Hamilton High School - Hamiltonian Yearbook (South Hamilton, MA)

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certain base hospital it became known that Aurele Latour had received a very important summons from Paris — where she had immediately gone on a city-bound ambulance, at midnight. « « As Gene lay in bed he said to the nurse who was dressing the Avound in his shoul- der, “Who is the nurse with the black eyes and hair that is so pretty.’’ “Oh!’’, said the nurse, “that is Miss Latour who received a summons from Paris last eve- ning. She is not here noAV. Did you hear her singing to the soldiers?’’ “No,’’ said he, “she dressed my wound for me. She looked very much like someone I knoAv, and I Avas Avondering who she was.” He Avas disappointed for he was sure that he had seen his sister, but, he thought, she might have changed her name. “But Avhat would she do that for?” he asked himself. No, he would not think of it. It was not his sister, but oh I how she resembled her. As he lay pondering a thought came to him. Marie Duplessis had been recognized on the battlefield by another soldier, for had not John Howard heard her voice and re- ceived the statement of Francois Pallette that it was she? Why had Miss Latour gone away? Plad she really received a summons from Paris or had she asked the authorities to say so as a blind? If so, Avhy did she not Avant her identity knoAvn ? Would he ever see his sister again? Mean- Avhile Avhere Avas Marie Duplessis? Where had she gone at midnight on an ambu- lance? Who knew? Do you? (To be continued) LYNDALL M. MILLER, ’20. YVONNE It Avas just at the daffodil time of spring, and the yellow floAvers were groAv- ing in profusion never seen except in Italy. Up on the hill side in the midst of their riotous beauty stood the old Pa- lazzo, stained with the marks of time, dilapidated, as were so many of the old mansions Avhere the families lived on little else than the memories of their an- cient splendor, but looking to-day like a house of romance. All the land seemed at rest and peace. On the loAv broken Avail that surrounded the moss-groAvn courtyard Yvonne Avas seated. Her eyes Avere sad and thoughtful, for she Avas thinking of Francois, the man Avhom she Avas to marry and AA ' ho was to rebuild the broken traditions of her house. He Avas coming home to-day. Then, AA ' ith the bitter-sweetness of re- membrance, her thoughts went back to another spring, when she Avas Avalking in the daffodil fields. On that morning she had heard a man’s voice singing, pure, clear, and perfect. The singer, young, lean, muscular and handsome had passed her. Laughing eyes had met his. She had smiled and throAvn him a daffodil. “I paid him for his song,” Yvonne had said to herself. Something within her had ansAA ered, “You lie! you tlircAV him a loA ' e token.” They had met again and again. Yvonne in her day-dreams, smiled as she thought of how under the very eyes of their friends, her father, and her mother they had Avhispered their loA e. They had mur- mured their secret until it no longer be- came a secret, and they Avere watched. They had resolved to run away, and, far from the friends and enemies of their youth, find some place AA here they could live forgotten by the world — a perpetual honey moon among the roses. But then had come the war. Francois, AA-ith a burst of patriotic feeling — fierce, 5

