Gertrude said today . ' I dread it as I never dreaded spring before . Do you suppose there will ever again come a time when life will be free from fear ? For almost four years we have lain down with fear and risen up with it . It has been the unbidden guest at every meal , the unwelcome companion at every gathering . ' '' ` Hindenburg says he will be in Paris on 1st April , ' sighed Cousin Sophia . '' ` Hindenburg ! ' There is no power in pen and ink to express the contempt which Susan infused into that name . ` Has he forgotten what day the first of April is ? ' '' ` Hindenburg has kept his word hitherto , ' said Gertrude , as gloomily as Cousin Sophia herself could have said it . '' ` Yes , fighting against the Russians and Rumanians , ' retorted Susan . ` Wait you till he comes up against the British and French , not to speak of the Yankees , who are getting there as fast as they can and will no doubt give a good account of themselves . ' '' ` You said just the same thing before Mons , Susan , ' I reminded her . '' ` Hindenburg says he will spend a million lives to break the Allied front , ' said Gertrude . ` At such a price he must purchase some successes and how can we live through them , even if he is baffled in the end . These past two months when we have been crouching and waiting for the blow to fall have seemed as long as all the preceding months of the war put together . I work all day feverishly and waken at three o'clock at night to wonder if the iron legions have struck at last . It is then I see Hindenburg in Paris and Germany triumphant . I never see her so at any other time than that accursed hour . ' `` Susan looked dubious over Gertrude 's adjective , but evidently concluded that the ` a ' saved the situation . '' '
I wish it were possible to take some magic draught and go to sleep for the next three XXXXX -- and then waken to find Armageddon over , ' said mother , almost impatiently .
Allied British French Mons Paris Susan Yankees hour months night