xt7r7s7hr115 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7r7s7hr115/data/mets.xml Harris, Credo, 1874-1956. 1918  books b92-214-30910775 English Britton, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. World War, 1914-1918 Fiction. Where the souls of men are calling  / Credo Harris ; frontispiece by John R. Neill. text Where the souls of men are calling  / Credo Harris ; frontispiece by John R. Neill. 1918 2002 true xt7r7s7hr115 section xt7r7s7hr115 











WHERE THE SOULS
    OF MEN
 ARE CALLING

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WHERE THE SOULS
      OF MEN
   ARE CALLING

          BY
      CREDO HARRIS



       Frontispiece by
       JOHN R. NEILL




          4



        NEW YORK
BRITTON PUBLISHING COMPANY



I

 



















       Copyright, 19X8
             By
BRITTON PUBLISHING COMPANY


    All Rights Reserved


      Made in U. S. A.

 















       TO
MAUD BLANC HARRIS

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   WHERE THE SOULS

   OF MEN ARE CALLING


               CHAPTER I

  HILSDAIE is "somewhere in the United
States of America'"-but there are hundreds of
Hillsdales!
  This particular Hillsdale is no less, no more,
than the others. It contains the usual center
of business activity clustering about a rather
modern hotel. One of its livery stables has
been remodelled into a moving-picture house,
the other into a garage; one of its newspapers
has become a daily, the other still holds to a
Friday issue. In its outlying districts will be
found hitching racks before the stores. Alto-
gether, Hillsdale might be said to be "on the
fence," with one leg toward progressiveness,
the other still lingering in the past.
                    7

 


8 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling

  Its residences have not grown beyond the
rambling, mellow kind, that drowse in poetic
languor amidst flowering vines and trees.
These trees, that also line the streets, meeting
in cathedral arches overhead, might be stately
elms of New England, poplars of the middle-
west, or live-oaks of the south; for it must be
strictly borne in mind that Hillsdale is "some-
where in the United States."
  One mild day in early April, 1917, in the side
vard of a corner house well away from traffic
noises, two trim little women, Miss Sallie and
Miss Veemie Tumpson, were delicately uncov-
ering their tulip beds when Colonel Hampton.
possing on his way down town, stopped and
raised his hat. An imperceptible agitation
rustled their conventional exteriors, since it was
an occasion of pleasure when Colonel Hampton
paused at anyone's fence. They noticed, how-
ever, that his usual geniality was lacking: that
the kindly seams in his face were set into lines
of sternness.
  "Well, m'em," he thundered, "their damned
outrages continue!"
  Miss Sallie gasped and stared at him, while

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling     9
her more timid sister was too much taken aback
to move. In the forty-odd years of their ac-
quaintance with this agreeable product of the
mid-Victorian era, this was the first time they
had heard an oath pass his lips-without an
immediate apology; and the apology had not
been forthcoming.
  "Yes, m'em," he cried, striking the ferrule
of his cane on the sidewalk, "their damned out-
rages continue! "
  "Why, Colonel," Miss Veemie faltered,
"whatever can have happened" She was a
trifle deaf, but she had no difficulty whatever
in understanding the irate gentleman before
her.
  "Colonel Hampton," Miss Sallie, as was her
habit, took the offensive, "what do you mean,
sir!"
  " Mean enough, and happened enough I " The
cane again added emphasis. "Those German
vipers have torpedoed another of our ships!
The de-humanized outcasts, the blood-crazed
toads, have wantonly destroyed more Ameri-
can lives! I tell you, m'em, our President is
getting damned tired of it, and we'Il have war

 


10 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling

as certain as your tulips are sure to be the
fairest in our proud city, m'em!"
  The cheeks of the little ladies flushed at this
dull prophecy, but for quite a minute the three
remained silent.
  "Mercy, I hope not," Miss Veemie sighed
at last-meaning the war, of course.  "It's
terrible ! "
  "And peace can be terrible," the Colonel
thundered. "A country that buys peace at the
price of dishonor is no better than a frump who
sells her soul for gewgaws and furbalows!
When posterity shall read of how the dis-
 ased mind of a single lunatic has stabbed
history's richest pages with a sword of mur-
der, rapacity and lust, it will turn a lip
of contempt   toward   every  nation  that
stood upon a vacuous neutrality.   To hell
with  neutrality, when  a  madman    stalks
abroad!"
  Mis's Veemie now felt that she had been si-
lenced for the rest of time, and M1iss Sallie's
delicate hands, incongruously housed in heavy
garden gloves, became expressive of horri-
fied amazement.

