A SHORT STORY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11729, 20 June 1916, Page 7

A SHORT STORY.

' THEIR SACRIFICES.

[All Rights Reserved.] (By MAT SCULLY.) "He's gone, Grannie!" There was a sudden halt on Jimmy's pare, for Grannie did' not answer, but kept her back turned towards him whilst she continued busily brushing down the, kitchen stove. She was quite a long time brushing away at that already beautifully clean article, and she furtively brushed away something with the back of her old hands from a pair of faded blue eyes before she made an attempt, finally, to face her grandson, who had just then returned from "fareweUing" his soldier-father at the, railway station. Of course Grannie knew that a soldier's mother ought to be brave, but-when tile sacrifice she is offering happens to be also her only child, she naturally feels tho wrench at . parting pretty keenly. But for all that j Grannie had expected nothing else from ! her Jim than that he should at once : have volunteered to do Ins duty, and j she would have been for ever ashamed' j of him if he had not done so. j " Were there a big crowd dt the station, then, Jimmy?" she asked • in. a, calm, quiet voice at last. _ j Jimmy's eyes shone. "The biggest; crowd I ever saw," he answered. J Grannie placed a bowl of water on tho table, and, turning down her blouse collar, commenced' her afternoon washing up of hands, arms, face, ears and j neck. j " We got every right tor be proud of the sergeant, Jimmy," she remarked, 1 as if casually, and she proceeded to lather : her face thickly with the soap.'. " 'E were always sech a great one fur 'es dooty," she went on. adding, " I only 'opes as 'ow vcr will grow hun the , same. Jimmy gajjed at a tiny patch on . Grannie's wrinkled neck not yet cover- I ed with soap foam, and: said dreamily, i '•' I'd rather bo like Dad than anybody j else in tho world." " j "Well, then, ycr can yer j minds always to do yer dooty first an' ; last; at any rate, yer can be liko 'im in j ycr ways, if not in ycr looks." | It had ever been a matter for open j regret on Grannie's part that grandson Jimmy had favoured " them there Wilsons " in appearance, and not the Browns, who wero " all reel good'-lokin' i folks," she told Jimmy, who was in his J turn also rather sorry because his eyes i were not "brown liko the Sergeant's," ! instead of being a "sort o' vilet-col- ' | our" like his dead young mother's had.been. His father, though, had quite j reassured him on that point by telling ' him —when they were alone one day— ; that ho was ever so glad that Jimmy '• had got "just tho same dear eyes." i After that Jimmy felt secretly pleas- ' eduvith his " vilet" orbs, and could' easily ignore Grannie's unfavourable remarks. I "So there was a big crowd at the station," Grannie again prompted. She had now reached the drying part of her scouring performance, and her old faco was beginning to fairly shine. " A lot moro of soldiers besides the Sergeant, j I suppose?" j Her son was a Sergeant, whom Jimmy and Grannio by mutual consent over referred to in his absence, with a loving prid'e, as "the Sergeant." ! "Yes, Grannie; there was heaps and j heaps of soldiers going away by tho ; same train." | ' f E," said Grannio, dreamily, "an' they all looked smart and fine, I sup-. pose?" "Oh, yes," said Jimmy, who had scarcely taken his own eves two yards away from his father's form nil the time. " But none of them could hold a candle to the Sergeant for looks—he's got such a nice face, tho very nicest in the world." declared Jimmy Brown, who did not know as yet that Love renders any smitten critic insane with prejudice. ' . ! Grannie found no difficulty in believing him. however. She nodded her head proudly as she answered her confederate in their hero-worshipping business with a fervour he alone could fully appreciate. " The Sergeant is a 'andsome man, all right; 'o always 'eld 'isself hup so, jest as if 'e was a Juke's son instead o' a poor igcrant ole couple's like me and yer poro 010 Grandad were." _ ' This speech stirred' Jimmy's Socialistic tendencies somewhat, at/least tho reference to tho " Juke " did. "Why shouldn't he?" Jimmy demanded'. " You and Grandad is just as good as Kings or Dukes—and p'raps some of them can't walk straight either for all we know." A sudden rush of loyalty to his own Sovereign caused him to add quickly, and just in time to save himself from Grannie's shocked reproof, that, "of course I didn't mean our own good King George, but some of those other chaps." "And I bet the Sergeant is streets ahead of them any day," h<f added a trifle defiantly. Grannio thought that the Sergeant's appearance would be hard to beat, but she had always been given to understand that "roility wore somethin' particular grand to gaze upon," like glittering diamonds or refined gold._ " But Jimmy there could read and write, an' 'o were quite a fine scolard in fact,''' and he had often thrown an unexpected shade of colour'on those* far-away dreamland things which sometimes baffled poor Grannie. She didn't, wish to talk "roility folks" to-day, sho continued on the subject next' her heart. " An' I suppose all the folks turned their 'cads round to look at the Surgint wen 'e went past—did they, Jimmy?" Jimmy had promised the Sorgeant that he would always toll the truth as being one of the items included in his "duty," so he was therefore forced to own up now. ! "Well," he said, "a good lot of, them did— and a good lot more of them I were talking to some of the other sol- j diers. Old Mrs Graham was there. j though, and she cried when she said ! good-bye to the Sergeant." ! Grannie clasped her hands and tin- > clasped thorn in a. nervous fashion. ! "Were she there now—tlie poro ole sould. Yer see, Jimmy, she stood for tho Sergeant an-—an " • Grannie suddenly turned her away from those too observant "vilet " eves, and began at once to make a careful examination of a faded old' almanac picture on the kitchen wall. After a few moments of dead silence, the old woman said with a. wintry sort of tone, in her voice—"l'll 'are tor get that there picter framed one of these daysit's reely worth it." Jimmy understood Grannie's little ways, and he had promised the Sergeant to look after Iter as well as ho

