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Emmitsburg supports troops in the War to End All Wars

by James Rada, Jr.

The United States became involved in World War I when Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917. At that point, the war had already been fought in Europe and Africa for nearly three years.

The Weekly Chronicle ran editorials supporting the U.S.’s involvement and also began running articles that summarized the war events of the week.

The June 8, 1917, Chronicle ran a front-page display of the first area residents to join the military to fight in the war. Francis Elder, Joseph Felix, Joseph Adelsberger, Benjamin Topper, George Wagerman, Louis Stoner, Clarence Myers, Charles Sharrer, Carroll McCleaf, and Earl Weikert enlisted in Company A, First Regiment of the Maryland National Guard. Frank Bouey, Quinn Topper, and William Bowling enlisted in the Army, and Simon Klosky enlisted in the Aviation Corp.

Men began joining and being drafted into the military. The first batch of soldiers to ship out from the Emmitsburg area were Clarence Frailey, Daniel Brown, Clarence Baumgardner, Maurice Moser, Robert Hahn, John McMorris, Joseph Kreitz, Thomas Frailey, George Smith, Joseph Turner, Elmer Bailey, Clay Shuff, Edward Worthington, Morris Whetzel, and Charles Ohler. They were part of a group of 179 men who left Frederick County on September 16, 1917, as part of “Uncle Sam’s big new national army, to fight the Germans and Kaiserism and Hohenzollern intrigue,” according to the Chronicle.

To get the Emmitsburg men to the departure point, the Frederick County Exemption Board arranged for rail cars of the Hagerstown and Frederick Railway to convey all of the men from Frederick City to Thurmont to meet the Western Maryland Railroad train to Baltimore and eventually to Fort Meade.

“There was no fuss and feathers, there were no public ‘sad farewells’—at least on the part of Emmitsburgians—when these boys started on the first lap of their journey. They received their orders and, like the soldiers they are, obeyed them without a murmur, without a word of criticism. We feel assured that all of Frederick County’s assignment will be up to the standard; we know that the squad from here will give a good account of itself; for the personnel of that squad ranks A1. Each man in it has a clear conception of the responsibility that rests upon him, each man is much in earnest—determined to do his full share. These selectmen—that’s the name, and an honorable one—and also those from Emmitsburg who heretofore volunteered their services to their government, will not be forgotten by those who they have left behind,” the Chronicle reported.

On the home front, towns around the country help Liberty Loan drives to encourage people to buy war bonds to ensure the government had enough money to fight the war. During the third Liberty Loan drive, the Federal Reserve in Richmond asked Emmitsburg to raise $43,100. By the time the quota was received at the Emmitsburg Savings Bank, $47,000 had already been pledged.

Here’s how The Weekly Chronicle described a Liberty Loan rally in Emmitsburg on June 13, 1917, to encourage the purchase of war bonds to support the war effort.

“The big and very successful patriotic meeting held in the Square Wednesday night leaves no doubt as to the interest of the people of Emmitsburg in the effort of the Government ‘to make good’ the sale of Liberty Loan Bonds. More than five hundred people listened intently to the practical presentation of the bond question by C. T. Williams and George P. Bagby, Esq., of Baltimore, and the earnest forceful and patriotic appeal of Rev. J. O. Hayden, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church. It was an enthusiastic crowd that listened to the speakers, each of whom was time and again interrupted by rounds of applause.

“Through the courtesy of Mr. J. B. Elder the commodious porch of the Hotel Spangler was placed at the disposal of the Committee and before the introduction of the speakers by Mr. J. Stewart Annan, Burgess of Emmitsburg and between and after each speech the Emmit Cornet Band played enlivening patriotic airs. The porch of the hotel was appropriately decorated and on either side of the speakers a soldier in khaki held aloft the Stars and Stripes and the flag of Maryland. These ‘Boys’ representing the recruits from the district, the little band of true soldiers of which Emmitsburg is justly proud, were Louis Stoner and Frank Elder.

“The visiting speakers expressed themselves as being more than delighted by and impressed with the patriotic spirit shown here. They paid a high tribute to Frederick County’s response to the call and left with the assurance, gained by their own observation that Emmitsburg as it always does will more than do its ‘bit.’”

Besides supporting their soldiers by buying war bonds, the people of Emmitsburg remembered their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers who were fighting for America. The Doughboy statue that stands at the intersection of Frailey Road and Route 140 lists 135 Emmitsburgians who served in the war, of whom nine died.

written by James Rada, Jr

A serial fiction story for your enjoyment

5: Thomas or George?

Jessica Weikert might think Thomas Hamilton was a hobo who had jumped off the Western Maryland Railroad train as it passed through Thurmont, but she had to admit he was a good worker on her family’s farm. He hadn’t been lying when he said he knew about farming. He kept the equipment in good repair and, most times, better than new. He had even introduced her father to some new concepts that she had never heard of before, like no-till farming. Her father was skeptical about most of them, but Jessica understood the points that Thomas made and saw the merit in them.

Thomas and her father got along well together. They talked farming during the day’s meals and played chess on the front porch at night. Sometimes, they would argue about both, but they were more like loud disagreements.