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling 11
  "What" he demanded, looking more than
ever furious.
  The little ladies jumped, and Miss Sallie
made haste to say:
  "Why-why nothing."
  He eyed them for a moment; not suspiciously,
but with anger at everything in the universe-
themselves, perhaps, excepted.
  "Where's Jeb" he asked.
  "He went into the country again with his
rifle this morning," Miss Sallie answered. "He
feels as you do, Colonel, that the time has come
to strike and we must be preparing for it."
  " But I wish you'd speak to him, " Miss
Veemie imploringly added.  "He's bent on
getting ready and being among the first, if the
time comes, and-and    "
  "And he'll do it in splendid style, rest as-
sured of it, m'em! Jeb will make a fine soldier!
-he comes from a line of soldiers!"
  Tears filled Miss Veemie's eyes.
  "We 've never seriously thought that
Jeb-" she began, but could get no farther
and relapsed into a sorrowful contemplation of
the tulip bed.

 

12  Where the Souls of Men Are Calling
  "There, there; I know, I know," the old gen-
tleman interrupted gently. "I know how you
feel about him; I know how you've both been
more than mothers to him!"
  "We've done our best," there was a tight-
ness in Miss Sallie's voice. "He never remem-
bered his own mother, and was so little when
dear brother Jebediah died."
  "I know, I know," he murmured. "How old
is Jehb"
  " Twenty-six."
  Another silence fell upon them. Then the
Colonel sighed, turned and started on his
wtray downtown, still muttering to himself as
he went:
  "I know, I know. All the same, that Kaiser's
a damned murderer, and we've got to smash
him if it takes the last drop of blood in Hills-
dale; yes, sir, the last precious drop!" So by
the time lie reached the hotel his step was vigor-
ous and the ferrule of his cane struck the side-
walk with military precision. Fifty-three years
ago he had marched that way with Grant-or
was it with Lee IHillsdales do spread over
such a lot of territory!

 


Where the 8ouls of Men Are Calling 13



  "Did you ever!" Miss Sallie gasped, break-
ing the silence.
  "Sakes alive," Miss Veemie whispered, call-
ing upon her nearest approach to profanity.
But they continued to stare after him, by un-
spoken accord moving to the fence and leaning
over it, farther and farther, to keep him in
sight as long as possible.
  It was while they were so occupied that a
girl stepped out upon the side veranda. She
hesitated an instant, poising lightly in sur-
prise at their rather unusual attitudes, and bit-
ing her lips to keep from laughing outright.
Then coming down into the garden, she
asked:
  "Is the parade in sight yet"
  Turning, they rushed at her.
  "Marian! When did you get home How
did you get in without our seeing you!"
  Her parasol fell to the ground before their
onslaught of affectionate greetings, as they
held her off, only to draw her close to them.
  "Why," she laughed, somewhat out of breath,
"the front door was open-as usual; so I came
on through-as usual-looking for you!"

 


14 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling

  "When did you get home" they insisted.
"Is it really you"
  "You little dears," she cried. "Oh, but it's
good to see you!"
  "But when did you come"
  "Last night!"
  .'And you're going to stay"
  "Iim-hm," she laughed, kissing them upon
the cheeks. "I suppose I'll have to, unless
Daddy has a change of heart and lets me go
to France."
  "France, nonsense! Stand off, and let's see
you," Miss Sallie commanded. "My! My!
And you're really a trained nurse"
  "Really a trained nurse," she answered en-
thusiastically.
  "I could never understand why you wanted
to be," Mliss Veemie faltered, looking at her as
though she were convinced that contact with
the big cities and hospitals and surgical cases
must surely have left an unfavorable impress.
"But you haven't changed-I do believe ! Why,
child, you're even prettier! Is that taffeta, my
dear How much did you pay for it"
  " Sister Veemie, " Miss Sallie interrupted

