The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-02
BIRTHDAY OF
 JAMES WOLFE, MARTIAL HERO

-.s 7. .-. f- MARTIAL HERO
 No other military hero in human, history has ever made so great an ap- peal to Anglo-Saxon youths as James Wolfe who captured Quebec and fell. mortally wounded in the very hour of a victory that put the British flag over Canada, To-day is.WoIfe's birthday, and it will be celebrated throughout Boyville. Wolfe was only thirty-two' when his glorious career came to a; tragic end on the Plains of Abraham, but .,long before that he had accom- plished many heroic deeds on the field of battle. He was as kindly and gen. erous as he was brave. a scholar and dreamer and lover of poetry as well as a gallant warrior. His youth and his manly qualities have made, and doubtless will always make. fires istible appeal to the hearts of boys Long after swords have been beaten into ploughshares, and war has be- come a memory, Wolfe will still be honored and admired by Anglo-Saxon youth. The grizzled generals who sit in tents and play the game of war ac- cording to modern ..efIiciency'' meth ods-these make no appeal to the i'm agination of youth. Wolfe was diff ferent. He was young, he had the boldness and daring and enthusiasm, of youth, and hesled his soldiers in the field and fought and died for an ideal.
 The quaint little Kentish town Of Westerham was the birthplace of the martial hero of boyhood. The house in which he was born, the church in which he was baptized, and the grave ard in which his ancestors were bur jed, still remain as shrines for the ad 1nirers of Wolfe. Near the village are the groves and green slopes of Squerryes, where Wolfe and his boy friends played at war, with Wolfe al-s ways cast for the role of commanding general. Even then he was ambi- hopes and dreams were recorded in letters which are still in existence. The, early home of Wolfe is now preserv-s ed as "Quebec House"
 Although born in England, the son of an army officer, Wolfe's ancestors, had lived in Ireland, and numerous representatives of the Wolfe family may still be found in Cork, Limerick and Tipperary Wolfe's grandfath- CT, Capt. Edward Wolfe, was an en- thusiastic Nationalist, and, with his rother, Franciscan friar, fled to England to escape prosecution in his native land.
 One of the most touching pictures in all history is that Of Wolfe. pale and emaciated from long illness, standing erect in boat floating rsp the St. Lawrence. and reciting thei ines from Gray.s .Elegy::''
 The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 4
 And ali that beauty, all that wealth
 ger gave.
 Await like the inevitable hour { The paths of glory lead but to the
 grave.
 Now, gentlemen said Wolfe, .I would rather be the author of that poem than to capture Quebec to-mor- row. But on the morrow he cap tured Quebec-and for him the paths of glory led but to the grave. The story of that battle on the Plains of Abraham has been reto1d thousands of times and moving pie lures, taken on the locations of the original battles, now show Wolfe lead ing his soldiers up the cliffs to engage in the conflict that made Canada a British possession. Three months were spent in training soldiers for the spectacle and in reproducing the va ,-io17ss scares The old guns " ere renounted. and the government per nnftted the use of the historic fortif- cations by the ssnovie''ss al my