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nervousness of the American rookies who were about to go into their first battle. As five-fifteen came nearer and nearer, Gene had a sinister feeling. He spoke to the fellow next to him, “If I die,” said he, “will you see for me that this letter is sent?” The soldier promised and put the letter — which was to Alec Dupont — in his pocket. At five o’clock the bom- bardment commenced. The nervous ten- sion of the soldiers ran high. Red Cross dressing-stations, just behind the lines, showed more and more signs of life, and there preparations were going on for the receiving of a large amount of wounded. Five-ten came. The rookies in the reserve trenches glued their eyes to their wrist watches. Some of the soldiers whom war had hardened were grouped around an old Poilu who was telling them a story. Some of the men were writing letters to mothers, and to “girls they had left be- hind” whom they would never perhaps again see. At twelve minutes past men clasped their rifles firmer, bayonets fixed, and waited for the order to advance. « As he lay wounded out in No Man’s Land he saw, as if in a dream, a girl in white come out of the hazy nowhere. Stretchers bearers followed her, on her errand of mercy, as she went from soldier to soldier, administering aid to the wounded. His eyes roamed over the bat- tle-scarred field, and he saw her kneeling beside a dying soldier holding his rosary. She was a picture, kneeling there, one hand resting on the fevered brow of the Poilu, the other holding the beads that meant so much to him. His company had made an advance that was very notice- able when the futile attempts of past days were considered, and the casualty list was very heavy. Suddenly he looked again. That nurse looked strangely familiar. Was she — could she be — his sister ? He raised himself to a sitting position despite the pain in his shoulder. He looked intently at her through pain-dimmed eyes. Then he fell back exhausted. “Marie,” he gasped in as loud a voice as he could command, “Marie.” Thinking he was in great pain, Marie Duplessis — for it was she — came over to him. “Marie,” he said again and with great difficulty, “Don’t you know me? I’m Gene.” Thinking perhaps she could still keep her identity concealed she said, as if speaking to a child, “Why of course you’re Gene.” Then he lost con- sciousness, and while he was in this stupor he was taken back to the base hospital in the rear of lines. When he came to, a nurse was bathing his forehead. “You’re not Marie,” he murmured, “I want her.” “No-w,” said the nurse firmly, “I don’t want you to talk any more. You’re just going to sleep for a short time while Doc- tor Rambeau dresses that shoulder. « « Her work for the day being done, Ma- rie Duplessis sank into a chair in her room at the base hospital. She was thoroughly despondent. What should she do? “What,” she said to herself,” “if he asks for me, and not by my assumed name? He will no doubt tell them that I am not Aurele Latour, a poor French nurse. They will think I am a spy, ’ ’ she ended bitterly. There she sat far into the evening wonder- ing what she should best do. Should she see Gene and wmrn him not to speak of her, or should she merely try to avoid seeing him, and trust to luck and fate that he w ould think he saw her in a dream? If she made herself knowm to him, he would ask why she had gone away so silently — so mysteriously — gone with- out even telling him or Rene Dupre. As she sat there an idea came to her. She got up, took her cape from the closet, and went out. When the sun rose over a 4

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intense and ardent — had started for the Front, and Yvonne, feeling that her heart was broken, had watched him go. In the long days that passed Yvonne found her dreary life brightened only by fiequcnt news of him. So Yvonne dreamed her dreams until she heard the noise of horses’ hoofs on the road and the sound of wheels that stopped at the old gate. A man was crossing the courtyard. He appeared aged and feeble. leaning on a stick and walking with diffi- culty. She rose with a cry — he had left her young, strong, handsome and full of life. Now he was returning — a broken man, who had sacrificed his manhood for his country. Then, leaning on Yvonne’s arm, they went up to the old mansion, where her father was waiting for them. By permisison of a Senior. A RED CROSS DOG. The call for volunteers had sounded, iten were wanted for the French army. Among the men that volunteered was a poor man whose only companion was a dog. He and the dog had to eat anything that they could get and sleep in anything that was handy and would afford shelter. Going into the recruiting station, the man offered his services and then told them that he had a dog which he wanted taken care of. The officer told him to bring the dog in. The man did so and gave him to the officer, who looked him over and then told his master that prob- ably he could help his country also as they needed dogs, and that this one was one of the most faithful kind. The man Avas greatly pleased to know that his only possession could help in the great strug- gle. He was loath to give up his com- panion of many years, for where his master went, the dog Avas sure to follow, but he Avas glad that the dog would not have to roam about the streets Avith no one to take care of him. The dog Avas then taken to a training station where the dogs AA ere taught to go out after a battle on the field under fire and bring in a cap or anything that they could pull off the Avounded man. When the nurses at the station thought that the dog had been trained long enough and could be depended on, they took him to a hospital Avithin a short distance of the firing line. By this time the dog’s master had been sent out onto the field of battle and had started in to take his part in the great struggle that was going on. Going through an entanglement one day the dog suddenly saAv a form lying in front of him. He Avent up to the still body and sniffed around it. The man Avas just conscious enough to feel the dog lap- ping his face. He opened his eyes and looked at the dog’s shaggy coat. The dog whined piteously Avhen he saAV the eyes close again, and then began pulling and titgging at his hat. He finally succeeded in getting it off and then started back to the hospital. When they got back to the wounded man they put him onto a stretcher and gently lifted him into the Avaiting ambu- lance. After much jouncing and bumping they finally arrived at the hospital where it Avas found that the Avounded man was beyond the power of human beings to re- store him to life. After the man Avas buried the dog went and lay doAvn on the mound of earth. He would not take any nourishment nor G