The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-03-21

,. Wcr II a lost limb is bequeathed to
SOME other member, the tongue of him
NI- that much richer in Colorful
tN.-t and reminiscence.
What I'm about to relate" SAYS
D.. to me. "bein' that the tellin' Of II
wl.l not prejudice the military opera
lions agin' the inimy. has to do with
th, famous ixpert who had written a
I..k about war. laudin' war. mind
so, On general principles. before there
NU- the war. He called war a biologi-
cd. NECESSITY, or some foreign term
lbs. that. meanin' hat we, the human
race. could not do without IT and
wouldn't be happy till We got 1t. I'll
tell We what happened to him when
Aviation Lieut.. Kennedy and meseif
descended unexpected on his tempo
JAR, dom.cile.
lis NECESSARY to remember that
this iNpert had never so much as
sm,,.cd a battle. He had never got
tr, stencil from the No Mans Land
h,twosn the trenches. He had never
d,lc,d a bomb while watchin' the
Il,.kc manpuvres ot what We know
ar flesh and blood. but as far as app
p,3rinccs 20 might be just unhuman
landscape. He had never dug into
the ,arih's intestines alive to postpone
the time when the same earth would
cover him up dead. He had never
grown callous about IN or for
gotten how TO cry. as fightin' men do.
EGt he had written a book about war.
40. I'm not go!n' to tell We his
nationality. There's them kind Of men
in all n~ationalities. We can we'll
imagine that Kennedy and meself
we're not engaged in the gentle art
Of droppin' bombs on our wi forces
AT ,he time We come up with the book
iNp,rt. hut apart from that clue and
apart from the fact that the writin'
ducks name Was LOMBARD, We can
consider me neutral in my impulses
and opinions. applyin' them to all the
breed Of war boomers.
Understand, I'm not much Of a
reader meself. at least | wasn't before
was hobbled for life by my last fall,
hein more interested in aerial navi-
cation than in absorbin' hot air from
between the covers of books. and more
concerned about iiyin' in a biplane
than about flights of the imagination.
Id rather look at life down n spiral
If clouds than have my brain clouded
with a lot Of misty words. But | had
read enough of lombard to get a
pr.tty good idea Of the man and what
he stood for.
and this is about how he sized
up in my humble estimation: l figured
him as the kind that wouldn't put ms
fists up in a fair and square hght-
but he'd put pizen in a well. He'd
stand in front of a lookin' glass
and tell himself how much brains
h, had concealed under his dome
and beat ny his wife regular every
Saturday night. He'd draw a diagram
p-uv.n' he was n of the LORDS
ano.nted instruments-and take a
penny from a blind mans tin. By
algebra and logarithms he'd convince
himself that he had a double sized
heart-when in fact ii was his liver
that vas beatfn' agin his ribs
I'm free to confess II was a hard pc
tlrr Of him I'd drawn in my mind,
lut o. ull any portrait b." UNJUST OF a
man who'd set millions 10 hackin' each
other IN the name Of God or destiny
or whatever he called 1t?
"Of course ye'll say that no mar
alone. and especially no mans books
could do 50 much # the devils own
work Maybe no and maybe yes. n
moaslv little torpedo can blow up a
dr|cadnought. can't 1t. now? Well, any
l.N o.. more I had seen of wal The
m.r, ia naturally hate any n who
lt! the nerve To- tell the world maj
war was a boon TO humanity.
.Its only them that sits in soft arm
chairs. that sees any boon in it. I'm
rut drny!n' that it has its good sides
fir al that. 1t brings out the finest
If INA and race. but so does an
earthquake, for that matter and 50
does every calamity, but we don't go
ground invitin' earthquakes ana Hoods
and ,rlptions of Nesuvius, do We now!
J 'N.uk not.
". kn ", then. what | thought OF
nhtrd.. though ] wasn't thinkln oil
i.m at all, at all. when in the dusk "a
.,u!n' kennedy and mescf seats our
Ives N our cute little hiplane, when
So had christened the Thrush, Tor d
.,.cAborly reconnaissance Of the IN
Iuy's trenches.
W. had put some of their how
.'l.rs ut Of commission that after
noon. and We were curious 10 see just
f.W much they were taklR IL I"
..tr'. 50 when the word comes from
DIVISION headquarters for us TO take a
u..p. We tuned up and made READY
with most cheerful alacrity.
II was the pilot in the back seat
ana Spug Kennedy-lN call HIM that
f.g friendships sake, though ne had
.Louienant" as handle TO his name
Va- the observer in the front seat
w.. a rifle in the crook Of his lett
3rm md binoculars in his right INST
w. FRIED a few bombs for "mergen-
c.,-. which, like the poor. were always
w.. rs.
ID she goes Spug gave the
~ rl Wen eturn anon
with a laugh he waved his hand
W..a the glasses to the boys that were
So, d us OF. Spug was always as
I.upy Eoin' up as II he were takin a
E.. in "A jauntin' car. / got busy
.u radldtcly with the engine and lev
. Eycrythln' responded swate n
,nab,r. The earth fell down IN
t,. .encral direction of the antipodes
.. ION We were firtin' with the bars
r.I and gold shootini up from the
.. q fallin' ball of fire in the west.
When the Indicator showed that We
" .'.mbcd two thousand feet Spug
-. the word to circle round, eX-
.u.n' our circles gradually south
wards the inimy's lines, Some OF