Chapter 1

Anne was sitting on the porch reading the paper. She heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Mrs. Marshall Elliott, known by her old friends as Miss Cornelia. She seemed to be very agitated about something. "Anne dearie, have you seen this evenings's paper?"

"I was just about to read it Cornelia. Is there something important in it?"

"Yes. That Hitler has gone violated that peace treaty with Russia. Mark my words, this is going to come to a bad end."

"Do you think there will be war?" Anne said with a start. She thought of the white cross in France.

"I don't know. But this man is worse then the Kaiser, and he was bad."

"I hope that it will not come to war. It mustn't. Hasn't there been enough war in this century? Enough boys dying? Enough hearts broken?"

"I think so, and you think so, but this man Hitler doesn't think so."

They talked awhile longer and then Miss Cornelia said that she must be going. "Mary's twins are going off to Queens and Mary's having a party. None of them would ever forgive me if I were to be late."

After Cornelia has gone Anne continued to sit on the porch. Why had war ever been invented? Was war a necessity? Anne didn't think so. There had to be reasonable ways to solve things, but no one ever seemed to look for them. All it seemed was that people wanted to fight.

Gilbert came up the walk and saw Anne sitting there. "What's wrong Anne-o-mine?" he asked.

"Oh, Gilbert. Cornelia was here and she thinks that Germany will start another war now that there is a peace treaty between Germany and Russia."

Gilbert started just as Anne had done. He also saw a white cross. The cross that marked the place where their son was forever resting. "Anne, I don't know. Germany is already starting to take over countries. Think of Austria. The League will stop them before they get much further." That seemed to help Anne, but Gilbert knew that it would take a miracle to stop Germany. He just hoped for that miracle.

Later that evening, Rilla and Kenneth were listening to a musical broadcast on the radio when they heard the news. The radio announcer stopped the broadcast and said, "Germany has just attacked Poland and has broken her treaty with Russia."

Kenneth turned to Rilla and they just looked at each other. Both of them knew they were thinking the same thing. "Kenny," Rilla moaned. "Kenny will go."
"Yes," said Ken. "I'm afraid so. He is too young right now, but he is nearly eighteen."

All of the rest of the couples were having similar conversations. They all had sons who either were nearly eighteen or over eighteen.

"Why must two generations one after another have war?" questioned Di to her husband, Jack.
"I don't know Di, I don't know."

"Shirley, I am so thankful that our boys are not old enough to go to war. I'm so afraid that the war will last long enough for them to go though. I couldn't stand to send them off," said white-faced Una after hearing the message.
"Una, it is on God's hands. Whatever happens is for Him to decide. If the war lasts two years or four or however log it will last, we cannot decide. Only Him. I don't want this war to last until our sons are old enough either," answered Shirley.
"You should have been a pastor," said Una with a bit of a laugh.

A little over a week later, the boys had all been together except for Luke. He soon came tearing down he hill with a dispatch. "Have you heard?" he shouted. "We can hear you," answered Owen, who had a bit of a sarcasm gene in him.

Luck glared at Owen and continued, "England declared war on Germany today. Do you know what this means? Canada is going to need lots of boys. Boy, am I glad I'm over eighteen."
The boys stared. They had heard stories about the war during their parents' generation, but never had thought it could happen again. "Hurrah!" shouted Dick, "I'll be eighteen next week and I'll come with yaw. Do you think you could wait a week?"

"Certainly Dick. If anyone yells at me, I'll tell them I'm going with my cousin in a few days, once he's eighteen."

"I wish I was eighteen," said Gil.

"Well, this war probably will still be on when we are eighteen," replied John to his twin.

"All of you have a chance," said James. Matthew wasn't there. He had a cold, so his mother had kept him home. If Matthew had been there, he wouldn't have been able to say that. "I'm so young that I'm not going to be able to go."
"James, some of the boys need to stay home to keep an eye on things. What would Ingleside be like if there were only girls?" said Walter.

James nodded that the point was understood, even though he didn't agree. The days slowly passed and soon it was Dick's birthday. Di had planned all along for this to be a joyous day, but with the war, it was anything but. At least for the older people. Dick and Luke were the only ones that seemed cheerful. Gilbert shook his head. Another generation having a war to fight. He was thankful that Jem and Shirley were unable to go, but this time there were his grandchildren. There were more of them, and that made it even worse. He knew that a soon as the party was over both Luke and Dick would be heading for the recruiting office. At least Luke had waited for Dick to be old enough to sign up. Neither of them would be alone, at least for while.

Sure enough, as soon as the party was over the two boys hurried away. Gilbert looked up to see Jack and Di and Mary and Miller looking stricken. This was the second time that someone Mary loved was going off to war. Gilbert couldn't figure out which was harder: sending his own sons off or his grandsons. They both were awful. He wondered why two generations needed to be cursed with a great war. One was more than enough in his opinion.

The next morning, nearly the entire Glen turned out to see their boys off. Jem looked to the side and what he saw made him smile. The old doghouse was still there. It had been agreed that it stay as a tribute to the Glen soldiers. It had been years since Dog Monday had died, but his story lived on. Jem was thankful that his own two sons were not old enough, but they would be before this war was over. He heard Rilla talking and suddenly came back to reality. She was reciting Walter's famous poem, The Piper. It brought tears to Jem's eyes. He missed Walter dreadfully. Hardly a day went by without Jem thinking of him in one way or another.

The boys were getting on the train. "I'll be following soon!" shouted Walter.

"All you need to do is hold the fort for a few months and then I will be coming." called Kenny.

Di was trying to hold a smile on her face. Jack was gripping her arm. "Our oldest son. Our only son. Why?"

"I wish I had an answer Diana. I don't." answered Jack. He also was trying to keep the tears from his face.

"Be careful son!" shouted Miller. "Stay out of the way of those Germans as much as you can."

Mary gripped Miller's arm. She had been dreading this moment ever since the declaration of war. She was proud of her son at the same time. She was very confused.

The train was there. Suddenly there was a rush. "Bye Uncle Jem," said Dick. "We'll be home soon."

"Bye! Bye!" It was chaos. Boys in khaki were everywhere and suddenly it was quiet. The train was halfway out of the station. "Well, what's next?" asked Anne.

"I would guess getting the Red Cross going again. And also maybe some of the girls could organize a Junior Reds group. I think I'm a bit old for that."

"In think I could do that Aunt Rilla," said Bertha, "although I would need some experienced tips."

"I'll help you girls get started, but then you need to do things yourselves," answered Rilla.

Slowly the families left the station. A part of their family was gone, perhaps never to return, but no one dared to think of that. Instead they hoped that they would be able to see their boys one more time before they were sent overseas.

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