JUNE 1925
THE UNITED AMERICAN
be declared against Germany, old Stoltz to the parlor lamp, while Stoltz with
was stunned. “Mine Gott!” he cried. many grunts and shiftings would com
What trick is England put over on Uncle pose himself in the rocker. She would
Sam? He fight the Fatherland? No, no! read—very slowly, while he pondered
The big men in the east is money mad. every word. Sometimes he would grunt,
But the people fight to make them all and Minnie would flush and look de
the more richer? No!”
termined.
Indeed the nation’s warward sweep
“Ach! Read that again,” he would say.
had come to everyone with the force of
She would do so.
a shock. We were appalled when the
“Ach! Well—go on!”
Lusitania was sunk, but somehow we
The whole town was shocked When
assumed that the kaiser would cease word came that Fred had been killed in
submarining, and that Uncle Sam would battle. The explanatory letter read: “He
stay clear of the war. It took a lot to was a hero, and his country may well be
wake us up. We had some sympathy, proud of him.”
then, for old Stoltz—all except Doc
Stoltz took it hard, unburdening his
Fraser who had old country relatives in grief to father. “I knew mine boy would
the war. Doc was short, sturdy and never come back!”
stubborn like old Stoltz, and it was a
“He was a hero,” father consoled.
sight worth seeing when they locked
“Yes,” agreed Stoltz and lapsed into
horns in Pete’s cigar store.
moody silence.
♦
♦
♦
Our occasional glimpses of the old man
Knowing Stoltz’s attitude, we were showed he was bitter. He grew haggard
dumfounded when the news flew around, and seldom acknowledged our greetings.
shortly after war was declared, that his Even his visits to father’s office became
boy Fred had enlisted. I had rather lost more and more infrequent.
Minnie
sight of Fred during the later years. He grieved, too. She failed, was- hollow-
had grown up into a stalwart, fine look eyed, but Stoltz was as gentle and
ing fellow, yet on the whole irresponsible. deferential to her as ever.
He played the cornet in the band and
We knew that something was bound to
danced more industriously than he had happen, when we saw him plodding along
ever worked. Old Stoltz had grieved the street, his head drooped, his hands
over his shiftlessness, which came to be clasped behind his back. And I myself
the burden of his talk with father.
caused the breaking of the storm. I
And Fred had recently deepened the wrote a scathing editorial about the
tragedy by eloping with Minnie Allen, a kaiser and his crew. Rather it wrote
dark-eyed little miss, apparently as ir itself. I did not foresee what I pre
responsible as he himself. I can imagine cipitated. Strolling into Pete’s cigar
their reception when they returned from store, I was surprised to find myself
their matrimonial escapade. Yet Stoltz facing an excited group.
Roaring,
amazed us all by providing them with a gesticulating, Stoltz was brandishing a
little cottage. But he kept aloof. For a copy of the paper.
while Fred did odd jobs of painting
“This is one dirty, lying rag!” he
around town, then he dropped the brush shouted, waving it aloft. Catching sight
and enlisted. No one could understand of me, he bellowed: “He lie! And if
the workings of his mind. He went away you believe him you all lie!”
with a prospect of getting to the front
A roar went up, and several men
soon, but left Minnie, as far as he was grabbed hold of him. He shook them off
concerned, to shift for herself.
His collar torn loose, he stood at bay,
His father was at the train to bid him glaring at us with bloodshot eyes through
goodbye, his face filled with mingled streaks of dishevelled hair. “Liars!” he
grief and reproach. “Mine son,” he said, panted. You bully an old man • just
“be brave. And Gott bless you.” Tears ’cause he tell the truth.”
streamed into his beard ,and his thick
Just then father stepped in. He didn’t
arms went around the boy and he kissed say a word, yet everybody was silent.
him and cried, his brow on his shoulder. What a dignity he had! And he never
Minnie sobbed piteously as the train showed it to better advantage. His new
drew away, and Stoltz stood looking after blue suit and carefully arranged white
it, a little more stooped than usual.
tie were the last word in exacting neat
We assumed that Minnie would go ness. His tall, spare, erect figure; the
home to her folks. But here were mis tilt of his soft, dark hat, revealing his
calculated. The cottage was rented, and high forehead; his business look and
she went to keep house for Stoltz. No warrior’s gray mustache, all seemed a
one envied her, but we were treated to definition of commanding superiority.
another surprise. The shades were rolled
He fixed his gaze on Stoltz and said:
up and white curtains appeared- at the “Herman—you go home.”
windows.
