Gerry Hull

“ Several of the Ribot's men came and said good-bye to Ruth and Milicent again and made last memoranda of how they could later be located. Gerry Hull appeared and, in her brief moment with him, Ruth marveled at the change in him. The air raid and the view of his comrades fighting again and, too, this nearness of his return to duty had banished all boyishness from him; a simple sternness suddenly had returned him to a maturity which made her wonder how she ever could have assumed to scold and correct him as once she had. ”

“ And, as she recalled it, she saw that Gerry Hull recollected it too; and the hot color on his cheeks deepened and his eyes, when they met hers, looked quickly away.
"They're wonderful, those fellows," he admitted to her aloud. He spoke, then, not to her, but to the destroyer. "But why couldn't you come three years ago?" ”

“ Ruth gazed at Hilton with wonder. She could have understood a man like Sam Hilton if he refused to read at all about Gerry Hull; or she could have understood if, reading, Sam Hilton denied admiration. But how could a young man know about Lieutenant Hull and admire him and feel no personal reproach at himself staying safe and satisfied and out of “it”? ”

“ And he wished that he had; or that this girl would soon again be where he could see her.
The days when he could be free from duty were few and brief now; and with the swift onset of spring they were certain to be fewer. For tremendous movements—the most stupendous in all human history—were clearly imminent; men, and women too, were certain to be called upon to die in number beyond all past calculation.
Gerry Hull did not think of himself as one of those certain to die; neither did he think of himself as one likely to live. ”

“ That's an interesting idea, when you think of it, isn't it?"
"Yes," said Ruth. "Hubert——"
"How does Gerry feel about being an American now?"
"I've not talked with Gerry for more than three months."
"Being an American," Hubert mused, "being an American is some privilege these days—even if you only drive an ambulance. To be Gerry Hull now!" He gazed at Ruth, who looked away, but who could not stop color suffusing her face under his challenge. ”

“ Ruth accepted. Her orders from the Germans had been to cultivate her acquaintance with Gerry Hull; yet, if they were watching her now, it was better to have them see him come to her. "But you must get him at once," she said.
Hubert succeeded within the hour, for it was not yet five in the afternoon when Gerry Hull appeared on the Rue des Saints Pères, found the little pension and rang. Ruth had him ushered into a small private parlor, where she and Milicent entertained; she saw him there alone. ”

“ Ruth went sick when she saw them. She thought of Hubert, her gentle-minded, sensitive Hubert, now helping to handle men so hurt. She thought of Agnes Ertyle when she saw English women, as well as English men, receiving the forms from the ambulances at the great casualty clearing stations where new rows of tents hastily were going up. She thought, of course, of Gerry Hull. She believed that he was far removed from this zone of battle; but she did not yet know—no one yet knew—how far the fighting front was extending. He might be flying at this moment over a front most heavily involved ”

“ The placards all about Paris warning, Be on guard! Enemy ears listen! influenced her even behind the closed doors.
Gerry Hull started. Not greatly, for he had been in France long enough to hear accusations—false or true—against almost anyone.
"You know him?" Ruth asked.
"He is well known," Gerry said. "I've heard of him."
"I am absolutely certain that he is a German spy." ”

“ She could accomplish her purpose partly, perhaps, through Hubert Lennon. She might accomplish it more safely through the aid of other men whom she now knew; or through Mr. Mayhew. But she could accomplish it best through Gerry Hull.
Accordingly she telephoned to Hubert that afternoon to meet her at the pension as soon as possible; and when he came, she asked him if he knew where Gerry Hull was.
He was in Paris, Hubert had to confess; he had been in Paris for two days.
Ruth could not help coloring. "I need to see him, Hubert. Tell me where I can find him and I shall go there." ”

“ Ruth heard Gerry Hull's voice apologizing first to the man who had tried to introduce him. "I beg the pardon of you all for what I'm going to say. It's not a word of what I'm supposed to say, I know; it'll be just what I think and feel.
"We're not doing our part, people!" he burst out passionately without more preparation. "We're still taking protection behind England and France, as we've done since the start of the war! We ought to be there in force now! ”

“ They had learned the phrases together, drilled each other and taken the lessons so seriously; and the lessons seemed so silly now.
"They must have hurt someone," Ruth said. For the first time she consciously thought of Gerry Hull; probably subconsciously she had been thinking of him all the time. "He wasn't hit," she was saying to herself confidently now. "That shell struck us forward; his cabin's aft and on the other side; so he couldn't have been hurt—unless he'd come to this side to get Lady Agnes."
Another shell exploded in the ship-aft somewhere and lower. ”

“ Someone had come into the wreck of that cabin behind her now. A steward, probably; or perhaps Hubert Lennon, who had found her again. She did not turn but continued to stare at the U-boat, her hands clinging to the jagged hole made by its shell. A man's hand caught her shoulder and a voice spoke to her—Gerry Hull's voice.
"Come with me," he was saying to her. "You cannot stay here; come to a safer place." ”

“ The man whose "present" house went back to 1582 nodded thoughtfully.
Ruth received all this eagerly; it could not in the least shake her own confidence in her people; but it gave her better comprehension of the ideas which Gerry Hull had gained from his association with Europeans. And this morning, when she was certain to meet him, she wished—oh she wished to an incredible degree—to understand him more fully than before. She learned from a remark of Captain Forraker's that Gerry Hull and Lady Agnes had breakfasted early and had gone out on deck. Ruth had intended to go on deck after breakfast ”

“ Men here and there were rising while they applauded and called his name; other men, women, and girls got to their feet. Hubert Lennon, on Ruth's left, was one of the first to stand up; his aunt was standing. So Ruth arose then, too; everyone throughout the great rooms was standing now in honor of Gerry Hull. ”

