Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1917-12-20, Page 2_ ,...... , _ OF THE LORD'S HOSTS lish it with judgment mid with justice from heneefoith even forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform •By Edith Brown Kirkwood this.' Held that long before the had stepped from boyish erine. He ea= bUt Ile came with the runible, The figure of a eve- 1•11 syringes of a garden and stood had left wellecaredfor homes for tent R the diatnnee aline a soft in the training camps of England. coming of the Prii,Ve of Peace, Kath- sevord and tie had to fight and die, fighting, for the right. He is the I Prince of Pollee, Katherine, but . . : men rose from tenone. the mace suite into harsh khaki, They suid listening, Fairfield, a village of and barraeks. They had gone as boys; snring, glory, lay before her. The they wrote es men. knoll, beyond, was sending up Its Arial "Hat's off to you, Mother," penned shoots of grass; young vines, nestling' Bb, "and to all the other mothers among the violets, had begun their who have been trying to rear men in- • stead ofeiest feeding boys, I never knew before what you had done. tell you this is no place for a good-for- nothing, This is work." Though they labored, they were no better soldiers, fired with no higher ' • . seminar wanderings. The wood, in • the near distance. beckoning . the journeyman into the ethederet of its nu- ., folding beds, was filled with promise, Fairfield lived. • . Again elle heard the soft rumble and . • • • turned her head, bending forward ine patriottsm, than the women, who hav- ing away. Ing given them to their country, knelt When Kntherme looked :Dom her . • .. teetly. Distant thumler? No. The de., , 1 N among the rows of growing window the next morning a soft snow sky was too bine. •Drums? She lift—. ' • * • 7 . - 1 as falling. It was as Many other ed. her bead high to catch the sound Then came le things. melee and the trenches. Christmas Days had been but it bore arose clearly. Yes, that was what it Jamie 'sent back. word of their first an addsd sacredness. To Katherine, encounter with the enemy. Katherine somehow, came the interpretation of • Wee! It was the drums coming -ns if ' • e ... in • echo. of that tierce struggle which dull I lime •ht the news to Mrs, the snow's falling as if it meant to • . had leaped the seas to demand -eye" Th ''' Benson. e asters and the dahlias hide the sordid things and wrap the • • fresh effort from the . new continent, now bloomed beside the ripened pro- world in a mantle of its let:ended -the bed been gathering, aud pressed duce of the garden and the fields of purity. She caught, more closely, the flowers yellow had changed to fields of stub- Down the village street she WV her lips together. Me. They were battlefields shorn of fresh tracks leading up Mother Ben - "Mother Benson! Mother Benson!" of all but their glory. The hills son's front steps. he hurried into Shp slatted as if a sacred moment waved in their yellow goldenrod; the her clothes and ran down ,the walk. had been interrupted and raised her woods, Still beekOning and promising, She saw no one except Captain eyes- to greet a young girl who ran changed to their scarlet dressings. Douglas, crippled veteran of the Boer down the garden's pebbled walk. If Here and there a tint of yellow shot war, who long had served Fairfield as the siert glints in her rumpled hair, if into the crimson but this was merely its postmaster. He smiled renesur- the whiteness of throat and temple, if some merry treee' choice of sunnier ingly in response to her "Good m000 - the flowing lines of her slender figure costuming. Fairfield still lived. ing, Captain Deugthe." meant youth, she was young; but Mit. Benson and Katherine. ean- "Caller? Already?" she questioned, from her eyes shone a terrified, ap- ning, drying, preserving, talked but bursting into Mother Benson's room, pealing light, a mingling of the under- little. Their thoughts were too filled 1 "Mother Benson, what is it? You've standing of age with the hope of , with memories of the boys for whose some news?" youth. 1 enjoyment, in other years, the can -1 Mrs. Benson's face was wreathed - "Mother Benson!" she cried, half in Meg and drying and preserving had' in joy -proclaiming smiles as she drew whisper. "Do you hear the deems?" been done. Mrs. Benson's silence was a letter from the folds of her waist. "Well, Katherine?" the older woman reverent; Katherine's, resentful. 