"
"I wouldn't dodge the front thataway. I'd like to enlist as a private
and then work myself up to lieutenant and then on up to captain and get
right into the fray on the front. I--"
"You bet, if I was a fellow, I'd enlist for the kind of home service I
wanted--that's what Eddie and all the fellows are doing."
"So would I, Clara, if I was what you call a--free man. There's nobody
given it more thought than me."
"Well, then, why don't you? Talk's cheap."
"You know why, Clara, to get back to going around in a circle again."
"But you've got to go, sooner or later. You've got a comfortable married
sister and independent circumstances of your own to keep your mother;
you haven't got a chance for exemption."
"I don't want exemption."
"Well, then, beat the draft to it."
"I--Most girls ain't so anxious to--to get rid of their best fellows,
Clara."
"Silly! Can't you see the point? If--if you'd enlist and go off to camp,
I--I could go and live near you there like Birdie Harberger does her
husband. See?"
"You mean--"
"Then--God forbid anything should happen to you!--I'm your wife. You
see, Sam?"
"Why, Clara--"
"You see what I mean. But nothing can happen this way, because if you
try to enlist in some mechanical department where they need you in this
country--you see, Sam? See?"
"I--see.
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