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling 15
with a shade of annoyance, "for pity sake don't
begin to talk dresses-though it is becoming,
my dear," she turned to Marian. "Have you
seen Jeb M "
  The girl hesitated, yet not exactly in em-
barrassment, and answered slowly:
  "No. Is he well!"
  "More than well-and simply daft with his
preparations for the war!"
  "Preparations for the war" she asked, not
understanding.
  "Why, my child, he goes into the country
every day to shoot his rifle, he's so in earn-
est! I do believe that if Congress could hear
half he thinks about the insults we are
forced to swallow, they'd declare war to-
morrow! "
  " Sister Sallie thinks he should have been
named Patrick Henry," Miss Veemie sighed,
"but I'm sure I can't imagine why! Jebediah
is much prettier."
  Miss Sallie ignored this, and in a more con-
fidential tone continued:
  " When he was a little boy, a fortune teller
said   "

 



16 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling
  "Oh, I know," Marian laughed, "-said he
might be President some day!"
  "Well, my dear, I really shouldn't wonder!
But, oh, why have you stayed away from us
so long! Did nursing take so much time to
learn Now that you're back," her voice grew
tender, "I do hope you and Jeb-well, you know
that it was your dear mother's wish, and his
dear mother's wish, Marian."
  "Please don't," the girl interrupted hastily.
"I've heard that a thousand times. Besides,
Jeb and I were only four months old when our
mothers died; and besides that," she smiled
prettily, "Jeb has surely recovered from his
silly notions by now."
  "Jeb will entertain whatever notions I tell
him to," Miss Sallie declared with vigor.
  "Then I don't want to see him," Marian
laughed, though with not enough conviction,
perhaps, to keep Miss Sallie from darting a
look of encouragement at her sister, who, failing
to understand it, observed:
  "Colonel Hampton just passed before you
came: did you see him"
"No !-bless his old heart! How is he-

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling 17



quite as foolishly angry with my father as ever,
I suppose"
  "He's not all to blame for that." Miss Sallie
compressed her lips. " Your father, my dear,
is as good a hater as he is an editor."
  "Which is going some," MAarian laughed.
  "Going how" Miss Veemie asked, protest-
ingly.
  "I must say," Mliss Sallie interposed, "that
the Colonel has been a devoted friend to
Jeb!"
  "And I'm devoted to the Colonel," Marian
quickly replied, as though her loyalty had been
challenged. "You both know how I've deplored
that quarrel-why, it started long, long before
I was born, and I'm sure they've forgotten its
origin! "
  " Politics! Wretched politics, " Mliss Sallie
sighed. " I've often thought, my child, how
easily you might re-cement their friendship."
She looked wistfully at the girl, who asked in all
sincerity:
  " ionw"
  "The Colonel is so fond of Jeb, and you are
your father's only child! Can't you just fancy

 

18 Where the Souls of Men Are CaUing
them clasping hands beneath a wedding bell of
beautiful lilies"
  "It's easier to fancy them quarreling again
the next day! No," she began to laugh de-
lightedly, "if you're so set on having a wed-
ding, marry them to each other; then they can
fuss to their heart's content and nobody will
mind. There, forgive me!" she cried, putting
her arms about Miss Veemie, who was tak-
ing this seriously, and almost gasping for
breath, "I was horrid to joke about it! But
you mustn't let Miss Sallie put those silly
thoughts on Jeb and me, really! Remember,
I've been away two years-two years this very
sixth of April-and see how we've both im-
proved! "
  There might have been a slight suspicion of
yearning that somehow got into her voice as she
said this; at any rate, Miss Sallie thought so,
and wisely decided to let the subject rest
awhile.
  Marian walked to the fallen parasol, picked
it up and opened it.
  "I suppose I ought to be going," she said.
"Father expects me about twelve. Your tulips

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Caling    19
are looking well, for this early," she continued
evenly. "Do you still have the scarlet ones in
this bed And, oh, I wonder if I can see the
courthouse clock from your fence, as I used to! I"
  She leaned over the pickets, looking; then
glanced up the street in the other direction.
Miss Sallie did not miss the significance of this,
and smiled.
  "What time is it" she asked, as Marian
turned around.
  "I-I really; isn't that funny I've forgot-
ten!" And to hide a very genuine embarrass-
ment she leaned again over the pickets; glanc-
ing, as before, up and down the street where
the courthouse was, and was not, but now giving
a little exclamation of pleasure.
  "He's coming! Your spoiled nephew is at
the corner. '
  She glanced at Miss Sallie, and found that
little lady beaming pleasantly with a "bless
you, my children," countenance that sent the
blood flying to her cheeks. She felt suddenly
afraid to stay and face the man from whom, at
the last moment and as a last resort, she had
fled to keep from giving a certain answer to his

