LITTLE BROTHER
By Madeleine Z. Doty
A TRUE STORY
It was a warm summer’s day in late August. No men were visible in the Belgian hamlet. The women reaped in the fields; the insects hummed in the dry, warm air; the house-doors stood open. On a bed in a room in one of the cottages lay a woman. Beside her sat a small boy. He was still, but alert, his eyes following the buzzing flies. With a bit of paper he drove the intruders from the bed. His mother slept. It was evident from the pale, drawn face that she was ill.
Suddenly the dreaming, silent, summer day was broken by the sound of clattering hoofs. Some one was riding hurriedly through the town.
The woman moved uneasily. Her eyes opened. She smiled at the little boy.
“What is it, dear?”
The boy went to the window. Women were gathering in the street. He told his mother and hurried from the room. Her eyes grew troubled. In a few minutes the child was back, breathless and excited.
“Oh, mother, mother, the Germans are coming!”