Mary Roberts Rinehart

“ Then, on a Sabbath day very like this one, we went to church together, and the clergyman announced that he had found his duty lay with the colors. One by one the men in the congregation rose and joined him.
“The memories of the old are strange. I have forgotten so much since then. But I remember everything of that day your father, asleep on my arm, and your grandfather's face, white and set. Then I saw him take up his Testament, and open it at random, and sit with it in his hand, thinking. ”

“ They see that life itself is nothing, and that what counts is duty and achievement. And they have learned, at the cost of much sorrow, that we are all in the hands of a greater power to use as He wills.
“The peace of God be and abide with you always.”
“Poor old grandmother!” said the boy, inarticulately. He folded the letter and laid it beside him. He would have to hunt up that Testament and look at it. Pretty fine old chap, his grandfather. Those old guys had good stuff in 'em. Sword in one hand and Bible in the other! ”

“ What hurts most, I think, is that if anything does go wrong, we cannot care for you. Always, until now, there was something we could do, even if it was only a mustard plaster, or a bit of iodine for a little cut. ”

“ This is not a good-bye letter at all. It is a sort of 'welcome' letter—a welcome to new and big things. All these years I have been waiting for you to be a man. And now at last you are a man, with a man's work before you. ”

“ What a lot of flowers you have been sending to somebody or other!
“Well, Frank, I must run and see that your grandmother's luncheon goes up in good order. I meant to write you about yourself, and being a good boy, and all that, and here I have written only about myself. But I think you will understand. I had kept it in so long that I just had to talk it out. I feel better now. You are going to get the Hun, dear boy. And you are going to come back covered with medals, as a pin-cushion is stuck with pins. Your loving Aunt Fanny.”
“P.S. Let me know if the socks are large enough. ”

“ They're so stiff and self-conscious, but they certainly do know how to make eyes at a good-looking man. And you are perfectly wonderful in your uniform, Frank. It's the most becoming thing.
“I am really awfully sad. I hardly laugh at all any more, and everyone thinks I am en awful grouch. I'm just crumby all the time. And I think I'll go somewhere and be a nurse. There was a procession of nurses the other day, and they were absolutely fetching. All the men took their hats off. I expect you'll fall for some pretty nurse, Frank, and just forget all about us at home. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1958, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 65 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”