 


20 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling
insistent pleadings. She knew that he would
plead again, even after two years of waiting;
and, in a sense, she wanted him to plead, though
not just at this spot, nor until she had gathered
up her forces with which she might artfully
resist him awhile longer.
  "Well, goodbye, everybody,"   she  said
quickly. "I must hurry downtown.'"
  "Without seeing Jeb" Miss Sallie ex-
claimed.
  "Oh, I'll see him soon. We can't escape each
other very long in Hillsdale," she laughed.
  "But, my child, it will only be a minute!
You surely "
  Jeb, having entered by the front way, was
now heard whistling as he came through the
house, and the next moment he stepped out on
the side veranda; then stopped, crying joy-
ously:
  " Marian!"
  "Hello, Jeb," she said, advancing with a can-
dor that belied the look Miss Sallie had sur-
prised half a minute before.
  "Oh, Jeb," Miss Veemie glided toward him,
"I've been so worried for fear your gun had

 


Where the Sout8 of Men Are Calling 21



exploded and done something! Are you tired,
dearth"
  This adulation had been a daily occurrence in
Jeb's life since he was four years old, when
these adoring aunts had taken him beneath their
roof. Usually he met it half way, but now, with
an indifference that in a moment of less excite-
inent would have been pronounced, he passed
her and caught Marian's hand, crying:
  "This is a surprise! Did you drop out of
the trees''"
  "That savors horribly of monkeys, Jeb, " she
laughed, quietly withdrawing her hand. "You
used to do better!"
  "I meant to ask how long since you dropped
down from heaven, angel," he smiled. "My
word, but you're looking fit! For a three times
winner, you just about take the cake!"
  "Cake, dear'" Miss Veemie sweetly inquired.
"Certainly you shall!" And, turning, she hur-
ried busily into the house, Miss Sallie follow-
ing with an expression about her mouth which
said as plainly as words that her well-meaning
sister would not emerge with cake, or anything
else, to interrupt a tte-a-tete so promising.

 

22 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling
  Jeb waited until they had quite disappeared,
then he crossed to Marian, asking soberly:
  "Why did you run away, just when you prom-
ised to tell me what I wanted to hear -and
why didn't you answer my letters"
  "I wonder," she said, turning toward the
flower beds, "if the tulips will be in bloom soon!
I'd so love to see them again!"
  He laughed tenderly, but persisted:
  "Why did you run away -why didn't you
answer my letters "
  "Oh, those things happened two years ago,
Jeb. Haven't you advanced at all --do you
always live in the past like a silly old man You
didn't write but three times, anyway!"
  "Good Lord, how many times did you expect
me to write without getting an answer" he
cried.
  "Oh," she answered indifferently, "as many
times as you thought it was worth doing. I
might have answered the fourth; one can never
tell about those things. Miss Sallie says you're
getting ready to fight, Jeb. Are you thinking
of going over to join the British or French"
  "Not for me," he laughed, disregarding,

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling    23
somewhat to her surprise, the subject of letters
and answers. "They can peg along with their
own scrap; I'm getting in shape for this coun-
try, if it becomes involved! You ought to see
the hikes I take, Marian! Twelve miles in a
forenoon-easy! And my shooting is really-
look here!" He began fumbling in his pocket
and brought out several paper targets which
he unfolded and held before her. "What d'you
think of that for three hundred yards !-five
centers!  Here's the four hundred !-look,
Marian! Isn't it a peach By Jove, if ever I
get a crack at those Huns, there'll be a few
less! "
  From the targets, over whichl he was now
bending in feverish interest, she glanced up at
him without being observed, her face somewhat
puzzled. She felt extremely gratified that Jeb
had made these perfect scores, and her spirit
thrilled with his martial fervor; but, on the
other hand, he had just been talking about a
certain question which she had evaded two
years ago by running away to take a hospital
course in nursing, and it seemed to her that he
was dismissing it rather abruptly. Yet she

