Young Hilda at the Wars

ried Hilda

Bracher with emphasis. "Come, hur

erk at the bell cord, a tiny tinkle, and Mrs. Bracher had ans

e Doctor, quick. T

st. And for a time, Pervyse had been occupied only by soldiers and the three nurses. But soon the civilians came trickling back. They were tired of strange quarters, and homesick for their own. There were now more than two hundred peasants in Pervyse-men, women and children. The children, regardless of shell fire, scoured the fields for shrapnel bullets and bits of shells. They brought their findings to the nurses, and received pieces of chocolate in return. There was a family of five children, in steps, who wo

Belgium, black and perishing. Still it is Belgium,

suffer, and meantime you live. Still you plant and plough, though the guns are loud in the night, and Les Bosches just over the meadow. And here was one of

family was grouped about the bed-a boy of twelve years, a girl of nineteen, and a girl of three. Attending the case, was a little old woman, the grandmother, wearing a knitted knobby bonnet, sitting high on the top of her head and tied under her chin-a conical frame for her pert, dark eyes and firm mouth. She was a tiny woman, every detail of her in miniature, clearly defined, except the heavy, noisy wooden shoes. She carried in her personality an air of important indignation. With the c

of fact-a vital, lusty, shapeless fact. To that little creature was given the future, and he was stronger than the artillery. By all the laws, vibrations of fear ought to have passed into

after twice a day they called upon him, and each time Hilda carried snowy linen, hoping to win the grandmother. But the old lady was firm, and "Pervyse" was to thrive,

safer. Give 'Pervyse' his chance. It is senseless to live here in this shed un

nd big and little sister, and grandmother. The

e was room enough inside for them all to go together, with th

spare me. They

t to-morrow I shall come again to take you

he little home in a ruin of plaster and glass and brick-dust. Destruction, long overdue, had fallen out of the sunny blue sky on the group of reckless survivors in that doomed village. The soldiers were searching in the smoking litter for bodies. Big sister and little sister and brother were dead, and the litt

to the great military hospital. The mother died in two hours on

ets, even if it was often a dead march. And here life was still normal and orderly. "Pervyse" found shelter in the military hospital where his mother had come only to die. He was the youngest wounded Belgian in all the wards. They

ed two days at the front. The women placed them on stretchers in the kitchen, and covered their faces, and left them in peace. A brief peace, for a shell found the kitchen, and the blue fumes of it puffed into the room where the women were sitting. The orderly and four soldier friends came running in, holding their eyes. When Hilda entered the kitchen, she saw that the shell had hit just above those quiet bodies, bringing the rafters an

lage, and here the nurses found shelter. Later that day the Colonel handed them a written order to evacuate Pervyse, lent them men to help, and gave them twenty minutes in which to pack and depart. They returned to their smashed house, and piled out thei

nds had healed a thousand soldiers. They had welcomed the Queen, princes, generals, brave officers soon to die, famous artists under arms, laughing peasant soldiers, the great and the obscure, such a society gathered under the vast pressure of a world-

onvent, when they two had visited the little girl who lay dying of her

k seemed out of it. I know there is work for me

uck?" h

m at a doctor's house in Furnes. Later on, it went clean through my little room up over a tailor's shop. In Pervyse we had our Poste de Secours in the Burgomaster's house. One morning we h

iency of tires of the right make, and he put a rush order clear across the Atlantic and had the consignment over in record time. He cut through the red tape of the transport service, red tape that had been annoying even the established hospitals. He impor

cliffe to Hilda, during one of their talks. "I've cab

the hapless peasant mothers. Military hospitals are for soldiers, not for expectant mothers or orphaned children, and "Pervyse's" days of glory were endi

st?" asked Hilda, and the great

ke ready the ritual, but

vyse,'" said Hilda to th

replied Hinchcliffe, "but of course I

and of cream, candy baskets of sweets. It was Sunday-a cloudless, innocent day. They dodged through Furnes, the ruined, and came at length to the village of their quest. They entered the convent, and found a neat, clean room of eight beds. Two babies had arrived. Six mothers were expectant. In charge of the room w

s Anglais!" They entered the church through the left door. A puff of damp air blew into their faces. In the chancel stood a stack of soldiers' bicycles. They kneeled and waited for the Curé. In the nave, old peasant women were nodding and dipping, and telling their beads. The nurse handed the baby

lmost toothless. His eyebrows turned up, as if the face were being pulled. His heavy ears lay back against his head, large wads of cotton-wool in them. He talked with the nurse, inquiring for the baby's name. There were a half-dozen names for the mite-fa

in. Between the dippings, the aged man read from his book, and the assistant responded. To Hinchcliffe, standing at a little distance, the group made a strange picture-"Pervyse" wriggling and sometimes weeping; Hilda "Shsh, Shysh, Shshing"; René nudging the Flemish girl, and giggling; the soldiers peeping from the straw; the children, attracted by the outcries of "Pervyse," drawing closer; aged worshippers continuing their droning. "Pervyse" was held directly over t

good old Curé to be one of the christening party. "Pervyse," hi

High overhead on the tower of the church, two soldiers and two office

ored to his white crib. To soften his mood, his bottle of supper had been handed to him a little ahead of time. But, unwilling

o him. And to-morrow or the next day or some day, they'll get the range of this place, and then little 'Pervyse' will join his mother and his brother and sisters. With us olde

r had. I've got to get back to America. There'll be a smash if I don't. I'm a month late on

an-" sa

ing that kid up as good as if war was a dream. We're going to make hi

her eyes filling,

a different world after the war. You have often said it. America mustn't be behind. I want to catch up

boys in the ward will miss you, the babies will miss you." She laug

he child who was wielding his bottle as a hammer o

tle was thumped on his head, "'

utraged glass splintered, and "Pervyse'

banker, "we are he

RIBER'

variant spellings and inconsistent hyphenation. Obvious typographical errors in punctuation (mispl

9: add

gh. ["]When the danger i

: typo

[household] had removed them

: typo c

can long withold[withhold] him

: typo c

consciousnes[unconsciousness