Social problems -- Fiction; War stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
Poor Jimmie remained in his seat, overwhelmed. That he, the most
devoted of workers for Socialism, should have been the cause of such
a disgraceful scene--bringing to this revolutionary meeting a man in
the uniform of a killer of the working-class! He could not stay and
face the comrades; before the speaking had finished, he gave Lizzie
a nudge, and the two got up and stole out, dodging everyone they
knew.
Outside they stood in perplexity. They thought, of course, that the
old man would have driven away without them; they pictured the long
walk from the trolley-line in the darkness and mud--and with Lizzie
dressed in her only Sunday-go-to-meeting! But when they went to the
place where Mr. Drew had left his buggy, to their surprise they
found him patiently waiting for them. Seeing them hesitate, he said,
“Come! Get in!” They were much embarrassed, but obeyed, and the old
mare started her amble towards home.
They rode for a long time in silence. Finally Jimmie could not stand
it, and began, “I'm so sorry, Mr. Drew. You don't understand--” But
the old man cut him off. “There's no use you and me tryin' to talk,
young man.” So they rode the rest of the way without a sound--except
that once Jimmie imagined he heard Lizzie sobbing to herself.
Jimmie really felt terribly about it, for he had for this old
soldier a deep respect, even an affection. Mr. Drew had made his
impression not so much by his arguments, which Jimmie considered
sixty years out of date, as by his personality. Here was one patriot
who was straight! What a pity that he could not understand the
revolutionary point of view! What a pity that he had to be made
angry! It was one more of the horrors of war, which tore friends
apart, and set them to disputing and hating one another.
At least, that was the way it seemed to Jimmie that night, while he
was still full of the speeches he had heard. But at other times
doubts assailed him--for, of course, a man cannot defy and combat a
whole community without sometimes being led to wonder whether the
community may not have some right on its side. Jimmie would hear of
things the Germans had done in the war; they were such dirty
fighters, they went out of their way to do such utterly revolting
and useless, almost insane things! They made it so needlessly hard
for anyone who tried to defend them to think of them even as human
beings. Jimmie would argue that he did not mean to help the Germans;
he would resent bitterly the charges of the Leesville newspapers
that he was a German agent and a traitor; but he could not get away
from the uncomfortable fact that the things he was doing DID have a
tendency to further German interests, at least for a time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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