 


24 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling
knew Jeb's temperament, as any girl will know
a man with whom she has been a play-fellow
since childhood; and, although hardly prepared
for it just at this moment, she read aright that
his love of self, his thirst for praise, had in no
wise diminished. Had she been asked for a
direct answer she could have told that his en-
thusiasm for target practice in the woods, where
for hours he pretended to be shooting Germans,
was vital to his abnormally active imagination;
for Jeb, although a giant in strength and a god
in grace, possessed the brow and eyes of an
inveterate dreamer.
  Formerly his dreams had run to adventure
of a milder form, sometimes to verse, once or
twice or thrice or more to love. He had, as a
matter of fact, for short periods loved nearly
all the girls in Hillsdale who were pretty
enough, and clever enough; never becoming
really serious-unless it was with her! But she
had laughed at him then, sympathetically and
sweetly, reminding him that they had grown
up together, besides being each of them twenty-
four.
  Not that she believed these were serious ob-

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling 25



stacles, but at the time they served; for, if the
strict truth be told, Marian understood Jeb too
well to confess how much she cared. His excep-
tional charm, fascinating her beyond anything
she had experienced, was, on the other hand,
marred by his inordinate vanity. His extreme
courtesy, urban manner and quick instinct for
thoughtful attentions to old and young alike, she
read truly as superficial, rather than sincere,
kindnesses. The casual acquaintance would not
have discovered this-but Marian had grown
up with him! She could love him, she had more
than a hundred times told herself-God, yes!
Alone in the nights when his warm bronze col-
oring of perfect health seemed near to her, she
had admitted this. Yet by day she laughed at
it; and laughed at Job. Thereupon Jeb had
settled down in earnest to win her.
  Miss Sallie and Miss Veemie had watched
through a prayer-glass the beginning of that
ardent affair. From their lofty place of van-
tage twenty-four and twenty-four might not
have been quite suitable, but years could stand
for naught against the touwer of mental strength
and character with which they knew Marian to

 


26 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling

be possessed. They would gladly have greeted
her as one of themselves, one to mother Jeb,
to see that he was warmly clothed and did not
eat imprudently. He had always been a child
to them! MIany times, in the bygone days, AMiss
Sallie would hint at this ideal mating, till at last
the daughter of Amos Strong had wrapped the
little woman in her arms, saying sweetly that she
preferred something in life besides "mothering
an overgrown, selfish boy."
  It had cost her something to say this, for in
her heart she was just beginning to know how
adoringly she could be these things and more
to him. As a child she mothered him; at ten he
bullied her; in their 'teens she had bossed and
mothered him again! Love him She admitted
it through tears to her mirror-and yet, withal,
she had understood him just a shade too -well!
  Then came the day-as such days will-when
she was cornered, pinioned, made captive!-
when she could no longer fight, and knew that
surrender was but a matter of hours. Much
of that night (she remembered every minute of
it now!) she had lain awake watching her heart
and her level judgment wage their last battle;

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling 27
and the next afternoon, an hour before he was
to come, she quietly left for Baltimore, or New
York-or it may have been Chicago-to take the
course in nursing.
  Her eyes now swept him with tenderness as
the memory of that day came rushing back,
but a shadow of disappointment crossed them
as she saw that he was still looking, fascinated,
at the proof of his skill. Was her return, after
an absence of two years, so meaningless that
he could be engrossed by a few sheets of inert
paper while she stood within touch of him
  "You shoot very well, Jeb," she said, cas-
ually.
  "Don't I though!" he cried. "See, Marian
-here's the five hundred!"
  "I should think," she said, glancing at it in-
differently, "that you'd join the regular army."
  "You bet I will, if the time ever comes when
we've got to fight! I wouldn't ask for any-
thing better! Gee, I wish we'd declare war
tomorrow! "
  "I rather think," she slowly replied, "that
your wish is very near fulfillment, Jeb."
  He turned quickly and stared at her.