was able—he knew she hated 4 to be caught with weak tears in her eyes, that she seldom or never acknowledged her feelings. He treated her irrelevant remark quite seriously, therefore. "Do you, Grannie?" he said. "I like that one a lot better." pointing to Another " artistic" farco in the picture line which was tacked ur> over the mantelshelf. -" Grannie shook her head._ "It's a nice picter," she granted slowly, "but I don't care fer that there man's face near the red an' yaller cow, 'e 'ave eech a queer-like grin." This criticism made Jimmy laugh, and a humorous smile still played round' his eyes and lips as he asked mischievously, "And do you like the grin on that "old man's face, then?" The other picture which Grannie had so suddenly admired was ono of a particularly ugly-looking old Maori war chief. , " Yer is nothin' but a perfeck young limb." she told Jimmy; hut she was not ill-pleased herself at the little joke, and 1 once more went on with their first conversation. "Mrs Graham should 'ave known better'n to 'ave gone ter see the Sergeant off—she might 'ave knew she'd likely as not end hup be mnkin' a fool of 'erself in front of folks." Jimmy at once defendedlMrs Graham. " There was lots of other women crying besides ]\er," he said. " and some men, too." "he added. Grannie was contemptuous. "The idea of men—but I 'opes you didn't, Jimmy Brown,, now did' yerP' she demanded with sudden apprehension. " No„ I didn't," Jimmy replied stoutly. He certainly felt a queer dry-like sensation in his throat and a smarting kind of pain at the back of his eyes when it had come to the last i hand-shake; but, as he had mastered himself manfully after an effort worthy of tho name, he felt now that he could honestly enjoy his reward, which was Grannie's whole-hearted admiration of his performance. 1 ."That's right." she warmly apj proved, and she added: "Folks didn't outer cry an' make a fuss w'en their men goes off to do their dooty; its w'en they won't go that they outer ! cry." I "' So it is." agreed Jimmy Brown. ; Presently Grannie told Jimmy to get I some kindling wood*., and she rose herself, pretending that setting the cloth . for their tea was goingjto be her 'next job. v Instead, she went to her bedroom, closed the door, and _ began fumbling through a tiny box which she had taken from its hiding place at the bottom of a bureau. • , ~ "The surgent's first little socks, phe murmured, fondly, dreamilv, wistfully. "Bless ! im, 'ow 'e's feet did grow! This bit o' ribbon 'is godmother pinned on 'e's robe: pore old soul.goin' ! ter see Mm off! This white curl were 'is first lot o : 'air (who'd ever thought it 'ud 'ave turned inter .let black P"). ' And thus soliloquising the grey-hair-ed old mother continued to rummage fondly through her secret treasure-box, living again wistfully reminiscent through the different stages of her one baby's life, pressing to her heart a succession of tiny mementoes from those happy yesterdays and years, whilst in front of her on the bed-pillows rested a photograph of tho sergeant in J»» uniform—the latest treasure just adued to her store. Tears of greater pride fell down her wrinkled cheeks as she turned her gaze from the little pair of blue kid shoes to the broad, manly form in the picture. "Mv boy," she murmured fondly, "yer left us fur Honour—Gor' bless yev> Gor' " Her heart felt tightly pinched even though her satisfaction at his deed was so strong—only other mothers could understand Grannie's strange conflict of feelings, other motli- : ers who have made the same sacrifice. ! After a time she gently replaced each precious article back into their secret satin-lined homo. Then she knelt down by tho bedside, held her clasped hands over the small box and sent up a heartcry to the all-seeing Omnipotence to i witness the greatness of her sacrifice. j When she went back to the kitchen she was calm and smiling. Jimmy had not yet returned with the wood. He answered that he was coming at once when Grannie called, and she never guessed from his bright little face a moment later that he also had been putting a match to the tinder around their i sacrifice. ! "The sergeant won't be homo when ! my birthday comes," had been one of the biggest faggots the small boy had had to put in the flames, but he did i it with a firm upper lip, and faced his ' next duty with tho winning spirit of l his race.