Soldier silhouettes on our frontStidger, William L. (William Le Roy)
History
Soldier silhouettes on our front
Stidger, William L. (William Le Roy)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives; World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Young Men's Christian Associations
Some of us who have such experiences will understand this story; some
of us who remember what the parting from loved ones meant when we went
to France. One such I remember vividly.
There was the night before in the hotel in San Francisco, when "Betty,"
six-year-old, said, "Don't cry, mother. Be brave like Betty," and who
even admonished her daddy in the same way, "Don't cry, daddy! Be brave
like Betty!" for it was just as hard for the daddy to keep the tears
back, as he thought of the separation, as it was for the mother.
Then the daddy would say to the mother: "I feel ashamed of myself to
cry when I think of the thousands of daddies and husbands who are
leaving their homes, not for six months' or a year's service, but 'for
the period of the war,' and leaving with so much more of a cloud
hanging over them than I. I have every hope that I will be back with
you in six or eight months, but they----"
"Yes, but your own grief will make you understand all the better what
it means to the daddies in the army who leave their babies and their
wives, and oh, dear, be good to them!"
Then there was the next morning at the Oakland pier as the great
transcontinental train pulled out, when the little six-year-old lady
for the first time suddenly saw what losing her daddy meant. She
hadn't visualized it before. Consequently, she had been brave, and had
even boasted of her bravery. But now she had nothing to be brave
about, for as the train started to move she suddenly burst into sobs
and started down the platform after the train as fast as her sturdy
little legs could carry her, crying between sobs, "Come back, daddy!
Come back to Betty! Don't go away!" with her mother after her.
The daddy had no easy time as he watched this tragedy of childhood from
the observation-car. It was a half-hour before he dared turn around
and face the rest of the sympathetic passengers.
Going back on the ferry to San Francisco the weeping did not cease. In
fact it became contagious, for a kindly old gentleman, thinking that
the little lady was afraid of the boat, said: "What's the matter, dear?
Are you afraid?"
"No, sir, I'm not afraid; but my daddy's gone to France, and I want him
back! I want my daddy! I want my daddy!" and the storm burst again.
Then here and there all over the boat the women wept. Here and there a
man pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and pretended to blow his
nose.
And so we understand what it meant to this young secretary when, upon
landing in France, he got the cable telling of the death of his baby
girl.
At first he was stunned by the blow.
Then came a brave second cable from his wife telling him that there was
nothing that he could do at home; to stay at his contemplated task of
being a friend to the boys.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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