 

28 Where the Souls of Men Are Calling

  "What makes you say that!" he asked,
tensely.
  Had her eyes been looking at him then she
might have seen something in his drawn face
and blanched cheeks that would have struck
dismay into her very soul; but, as it was, she
attributed the question purely and simply to his
eagerness for service, and answered with a sug-
gestion of sharpness that was not lost on him:
  "Because there's a limit, Jeb, to the patience
of a country, just as there is to the patience of
men and women. Even the mildest of us reach
the end of our endurance, sooner or later," she
added, not knowing whether she wanted to laugh
or be furious.
  " Oh, come," he cried, squaring his shoulders.
"I thought maybe you had some inside news
from your father! Don't be a gloom, Marian!
The war's three thousand miles away from us.
and that's where it's going to stay-take my
word for it! "
  "But I thought you were crazy for it," she
turned on him in surprise.
  He shifted uneasily, but his voice rang strong
and true as he answered:

 



Where ike Souls of Ken Are Calling   29
  "I am crazy for it! What d'you suppose I've
been getting ready for all these months But
you leave wars and that sort of thing to us
men! You haven't anyfthing to do with 'em!!"
  "We have to nurse you in wars, Jeb, just as
we do in times of peace," she laughed. "Really,
I don't see how such big babies as some men I
know can conduct a first class war, anyhow!"
  This was the old Marian again; lightly ban-
tering, deliciously good to look upon. He moved
close to her, and asked earnestly:
  'Why did you run away from me"
  "I wanted to be a nurse," she answered.
  "But why did You decide so quickly to be a
nurse"
  She hesitated, then smiled:
  "It was better than the other alternative."
  "Now that you are a nurse, can't you accept
the other alternative, too You know I want
you just as much."
  His voice, deep and resonant with a timbre
that went to women's hearts, thrilled her de-
lightfully. But she had not forgiven him for
the paper target episode, wherein she had been
pushed aside to make wav for his skill. There

 


30 Where the SoulI of Men Are Calling
were, moreover, plans that had been ferment-
ing in her mind for many months-plans of
which marriage should not be a part-and she
answered him frankly:
  "I really don't know at all, Jeb-I haven't
had time to think. Of course, should our coun-
try get into this war, daddy has promised to
let me go across at once; otherwise he insists
that I can't. Still, if I go to France, you will,
too, for that matter," she added brightly. Then
the color flew to her cheeks. "Maybe when I
saw you in uniform, Jeb, and realized that you
-that we might neither of us get back, then I
might-we might
  She was looking down, unable to go farther
without assistance; but he offered nono, and
they stood for several moments in absolute si-
lence-for a quick spasm of fright had slhot
across his soul! The sublimity of her partial
surrender, contingent only upon his transporta-
tion to a foreign battlefield, suddenly brought
the war from three thousand miles away to his
very door. But his next feeling was one of
self-contempt, and squaring his shoulders with
a jerk he said:

 


  Where the Souls of Men Are Calling    31
  "I love your pluck! Then it's all settled."
  "Oh, it isn't all settled by a great deal," she
laughed; but, seeing his face, gasped in mock
astonishment. "Heavens! Which is making
you look so like a ghost-marriage or war"
  " They're quite synonymous," he replied, try-
ing to match her banter. " May I speak to your
illustrious father"
  "That reminds me that I've an engagement
with him right now," she exclaimed. "For the
present, you may say good-bye to Miss Sallie
and Miss Veemie for me."
  With a pretty smile and toss of her head she
swept him a little courtesy, then turned to the
gate, but he called after her:
  "Wait! I'll go with you-and show him my
targets! "
  She stopped, looking back as though she had
not heard aright.
  "Targets" she asked, slightly arching her
brows.
  "Why, these, of course," he cried, drawing
them again from his breast pocket. "I always
hunt him up, or the Colonel, when I've made a
cracker-jack score! It tickles 'em to death!"

