New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1917-11-21

This man has sailed before the mast
with Jack London. He has. driven him
Into the rigging with Delaying pin for
INSTRUMENTATION. Poor fellow. He was
ever ready for fight or frolic. knew
what he was after and he got it. . The
big characters in London's sea tales were
as well known to this man as to London.
They were all taken from life, and the
speaker had sailed with or met most of
then.
The talk drifted to explorations and
| discoveries.
Remember Stephanson's discovery
Lei tleE6e Eskincs? That was in 1912.
!. kneweofthat race. We ran onto them
before that but never realised they were
'tof scientific interest. Had he gone
] farther he would have discovered the
ruins of city. People laughed at him.
/, but he was right"
Here was practical confirmation of
a scientific discovery which group Of
American Daribou hunters could have
!, given to the world several years before
Stephenson did.
And along comes another in the
white uniform of petty officer. He
pauses and surveys the group.
Hello, old timer! Your face looks
! familiar
$50 does yours. Don't think could
forget that map of yours in nineteen
years do you?"
"Wait minute till I place you.
You were in Manila, were you not?
In the hospital ship?' Drawing plate
toward him. .Here was the hospital
Ship and placing a loaf of bread beside
plate, this was the training ship, what
was her name?" The reply was given
satisfactorily. Right Then the
pepper and salt were brought into
play. Here was the light ship, and
| here was the % naming
another ship. Turning to the other the
new conner said, You were on scout
service in the Philippines, with nv
regiment, | knew you the minute YOU
came on ship.
but you and l have been on ship
board for nearly a year now, why didn't
you tell me before?''
"Oh, this is the first time it came
handy" And then the talk went on.
Guns and gunnery, modern methods
compared with old, world politics, To-
cal politics, tales of fight and frolic,
all in the days work. One bit of in
formation struck me with force.
Why is an American soldier superior
to any other?" I'll tell you. He fights
with his head. He is not lead blindly
and told to do thing. He knows as
well as the officer what he has to do.
He has that trait of character described
as Initiative. He fights on if all the
officers are killed. The only bad thing
about him is that he never knows when
to fall back. And the following bit of
wisdom on American character: .tAmer-
lea is the melting pot of the world. It
IS bit OF human concrete formed of the
blood and sinew,e and courage and
thought and ideals of the whole world.
We may have some of the worst but we
have "a lot of the best, and we are hard
to bea>"
! This bit of sentiment, spoken at a
reunion of Americans who had fought.
thru one war and were entering on
second struck me very impressively.
And the surroundings. Met together
on the extreme frontier of Americas
way down in the tropics of an environ-
ment entirely foreign, as far from the
ideals of Plymouth Rock in sentiments
as it was in sea miles; with the twinkling
harbor lighs off to the right, and the
foreign looking people all around, this
meeting of American boys, and exchange
of American ideas would have seemed
unreal only for the presence of the boys
themselves the boys who did not STAY
at home. One was from Texas, one
from Connecticut and the other from
Hoboken, sometimes called a state by
itself.
| Some day there will arise an American
Kiphng who will immortalize the tradi-
tons and character of the modern
American Army and Navy, The field
is rich, and only awaiting the coming
of the man who is big enough to handle
big subject.
LOU. D. MacWETHY.