The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-01-10
our lafayettes in France.

The New York Tribune utters a
true word in saying thar never in her
days of military greatness, OF CONT |
mental empire, has France seemed SO
great, SO noble. SO splendid as In the
dark hours of the past few months
Nothing 80 fine has ever come from
the heart and soul and body of France
as its present adamantine resistance,
for its own and the worlds sake. TO
the Prussian invasion. A nation which
has, by reason of its picturesque imag
nation, its dramatic fire and it's ex-
quisite humor. appeared to be the
poet, the picture maker, the talker,
the actor of the world, is now reveal.
ed as the nation of silence and the
arm of steel. The "phlegmatic" Brit
ons and Germans are filling the world
with their claims, protests. adjura'
lions and bravado; the French are
sticking SO strictly to their fighting
task, and saying SO little about IT,
that the world at large is sometimes
inclined to forget all about them--to
kOA 6CI tlt4l TIC iChSh NtshhPeAfoH - -
military value and historical impor-
lance at least three-ffths OF the allies
side OF the war. AS for the govern
ment OF the United States, II seems TO
have forgotten long ago that there Is
any such country as France. MT.
Wilson, indeed, made pleasant little
speech about France some time since.
| A pleasant little speech; not a hint
| that we should make but grudging
return for the benefits that we have
had at Frances hands-benefits abb
solutely creative In our affairs-even
| II we had a hundred thousand men
fighting in the trenches, by the side OF
her earth-stained soldiers, today.
However, let us be glad that the
French people are too clear-slighted.
and altogether too logical Of mind, to
Judge us forever by what our govern.
ment Is doing, or not doing, in this
crisis. AS contrast to the apparently
4 studied indifference OF President WI.
son, the French have under their eyes
certain fine instances of personal de-.
yotiOn on the part of Americans to
the cause of France. We have sent
them some Lafayettes. too--not, in
deed, youths OF such commanding po-
sit!on and brilliant abilities as the
|young Frenchman who came to us In
1777. and who was Immediately made
a, major general on Washington 8
staff but young men who are as full
of lofty idealism and az willing to
work and TO die for France as Lafay.
cite was to do and die for America.
4 The service and the spirit OF these
young men will not be overlooked by
the French people; nor will the relief
work which has been carried on In
America for the benefit OF French
wounded be forgotten
| Let us not be understood as sug.
costing that the two services are
equal. Besides Lafayette, the French
sent us Rochambeau with his army
and De Grasse with his fleet. But for
them, the war OF the Revolution
would have dragged on for twenty
years-perhaps would have ended In
the subjagation. Of the colonies. and
there would never have been any
United States OF America Our avia.
tors, ambulance drivers and foreign
legionnaires cannot accomplish for
France what French soldiers and sail.
ors accomplished for America in the
years from 1777 TO 1881. But at least
they may convince the sympathetic
French nation that we are not all VIII
sons, Bryans and Hoke Smiths. We
have not sent the French any such
constructive aid as they sent us in our
doy OF danger. But we have sent
them some indications of sympathy,
which they Will note and remember
And beyond all doubt, they know that
the heart OF the American nation is
with them.-Boston Transcript.