1 "It came just now, Katherine. It's questioned. "This time it takes : Hard lines that had no right to from Bob. Captain Douglas brought Jamie?" creep in upon a fair young counten- it, The office isn't open to -day but The girl drew in her breath and laid ance, had formed about the girl's ho knew it was from the- boys• and he her right hand unconsciously over her meuth. Mrs. Benson watched them , could not make me wait until to -mor - left where her fingers touebed with come ar.d understood the tumult that' row. Didn't I tell you,the Lord's ' caresses a ring, glittering happily. raged within the .girl. She sought hosts were ell about? Hear what Bob "Yes," she answered simply. "He the papers eagerly, reading of the , says: left last ifight. All the boys from drives and counter -drives, the attacks 1 " 'Mother, we're all right. I don't the district leve this morning from and counter-attacks and wondered , know when this letter will reach you 1 but it should be along about Christmas is the pease that comes when evil is conquered. The zeal of His hosts will do, sometime, what Isaiah prophesied. To -morrow ie Clivistmas Day, Can't We—you and I—rejoice that our boys are of that host?" For a long One Katheriee did not speak. When she lifted her head a new light shone in her eyes, The dark night of resentment was break - Dover. I said good -by last night. silently. time.. We'll be thinking of the turkey of other Buys and the good three we've had back home. Thank God you've sons to give. We're fighting His caner, Mother ---His cause which means the peace and freedom, of the world. Maybe you can't get the. angle of it, waiting lade home there "0 Bobi" broke in Katherine, "You don't even know your own -- " that's what we see,'" Mrs. Henson reed on. " 'You used to read ua something about, "the zoal of the Lord of hosts." It comes to me again and again—and that old Battle Hymn about Christ'et being born across the seas. I wonder if it didn't mean "borne," too? We're fighting for the right, Mother, and we're going to win the right sometime. " 'I wish you cull have seen whet we have seen over here. Soldiers, worn with tattle, greeted with 'shouts of comradeship. Children ran to welcome us as if we were their protectors, old women knelt Ifs we passed by and men bowed with age let the tears run down their cheeks, "'And we're not fighting for per- sonal gain, Mother! Thiele of being able to fight just to wave the banner of peace and freedom over the world! I wonder—are we of the Lord's hosts? Mother, it's great to be a man!' " Ka theri ue now peering intent] y over Mrs. Eenson's shoulders to read Bob's lines with her, slipped her arms around the older woman. "Or the mother of men!" she added. "Katherine," said Mrs. Benson, "it's Christmas Day." "And it's snowing!" cried the girl. "Remember how Bob and John and I always waited for the first snow so we could make pattern tracks over the garden? Look at it now, Moth- er Benson! Isn't it too lovely for words? Everything snowy white and peaceful after the hard work of the summer. Yet it looks just alive!" They pushed aside the curtain and watched the white covering spread over the ravages of winter. - Mrs. Benson's eyes wandered to the flake - laden lilac bush where once she had knelt, and let them rest there holding her secret. "altkits:V feWS;tii4 a Somdiow I could not go to Dover to Autumn came. Spring holds its1 —dreamed—we eould hear—" , summer its fruition and therefore the AT THE POST OFFICE PARCEL CO NTA see—him—march away. I Mid not promise and therefore brings hope; 1 She stopped. A fainter echo of the realization of hope; but autumn is the - drums rumbled across the fields. Then acid test of man. The asters and the with the abandon of confidential youth dahliae have passed, the goldenrod de- Though the Gifts May Be Packed to the Accompaniment of a she threw herself, sobbing, into the parts, the woodland droops into faded , arms of the silent woman before her. brown and the spirits of humanWoman's Sighs, They Bring Happy Memories to the be- "I can't let him go, Mother Benson! ings sag. Then came winter and dull Boys in the Trenches and on the Stormy Seas. 1 emit! I ean't! He's all I have—he's December days. TRING is booming. parcel on the back of her baby's car- -he's -0 Mother Benson, I love him : From across the Seas came rumors; Brown paper is at a permium, and more rumors. Mrs. Benson, Kath- 1 And every candy shop and Mother Benson'e eyes dosed as if in wine, the other women who had re-» grocer's in Canada has echoed for closing they turned a precious key mained behind, were playing the war weeks past with the mine inquiry; upon the world. She bent to lay her game of woman—waiting and sus- I "Have you got a box to spare?" lips against the head pressing for pense. The letters from the boys had i Grubby youngsters have asked the sympathy against her shoulder. I been full of the activity of their new • question, and have either received a She had no daughters. Her two , life. John's last letter to his moth- ' curt "No!" or have gone rushing home sons, among the first to respond to er said: ! with a shallow cardboard affair that their country's