Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-04-18

preston the preceding,
and chance decides which remains
uppermost. But out Of it all there re-
mains one dominent idea-that the
system which brought this appalling
catastrophe upon the world is some-
thing that, should 1t remain triumph
ant, would make M despair Of hui
manity and question whether there
wa a Power which shapes our ends.
rough-hew them as we will. II one
came away from France with only the
memory OF the horrors Of war, Of the
1ndescribable ages and uncomfortable
vlleness war has brought in its train,
one would despair Of man..
Allies Spirits High.
Happily there is a corrective. It is
to be oun in the men who are fight
Ing the system which ratified the sabre
In Its scabbard half a century and
finally unsheathed it. God willing, to
it's w destruction. They are the salt
of the earth, these 'poilus" and Tom
mics who. representing the two great
democracies of the old world, are
looking to the great democracy Of the
new world for its active support in the
fight for all that is worth while.
Nays work and a dogs life-but
cneero!" said a youngster, caked with
mud. who on the green cricket field
OF happier days might have been a
listless figure in impeccable fannels.
Road making appears to be the &C.
cupation of at least half the some
millions of men of the British army
now In France. And such road maxi
ing! Making roads in a country which
Is so cut UP that it has required teams
OF six horses to drag a roughly con-
structed sleigh carrying one wounded
man from somewhere near the front
line ambulance to a regular dressing
station where the poor chaps could
receive anything beyond the first aid.
They can't stick it." says the
Tommy in the firing line about the
Boche. Why, u infantry fires low
SO as to hit the Hun-if we fired high
we should hit the Russians advancing
from the other side" Every Tommy
Is convinced he is good enough for at
least two Germans.
Nous les avons." says the poilu.
Yves got them on the run" says
the Canadian, who is more than half
an American, for a good many thou
sands of him hail from the United
States.
And the Australians fine. strap
ping fellow he is-has been gathering
German bayonets with serrated edges
SO designed that when they are
plunged into a mans vitals thew
but I can't describe it further thar to
say that the teeth are not like those
OF a saw, but slope all backward.
What happens when this toothed
blade is drawn out must be left to the
Imagination. I saw too many Of these
serrated bayonets picked UP on the
battlef1elds to Justify the German as
sertion thai this was only q special
form Of weapon used for particular
purposes.
The Australians, along with the Ca
nadians. believes entirely in the sto-
ries Of c%ruci1xion, and his language
about the "Boches'' has a lurid quality
beyond ordinary detectives.
These national armies Of Britain
n France are composed of men of
all kinds and classes; but there il n
trait common to them all-their
CHEEKY. willing acceptance of condi-
tons that alone. apart from the risk
Of life and limb they run, would az
fright the most robustious optimist Of
the lark Tapley school. One can ind
only one reason for it-that these
mon, possibly without realizing it, are
imbued with the spirit which has
made men always struggle for the
right n the true. AS I have said. II
is only because this conviction is fore
ed upon n that one comes away
from h area Of this hell Of Prussian-
made war believing that there is a
heaven also.