It was in the early summer of 1917. The young lovers, after having graduated from high school, had two winters away from Oakdale. Gene had gone on to college to specialize in civil engineering. Laura Mae had attended business college in Placerville. It was not her desire to teach school; she feared that she might advance farther in the profession than Martha and that would be very disappointing to her father, who was so sure that Martha would be somebody in the educational fields one day.

During vacation time, Gene and Laura Mae were at their homes in Oakdale. They spent much of their time together by meeting secretly whenever a chance would permit, for Eli Porter had forbidden his daughter to speak to Gene Whitmer. Because of this, Laura Mae refused to pay attention to any of the young men in the valley as far as the public knew. Her father continued to tantalize her by trying to force her to accept the companionship of Philip Dreyer. He did it only for spite as far as Laura Mae could tell or else, he was trying to show his authority over her, but all that he said or did made her like Philip less and less each day.

The United States had declared war on Germany. Men were enlisting and being drafted from every town and city in the country. Everywhere people were singing such songs as "Johnny Get Your Gun," and "We'll Hang Bill Kaiser to a Sour Apple Tree, as We Go Marching On."

Philip Dreyer had been examined and had been exempt from service because of the lameness caused by his accident, but he had been advised to prepare himself for a postal examination as Erick Johnson, who was Post Master might be called to wat any day, being sound of body and within the age limit for drafting.

It was by chance that Gene was at the Post Office when Laura Mae rode up on horseback to call for the Porter mail. Gene stepped out to greet her, then asked, "May I get your mail for you, so you won't need to tie up?"

"Thanks, you may and will you drop this letter for me, please? It is my aunt in Denver." Gene took the letter into the Post Office and soon returned with several letters and newspapers for Eli Porter. He untied his own horse from the hitching rail and mounted.

"Do you mind if I ride along with you?" he asked.

"I would love to have you ride with me." They allowed their horses to walk at a slow gait toward home. "It has been two days since I saw you but it seems like weeks." She smiled, then her face became instantly sober as she continued. All this news of war and soldiers made her heart ache.

"It should not worry you, Laura Mae. You are a girl and won't have to go fight the Germans; cheer up!"

"It does worry me, to know that you may be called any day. If you have to go to war, Gene, I will certainly wish I could go and fight alongside you."

"It will be hard to go and leave you here, Laura Mae, but you might as well know that I have decided to enlist next week. My number will fall in the next group to be drafted and I would rather beat them to it, then I can have my choice of service," Gene explained.

All the color left Laura Mae's cheeks and she looked at the road straight ahead, trying so hard to keep back the tears. Suddenly she braced herself in her saddle. "Gene, do really mean to go now before you are called?"

"Yes, I have made up my mind and Uncle Everett has finally agreed that it will be best for me to go now."

Laura Mae made a gesture of despair. "Oh, why do we have to have horrid old wars? They are bad enough to have to study about in the history books, but this is worse! Gene, do you know that I will be tormented all of the time you are away?"

"What do you mean?" Gene asked, noting the worried look on the girl's face.

She remembered how Philip Dreyer had gotten his hip broken in a high school basketball game and how he limped slightly.

"well, you know that Phil has been exempt from service, so he will be around here. Father will encourage him to come see me and urge me to go places with him. Oh, Gene, I will go fighting mad before I will stand for it."

"Come join the army, then. Maybe we will see each other once in a while over there," he suggested, but he well that he didn't mean for his sweetheart to be in such danger when he listened to the dictates of his heart.

"I might do that. Martha has already made plans to give up teaching and join the Red Cross, but I don't know, Gene. I feel like Mother needs my help here at home. No one knows how many jobs there are for her tired hands any better than I do. Until I see a greater need for me as a nurse, I think I shall stay home and help her. The thought of wounded soldiers makes me shudder anyway, I guess, I am too sympathetic to be a nurse, the sight of blood always makes me feel sick." She shivered at the very thought.

"Then everything is already settled, isn't it? I shall go and you stay here and when the war is over, I shall come back here to you."

Laura Mae rode silently, thinking. For the first time in going over that road toward home she failed to notice the grandeur of the snowcapped mountains in the background, she did not see the birds and the beautiful wildflowers along the road; nothing mattered now but Gene, and he was going away to war to leave her to be tormented by her unkind father. The newspapers she was taking home would be full of accounts of the horrible war in Europe. How she wished that she had the power to call a halt to all of it. But she couldn't. What could one do to stop it out in a little town like Oakdale? Forty miles from the nearest city Oakdale stood in the heart of a beautiful valley. At length, she turned to Gene and said, "You may think I am bold Gene, but you are twenty-one and I am past nineteen. We should know our own minds by now. We have often told each other of our love and have planned someday to marry. If you go to war, I will need your name for protection."

"Darling, you don't mean that you would want to be married to me before I go?" A puzzled look came over his face.

"Yes, Gene that is exactly what I mean."

"But don't you see that that would be unfair to you? It is possible that I may never return alive and there you would have my name attached to you needlessly," he told her, hardly knowing what to say.

"You are teasing me, Gene. You know that yours is the only name I will ever want to have. Don't you see that I need it for defense against Phil? He will have to leave me alone when he knows that I am married to you."

