxieties. John's letters began to come again in a ateady stream. He was as care ful at ever about writing. There was scarcely a day that did not bring its lttr to one of the three of us. And what bonnie, brave letters they weret They were at cheerful and at bright as hit first letters had been If John had bad hours and bad dayt out there he would not let us know it He told u what news there was, and he was always cheerful and bright when he wrote. He let.no hint of discourage ment creep into anything he wrote to us. He thought o! others nrst, ai wava and all the time; of his men and Of ua at home. He was quite cured and well he told us, and going back had done him good instead of harm. . He wrote to ua that he felt at if he had come home. He felt, you ken, that it wat there, in France and in , the trenchea, that men should feel at home in those days, and not safe in Britain bv their ain firesides. It was not easy for me to be cheer ful and comfortable about him, thoueh. I had my work to do, tried to do it as well as I could, for I knew that that would please him. My band still went up and down the coun trv. setting recruits, and I was speak insr. too. and ursins: men myself to go out and join the lads who were fight inn and dvinar for them in France. ' They told me I was doing good workf that I was a great force in the war. And I did. indeed, get many a word and many a handshake from men who told me I had induced them to enlist , "I'm elad I heard you. Harry, man after man said to me. "You ahowed me what I should be doing and I've been easier in my mind ever' since I nut on the khakil" t . I knew they'd never regret it, no matter what came to them. No man will that's done his duty. ' Iff the slackers; who couldn't or wouldn't see their duty men should feel sorry for. If s not the lads who gave every thine and made the final sacrifice. It wat hard for me to go on with my work of making folks laugh, It had been growing harder steadily ever since 1 had come home from America and that long voyage of mine to Australia, and had teen what fu .wu and whet it wat, doing to with that, I'm thinking," I told my friend. He was going to join two other friends, and, with them, to see the New Year in in an old-fashioned way, and he wanted me to join thm. But I did not feel up to it; I was not in the mood for anything of the sort. "No, no, 111 go home and turn in," I told him. "I'm too dull tonight to be good company." He hoped, as we all did, that this New Year that was coming would bring victory and peace. Peace could not come without victory; we were all agreed on that. But we all hoped that the New Year would bring both the ntr year of 1917. And so I left him at the corner of Southampton Row and went back to my hotel alone. It was about mid night, a little before. I think, when I got in, and one of the porters had a message for me. "Sir Thomas Lipton rang you up," he said, "and wants you to speak with him when you come in." I rang him up at home directly. "Happy New Year, when it comes, Harry 1 he said. He spoke in the same bluff, hearty way he always did. He fairly shouted in my ear ."When did you hear from the boy? Are you and Mrs. Lauder well?" "Aye, fine," I told him. And I told him my last news of John. "Splendid I" he said. "Well, it was just to talk to you a minute that I rang you up, Harry. Goodnight Happy New Year again." I went to bed then. But I did not go to sleep for a long time. It was New Year's, and I lay thinking of my boy and wondering what this year would bring him. It was early in the morning before I slept. And it seemed to me that I had scarce been asleep at all, when there came a pounding at the door, loud enough to rouse the heaviest' sleeper there ever was. My heart almost stopped. There must be something serious indeed for them to be rousing me so early. I rushed to the door, and there was a porter, holding out a telegram. I took it and tore it open. And I knew why I had felt as I had the day before. I shall never forget what I read: "Captain John Lauder killed in ac tion, December 28. Official. War Office." It had gone to Mrs. Lauder at Dunoon first, and she had sent it on to me. That was all it said. I knew nothing of how my boy had died, or where save that it was for his