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<h2>XIV</h2> The sun was shining gloriously when the two stepped from the trolley at the little camp station and looked bewildered about them at the swarms of uniforms and boyish faces, searching for their one. They walked through the long lane lined with soldiers, held back by the great rope and guarded by Military Police. Each crowding eager soldier had an air of expectancy upon him, a silence upon him that showed the realization of the parting that was soon to be. In many faces deep disappointment was growing as the expected ones did not arrive. Ruth’s throat was filled with oppression and tears as she looked about and suddenly felt the grip of war, and realized that all these thousands were bearing this bitterness of parting, perhaps forever. Death stalking up and down a battlefield, waiting to take his pick of them! This was the picture that flashed before her shrinking eyes. It was almost like a solemn ceremony, this walking down the lane of silent waiting soldiers, to be claimed by their one. It seemed to bring the two 210 young people nearer in heart than they had ever been before, when at the end of the line Cameron met them with a salute, kissed his mother, and then turned to Ruth and took her hand with an earnest grave look of deep pleasure in his eyes. He led them up under the big trees in front of the Hostess’ House while all around were hushed voices, and teary eyes. That first moment of meeting was the saddest and the quietest of the day with everybody, except the last parting hour when mute grief sat unchecked upon every face, and no one stopped to notice if any man were watching, but just lived out his real heart self, and showed his mother or his sister or his sweetheart how much he loved and suffered. That was a day which all the little painted butterflies of temptation should have been made to witness. There were no painted ladies coming through the gates that day. This was no time for friendships like that. Death was calling, and the deep realities of life stood out and demanded attention. The whole thing was unlike anything Ruth had ever witnessed before. It was a new world. It was 211 as if the old conventions which had heretofore hedged her life were dropped like a garment revealing life as it really was, and every one walked unashamed, because the great sorrow and need of all had obliterated the little petty rules of life, and small passions were laid aside, while hearts throbbed in a common cause. He waited on them like a prince, seeming to anticipate every need, and smooth every annoyance. He led them away from the throng to the quiet hillside above the camp where spring had set her dainty foot-print. He spread down his thick army blanket for them to sit upon and they held sweet converse for an hour or two. He told them of camp life and what was expected to be when they started over, and when they reached the other side. His mother was brave and sensible. Sometimes the tears would brim over at some suggestion of what her boy was soon to bear or do, but she wore a smile as courageous and sweet as any saint could wear. The boy saw and grew tender over it. A bird came and sang over their heads, and the moment was sweet with springing things and quiet with the brooding tenderness of parting that hung 212 over the busy camp. Ruth had one awful moment of adjustment when she tried to think how her aunt Rhoda would look if she could see her now; then she threw the whole thing to the winds and resolved to enjoy the day. She saw that while the conventions by which she had been reared were a good thing in general, perhaps, they certainly were not meant to hamper or hinder the true and natural life of the heart, or, if they were, they were not good things; and she entered into the moment with her full sympathy. Perhaps Aunt Rhoda would not understand, but the girl she had brought up knew that it was good to be here. Her aunt was away from home with an invalid friend on a short trip so there had been no one to question Ruth’s movements when she decided to run down to Washington with a “friend from the Red Cross” and incidentally visit the camp a little while. He had them over the camp by and by, to the trenches and dummies, and all the paraphernalia of war preparation. Then they went back to the Hostess’ House and fell into line to get dinner. As Cameron stood looking down at Ruth in the crowded line in the democratic way which was the 213 only way there was, it came over them both how strange and wonderful it was that they two who had seen each other so little in their lives and who had come from such widely separated social circles should be there together in that beautiful intimacy. It came to them both at once and flashed its thought from one pair of eyes to the other and back again. Cameron looked deep into her thoughts then for a moment to find out if there was a shadow of mortification or dismay in her face; but though she flushed consciously her sweet true eyes gave back only the pleasure she was feeling, and her real enjoyment of the day. Then instantly each of them felt that another crisis had been passed in their friendship, another something unseen and beautiful had happened that made this moment most precious—one never to be forgotten no matter what happened in the future, something they would not have missed for any other experience. It was Ruth who announced suddenly, late in the afternoon, during a silence in which each one was thinking how fast the day was going: “Did you know that we were going to stay over Sunday?” 