Williston graphic. (Williston, Williams County, N.D.) 1895-1919, 1898-04-01
poverty stricken community had been
made Onuleuf. --.--.

poverty stricken community had been
made opulent.
Public opinion in America frowns
upon the professional soldier. The man
of books regards him as medieval
liegeman, born out of his time; the man
of affairs looks upon him as an Access
sorry of government, useful on occasion,
yet costly and troublesome piece of
machinery. A strong military power
is popularity considered a menace to
liberty and free institutions. A stand
ing army, on the contrary, fosters that
stroy, but to uphold and protect gov
eminent. While the enlisted man is
withdrawn from civil pursuits, his body
is trained in strength and endurance,
his spirit in courage, self-sacrifice and
obedience. The mental drill he has re-
ceived i'm schools is balanced by whole
some gymnastics for. body and soul.
Vast China, ruled by schools and exam
ina tons, her military spirit in utter
decay, lost the day to little Japan, who
had bred soldiers and sailors, and could
fight as we'll as write.
In his technical schooling, too, the
soldier learns habits OF order, punctu-
ality and courtesy that are invaluable
in the arts of peace. An unbiased
American observer says of EARNED
Europe:" ''The army is the great ma
tiolal school of industry. 1t takes
mere solitary human clod from his slow
field task. It places him among his fell
lows; it teaches him to listen, to find
his speech, to use his eyes. There is
no better foreman in the world than the
eN-noncommissioned officer"
The soldier is not the enemy of arbi-
tration; indeed, it is his forceful pres
ence which binders war. ''What is war;"
said Uncle Toby, but the getting to-
gether of quiet and harmless people
with their swords in their hands, to
keep the ambitious and the turbulent
within bounds?" Such is the service
performed by the armies Of Europe, as
well as by our little frontier garrisons
among hostile Indians.
Highest of all ends promoted by our
army is the active patriotism which the
soldier learns: ''That Il country's the
thing men should die for at need" a
president and white house do not,
perhaps, appeal to the Imagination as
do queen and a palace, yet our Ameri-
can soldier is as true to his land as is
Tommy Atkins when he says, through
his spokesman, Rudyard Kipling:
You 'aven't got no families when servin'
Of the queen;
You 'aven't got no brothers, fathers, sis
tiers, wives or sons.
If you want to win your battles, take and
work your bloomin' guns!
\ private soldier now IN our ranks
press the same loyal sacrifice of self.
Though Private Stokes cannot rival
Kipling in the lively dash OF "Barrack
Room Ballads or Whitman in the
solemn beat of "Drum-Taps,' yet in
''Riley's Grave the soldier writes
touching epitaph for his fallen com
radc. The background of "a long, red
Texan day" and Il distant brook sur
rounded by fierce -Apaches is filled in
with the ''careless scamp from far New
York. who gave his life in order to
fetch water to the wounded:
My God! The air was winged with lead,
Until he staggered, dripping red,
Into our midst once more.
Not infrequently in these circum-
stances the soldiers grave is made
hastily by night close to the picket
line; there the trampling Of the horses
obliterates all traces OF burial, and thus
cheats scalping savayes and hungry
wolves Of their prey. For such an un-
marked grave are the soldier-poet's
lines:
The prairie flower will bloom in spring
Around the soldiers bed,
The brook in lettering circles sing
The Girges of the dead,
The desert winds in freedom sweep
Across the silent scene,
And loyal hearts forever keep
His memory fresh and green.
Whether the soldier sleeps under
the picketline or in the peaceful bar
rack room, his day ends with the SLOW
solemn music OF Taps" The trumpets
sound the notes both over his bed and
over his grave. In the garrison the
call means lights out" and with
the last note our fort sleeps wrapped in
| the solitude Of the desert. The cry of
coyotes comes from the foothills, and
the boot of the owl from the mountain
N. Y. Outlook.
| 4 Swelled Collection.
The Sunday before Christmas there
was foHnd to be a need Of funds in the
exched Ter of Halleluycr chapel in an
IndianaScity. The pastor had exhausted