Page:Keeping the Peace.pdf/30

 said John. "I'll write to you. After all, you are the head of the family . . ."

"I don't like to see you so bitter, my boy. I don't like it."

"Who made me bitter?"

"Don't you love your mother, John?"

The Reverend Mr. Eaton received a reply which he did not expect.

"Do you?" said John. And he added, "If you do you're the biggest saint since Christ."

"S-s-sh! S-s-sh!" said his father, in an agony of embarrassment.

John turned to the recruiting officer.

"I want to be in the navy," he said. "What do I do?"

"Fill out this blank," said the officer, and in about half an hour John was a servant of the Government and could not have gone back home if he had wanted to.

"John," said the Reverend Mr. Eaton, "when you write, don't say that you had my consent and approval to the step you are taking. Don't mention that you even saw me. But write, write now, so that I will get the letter in the morning."

With his enlistment there seemed to have come over John a kind of aging and ripening. He had sworn allegiance to his Government. And this had made him feel that his allegiance was wanted and