CHAPTER IV
STARTING FOR FRANCE
"Just to think of it, Tom," Jack Parmly was saying some time afterwards, as he sat before a fire in his chum's den, for they had been home some days, "to-night will be the last we expect to spend with our folks for a long while."
"Yes," added the other boy, a bit seriously. "And to tell you the truth, Jack, I really wish the parting was over. Father and mother don't say much, but I can see by their eyes they've been lying awake these last nights worrying about me. This parting from the family is the hardest part of the whole business to me."
"Yes, my mother is trying to smile through it all," said Jack soberly, winking very fast as he spoke for some reason or other, though Tom did not seem to notice the fact. "She has the soul of a true patriot. Years ago when we were at war with Spain, she let father go to the front without a complaint. My aunt told me that many times she found mother crying in secret; yet to the world she always seemed to be as calm and contented as if father had been at
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