a resident
of Laclede, also questions the reliability of the tale, basing his
conclusion upon the fact that the local village taverns were not places
which such a man as General Pershing's father would knowingly permit his
boys to frequent.

Nor is Aunt Susan's fact (or fiction) the only tribute. Before me is a
letter from a long time friend and neighbor of the family which states:
"Mrs. Pershing stood high among her neighbors. She was a woman of
unusual intelligence and much better educated than the average woman of
those days. She was an unusually cultivated woman. Mr. Pershing probably
had the best library in the town. His father and mother were both
religious and John went to Sunday School and church every Sunday." The
deep affection is apparent as one reads between the lines of many
letters received from those who years ago knew her both personally and
well. It is not difficult to trace the source of the inspiration of
Pershing's life.

An intimate friend of the General in response to a personal request has
courteously given the following modest statement: "General Pershing's
mother was Ann Elizabeth Thompson. She was born near Nashville, Tenn.
Although she came of a southern family she joined her husband in her
sympathy for the cause of the North, and made the first flag that was
raised in Linn County, thereby risking the lives of her family. One of
her brothers was in the Southern army, and one served on the Northern
side. When her brother, Colonel L. A. Thompson, was wounded, her husband
secured permission to cross the line and brought him home. Mrs. Pershing
was always an inspiration for her children and her ambition for them,
especially in an educational way, was without bounds."

And there came a time when General Pershing doubtless realized as never
before all that his mother had been to him. His troops were mounted and
he was about to give the command for the departure of his men on an
expedition against the Moros. At that moment an orderly advanced and
gave him a message which informed him of the death of his mother, in her
far away home. It was a blow as hard as it was sudden. The face of the
leader was almost ghastly in its whiteness. He swallowed hard two or
three times and then quietly gave the command for his troops to advance.
He was a soldier of his country and the message which had brought him
the deepest sorrow of his life up to that time must not be permitted to
allow his personal grief to int