The Next of Kin: Those who Wait and Wonder

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ome of those who we thought were our strongest people have been abased, and some of the weak ones have been exalted. There were some of our people who were good citizens in the normal

England, brought him to Mrs. Corbett, who kept the Black Creek Stopping House, and asked her if she could give him a room and l

id Mrs. Corbett, "why are they sending th

t quite like the other members of the family-not so bright, I take it

re to get rid of him? Faith, if that's the kind of heathen there is in England I don't know why they send miss

every way, Mrs. Corbett, and leave no wis

a difficult per

what the poor wee lad will hunger for! Money is a queer thing for sure, w

proud man, and this lad aggravated him some way just to see him, and the mother yielded to

t here living with civilized people for three years, have enough of the old country way in you yet to say that a true wife should consent to this to please the old tyrant! Faith, I don't blame the Suffragettes

ou, Mrs. Corbett? I will feel q

r member of the Army if I did not remember Our Lord's promise to the poor children when

brought with him everything that any boy could ever want, and his room, which he kept spotles

e situation and spoke

toughen me up a bit. He has been rather disappointed in me, I think. You see, I had

son it out of him, but he said that he had heard the housekeeper and the parlor-maid at home talking of it, and they said he was a bit looney. It wouldn't be half so bad for him if he was not

nd he is too polite, and every one can fool him! He certainly is a good worker, and there's another place he shows that he is queer, for he doesn't need to work and

e service to some one. But even in his happiest moments there was always the wistful longin

e they will send for me after a while and let me stay for a few days anyway. My mother will want to see me, I am almost sure,-indeed, she almost said as much,-and she said many times that she hoped that I wou

suring her that it was a real joy for him to be

him the most. It is not much of a chin, I know; it retreats, doesn't it? But I cannot help it. But I have always been a bitter disappointment to him, and it really has been most uncomfortable for mothe

ay, but a curt note came from his father one day telling him that he must try to interest himself in his surroundings and that it would be better if he wrote only once a week! The weekly letter then became an event, and he copied it over many ti

s, and got him to send home for rifles and knives to defend himself and the neighborhood from their traitorous raids, "which were sure to be made on the settlements as soon as the cold weather came and the Indians

would not wait for the Indians to begin the trouble, but would make war on them. They decided that they would beat the bushes for Indians down in

e had heard many tales of Indian treachery an

ubt have been successful, but for the ex

ley. His teeth chattered with fright sometimes, too, as the bushes rustled behind him, and an inquisitive old cow who came nosing the will

t made me feel cheap-he is too easy; it's too much like taking candy from a kid. And he was mighty square about it, too,

ew in abundance in the hay meadow, assuring him that they were go

send home. "They will be surprised," he said. Fortunately, Mrs. Corbett found out abo

face such a look of sadness and pain, such a deeply hurt look, that Mrs. Corb

fault at all," he said; "it all comes about on account of my being-not quite right. I am not quite like other boys, but when they play with me I forg

with you when I am round,"

the request that he should be allowed to go home for a few days. "If you will let me come home even for one day, dearest mother," he wrote, "I will come right back content, and father will not need to see me at all. I want to stand once more b

d to send it by Mrs. Corbett's heartiest assurances that

already had much trouble with me; but it might make her mor

he big map of Canada that hung on the kitchen wall he followed its course un

right off-it will take some little time for mother to speak to father, and, besides

that is so much better than if they refused; and perhaps they are looking about a boat-I think that must be

epherd carrying the lost lamb in his arms; a box of hawthorn blossoms, faded but still fragran

of his face, which now had the spent look of one who has had a great fright or suffered great pain. The book on solitaire had pierced through his cloudy brain with the thought that hi