The whole place seemed
The old man stared, then raised pro
brightened. And when Stoltz came down
town, Minnie was often by his side. W,e testing hands. “But, mine old friend,
suspected that he blamed her for Fred’s they lie about the German people. You
enlistment; but if so, not a soul knew it tell them they lie!”
Gravely father shook his head and re
except himself. And Minnie grew more
womanly. She seemed proud of being a peated: “You go home.”
soldier’s wife. By the path of sacrifice
Stoltz staggered arid went white. His
she came into her own.
faith in father was shattered. “Mine old
When' letters came from Fred, their friend,” he grieved,” you turn against me,
reading was reserved for the evening too!” He stumbled away, his arms limp,
hour. Minnie would draw her chair close his head swaying—a crushed, broken-
Page Forty-five
hearted man. We all pitied him as much
as our excited feelings would allow.
He came no more to father’s office. But
father made no comment. He became
more reticent than usual and allowed
no one to discuss Stoltz in his presence.
The old German shunned the light of
day, but people spoke of seeing him
wandering around at night. But he
spoke to no one. Beginning to hear how
obdurate Germans were being dealt with
elsewhere, more than once we thought
of him.
There was a young lawyer in the town
by the name of Mason, who was gaining
noteriety by his fiery, patriotic speeches.
“Show me a man,” was his dramatic cry,
“who is not heart and soul with Uncle
Sam, and I will show you an enemy who
is dangerous to the country.”
“He hits from the shoulder,” his ad
mirers said. “And there’s a jolt in every
word.”
Mason prided himself as a man of
action, too. “There’s a man in this
town,” he cried one evening at a patriotic
meeting, “who sticks to the kaiser and
slurs the good faith of Uncle Sam. He
shuns the sunlight where every true
American rejoices to walk, and prowls
around after dark like our enemies who
specialize in deed's of darkness. No one
knows what he may be plotting. I say,
don’t take any chances! To make sure
he won’t do any damage, put him where
he can’t.”
In eommmon with others I was im
pressed by Mason’s logic. What if old
Stoltz went insane through his continual
brooding? Who could tell what he
might do? A council of war was called,
to meet at father’s office. Father was
not pleased , with the idea, but he voiced
no open objections. Mason was the
spokesman, working himself into ora
torical frenzy.
“Are we doing our duty,” he argued,
“in letting this man roam at large ? Who
knows what’s in his mind? Who knows
what this old minion of German state
craft may be hatching up? It’s in him;
he can’t help it! So I say the time for
talking is past. It is up to us to act!”'
He paused with fine dramatic effect,
and there was a general chorus: “Have
him taken up!”
But father sat silent.. Mason was
watching him, and noting that he did not
join in the assent, levelled a finger at
bim and demanded:
“What’s your
opinion, Judge?”
“You leave Stoltz alone,” was father’s
pointed advice. “He’s all right at heart
and will come to himself.”
Regaining his poise and realizing that
the crowd was mainly with him, Mason
proceeded insinuatingly: “Now. Judge,
we know you and Stoltz are old friends.
But shouldn’t yo.u think of your country,
first,”
“I fought for my country in the civil
war,” father countered, “and Stoltz’s son
died for her! And you have nothing but
your suspicions on which to base a
charge against him.”.
“Ah!” was Mason’s significant ex
clamation. “Perhaps you think—well,
(Continued on Page Forty-eight)
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