peaceful little hometown. I wonder what it will be like after the war is over. Meanwhile, last summer, when we were so happy, seems like another world. We are all trying to be brave because you are so brave. I know you’re doing your part and the Army is proud of you. Your skills are needed on the home front, and you mustn’t think you aren’t just as vital to the war effort as the men who went to Europe. Please try to write to me if you can and reassure me. . . .” Then she crossed out “and reassure me,” because she didn’t want to whine. “The only news I have since yesterday is very good news—Maude is expecting a baby! She is so lucky that Walter, as a husband, has been deferred. Now that he will be both a husband and a father he is even safer.”
She often thought that she and Tom should have gotten married too, then he wouldn’t be in the Army. But she didn’t say so in her letters. He had been patriotic, wanting to do his part in the war, and he might even have enlisted, married man or not. Why did men think war and danger were so exciting? Didn’t they know what could happen to them?
“I’m so proud of you, dearest Tom,” she wrote, keeping her feelings to herself, hoping she didn’t look like a future nagging wife. “And our country is proud of you too. I think about you, I dream about you, and I imagine our future marriage and its private moments with so much longing.” Of course, she did not know what those “private moments” were, but she relived his kisses, and was sure that he would know even if she didn’t. “All my love and a thousand kisses, Rose.”
That winter was unusually cold, with shortages of fuel, especially coal. People bought Liberty Bonds, and there was food conservation, with wheatless and meatless days, because so much was needed to feed the troops. Celia and Maude rolled bandages for the Red Cross, and Hugh collected scrap metal for the war effort. While the women were busy he also volunteered to take care of his two younger sisters; he had the patience to play with them for hours. William complained because the income tax, which had only been around for four years, had already been heavily increased. He said it penalized the middle class and the poor, and that the rich were “getting away with it.” No one could stand the income tax; it was a kind of shock. But money had to be raised for the war.
“People hate the Germans so much,” Rose wrote to Tom, “that they are actually kicking dachshunds in the street!”
Conscription speeded up. There was compulsive universal draft now, and military training for the hundreds of thousands of new recruits.
Ben Carson, who had received military training at Yale in the Student Army Corps, was going to be shipped overseas. He came back to Bristol on leave before he left, and Maude took Rose to the tea his sister Gloria (whose new husband was now a serviceman in Europe) gave for him.
He looked very official and serious in his uniform. “I’m so eager to join ‘The Great Adventure,’” he said.
“The great adventure?” Rose said, surprised.
“That’s what Theodore Roosevelt called it,” Ben said, “and I think that’s very apt and inspiring. This will be the most exciting thing that has ever happened to any of us.”
Rose didn’t answer. She didn’t want to insult or discourage him when he was about to go off happily to save freedom, although she had to turn her face away. How naive these soldiers were to think it was only an adventure when their lives were at stake, she thought, upset. All her life she had been taught that men were more practical than women, that they were more intelligent; but now she was beginning to think that women were the ones capable of rational thought, while men, with their uniforms and guns and marching songs, were the instinctual ones.
“How is Tom doing?” Ben asked.
“He’s well, thank you,” Rose said.
“Still at Fort Riley?”
“Yes. They need him there.”
She
She often thought that she and Tom should have gotten married too, then he wouldn’t be in the Army. But she didn’t say so in her letters. He had been patriotic, wanting to do his part in the war, and he might even have enlisted, married man or not. Why did men think war and danger were so exciting? Didn’t they know what could happen to them?
“I’m so proud of you, dearest Tom,” she wrote, keeping her feelings to herself, hoping she didn’t look like a future nagging wife. “And our country is proud of you too. I think about you, I dream about you, and I imagine our future marriage and its private moments with so much longing.” Of course, she did not know what those “private moments” were, but she relived his kisses, and was sure that he would know even if she didn’t. “All my love and a thousand kisses, Rose.”
That winter was unusually cold, with shortages of fuel, especially coal. People bought Liberty Bonds, and there was food conservation, with wheatless and meatless days, because so much was needed to feed the troops. Celia and Maude rolled bandages for the Red Cross, and Hugh collected scrap metal for the war effort. While the women were busy he also volunteered to take care of his two younger sisters; he had the patience to play with them for hours. William complained because the income tax, which had only been around for four years, had already been heavily increased. He said it penalized the middle class and the poor, and that the rich were “getting away with it.” No one could stand the income tax; it was a kind of shock. But money had to be raised for the war.
“People hate the Germans so much,” Rose wrote to Tom, “that they are actually kicking dachshunds in the street!”
Conscription speeded up. There was compulsive universal draft now, and military training for the hundreds of thousands of new recruits.
Ben Carson, who had received military training at Yale in the Student Army Corps, was going to be shipped overseas. He came back to Bristol on leave before he left, and Maude took Rose to the tea his sister Gloria (whose new husband was now a serviceman in Europe) gave for him.
He looked very official and serious in his uniform. “I’m so eager to join ‘The Great Adventure,’” he said.
“The great adventure?” Rose said, surprised.
“That’s what Theodore Roosevelt called it,” Ben said, “and I think that’s very apt and inspiring. This will be the most exciting thing that has ever happened to any of us.”
Rose didn’t answer. She didn’t want to insult or discourage him when he was about to go off happily to save freedom, although she had to turn her face away. How naive these soldiers were to think it was only an adventure when their lives were at stake, she thought, upset. All her life she had been taught that men were more practical than women, that they were more intelligent; but now she was beginning to think that women were the ones capable of rational thought, while men, with their uniforms and guns and marching songs, were the instinctual ones.
“How is Tom doing?” Ben asked.
“He’s well, thank you,” Rose said.
“Still at Fort Riley?”
“Yes. They need him there.”
She
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