call for help, had been ' "Tell Katherine that Jamie is a sol- I could not possibly brave its proposed both sons and daughters. Katherine dier that is a soldier. She'd better be journey on land and sea; girls have Churehill, motherless daughter of her ' proud of him." , willingly passed copper and si ee r girlhood friend, had crept into her own . It was a boy's jollity—merriment at over the counter for the box that is up his neck, or the quick look he gave nook.in Mrs. Benson's heart, there to the door of probable death but it was , more important to them than choco- ' her.; she only mildly wondered at a give back, in devotion, full payment. : written with thought only of victory. ' • lates, and wise housewives have emit- surprising willingness in the offer he Their bond had been more than love ' Katherine heard it with whitenm ing ' • gly drawn forth their ideal boxes . made to go and "clean the chickens for the dear woman who had belonged lips. I from some safe retreat. 1 up. to them both. They were as the time- : "A soldier?" she remarked eynieel- • For Canada is packing. I When the back dour had slammed beaten wall to whom the ivy clings /et. "A man who kills other men? Can What the Women Learn • behind him she unfastened the parcel for support but to whom it gives fteeh you think of it, Mother Benson? Our , • I and carefully took out the top pack - beauty in its clinging. In Katherine, - boys—your boys, my Jamie, anxious; Thousands of women in thousands , ages, The white envelope an top she - Mrs. Benson had relived her own girl- to get into the trenches to kill other: of homes have been surveying the laid aside—it would Lot have interest, hood. : men---" store of Christmas goodies that they , ed you; it only contained a soft, dark Staidenly the girl tood erect, "No, no, Katherine!" interrupted have selected for their fighting -men, , little curl, cut from the heal of the s ! : "Mother Benson, this is a cruel. Mrs. Benson - "Youand have been puzzling how best to baby forget—not ' • whose father had never yet seen wiekettly cruel war, If I were a man anxious to kill men but to save na- , Pack the lot in such a small space— : it, She took. out the box of dates, the 1 —oh,• if only I were a man! --Pd kill tions." . how to get it just that ounce under , tobacco, the woolly scarf that bore the 1 the men who made it poseible!" Her "Perhaps,' answered Katherine: '. Weight' ' . I labored inscription: "A Happy Christ - •t - d M • Ben- ' mss to My Daddy! I knitted it all by For over three years the women riage. The woman with the baby carriage knit her brows as she walked along. She mentally checked the various packages in her parcel, and could not find where she had misjudged the weight, "Too heavy!" she explained to her eldest born, a sturdy youngster of eleven, when she reached home. She was too pre -occupied to notice. the red flush that commenced to creep eyes glowed. She bad not stopped to wipe from them their unshed tears. "How God must hate this universe. he has c"eated!" She clenched her hands and ehut her teeth definntly. "How Satan must gloat, how he must laugh • at at this twaddle of *peace on earth, geed " " • not e '11100 tfle son, her heart sore, forgot her own , have packed parcels; for three myself." — . anxiety in her effort te divert Kath- , Christma$ Days have they sent afar And then she gave an exclamation. their tokens of Christmas cheer, They erine's mind. Her fingers closed over something "If only I could have borne his , have become experts in the art of that she had never packed—a weighty name, Mother Benson," she said : packing. scout's knife. Wedged between the The women who stood at the counter quietly and without preface one day. ' blades was a grimy piece of paper, -Bob and John- -were yours, Jamie of one post -office on Saturday morn- bearing the words: "Thought this " - . ing showed typical results of the new • might be useful.—Love from Tom." , Katherine! Mi s. Benson's voice, was e raised above the girl's growing anger, "1 keow, dear," Mrs. Benson finish- art that we have learnt. • Round, square, oblong, f)f all shapes teas toft. "God has ordered the mil- ed, and sizes, skillfully knotted, labelled verse a very long time. We had best "I wish I had your eyes, Mother • not set our wisdom above His." Benson,"and finished, the parcels for the fight - the girl went on, still quiet, ! "I Itnow, Mother Benson," she ans-• ly.. "I wish I had. I wish I had the . ing-men waited their turn in. the arms f the mothers wives, sweethearts, - wered, quieted. "I know. We; wrong, faith to see that all of this means • it's dreadful of nie to talk ia this way. more than cruelty, passion, \\iamb. sisters, and daughters. But :lamie's all I have!" she broke out , ness. That's what it is to me. It is! The queue of waiting women