Show I l I Eye Ants Ant's sty Eye View i r fly ny y MAC C The oThe first flut thing we e knew we-knew kD koew i on the Eleventh Day Di of November 1918 1915 that something K un unusual sUJ was u a happening happ hap hap- p pening was 1 when one of the wll witch switch b in the Burlington yards started screeching gad never ne er stopped for hour hours That was the end of ef the War WarTo WarTo To End Wars Wari Kaiser BUI wadI wad wd 1 I whipped I There was no radio j pt t coursed course Only source sauce of fat fast Information was wu the telegraph office at It the I depot When the whittle tle kept on blowing and wa wu Joined Soon Soon bythe by he the towns town's tire fire siren efren everybody tried to call the telegrapher His HI HI line was too busy y but by that time the telephone opo operators had hadit it II Imand and and JU just l said ald over oer and over o the war Is II over oer o er We called It arma arma D. D y II 1 was wu a small boy but I 1 remember fiber ber it clearly 1 I was allowed to 0 take lake a shotgun outdoors and shoot It twice It kicked like the d dicker dickens 1 People ran around like the they were crazy razy Most MOlt of the women were crying So were some IOme of the men Most MOlt calm and quiet homes were those thole with gold t tara stare In the window Mother cried very quietly One of her sons had been shot In Inthe 1 the tl shoulder houlder the other one deaf deaf- sued by shellfire Now the hell bell w would be waiting to hear bear whether r they had bad lived until today I J Downtown it was bedlam Doz Dos cu II of cars careened around like mad nad mad Every Maxwell Do Dodge ge Ford Overland Star Jewell Jewett and Brush In town was leaded with people waving lags flags find and ye yelling It must must h have ve been Saturday there Saturday there wasn't school anyhow i I j t There was a sense enee I of sadness because now I would I never get to fight In the war 1 M big brothers brother would be the only heroes In the family And I i there would of course never be another As I evening approached th the town went even crazier cruter Riotous plans were were made for a huge bon bon- bonfire fire tire in the busiest intersection Wood started appearing like magic drawn by horses hones carried oil trucks I It was wae 8 far worse than Halloween halo Hallo weep some ome of the nicest privies in town were ere dragged to the scene acene and aDd u aa a the they made their appearance and were tossed reseed onto the py pyre laughing roar laUghIng roars went up I as they were ere identified Gerhardt sat lat In is hU his I with a loaded rifle and aDd defied the mob to come and get it Ills His Sue Dose had already been striped luy h yellow o 1 By n gh all a the pyre pye was al almost almost al al- most mOlt two stories torte high The kerosene pump at the Mercantile Mercantile tile tine Store was l b broached r hed ched and nd coal oil w. w was wae tossed ver over the wood and It was fired air arld it roared Into flame 1 0 A near near-by eiore store window hat hat- In the heat and when the I store keeper keeper protested mildly he ho was greeted with cites of Blacker Slack Black tr er Slacker Blacker The town drunk put in his appearance ap ap- r arance weaving in and out of oftIe tIe the flickering shadows waving a ten cent flag Jl Hero ro of the eve i Irving DIng woe was wasa a young stranger a second lieutenant In spotless new uniform He lie was w cheered aid Id strutted beautifully a Turned out to be a high school cadet o 0 Home Homebrew brew and bootleg whiskey whiskey whis whis- key became promiscuous as M the evening advanced Nobody careda cared a about ut anything except that the thear theMar star Mar ar was over And there would never neer be another war The fire began MU to die down and people I began to go home and 1 J was as al awa About 2 Y am Lm Q a r h. h hard b t Schmidt i dt still Itt sitting guard nha In n hit his backhouse drooped off t to sleep leep So Some OMe one one ev never t j fled threw Il kerosene and a Wash I i privy and IId t wa ami burned to t death E Everybody ag agreed that who ho ever did It surely u didn't dU jin w he h. wa was Ild I remember member Tauber him hind ae as a kindly man nun WhO ho key Ilk HM like w wWI Well WellA Well WI WellA A year later my brother who Io had re enlisted ted to be h sent sect to mechanic a I school hool and wa wag sent n to El 1 HMO Puo to guard parel Use tae border hLl instead was tIed jailed tor for trying to eater a place plainly marked Dogs Dop and Keep Out Out- The Th other brother waa wM canned from hU his job be his because aua his hi shoulder was wal still tW I stiff un These nue were we're the heroes In our family That was waa the end of the War Warto to 0 End Ead Wars Warl That WM was the first at Arm Armistice Uce Day Dar November 11 11 Mae 1 1918 Mac r 7 |