ns and then
not have a chance at them himself."

"And, of course, you told him the same old thing about his doing a great
deal more for his country here than he could do on the other side--" began
Mollie.

"Well, what else was there to say?" Amy replied, a little sharply. "Of
course, it didn't make him feel any better, and I knew in my heart that it
wouldn't, but anything's better than just staying quiet and acting
foolish."

"And natural," murmured Grace.

"Anyway, he seemed to understand that I was really sorry for him," Amy
continued, not noticing the interruption. "He said he was sorry he'd
bothered me with his grouchiness, that he wouldn't have felt so bad about
it if it hadn't been for all the boys going away, and he supposed he'd
even get used to that after a while if he tried hard enough.

"Just the same, he did look mighty grim as he turned away," she finished,
with a little smile at the memory, "and he said something about not being
surprised if he got mad at the last minute and hitched on the rear
platform, anyway."

"It's wonderful how eager they all are," said Betty, her eyes shining and
a little catch in her voice. "I suppose there are slackers, lots of them,
but so far I haven't met a boy who wasn't desperate at being given a 'safe
berth' away from the firing line and danger.

"It never seems to enter their minds to be thankful that they don't have
to run the risk of having their arms and legs shot off, or perhaps being
blinded for life.

"And it isn't that they don't think of it, either," she went on, her face
flushing with enthusiasm, "or realize what it means. Just the other night
Will was talking to me, Gracie--you know he's always been almost as much
my brother as yours--and he said, 'I tell you what, Betty, it isn't often
I let the grim side of this war business get to me, and it's the same with
the other fellows. Of course we know it's there, but we're willing to take
the bad with the good for the sake of doing what we're pretty darn sure is
the only thing to do. Only,' he added, slowly, 'we're none of us
pretending to say that we enjoy the idea of being maimed or perhaps
crippled for life. There's not one of us but who's praying that if we have
to go, it will be a good swift bullet that will do the business.

"'But,' he added, with a smile--and I could have hugged him for that
smile, girls. 'But, of course, as I said before, we're not thinking of
that side of it. It's enough to know tha