coun try. But later I learned that when Sir Thomas Lipton had rung me up he had intended to condole with me. He had heard on Saturday of my boy't death. But when he tpoke to me and understood at once, from the tone of my voice, that I did not know, he had not been able to go on. Hit heart was too tender to make it possible for him to be the one to give me that blow the heav iest that ever befell me. ((Continued Tomorrow) Peaceful IteroInUoo. MftTte Prtioner, the evldeaee ehowe that, after being a model hueband for 20 years, yon threw your wife out of the houie and ran amuck, attempting- to murder everybody you met. Defendant (eheeplehly) It wee only a peaoeful revolution at the start, your honor. but after I had overthrown the autocracy I lost my head. Puek. Complains of Unsanitary Condition Near School E. G. McGilton of the Board of Education states that he hopes the new health commissioner will take cognizance of what he complains is an unsanitary condition east of the Saratoga school, Twenty-fourth street and Ami; avenue. "For several years," he explained, "a sanitary sewer has emptied into a depression east of this school. There is no outlet for the accumulation of waste material which gathers in this depression and sends forth a noxi ous and menacing odor in warm weather. The situation was brought to the notice of the city officials sev eral times and now I hope that the new municipal broom will reach this plague spot" Burgess-Nash Choir Plans Fort Omaha Entertainment The Burgess-Nash choir will give an entertainment Friday night in the Young Men's Christian association hut at Fort Omaha for the soldier boys. E. J. Berg will give a monologue, Miss G. Olmstead will dance, and Earl Johnson will stive a contortionist act. Mrs. Fit will sins;. R. F. Kirk will play a violin solo and F. E. Thomas will give a soecial number on the trombones.- The choir is com posed of more than 30 voices. They will sing a group of songs, including "Over There," "My Wild Irish Rose," and "When Sammy Comes Marching Home." The program also will include caricatures by W. R. Lipoold, and a piano specialty by W. H. Jackson. The choir gave a similar program Wednesday night for the boys at Fort Crook. Changes Will Be Made in Postoffice Next Monday Next Monday the parcels post, "C. 0. D. " and insured letter departments of the postoffice will be moved from the south to the extreme north cor ridor on the main floor of the federal building. This was necessitated by the increased amount of businesi transacted in these departments, re sulting in congestion near the stamR windows. taSJ. 'vfTHV -TtfB Ml 5 Per Cen Federa Farm Loan Bonds The Federal Land Bank of Omaha offers $109,000 of these bonds at the new 1 Interest rate. U. S. Government Supervision, Unlimited tax exemption and the in creased Interest rate eomblne to make this a most attractive investment. Denemlnstiens, $28, ISO, tlOO, 800, $1,000. Priced 101 and accrued Interest from May 1. Send subscriptions or write for fur. the! information to E. D. MORCUM, Treasurer, The Federal Land Bank of Omaha, 130S W. O. W. Bldf. Special Victrola Oder Gtn. Perthing'a Men Writoi "Keep Up the Spirits of the Folks at Home." You can do your patriotic bit by taking advantage of this For a Limited Period: A large tize latest style XIA Victrola with 20 selections of 10-inch double race 85c rec ords of your own choosing for i $ 50 si on remarkably easy monthly payments. Burgess-Nash Company. everybodyS stork" FISTULA CURED Rectal DUeaees Oared without a sever en. tical operation. No Chloroform or Ether need. Cure guaranteed PAY WHEN CURED. Write for .llustrated book on Rectal Diseases, with names end testimonials of more than 1,000 prominent people who have been permanently cored. DR. E. R. TARRY - 240 Bee Building, Omaha Neb EVERYBODY STORE' Friday, May 24, 1918- -Store News for Sahirday- -Phone Douglas 137 MEN: Saturday on Our Main Floor is the Time and Place to Get That New Straw Hat EVERYTHING that is new and snappy is represented in the very newest blocks, sailors, fedoras, telescopes, in the flat top with pencil curl or the turn down brim in the .Equatorians, South American' Panama, Bangkok, Leg- norn. jyiacKinaw anu rurw ivicua, mui v""" vi puss i- i.., f , -r .... .. v .11 AJVJ.