Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-29

palace of the soldiers Homo. one sees
few old soldiers; well-dressed, dignified,
they pass like shadows.
Enter monumental iron gate. Pass
armed sentries. pass green lawn.
Mount wide steps and stand in vast in
terror beneath noble dome. Mansard
built it-part OF the old veterans church.
Heroic freScoeS above carved stone all
round.
In the center of the floor a huge cir
cular hole, protected by stone balustrade.
Look down. Giant angels, down there.
stand against the circling pillars that sus-
tain the floor. Between them. panopiies
OF moldering banners. The angels watch
a great sarcophagus of Finland granite.
gift of Car Nicholas.
II is Napoleons tomb.
a few tourists, regularly. whisper:
hut last Sunday it was different.
Roy scouts filed the vast interior.
Solemn. impressed. on heroic phi
Grimage from Paris. Lyons, Reims and
Rouen came the sections. boys from
eleven to eighteen in khaki uniforms,
staff in hand. with whistle. Ratchet. cord,
knife, tin pan and canteen at belt. svelte,
aler1, IrdlneQ OONil, anu d6oe'
Yet holding themselves worthiy, 1000
Boy Scouts received a peculiar baptism
They considered themselves ready to be
given lous-range rifles and join the ter
rife European mix-up. If 1t comes.
They felt thus. | heard them talk
They are Boy Scouts. exactly like those
in America and England; but the times
are alarming, and li.VW Boy Scouts.
over all France wait their turn to make
D,,ta- |,r11
tomb.
He took boys of sixteen into his
armies" said one.
THE first republic Also" said another;
''Narceau was soldier at fifteen and D
general at twenty-two,
Thus they talked. straddlinG the old
bronze cannons, waiting their turn to go
in beneath the dome. One had got hold
uf Prof. Richets Appeal to the Peace
Societies.
IF the triple alliance fights the triple
entente" the Boy Scout read, '10,OOO,ooo
combatan will he thrown on the battle
fields. and 10.0OO,0O0 more reserves will
be armed.
THAT includes u.s. said a dreamy
youth of thirteen.
Some ssoOOO.oO0 per day will be spent
in transports. equipments. ornaments.
powders, soldiers food and destruction
of towns
Well have payr' interrupted a red
headed retire of eleven.
''All factories will be closed, country
sides deserted. commerce paralyzed." the
boy read "An banks will break.
European states 30 bankrupt"
Here enthusiasm broke loose.
Won't it be glorious adventure.
Such was the consensus OF the Boy
Scouts. Nobody smiled the mentality of
the rulers of Europe seems to approach
too closely that of those who sat upon
the old bronze cannons.
How seriously the boys take themselves
was shown in the erroneous mobilization
on the eastern frontier, near Nancy.
In sudden call to arms. the machinery
works automatically, through appointed
officeholders-they just open their sealed
orders, and pass them on. Well, one
night recently at Arracourt. the post
master received q Geographic call from
the war office. 1t something about
mobilization. Perhaps he was muddled
from sleep. perhaps affected by war talk.
In any case, he imag ined the call meant
that he must open his general mobiliza-
ton orders. They specified that the brig
adler general of gendarmes should in
stantly summon every able-bodied man
from twenty to forty-flve years in his