214 Cameron’s face blazed with joyful light: “Wonderful!” he said softly, “do you mean it? I’ve been trying to get courage all day to suggest it, only I don’t know of any place this side of Washington or Baltimore where you can be comfortable, and I hate to think of you hunting around a strange city late at night for accommodations. If I could only get out to go with you——!” “It isn’t necessary,” said Ruth quickly, “we have our accommodations all arranged for. Your mother and I planned it all out before we came. But are you sure we can get into camp to-morrow?” “Yes, I’m almost certain we can get you passes by going up to officers’ headquarters and applying. A fellow in our company told me this morning he had permission for his mother and sister to come in to-morrow. And we are not likely to leave before Monday now, for this morning our lieutenant went away and I heard him say he had a three days’ leave. They wouldn’t have given him that if they expected to send us before he got back, at least not unless they recalled him—they might do that.” “Is that the lieutenant that you called a ‘mess’ the other day?” asked Ruth with twinkling eyes. 215 “Yes,” said Cameron turning a keen, startled glance at her, and wondering what she would say if she knew it was Wainwright he meant. But she answered demurely: “So he’s away, is he? I’m glad. I was hoping he would be.” “Why?” asked Cameron. “Oh, I thought he might be in the way,” she smiled, and changed the subject, calling attention to the meadow lark who was trilling out his little ecstasy in the tall tree over their head. Cameron gave one glance at the bird and then brought his gaze back to the sweet upturned face beside him, his soul thrilling with the wonder of it that she should be there with him! “But you haven’t told me where you have arranged to stay. Is it Baltimore or Washington? I must look up your trains. I hope you will be able to stay as late as possible. They’re not putting people out of camp until eight o’clock to-night.” “Lovely!” said Ruth with the eagerness of a child. “Then we’ll stay till the very last trolley. We’re not going to either Baltimore or Washington. We’re staying right near the camp entrance 216 in that little town at the station where we landed, I don’t remember what you call it. We got accommodations this morning before we came into camp.” “But where?” asked Cameron anxiously. “Are you sure it’s respectable? I’m afraid there isn’t any place there that would do at all.” “Oh, yes there is,” said Ruth. “It’s the Salvation Army ‘Hut,’ they called it, but it looks more like a barracks, and there’s the dearest little woman in charge!” “John, I’m afraid it isn’t the right thing to let her do it!” put in his mother anxiously. “I’m afraid her aunt wouldn’t like it at all, and I’m sure she won’t be comfortable.” “I shall love it!” said Ruth happily, “and my aunt will never know anything about it. As for comfort, I’ll be as comfortable as you are, my dear lady, and I’m sure you wouldn’t let comfort stand in the way of being with your boy.” She smiled her sweet little triumph that brought tears to the eyes of the mother; and Cameron gave her a blinding look of gratitude and adoration. So she carried her way. Cameron protested no more, but quietly enquired 217 at the Hostess’ House if the place was all right, and when he put them on the car at eight o’clock he gave Ruth’s hand a lingering pressure, and said in a low tone that only she could hear, with a look that carried its meaning to her heart: “I shall never forget that you did this for my mother—and me!” The two felt almost light-hearted in comparison to their fellow travellers, because they had a short reprieve before they would have to say good-bye. But Ruth sat looking about her, at the sad-eyed girls and women who had just parted from their husbands and sons and sweethearts, and who were most of them weeping, and felt anew the great burden of the universal sorrow upon her. She wondered how God could stand it. The old human question that wonders how God can stand the great agonies of life that have to come to cure the world of its sin, and never wonders how God can stand the sin! She felt as if she must somehow find God and plead with Him not to do it, and again there came that longing to her soul, if she only knew God intimately! Cameron’s question recurred to her thoughts, “Could anyone on this earth know God? 218 Had anyone ever known Him? Would the Bible say anything about it?” She resolved to read it through and find out. The brief ride brought them suddenly into a new and to Ruth somewhat startling environment. As they followed the grassy path from the station to their abiding place two little boys in full military uniform appeared out of the tall