Her father definitely liked Thomas better than George Kirkpatrick, although he was very supportive of her engagement to George. He should be. He was the one who had set them up. She suspected he hoped to get better prices at the Kirkpatrick’s hardware store once she was married to George.

“He’s a good match for you,” John Weikert had told her after George had asked for John’s permission to marry Jessica.

“But you don’t like him,” Jessica had said.

“I don’t hate him either.”

“Then why are you okay with me marrying him?”

“Because I want you to have a good life, and I think George will provide it for you.”

But George didn’t make Jessica laugh. He didn’t make her heart beat faster. He was polite and handsome, and he was considered a very eligible bachelor. Jessica’s friends considered her very lucky. When Jessica tried to picture herself 20 or 30 years into a marriage with him though, she didn’t see herself on a farm with fields of crops ripening under a blue sky. She didn’t see George walking with her along the rows of corn to see how they were maturing and making sure they were healthy. She saw herself sitting behind a counter, pushing buttons on a cash register or stocking shelves in a store cut off from the land she loved.

Jessica walked into the barn and saw Thomas bent over a blade from the harvester, sharpening it. He worked hard, even when he didn’t have to.

“Why do you do that?” Jessica asked him.

Thomas looked up and brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. “It needs to be done. I don’t mind. It keeps my mind occupied.”

“Why do you need your mind occupied?”

He shrugged. “I’ve got some things I need to figure out.”

“Like what?”

Thomas set his whetstone to the side and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his arm.

“I thought I knew what my future was going to be. It seemed all set, and then it all changed in an instant. Now, I’ve got to figure out what I want to do. My future is no longer certain, so I have to ask myself, what do I want to make it?”

Jessica nodded slowly. “I can understand that.”

“Really? I thought your future was planned out. You’re getting married, right? That’s what your father said.”

“It doesn’t mean it was the future I wanted or planned.”

“Is someone making you get married? You’re not…” He glanced at her belly.

When Jessica realized what he was implying, she blushed and punched him in the shoulder. “Of course not!”

“Then if you accepted the proposal, why isn’t it the future you wanted? You made the choice.”

“I wonder if it’s the right choice.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Well, if you break up with him, do it in person. Don’t text him.”

“Text?”

Thomas shook his head. “Nevermind. It’s not important. So, what is the future you want?”

No one had ever asked Jessica what she wanted. Everyone just assumed she would be happy with a good match. Sure, she had enjoyed dating George, but she hadn’t ever fallen in love with him. Her mother said that would come with time as long as they were well-suited. Jessica didn’t want to have to wait for it to happen years from now. Being well-suited was no guarantee of future love.

“I wanted to take over this farm. I enjoy farming. I enjoy seeing things grow. I enjoy knowing that this farm not only feeds my family, but dozens, maybe hundreds, of other families. That’s satisfying.”

Thomas nodded. “It is, but it’s not an easy life.”

“I know that. I’ve grown up on a farm.”

“Most people would want an easy life. I love farming, but sometimes even I wish life could be easier.”

She thought about that. “I think most people want a happy life, and they think if their lives were easy, they would be happy. I’m happy now, despite it being hard. Maybe I need the challenge.”

Thomas smiled. “A true farmer.”

“You’re mocking me.”

Thomas held up his hands. “No, I’m just stating a fact.”

“What about you? What will you do when the harvest ends?” Jessica asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I hadn’t planned on being here.”

Her father was impressed with Thomas’s knowledge. He knew equipment and how to improve its performance. He had interesting ideas about how to increase the farm yields without even tilling the soil.

He enjoyed the work. She would watch him singing in the fields, and sometimes, he would encourage her to join in with him. She would, when she recognized the songs. It helped the work go faster.

However, there were other times when he would leave the farm. At first, she wondered if he had just up and left, but he was always back for work in the mornings.

Then, one day, she had followed him. He had walked out to the covered bridge at Loys Station, where she had first seen him. He would stand at one end of the bridge, staring across it. Sometimes, he would walk across it and back a few times. Each time he emerged on one side, he would look around and back the way he had come.

Jessica didn’t understand it all. Whatever his fascination with the bridge was, it didn’t interfere with his work.

One day, they were working in the field when Thomas stopped for lunch. Instead of going to the house, though, he laid a blanket on the grass and lay on his back. He ate his sandwich as he lay on the blanket.

Jessica walked over. “What are you doing?”

“We spend so much time looking at the land, I wanted to spend a little of it looking at the sky and think about my future.”

“Does it help?”

“It does. The sky is like a blue chalkboard and the clouds are white smears of chalk across it because someone used one of those felt erasers to wipe it off. But it’s a clean slate that I can imagine my future on.”

Jessica looked at the sky. She would love to see her future written in the sky. A message from God telling her what to do.

She lay down on the blanket next to Thomas and stared at the sky. “So how do you make your future appear?”

“It’s not a crystal ball. It’s just when you stare at the blank space, your mind fills it with images. If you’re thinking about your future, those images will sometimes be about your future, almost like a waking dream.”

Jessica stared at the blue above her and wondered where she would be in five years. Would it be a store or the farm? She saw herself on the farm, but it wasn’t with George.

At some point, she had reached over and grabbed Thomas’s hand, not clutching at it, just holding it gently. She also realized that he hadn’t pulled his hand away. Not in real life, not in the vision she saw in the sky.