Page:The web (1919).djvu/241

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ostracism of the family, so that their disloyalty, after all, had a certain punishment, although it did not hit the crime. H—— and his wife were members of a Presbyterian Church, and were so openly pro-German that everybody ceased to have anything to do with them. At a luncheon given at the H—— household the favors distributed to a dozen ladies consisted of nice pictures of Kaiser Wilhelm. One of the guests then suggested that it would be a nice thing to sing the Star Spangled Banner, which did not please Mrs. H—— at all. The head of this household was educated in Germany, and married a German woman whose relatives were high in the German army. They had a daughter who was engaged to an American, but the latter broke off the engagement on account of the pro-Germanism of the H—— family. The social ostracism really amounted to isolation, so that it was impossible to hear of any disloyal utterances which would warrant governmental action, nor indeed any utterances at all. The town was through with them.

Northern New Jersey probably has the laziest slacker in the world. His name is M——, and at one time he resided in New York. He had an Emergency Fleet classification card, but only worked two or three days out of the week and spent most of his time at home in bed. He thought he would rather go South where the climate was better. He was rated as so lazy that he was shifted from one government job to another—and that certainly is going some, in view of what is sometimes done in government service. He was so lazy that he used to go to bed with his shoes on, and would leave his light burning all night because he was too tired to put it out. This champion rester carried a registration card, but he had been given limited service on account of calloused feet. From the description of him, it is difficult to see how his feet got calloused; but at least that is what the report says.

New Jersey had a very blood-curdling citizen who dwelt in Newark under the name of H. B——. He carried an American name although he was born in Italy about forty-two years ago. He came to America thirty years ago, when he was a small boy, in order to escape punishment for having killed a priest. He never dared to return to