grass of the meadows, one as a private, the other as an officer. The small private saluted the officer with precision and marched on, turning after a few steps to call back, “Mother said we might sleep in the tent to-night! The rooms are all full.” The older boy gave a whoop of delight and bounded back toward the building with a most unofficer-like walk, and both disappeared inside the door. A tiny khaki dog-tent was set up in the grass by the back door, and in a moment more the two young soldiers emerged from the back door with blankets and disappeared under the brown roof with a zest that showed it was no hardship to them to camp out for the night. There were lights in the long pleasant room, and people. Two soldiers with their girls were eating 219 ice cream at the little tables, and around the piano a group of officers and their wives was gathered singing ragtime. Ruth’s quick glance told her they were not the kind she cared for, and—how could people who were about to part, perhaps forever, stand there and sing such abominable nonsense! Yet—perhaps it was their way of being brave to the last. But she wished they would go. The sweet-faced woman of the morning was busy behind the counter and presently she saw them and came forward: “I’m sorry! I hoped there would be a room, but that woman from Boston came. I can only give you cots out here, if you don’t mind.” Mrs. Cameron looked around in a half-frightened manner, but Ruth smiled airily and said that would be all right. They settled down in the corner between the writing table and book case and began to read, for it was obvious that they could not retire at present. The little boys came running through and the officers corralled them and clamored for them to sing. Without any coaxing they stood up together and sang, and their voices were sweet as birds as 220 they piped out the words of a popular song, one singing alto, the little one taking the high soprano. Ruth put down her book and listened, wondering at the lovely expressions on the two small faces. They made her think of the baby-seraphs in Michael Angelo’s pictures. Presently they burst into a religious song with as much gusto as they had sung the ragtime. They were utterly without self-consciousness, and sang with the fervor of a preacher. Yet they were regular boys, for presently when they were released they went to turning hand springs and had a rough and tumble scuffle in the corner till their mother called them to order. In a few minutes more the noisy officers and their wives parted, the men striding off into the night with a last word about the possibility of unexpected orders coming, and a promise to wink a flash light out of the car window as the troop train went by in case they went out that night. The wives went into one of the little stall-rooms and compared notes about their own feelings and the probability of the ——Nth Division leaving before Monday. Then the head of the house appeared with a Bible under his arm humming a hymn. He cast a 221 keen pleasant glance at the two strangers in the corner, and gave a cheery word to his wife in answer to her question: “Yes, we had a great meeting to-night. A hundred and twenty men raised their hands as wanting to decide for Christ, and two came forward to be prayed for. It was a blessed time. I wish the boys had been over there to sing. The meeting was in the big Y.M.C.A. auditorium. Has Captain Hawley gone yet?” “Not yet.” His wife’s voice was lowered. She motioned toward one of the eight gray doors, and her husband nodded sadly. “He goes at midnight, you know. Poor little woman!” Just then the door opened and a young soldier came out, followed by his wife, looking little and pathetic with great dark hollows under her eyes, and a forced smile on her trembling lips. The soldier came over and took the hand of the Salvation Army woman: “Well, I’m going out to-night, Mother. I want to thank you for all you’ve done for my little girl”—looking toward his wife—“and I won’t forget 222 all the good things you’ve done for me, and the sermons you’ve preached; and when I get over there I’m going to try to live right and keep all my promises. I want you to pray for me that I may be true. I shall never cease to thank the Lord that I knew you two.” The Salvationists shook hands earnestly with him, and promised to pray for him, and then he turned to the children: “Good-bye, Dicky, I shan’t forget the songs you’ve sung. I’ll hear them sometimes when I get over there in battle, and they’ll help to keep me true.” But Dicky, not content with a hand shake swarmed up the leg and back of his tall friend as if he had been a tree, and whispered in a loud confidential child-whisper: “I’m a goin’ to pray fer you, too, Cap’n Hawley. God bless you!” The grown-up phrases on the childish lips amused Ruth. She watched the little boy as he lifted his beautiful serious face to the responsive look of the stranger, and marvelled. Here was no parrot-like repetition of word she had heard oft 223 repeated by his elders; the boy was talking a native tongue, and speaking of things that were real to him. There was no assumption of godliness nor conceit, no