" he stammered, making a pitif

downstairs, and although not accustomed to the use of the pen,

't know, and it is just a curse to him to be so constant in his love for home, when there is no love or welcome there for him. He is a lad that any man might well be proud of him, that gentle and kind and honest and truthful, not like most of the young doods that come out here drinkin and carousin and raisin the divil. mebbe you

o answer was ever sent; and although the letters to Stanley came regularly, his wish

bright thought, "why don't you go home anyway? You have lots

ou all the same, old chap," said Stanley hearti

ver left his eyes. His friends now were the children of the neighborhood and the animals. Dogs, cats, horses, and children followed him, and gav

for himself, beneath a large poplar tree. "It is the wind in the tree-tops that I like," he said. "It whispers to me. I c

ok their coin-like leaves as he lay beneath their shade. The trees were trying to be kind to hi

held their grain over openly rejoiced at the prospect of better prices, and the younger men, when asked to enlist, replied by saying that the people who

down the aisle of the church at the first invitation. The recruiting offic

was gone, and then timidly said, "And now, s

was dismayed. He wandered idly out of the church and was about to start off on his four-mile walk to the Stoppi

he arm, cried, "Don't you see, sir, that you must take me? I am strong and

d it all! It is a hard thing to tell a ma

t matter if my head is not very clear on some things which are easy to you? And don't you see how much I want to go? Life has not been so sweet that I should want to hold on to it. The young men here do not want to go, for they are having such a

as his way out-his way of escape from this body of death that had hung over him ever since he co

u," he said, "and that's all there is about it. This is a job for grown-up men and men with all th

own. Near the front of the hall sat the German-American storekeeper of the neighboring town, who had come to the meeting to see what was going on, and had been interrupting the speaker with many rude rema

warn the Kaiser! It's not fair to take the poor man unaw

is tormentor in the face. His look of i

of these underbred aristocrats, all pedigree and no brains, like the long-nose

It was his last word for the evening, and it looked as if it might b

ured all things, believed all things, suddenly became a new creature, a creature of rage, blind, con

shoulders ceased to be apologetic. He whirled upon the German and landed a blow on his jaw that sounded

nd delivered the most successful recruiting spee

us into the hands of those enemies if he could. For this man I have the hatred which one feels for an enemy, but for you Canadians who have sat here and swallowed his insults, I have nothing but contempt. This man belongs to the race of people who cut hands off children, and out

recruiting agent felt that it was impossible to turn down a man who had shown so much fi

home-made candy or more pairs of socks than Stanley; nor was any woman prouder of her boy tha

e, and, after a short training in Eng

and served as a guide to the travelers who made their way into the city. In the breakfast-room of Mayflower Lodge it was dark, and gloomier still, for "the master" was always in his worst mood in the morning, an

on, and abusing the Government in that pec

ing little broken phrases of assent. Her life had been made up of scenes like this. She was of the sw

lly worked back to

o represent me-I who came from a family of six sons! Anyway, why doesn't the Government pa

herself to marmalade and regarded him wit

ill never let my Bertie go-his young life is too precious to be thrown away. I spent too many nights nursing him through every infantile disease-measles, whooping-cough,-you know yourself, my dear

her brother-in-law gruffly. "I tell you it is

ay, there are plenty of the commoner people to go to fight, and they have such large families that they will not miss one as I would miss my Bertie, and he has just recent

h her handkerchief in a way that her

e of these days," he said, "when a Ge

a well-bred lady could come, so gre

iving in a civilized age! Zeppelin! Indeed, and who would let them, I wonder

rprised before long; life is

tanley Goodman, of the First Canadian Battalion, for conspicuous bravery under fire had been recommended for the D.C.M., but

n she noticed that he had not on his overcoat, and she asked him why he was not wearing it on such a

ith difficulty. "And I could not leave him there with the rain falling on him, could I

ugh his cheek; the chin which had so offended his father's artistic eye-what was left of it-was entirely hidden by the bandage. The chill which he had taken, with the loss of blood, and the shock of a shrap

spirit all the imperious pride had gone, kneeling by his bedside and humbly begging his for

wn; "I have just found you-and now how can I lose you so soon

the distress which f

! thanks awfully for all you have done for me-I know how disappointed you were in me-I did want to make good for your sakes and it is a bit rough that now-I should

in-no, this is father; you are sure, sir, are you?-about the medal and all that-and this is mot

th his mother's arms around him, while his father, stern no longer, but tender and loving,