watch - again inipetuously. An instant later the puehing aside of all that is good, ' ed with interest the assistant behind she pressed her hands against her lips , If that is what it means then Chris- . the counter as she weighed un the as if in fear that other words might tianity, this civilization of which we • parcels. esear e. ' have boasted, has failed. We calf Trouble in the Post Offiee "Forgive me," she pleaded. "Bob ' Christ the Prince of Peace. Is this 1 "Something loose inside," . she reb and John are all you have, too. You I peace? Mother Beneon," She rose to . marked, shaking one parcel. gave them. I don't understand. How her feet, "if Jamie or Bob or John are • "Only nuts," explained the owner . Cati you he calm?" - , killed, if our brave boys who have -a, le e . . She turned and walked swiftly from gone to fight do not come back, there, "Put the list of contents outside,'" the Orden. is no Guiding Right!" i was the instruction given to another. Mrs. Benson watched the young "Katherine:" Mrs. Beeson gripped "Write on name and address of the : ftgure, bowed suddenly beneath the the arm of her ehair. sender," yet another pareel-holder was weight of heurtache, and drew n long "0 Mother Benson," she cried wear- : told. sigh. Then she lifted her eyes to the ily, "tell me! Give me the vision of "Over weight!" heavens and while her ears resounded riethteousneee in this cruel war! Make I Heads craned forward in the wait - to the distant roll of the. tieums she nie see that it is for Good that our : ing line, and looked with compassion prayed: boys have been taken from us." She at the woman who was given this "0 God, keep me calm! Let me not clutched the older woman's hands, damping information. waver in this hour of Thy need of me. "Don't let are get hard, Mother Ben- "But it can't be," remarked the Ghte-Me the bravery c,f these sons who son, don't let me—help me to keep on owner, I cbeckd the weightof have gone gone to fight Thy betties. Grant believing," she pleaded. "I don't , everything so carefully," peace tothose to whom the vision has want to forget. I--'want—to—be, "There's . the scales I" somewhat not come. Guide Youth along the lieve." . , sarcastically remarked the -aesistant, pathway to milers:Lusting." For some moment*. Mrs. Benson sat as he tuned to the next comer. With a sob she dropped to her as if it prayer. "Over weight!" knees, her altar the budding lilac bah "Katherine," she whispered. "You Again the heads moved as the next whole crisp. young branches dosed . waet me to tell you 7 You really want parcel was also condemned. A tinge there' her ea if in blessing, it? This is »what I see: For unto us of anxiety crept into the faces of the Beyond the lilacs and the syringes a child is horn, unto us a Son is given: waiting queue es they noted that two in ' • handed In Mrs. Benson's garden were rows and the government ehall be ripen His parcels Which had been sown with prayer. The sheulderst and His name shall be call- back, while the two unfortunate pack - knoll where the vines and the Violets ad Wonderful, Counsellor, Thy mighty ens gazed at each other commiserat- had been wont to grow, sprang into God, The everlasting Fath(, The ingly. being as sprouting corn. Beyond the Prince of Peace, Tom's Gift woods 'Paved Milos of growing train, "'Of the Increase of His govern - "We are both unlucky this morn - Silent soldiers of the Aelds. xnent and peace there shall be no end, ing," smiled the fair girl in the fur From Bob and John Benson and upon the throne of David, and upon coat, as elm held open the door for the 4tutoie lid'ecdonald came word of labor His kingdoln, to order it and to estab. woman, who was placing her rejected Her first eeeling was indignation fax the extra trouble to which she had been 'put, and she moved quickly and ominously towards the back door. And then she paused. Sounds of a frantic clearing -up in the chicken - house reached her ears. She looked again at the scout's knife—his dearest possession; she read again his care- , fully -written greeting; elle divined I something of the shy affection with which he had secreted the gift; and with a queer little smile, she moved back to the kitchen, removed some otber article froni the box, packed in the knife, and went with the re -cord- ed parcel to the garden. "Tom!" she cried. A flushed face and a tousled head appeared at the door of the chicken's - run. "Run up wit.L. this to the post -of- fice," said his mother, quietly survey- ing him. "It'll be all right this time." Love and Luxury With one swift upward glance of his grey eyes, he took the parcel and fled. The parcel young Tom handed over the counter lay later that day with the one belonging to the girl in the fur coat. The post -girl pushed them over separately to the ever-growing stack. Their