“ This was Germany; and he was in Germany; the enemy had him—von Forstner's boasting voice was saying it—dead or a prisoner. She shuddered and closed her eyes to see, again, Gerry Hull's face. She seemed to be looking up at him; he was in blue-gray—his French uniform. Palms and roses were behind him. They were in Mrs. Corliss' conservatory together, their first time alone.
"You're not like anyone else here," he was saying to her. "That's why I needed to see you again. . . . What is it, Cynthia Gail?" A queer, warm little thrill went through her ”

“ Smoke continued to sweep by Ruth, engulfing her for long moments, but the fire was far enough below not to immediately threaten her. So for the minute she was as safe as she could be anywhere upon that long flank of the ship at which the U-boats were firing. At any instant, a shell might obliterate her; but she could not influence that by any thought or action of her own. So she thought no more about it. She could possibly influence the fate of Gerry Hull. He had been flung down that chute of the deck floor, she thought ”

“ Brooding and shaken, like an old man utterly undone, Hull abandoned his pretentious invasion of Canada and retreated across the river to shelter his troops behind the log barricades of Detroit. He sent six hundred men to try to open a line to Ohio, but, after a sharp encounter with a British force, Hull was obliged to admit that they "could only open communication as far as the points of their bayonets extended." His only thought was to extricate himself, not to stand and fight a winning battle without counting the cost. His officers felt only contempt for his cowardice. ”

“ But there is nothing more disorganizing to men than to be fired at and not have the opportunity of firing in return, and they besought Morris again to give the permission. Twice more the lieutenant went aft to the quarter-deck, and twice he got the same reply. Hull, like Paul Jones, believed in great broadsides at close quarters. This silence under galling fire was the greatest test of discipline an American crew had ever had. For in the heat of battle a man forgets to be afraid. That the men stood to it, speaks well for Hull’s training. ”

“ There were few actors on the stage for whom Elliston had more regard than he had for the veteran, Hull. In 1807, worn out with a career which dated from 1759, heavy, useful, and intelligent Hull played his last character, the Uncle, in "George Barnwell," and he died soon after. Mason had a good opinion of him, for in consigning the Chief Bard, in "Caractacus," to be played by him, the poet remarked:—"Any instruction from me will be unnecessary; your own taste and judgment will direct you." To Hull is owing the establishment of the Covent Garden fund for the benefit of decayed actors. ”

“ Therefore having lived in a Settlement twenty years, I see scores of young people who have successfully established themselves in life, and in my travels in the city and outside, I am constantly cheered by greetings from the rising young lawyer, the scholarly rabbi, the successful teacher, the prosperous young matron buying clothes for blooming children. "Don't you remember me? I used to belong to a Hull-House club." ”

“ A striking illustration of this came to us during our second year's residence on Halsted Street through an incident in the Italian colony, where the men have always boasted that they were able to guard their daughters from the dangers of city life, and until evil Italians entered the business of the "white slave traffic," their boast was well founded. The first Italian girl to go astray known to the residents of Hull-House, was so fascinated by the stage that on her way home from work she always loitered outside a theater before the enticing posters. ”

“ He was sheriff of Hull. In 1873 he actively promoted the Hull and South Western Junction Railway bill. In 1874 he entered Parliament for Hull as a liberal, and sat continuously till 1905, representing West Hull from 1885. As an ardent liberal he was a pronounced free-trader and an advocate of temperance reform. An opponent of the South African war of 1899–1901, he yet showed public spirit by placing at the disposal of the government the Ariosto, one of his firm's vessels, for the purpose of transporting the newly raised City Imperial Volunteers to the Cape. ”

“ Twigg the drysalter is now in Hull? A God-fearing and saintly man, Mrs. White, who used to hold forth to the edification of a flock that was wont to assemble at the tabernacle in Backwater alley."
"Oh, dear! yes, sir, he is in Hull," replied Mrs. White. "I saw the good gentleman only yesterday."
"Then I will go and visit him presently," answered Mr. Dry. "Humble-minded folks may always profit much of godly conversation; and to do him but justice, he is always ready to use his spiritual gifts for the benefit of others." ”

“ This was Hull’s last expression of confidence or hope. Thenceforward every day brought him fatal news. His army lost respect for him in consequence of his failure to attack Malden; the British strengthened the defences of Malden, and August 8 received sixty fresh men of the Forty-first under Colonel Proctor from Niagara; [256] but worse than mutiny or British reinforcement, news from the Northwest of the most disastrous character reached Hull at a moment when his hopes of taking Malden had already faded. ”

“ In March 1655 he was implicated in the projected royalist rising in Yorkshire, was arrested, and sent to the garrison of Hull to be imprisoned (Thurloe Papers, iv. 462, 468, 614) . Unfortunately for himself, he endeavoured to gain over one of the officers of the garrison, Major Waterhouse, thinking that Hull would be an admirable landing-place for Charles II and the troops whom he had got together in Flanders. ”

“ One's heart aches for these young people caught by the outside glitter of city gayety, who make such a feverish attempt to snatch it for themselves. The young people in our clubs are comparatively safe, but many instances come to the knowledge of Hull-House residents which make us long for the time when the city, through more small parks, municipal gymnasiums, and schoolrooms open for recreation, can guard from disaster these young people who walk so carelessly on the edge of the pit. ”

“ One day, two or three farmers from a distance, visiting the place for the first time and seeing Hull, said, "Why, that is the man who brought the big box down the valley." On being asked what they meant, they said that, being one evening in a tavern on the valley turnpike some miles south of Cardiff, they had noticed under the tavern shed a wagon bearing an enormous box; and when they met Hull in the bar-room and asked about it, he said that it was some tobacco-cutting machinery which he was bringing to Syracuse. ”