boy let loose from school as he brushed up his uniform and
polished his big army shoes while his less fortunate companions kidded
him about the girl he was going to see. He denied their thrusts joyously,
in his heart repudiating any such personalities, yet somehow it was
pleasant. He had never realized how pleasant it would be to have a girl
and be going to see her--such a girl! Of course, she was not for him--not
with that possessiveness. But she was a friend, a real friend, and he
would not let anything spoil the pleasure of that!

He had not thought anything in his army experience could be so exciting
as that first ride back home again. Somehow the deference paid to his
uniform got into his blood and made him feel that people all along the
line really did care for what the boys were doing for them. It made camp
life and hardships seem less dreary.

It was great to get back to his little mother and put his big arms around
her again. She seemed so small. Had she shrunken since he left her or was
he grown so much huskier with the out of door life? Both, perhaps, and he
looked at her sorrowfully. She was so little and quiet and brave to bear
life all alone. If he only could get back and get to succeeding in life
so that he might make some brightness for her. She had borne so much, and
she ought not to have looked so old and worn at her age! For a brief
instant again his heart was almost bitter, and he wondered what God meant
by giving his good little mother so much trouble. Was there a God when
such things could be? He resolved to do something about finding out this
very day.

It was pleasant to help his mother about the kitchen, saving her as she
had not been saved since he left, telling her about the camp, and
listening to her tearful admiration of him. She could scarcely take her
eyes from him, he seemed so tall and big and handsome in his uniform; he
appeared so much older and more manly that her heart yearned for her boy
who seemed to be slipping away from her. It was so heavenly blessed to
sit down beside him and sew on a button and mend a torn spot in his
flannel shirt and have him pat her shoulder now and then contentedly.

Then with pride she sent him down to the store for something nice for
dinner, and watched him through the window with a smile, the tears
running down her cheeks. How tall and straight he walked! How like his
father when she first knew him! She hoped the neighbors all were looking
out and wo