holier-than-thou smirk about the child. It was all sincere, as a boy would promise to speak to his own father about a friend’s need. It touched Ruth and tears sprang to her eyes. All the doubts she had had about the respectability of the place had vanished long ago. There might be all kinds of people coming and going, but there was a holy influence here which made it a refuge for anyone, and she felt quite safe about sleeping in the great barn-like room so open. It was as if they had happened on some saint’s abode and been made welcome in their extremity. Presently, one by one the inmates of the rooms came in and retired. Then the cots were brought out and set up, little simple affairs of canvas and steel rods, put together in a twinkling, and very inviting to the two weary women after the long day. The cheery proprietor called out, “Mrs. Brown, haven’t you an extra blanket in your room?” and a pleasant voice responded promptly, “Yes, do you want it?” 224 “Throw it over then, please. A couple of ladies hadn’t any place to go. Anybody else got one?” A great gray blanket came flying over the top of the partition, and down the line another voice called: “I have one I don’t need!” and a white blanket with pink stripes followed, both caught by the Salvationist, and spread upon the little cots. Then the lights were turned out one by one and there in the shelter of the tall piano, curtained by the darkness the two lay down. Ruth was so interested in it all and so filled with the humor and the strangeness of her situation that tired as she was she could not sleep for a long time. The house settled slowly to quiet. The proprietor and his wife talked comfortably about the duties of the next day, called some directions to the two boys in the puppy tent, soothed their mosquito bites with a lotion and got them another blanket. The woman who helped in the kitchen complained about not having enough supplies for morning, and that contingency was arranged for, all in a patient, earnest way and in the same tone in which they talked about the meetings. They discussed their own boy, evidently the brother of the 225 small boys, who had apparently just sailed for France as a soldier a few days before, and whom the wife had gone to New York to see off, and they commended him to their Christ in little low sentences of reassurance to each other. Ruth could not help but hear much that was said, for the rooms were all open to sounds, and these good people apparently had nothing to hide. They spoke as if all their household were one great family, equally interested in one another, equally suffering and patient in the necessities of this awful war. In another tiny room the Y.M.C.A. man who had been the last to come in talked in low tones with his wife, telling her in tender, loving tones what to do about a number of things after he was gone. In a room quite near there were soft sounds as of suppressed weeping. Something made Ruth sure it was the mother who had been spoken of earlier in the evening as having come all the way from Texas and arrived too late to bid her boy good-bye. Now and again the sound of a troop train stirred her heart to untold depths. There is something so 226 weird and sorrowful about its going, as if the very engine sympathized, screaming its sorrow through the night. Ruth felt she never would forget that sound. Out there in the dark Cameron might be even then slipping past them out into the great future. She wished she could dare ask that sweet faced woman, or that dear little boy to pray for him. Maybe she would next day. The two officer’s wives seemed to sit up in bed and watch the train. They had discovered a flash light, and were counting the signals, and quite excited. Ruth’s heart ached for them. It was a peculiarity of this trip that she found her heart going out to others so much more than it had ever gone before. She was not thinking of her own pain, although she knew it was there, but of the pain of the world. Her body lying on the strange hard cot ached with weariness in unaccustomed places, yet she stretched and nestled upon the tan canvas with satisfaction. She was sharing to a certain extent the hardships of the soldiers—the hardship of one soldier whose privations hurt her deeply. It was good to have to suffer—with him. Where was God? 227 Did He care? Was He in this queer little hostel? Might she ask Him now to set a guard over Cameron and let him find the help he needed wherewith to go to meet Death, if Death he must meet? She laid her hands together as a little child might do and with wide-open eyes staring into the dark of the high ceiling she whispered from her heart: “Oh God, help—us—to find you!” and unconsciously she, too, set her soul on the search that night. As she closed her eyes a great peace and sense of safety came over her. Outside on the road a company of late soldiers, coming home from leave noised by. Some of them were drunk, and wrangling or singing, and a sense of their pitiful need of God came over her as she sank into a deep sleep. <hr class='major' /> 228 <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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