Olive Higgins Prouty

“ Constance had read many accounts of evacuations, had listened to many, had gazed long at countless sketches, drawn in charcoal by great artists, of terror-stricken refugees, but she hadn't conceived what it was really like. She hadn't supposed there would be troops upon troops of retreating soldiers mixed in among the refugees—silent bands, ambulances evacuating hospitals, rattling wagons full of army equipment, evidence upon evidence of defeat, surrender. ”

“ The real test of courage lies in the length of its endurance. It was when the first signs of dawn began to steal into the troubled sky above Constance, after she had directed some dozen or so refugees along the way to safety, that she knew, without a shadow of doubt, that she would continue equal to the demands of her great opportunity. ”

“ No time to split hairs as to her fitness or unfitness for her job. She alone stood between the refugees and possible catastrophe. She alone! "Why," it occurred to her with sudden unexpectedness, "I am indispensable! To a few defeated soldiers—to a few foot-weary refugees—I am indispensable!"
France had been a series of revelations to Constance. This night was the climax. This night, this 23rd of March, 1918, and she alone at a cross-roads—directing traffic in the great world-war, gave justification to her birth, she believed! ”

“ Sometimes Myrtle acted toward her as though she had willfully chosen celibacy. She hadn't chosen it. She had never craved a career like some women, never sought one. She was fond of children. Children were fond of her. It seemed to her a queer sort of accident that there existed no little child anywhere to call her mother.
This year, in view of the war, Myrtle had made Constance's activities in life seem a little more trivial than ever before. Myrtle was to become the mother of a third child in a few months ”

“ The futility of her existence, the utter aimlessness and uselessness of it swept over Constance Weatherby to-day in big engulfing waves, blotting out from her vision the placid green fields, and rolling pasturage outside the car window, and robbing her of all joy in anticipation of seeing the family again—Adelaide and Christine and Maude, and possibly Bert and Harry, home from training camp for over Sunday, and Mother, and dear Dad. ”

“ Ellen took the bit of paper from the soldier's hands. There hadn't been time for Constance to write but a few words, just eleven, in fact—but the light of her message shone a long way down the years of the man she loved best.
"Dear Dad," Ellen read through her tears, "Don't worry any more. At last I know why—"
And here her message ended abruptly. She had had to stop a moment to direct two French soldiers to safety.
In war as in peace, there are births as well as deaths happening every hour. ”

“ Any one who has ever dabbled in photography to the extent of shutting himself up in a tight little closet, its pitch darkness tempered slightly by a dim red glow, and dipped dark, smoky-looking pieces of glass and paper into various solutions, knows with what eagerness he waits for the blank black squares and strips to come to life, break out into spots of light, which gradually assume familiar shapes and contours. ”

“ She would not fail. At whatever hour she was relieved, whatever renewed activity took place in the firing above and about her, with the breaking of the dawn, she would not flinch—not now! A thrill of joy ran through her. Every event in her life that made possible this particular hour of dawn and fulfillment, she accepted eagerly, gladly. ”

“ He wanted to know if Constance, or her companion, one of them, would stand at the cross-roads, and direct the traffic, allowing the other one to proceed with the car. It was vital. If any of the troops or refugees took the wrong road it would lead them over a hill, now being shelled by German guns. The officer himself must return to a similar post of duty.
"I'll do it," said Constance promptly. "You'll be more needed at the other end, Ellen." Ellen was a full-fledged trained nurse. "Pass the baby to somebody else, and you take the wheel. I'll stay here. ”

“ This morning, en route to the office he left her seated in the automobile while he did an errand which would keep him, he thought, about ten minutes. He was back in three, and Constance, who hadn't dared risk shedding a tear in the room which she shared with Adelaide, but had thought herself quite safe in the back corner of the limousine, had been found by her father shielding with one hand her closed eyes, which when she uncovered and opened them were swimming with unmistakable tears! She blushed crimson. Her father hated to have anybody around him who was unhappy or discontented. ”

“ Device or not, the automobile had proved very engrossing, and as soon as Constance obtained her chauffeur's license she planned to join a woman's motor-corps, and volunteer to carry wounded soldiers from the ships to the hospitals, when once the heroes began to return. This amazing order to report in New York two weeks from Wednesday, and be ready to sail the following day, would be disastrous to the motor-corps plan. "Moreover, I'm an awful coward. They may want fools in France but they can't want cowards. Why, whenever I sleep in a room alone at night, I look under my bed. ”

“ Constance's car was filled to overflowing with human cargo on its last trip out of the village. On the driving seat beside Constance sat another member of the Unit, Ellen Winslow, with a six-hour-old baby, done up in a piece of woolen blanket in her arms. ”