One would suppose them to be just two beautifully cared for, careless-of-life girls, thinking of what some man had said at the dance the night before, or of the texture of the plume on some one's hat, or, to get down to the really serious issues of life, whether or not they could afford that love of a dinner gown.
They left the main avenue and were winding in and out of the by-roads, roads which had all the care of a great park and all the charm of the deep woods.

Here and there were soldiers doing nothing more warlike than raking grass or repairing roads.

It seemed far removed from the stress and the struggle, place where the sense of protection but contributed to the sense of freedom.

There would come occasional glimpses of the river, the beautiful homes and great factories of the busy, prosperous, middle-western city opposite.

To the other side was a town, too, a little city of large enterprises; to either side seethed the questions of steel, and all those attendant questions of mind and heart whose pressure grew ever bigger and whose safety valves seemed tested to their uttermost.