Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-01-15

XS3 were pretty wabbly and my knee
action not of the show-ring
class. My heart, too. ungallantly huddled up
in corner and went strike. that there
wasn't much blood in circulation to keep
warm, and quite a matter of course I got cold
feet"
In the nervous tension my scalp contracted so
that my hair felt as IL 1t was SO many prcking
needless goose flesh writhed in creepy lines over
my body while my spine seemed like nothing SO
much animated icicle and my nerves were
rasped by the demon of fear. for. mind you every
OF those dim-limned grayestones a po-
tential ghost that might at any instant raise its
uncanny and sweep awesomely out and
claim me for its own.
Did you ever pass graveyard at night when
alone? And didn't you feel just about that way
when you did?
Much al l might wish to be boy again, l.
at night-alone.
There has been SO much said and written pro
and con In discussing the tactics of the Germans
in sending their forces at the enemy in what
is known the mass formation" that 1t seems
as II little could be added to the argument
But there Is human side to this policy that
far has not been presented; not to my knowl.
edge, at least
It is simple phase of the question that has
to do with the element of human nature; the
mental process of the mass as disclosed by the
individual its unit.
Why is 1t that the man who quakes with fear
at the approach of impending battle quite
often, as the records show is the one who goes
in at the charge with apparently the daredevil
recklessness and disregard for danger that dis
tinguished him among his comrades as the man
unafraid or as being crazy with the heat'-of
battle?
courage and comes eventually to be stricken with
battle fever he must have been divorced from his
of fear by some process association aside
from his conscious control. Fear and the cou-
ITO vi 0f hrny n seldom pyp Om-
bined in any hazardous undertaking, and espe-
ciaily in the where the individual faces
the enemy in battle other mortal danger-un-
supported and alone.
And that brings again to the weird and fear
some specters that take form in the dreadful dark
along the silent and deserted road at the edge of
the ghost-haunted graveyard.
II is interesting and not a little amusing, now
that I land we are all pretty much alike in that
respect) look back the years and coldy
alyze the mental attitude in which under the
curtain of night 1 hestatingly approached, trem
blingly passed and thankfully left behind those
harmless and sacred villages Of the dead at the
time was impressionable lad.
For, you when fortune favored me with
companions the infreQuent occasions of my
nocturnal journeys past the old graveyards, even
IL II were only a small boy not yet old enough to
recognize the possibilities OF a ghost in dusk.
shrouded tombstone, my courage always retained
enough stamina to carry me through the other
wise nerveshredding ordeal-without having 10
breath, az any rate.
There might be prowng ghosts over there in
the lowering dark OF the somber aisles running
through the shrubs and the weeping willows
but wha fellow should be afraid of ghosts with
a faithful comrade touching elbows at his side?
However. occasions when there was com
pany of u.s. four six more boys. that walked
together along the graveyard road. why there Just
simply were no ghosts at ALL
But If one of us had by some fortuity become
separated from the main body and suddenly real
lied that he stark alone among the momen-
tous possibilities of his ominous surroundings his
false keyed bravado would instantly have lost its
grip and hit bottom with plunk
The chances are, matter of fact. That he
would have been scared stih'-too stif to get out
of his tracks-for the moment, at least And.
quite unblushingly. I assuming that that boy
must have been myself.
And as for any of to have ventured in the
circumstance to go in there aone-quite unthink.
able, I assure you.
But what you asking, has all this 10 do
with the question of the German general war
Stairs tactics when storming fortress or charg-
ing the battle line In sending their troops at the
enemy in close order mass formation?"
Well the man is the boy and the boy is the
man and the mental attitude OF the soldier in
relation to battle is precisely that of the boy and
the nght-yeied graveyard.
With this difference all boys, unless IL be the
occasional exception that proves the rule. are