Show A M MOTHERS 0 T efat S PROMISE irr 40 M I 1 S E T 0 H E S an by KATHLEEN NORRIS my dear one im writing this very very small and on the thinnest ot of paper so that tightly folded it may slip into one of the olive diab pockets of lour bour new uniform without encroaching for the tiniest part of an inch upon all the new things that you must have there the passports and identification slips and photograph the knife and pen and writing pad the lists and numbers and names and ci ciphers pliers the address book and the thin manual sou ou have been studying stud ing so hard and the slim little bible for this letter is a part of your equipment too or at 1 least I 1 like to think that it Is im going to tell you in it just one or two of tile things weve been trying not to say in these last days youve said mild to yourself you that there were possibilities that 1 I thank thanh god seemed to think of youve marvelled marvellee marvel led gratefully you that I 1 could say goodby with dry eyes and talk about what we ne should do when the war Is over my aly dear there Is nothing nothing that an happen to you that I 1 fo tore e been in cert ciera detail since may alne since I 1 tile lie ery beginning of it all I 1 know that some of bur our men are not going to come back I 1 know as I 1 write this in the lire room you love that your fill pers ars may fumble tor for this little piece 1 I paper in some dreadful hour a month or two iwo months or six months from now just to rend read it over once more for the last time just to feet feel in our fingers out there in a shell lighted battlefield that I 1 have touched for goodlive goodbye and thinking of all this tor for almost a yr year while youve been getting ready to go ive been getting ready to stay just as you planned I 1 planned phinn cd and I 1 slid said to myself liebi when lie ii tile hie lilu lime comes tor for us to part I 1 shall wake make him a promise dear one this is rny my promise and I 1 make it for tile llie term of your own for or the duration of the lie present war I 1 promise you that while you are away whether it is months or icara ift nothing except what t I 1 can gh give e 3 sou ou I 1 and give all the others shall 1111 my life I 1 promise you that I 1 shall devote myself roy self here in safety to the work of making what you do easier and stronger and safer fo for you I 1 promise you that I 1 shall give and give and give for the cause not the money I 1 can spare not the time thile I 1 have lett left when everything else Is done but all the lie money all the time all the energy I 1 hili have e I 1 your whole life lias has been altered has been set to sterner and graver gravel music so shall mine he be you will know self denial privation and fatigue while tile the war lasts so shau shall I 1 know then them even if black news comes coines even it if the blackest comes I 1 shall remember that against your brave heart tills this promise is resting and I 1 shall go 90 on and there Is one man among our million and among the millions milli of our allies who needs clothing and nursing and comforts and solace for your sake I 1 shall not tail fall him perhaps in gods goo goola driess oss tills this note will come safely back to me in the olive drab pocket and we will smile over it together but remember until that hour comes I 1 shall be always busy filling my own small place in the great machine of mercy and as truly under mider the colors over here as you are over there god bless you I 1 |