The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1915-01-15


class. My heart, too, ungallanty huddled up
in a corner and went strike, 80 that there
wasn't much blood in circulation to keep
warm, and quite a matter Of course got "cold
feet"
In the nervous tension my scalp contracted so
that my hair felt as If II was so many pricking
needles, 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
one OF those dimlmned gravestones po-
tential ghost that might at any instant raise it's
uncanny and sweep awesomey out and
claim me for its own.
Did you ever pass a graveyard at night when
alone? And didn't you feel just about that way
when you did?
Much as I might wish to be a boy again, I
should not ever care to have to pass a graveyard
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 II seems
as If 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.
1t 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 as its unit.
Why is II that the man who quakes with fear
at the approach OF an impending battle quite
often, as the records show is the who goes
in at the charge with apparently the daredevil
recklessness and disregard for danger that dis
tingushed him among his comrades the man
unafrad or as being crazy with the heat"-of
battle?
However. before he attains to this degree OF
courage and comes eventually to be stricken with
battle fever he must have been divorced from his
OF fear by some process or association aside
from his conscious control. Fear and the con-
crete evidence OF bravery seldom If COM
bned in any hazardous undertaking, and espe-
cially in the case where the individual faces
the enemy in battle or 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.
1t is interesting and not little amusing, now
that land all pretty much alike in that
respect) look back over the years and coldly an
ayze the mental attitude in which under the
curtain OF night hesitatingly approached, trem-
blingly passed and thankfully left behind those
harmless and sacred villages Of the dead at the
time an impressionable lad.
For you see when fortune favored me with
companions on the nfrequent occasions of my
nocturnal Journeys past the old graveyards, even
II 1t were only 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 nerve-shredding ordeal-without having to
resort to the expedent of whistling myself out OF
breath at any rate.
There might be prowling ghosts there in
the lowering dark or the somber aises running
through the shrubs and the weeping willows
but what fellow should be afraid of ghosts with
a faithful comrade touching elbows at his side?
However on occasions when there was COM
pany OF us, four or six more boys, that walked
together along the graveyard road, why, there just
simply were no ghosts at all.
But IL one OF us had by some fortuty become
separated from the main body and suddenly real
ized 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 punk.
The chances are. as a matter OF fact. that he
would have been scared stif'-too stiff to get out
OF his tracks-for the moment, at least. And,
quite unblushingly, am assuming that that boy
must have been myself
And as for any OF us TO have ventured In the
circumstance to go in there alone-quite unthink-
able assure you.
But what, you asking. has all this TO do
| with the question OF the German general
staf's tactics when storming fortress charg-
ing the battle line In sending their troops at the
enemy in close order OF mass formation?"
Well, the man is the boy and the boy Is the
relation to battle is precisely that OF the boy and
| the night-veiled graveyard
With this difference. all boys. unless II be the
II