"Your father would never consent to you marrying me anytime, much less now, when I would be going away, but I will ask him for your hand right now if you really want me to."

"Oh, but Gene, we could run away and get married and father's consent would not be necessary, but he will consent on condition that you never return or something like that." She half smiled and went on, "If he throws you out bodily when you approach the subject and we won't get to finish our plans, look for a note in our secret mailbox, I can slip it in by eight o'clock. Father will be out doing chores."

At the side of the road not far from the crossroads was a shade tree with a deserted woodpecker nest in it. The young lovers had discovered that it made a perfect mailbox and for years, they had used it in exchanging secret notes. It belonged to them alone for no one else knew anything about it, they were sure.

As they neared the crossroads, Gene spoke. "Laura Mae, there is nothing in the world I would rather do than to give you my name and have you for my own. I will ride over with you now and see what your father and mother think about it."

"All right. I am afraid for what Father will say but it might as well be over with."

When they entered the yard, they could see Eli Porter working in the hay field not far from the house.

"Shall I ride down there with you?" she asked.

"No, dear, it might be just as well you don't hear what we have to say to each other. If his answer is favorable, I will stop and see you when I come back from the field."

"I'll watch for you." She threw the reins over a picket in the fence as she dismounted, then ran down the path that led to the back door. Gene rode out past the corral gates into the field.

Laura Me's mother was mopping the kitchen floor when Laura Mae entered, breathless from hurrying into the house. "What is the excitement, child?" Clara asked, leaning the handle of the mop against the wall while she surveyed her daughter carefully.

"Mama, look!" Laura Mae exclaimed as she pulled her mother to the kitchen window where they could see Gene approaching Eli Porter in the field. "He has gone to ask Father's consent to marry me." Her face was radiant with anxiety.

"Darling, you are joking!" Why, he may be called to war any day and things would be so uncertain." Clara took hold of Laura Mae's shoulders and turned the girl about to face her.

"No, Mother, I am not joking. If we do not get Father's consent, I think we will be married, anyway. We are both of age. If I'm not married, Philip Dreyer will be after me all the while that Gene is away, and I just won't have him here! Don't you see?"

Clara nodded and brushed a tear with the back of her hand. "My baby girl, if it will make you happier to be married to Gene, I hope your father will give his consent; you have mine. I think Gene is a fine young man." He always reminded her of Everett when he was young.

Gene stopped his horse near Eli, who looked up from his work with a scowl. The handsome young man dismounted and walked toward the farmer with a smile and extended his right hand. "Good afternoon, Mr. Porter," he said.

Eli ignored the hand and asked gruffly, "What brings you here?"

"I am here to make a very important request."

"Well, out with it!" Eli thundered, rather disrespectfully.

"Laura Mae and I have loved each other for years and I have come for your consent to marry her." Gene was surprised by his own calmness before one so hateful and unreasonable.

"You-you infernal whelp! You would dare to make such a request?" Eli trembled with rage. "How would you support her? You may be drafted any day and a fine mess that would make! Go mind your own business! When she marries it will be one of my own choosing."

"This is Laura Mae's wish as well as mine—" Gene began again.

"Shut up!" Eli interrupted; his face flushed. "Don't dare to mention my daughter's name again! Ride out of here and stay out! I'll go to the house this minute and settle the child's mind on a few points." He threw his pitchfork over his shoulder and started on a brisk walk toward the house. Gene walked fast, leading his horse, trying his best to catch up with the angry father. Neither found time to speak a word until they passed the corral gates, when Gene pleaded, "Please, Mr. Porter, perhaps it was a mistaken idea of mine. I am sorry that I disturbed you." He was afraid of what might happen to Laura Mae when her father was so angry. "Please, don't say anything to Laura Mae—"

Eli stopped in his tracks and glared at Gene. "I forbade you to speak her name again to me! Now get on that horse and go! Don't let me catch you on these premises again or I will get my shotgun, do you hear?!"

The boy climbed into his saddle, seeing that it was useless to try to argue. He tipped his hat and as he started toward the big gate, he said, "If you would get the shotgun and shoot me, it would save me from having to go to war. Better be shot down by someone with something against me than by a German soldier I have never met." Eli shook his fist as Gene gave his gorse a rap with his reins and galloped out of the gate and down the lane. He did not look toward the kitchen window or he would have seen his sweetheart looking out waiting to wave good-bye to him. He only looked at the road ahead as he rode toward the Whitmer Mansion.

Laura Mae was very much disappointed. She quickly went into her bedroom, closing the door behind her, as she heard her father's footsteps at the back door. Clara had finished mopping and had gone to her room to put on a clean apron. Eli entered the kitchen, looked about and not seeing anyone, he cooled down enough to keep still and snatch up the mail from the kitchen table where Laura Mae had laid it. He glanced at the letters, throwing each down in disgust until he came to one that was postmarked "Denver, Colo." It was from his sister. He opened it and read it. In it, she wrote that she was lonesome to see some of them. She would have to miss, for the first time, the joy of spending some for the summer in Oakdale. She had had a rather severe heart attack but was recovering from it as fast as could be expected. Her doctor had advised her not to take any trips as she must remain quiet and not have anything excite her. This gave Eli an idea. It solved the problem of what to do with Laura Mae until Gene was called into the army.