- rtA Sennets, split braids ana mnan straws, i.ou io o.w. Men's Cloth Hats We just received a shipment of extra well made cloth hats, silk lined. Good shapes, shepherd plaids, khaki color and gray mix tures. Suitable for street, motor ing, golf or any sport wear. Spe cially priced at $3.00. Men's Spring Caps, $2.00 Odd Lots of Caps, 45c and $1.00 "Ari assortment of men's caps form Spear & Co., Other makes of men's caps, odd lots, and broken recognized as the highest grade manufacturers of men's lines, at $1.00 and 45c. caps, splendid new patterns all new. Saturday, $2,00. White or Khaki canvas hats, 50c Burgess-Nub Co. Main Floor dew .r v We Doubt if You Find Better Suit Values Than You Can Find at Burgess-Nash SUITS that are in a variety of models and patterns that will appeal to the young man as well as the more conservative dresser. There are all sizes for every one stouts, slims, stubs and regulars and we know you will find the style and kind of suit you have in mind. jj j . Every garment is strictly tailored throughout by expert tailors and made accord ing to our specifications, the of quality, which means the best possible at the price. The fabrics new in weave, in color, in texture. And each is guaranteed unqualifiedly as to fastness and wear (important just now, you know.) , We Feature for Saturday Men's Suits $25.00 Featuring the best in fabrics, patterns, styles and color ings, styles that appeal to the young men who give a great deal of attention to their dress as well as the more con servative. Men's Suits, Priced At $18.00, $22.50 to $40 Suits that are designed and tailored by the best artists possible to secure styles in a variety that will appeal to you, no matter what your idea may be, correct in model, best and most favored materials, all sizes for regulars, stubs, slims and stouts. Burgest'Nuh Co. Fourth Floor Men's Banister Oxfords Special for Saturday $7.50 PAIR In a number of new lasts and a generous sav ing on every pair. Brown Russian calf. Tan Russian calf. Black Russian calf, Tan kid skin, Black kid skin. Choice of any Banister oxford for Saturday, only $7.50. BurtessNash Co. Fourth Floor A Complete Line of Beau Brummel and Star Shirts RECENT shipments in both celebrated lines gives us a most com plete assortment of neckbands. Coat style, same with collars to match. Made of extra fine percale, colored madras, ducetines and many other materials. Suitable for summer shirts. Moderately priced at $1.50 to $3.50, silks slightly higher. ' Athletic Union Suits, $1.00 Men's athletic union suits "Haberdasher" brand, well made "Sport tops" and all over garments. $1.00 per suit and up. Knitted Union Suits, $1.50 Men's knitted onion suits made of fine lisle yarn, ecru or white color and long sleeves and knee, and ankle lengths. Most desirable garments for this season, the "Richmond Mesco" brand. Specially priced at $1.50 per suit Wash Silk Neckwear, 55c Men's wash silk neckwear, panel stripes, extra quality wash silk, good colorings, French fold Four-in-hands. About Vi regular price, 55c. Sample Hose, 19c. Special No. 1 black, tan, white and gray and black with split sole, ecru color. Sample hose mostly double heel, toe and sole, price 19c. Silk Hose, 39c. Men's thread silk hose, gun metal black, white and palm beach, 39c. Silk and Fibre, 50c. Men's plain and fancy plaid silk and silk fibre Yt hose, samples, 50c the pair. ' Buriea.-Nash Co. Main Floor Fit the Boy Out Saturday With Everything He Needs ' Special values that will interest parents with boys to clothe. Boys' Suits $8.95 to $16.50 We are displaying a most complete line of Boys', Suits. Trench models with belt and slash pockets; Norfolk models, 3-piece and patch pockets. Prices range from $8.95 to $16.50. Boys' Wash Hats White, tan, rose and khaki colors, 65c, 75c and $1.00. Boys' Straw Hats Tan Madagascar straw hats at 6Bc, 75c and $1.00. White Milan straw hats, $1.50 to $5.00. Black straw in all the new shapes and sizes, $1.50 to $4.00. Boys' Blouses Splendid selection of pat terns, guaranteed colors, at 75c to $5.00. Boys' Pants Washable, good materials and patterns, 75c to $2.50. lit 4- Boys' Wash Suits Newest styles, guaranteed colors, ages 2 to 8 years, for $1.50 to $6.95. Burfese-Naeh Co. Fourth Floor