wrappings were not equally spiel( and span, and maybe the con- tents of one were more luxurious than those of the other. Yet somehow they fell together, Maybe the ringlet from the baby's head was Whispering to the Other sillty ringlet that also lay ii an envelope in the next parcel—a golden lock, scented by a few late rose leaves plucked from e Canadian ga.1,- ' With the closing of the pot -office ( etr,4, „ . • _ • t41k !Id 4 ,4,,,,_., Op , '...mcalan,JaIartorismarSamlaraleinftheig", 0/7 ..tagreoelevie• t)iv' 13Lit. The sands that count the year are low within the upper glass, They slip away, these little years, so swiftly do they pass; They flit like shadows to and fro (Inc longer we may live— But, ah, they take no more from us than they may freely give! They take the song, mayhap, but leave the echoes sweet that hum— The year is dying, but there is another year to come. Then why gaze at the trickling sand with heavy sigh and frown? Turn it down! Turn it down! There are smiles and laughter waiting where the other joys came from. Turn it down! Turn it down! There's another year to come. Another year is coming --now its hailing call we hear— With golden smiles to pay us for each jewel of a tear, Withrose,lcivernodding in the rain and dew upon the With silver store of moonlight, and with ivory of snows, With lilting laughter for the lips that long time have been dumb— The year is dying, but there is another year to come. Why hold the glass and watch the sand with gloomy sigh and frown? Turn it down! Turn it clown! The melodies of joys to be already throb and thrum— Turn it down! Turn it down! There's another year to come. It is the twilight of the year—the sands are almost gone; But turn the glass and wait to see the glory of the dawn, And wait to hear the mellow chord that pulses with each word That will build up the coming song—the song you've never heard. Why brood above the days now gone, ancl seek to find the sum Of bitterness and happiness? Another year's • to come. So turn the glass and start anew the current ,golden brown— Turn it down! Turn it down! There are light and laughter lurking where .the other joys came from. Turn it down! Turn it down! There's another year to come. doors, the mounting of the cumber- some mass of Christmas parcels ceqs- ed. The dark -brown heap was only lighted by the colored stamps that cast spots of red, white, and blue. "Just a mass of 'things to eat and wear,"one might have said, if one had not known of the loving hands that packed t e con en s, of ie ssntimsnt that lurked beneath the string and paper, of the earnest hopes—ay, and of the prayers—that were inextricably mixed with the packages. Samples of Sincerity These percale that go from homes are different from those that are sent out from the big stores. Scientific selection, and packing may make the latter welcome, but there is a woman's touch, a home note, about the former that will ever make them dearer "over there" They say I Am sentimental. What of it? So is Tonally, so is Jacic. It is a virtue viotusI would proudly own with them. Of this much I am sure—that when the Christmas parcels reach the trenches and the memo' -war, some of the loving words uttered wile/, they were packed will wing their way te the hearts of the recipients; some of the loving thoughts that hovered over their packing will creep out and cast a sweetness through those mud -fouled, death-hattented butrows where stand the men who endure fee us --will create a fair mirage for those watch- dogs of the sea. The snapping of the strings will loosen the spirit of Christmas cheer and good -will, of gratitude and con - Rance, that we women at home would send to our fighting -men this Christ- niastide, Our parcels will breathe to them of love and home—of that which shall come again when the dark days of war are past, God -speed to the ships that carry our gifts! They carry so muck more with them than mere parcels—they carry the hearts of the wOmen.—H, L. JAW SIGN OF LOVELINESS. Eskimo Girl Who Can Chew Most Popular With Men. The Eskimo husband requires that his wife shall possess tWo essential accomplishments. She must be able to trim a lamp, and she must be able to mend her husband's clothes. This mending is not the kind of thing com- mon in Southern Canada. The gar- ments are heavy, and they must be manipulated with bone needles and leather thongs. The wife also mends hes husband's boots, Before she be- gins, she:is obliged to chew tha tough leather into comparative , softness. Eskimo girls marry when they are twelve, and the girl with the strongest jaw has the Most suitors, the Eskimo being an eminently practleal person. One of the most important features of the food conservation programme of Europen countries hae been the m4* venal drying of fruits And Vogetables.