 


32  Where the Souls of Men Are Calling
  He sprang to the gate and held it open for
her to pass, apparently having forgotten every-
thing but a desire to reap praise from one or
the other of these old gentlemen; who in their
turns, although separately, had never failed to
be genially appreciative. The flavor of war,
which filled the air as a restless spirit since
diplomatic relations -with Germany had come
to an end-the numb fear with which he had
been obsessed but a moment ago-were com-
pletely relegated to the limbo of forgetfulness
as he now issued forth in search of praise where-
with to feed his vanity.
  Whenever it so happened that he failed to get
a sufficient amount of this from one or the other
of these men, or from his adoring aunts, he
drew it from himself. He could not have named
a night for months that he had fallen asleep
without first thinking of the splendid soldier he
would make. He would let his imagination run
riot and live through battle after battle, leading
his men intrepidly-men who loved the very
ground on which he trod. Into the thickest
places where old veterans could not have stood
the gaff, he went with calm indifference. Vie-

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling 33
tory followed victory-complete, hilarious vic-
tories! Dead Germans, prisoners, and cannon
which Jeb flung into the game bag of his waking
dreams, if put side by side, would have reached
around the world.
  'Tis true, that this top-lofty state of mind
suffered a complete relapse when Bernstorff got
his papers, and for the first time Jeb seriously
felt the cold fingers of fear reach out and touch
him. It had been a peculiar change, that for
awhile startled him more than the imminence of
war. He might have been thrilled over the wild
race, the reckless dash, as of unbridled horses,
with which a nation long in suspense hurtled
toward a finality; but it was an elation thor-
oughly dampened by dread. As the days had
passed, however, and nothing more terrible hap-
pened, his courage came creeping back, even
growing into modest bravado. Excursions to
the country with his rifle became frequent again.
He began to feel himself stiffen-up when Miss
Sallie would tell a neighbor how he was get-
ting ready for the possible war; this neighbor
told other neighbors, and he was soon basking
in admiring looks which were as meat and drink

 


34 Where the Souls of Men A re Calling

to him. It was on this crest of popularity that
Marian found him when she returned to Hills-
dale.
  With a face utterly devoid of expression she
watched him now while he held back the gate
with one hand while trying to stuff the bulkily
folded targets into his pocket.
  "Maybe you'd rather carry them, Marian,"
he said, "and we can look at them again on the
way downtow! "
  She did not answer.
  "I always take them down to your father, you
know," he said again.
  "I should think daddy would be immensely
flattered," she observed, passing out to the
street.
  Scarcely had the gate closed after them when
Miss Sallie and Miss Veemie, guilt written in
every line of their radiant faces, tiptoed from
the house, stepped into the garden and ran to
the fence. As they had formerly done while
watching Colonel Hampton stalk angrily town-
ward, they now, also, leaned farther and farther
over the pickets, keeping the young people who
comprised their hope in view to the very last.


 








CHAPTER II



  COLONEL HAMPTON, after leaving the Tump-
son sisters in a fog of astonishment, did not
pause at the hotel and sink into the porch chair
that had become his by right of daily occupa-
tion. This morning his mind was set upon
greater things. Affectionate greetings from
passing friends hardly checked him, and he
strode deliberately onward to the office of the
Hills County Eagle, the daily, owned and edited
by Amos Strong-a long ago friend, although
for twice a score of years his most unrelenting
political foe. There had been a time when the
town prophesied a "meeting" between these
two, but their enmity had finally congealed into
nothing more deadly than complete estrange-
ment.
  Now, indifferent to a look of consternation
on a reporter's face, the Colonel stamped across
                    35

 


36  Where the Souls of Men Are Calling

the "city room," glared around until he saw
a glass door marked "editor," pushed it vio-
lently open without knocking and closed it after
him. This had not happened in the reporter's
memory; it had, on the other hand, been just
the thing everybody feared might come to pass.
  The grizzled editor did not immediately look
up; yet, when hle did, his astonishment was com-
plete, and his ever alert mind reviewed the
Eagle's recent utterances to discover if therein
lay a reason for this visit. Recalling nothing
of particular belligerency-at any rate, nothing
against the Colonel-he said crisply:
  "Take a seat, Colonel Hampton."
  "Colonel Hampton will never take a seat in
your office, sir," his caller thundered, greatly
emphasizing " Colonel Hampton. " And, an-
swering a further look of perplexity in the edi-
tor's face that now betrayed a growing anger,
he continued jerkily: "We're coming very near
to war, sir; this country, our country, against
those sickening anti-Christs who bayonet chil-
dren, rape women, and wantonly torture unto
death defenseless men-and boast of it, sir;
gloat over it I It'll be our country against that

 


Where the Souls of Men Are Calling 37

polluted swamp of slimy creatures, sir; and in