American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-03-15
GERMANS DESERT AS
TROOPS ARE TRANSFERRED.
: CONTINUED from Page ~

+"Z
like the symbolical rock upon which
the tide of Teutonic hordes are TO be
shattered. When the Americans now
in France. soldier and civilian, fully
sense the purpose Of the kaiser to
force his legions further southwark
and complete the rap of France.
every jaw snaps and they adopt the
French s|hibboleth at Verdun: They
shall not pass, BY the ternal they
shall not passl'
HE fought at Verdnni' He fought
at Monsl' This is the introduction.
always, the veterans of these battles
receive. Their names do not count,
nor their families, nor their wealth
or poverty. Though their sins be as
scarlet, they are washed white as
snow" il they fought at Verdun, or
the Marine. or at Mons. To have
fought valiantly on any of the famous
battlefelds, to have gone over THE
top, to receive a wound-these serve
a former French criminal better than
. judgment of NOT guilty from the
highest court.
| met a French lad who had been
paroled from prison to enlist. He was
visiting u boys in camp. In intro
ducing him n of our captains said.
He fought az Mons The lad
Strengthened a bit and there flashed
a something from his eye that showed
his courage and his recovered man
hood.
Where Americans Are.
This particular piece of the old
earth to which we Americans have
come on our great adventure is scar
red with the battles of more than
twenty centuries. Caesar had a camp
at Mons and Charlemagne and Attila
led their armies through it. Invasions
and sieges mark its history. Tt has
belonged to the French. the Spanish.
the Flemish. the Belgians. william
the Silent of Orange once headed an
expedition to relieve the Hugenots Of
Mons.
But the long story OF battle and
siege can never bestow on Mons such
Immortality as did the retreat so
splendidly maintained by the small
French and Belgian armies in 1914.
and a Frenchman cannot hope to have
any nobler thing than to have it said
Of him. He fought at Mons"
| have said that the French soldier
is not a %braggard. and in this he is
unlike the German. Never shall 1
forget the bombastic air, the swag-
ger, the c-Ontemptuous shrug of the
shoulder of the Germans as they stood
about the large maps exposed in the
windows in the streets of Berlin.
These maps showed the red heart of
Europe, from the North sea TO the
Persian gulf. in possession of Ger
many. with a deeper red line running
through it marking the trail of railroad
from Berlin to Bagdad.
Germans Are BOaStful.
In color and boundary line the
conquered territory was annexed TO
Germany and her allies. the whole
constituting the very heart of Eu-
rope. And before this map the Ger
mans swarmed and strutted. boastful.
arrogant, insulting. / shall not for
get how they came about us ~denounc-
ing America, defying the world. nor
how their spies followed us Dragging
Of their victories and their ability to
hold on.
The frenchmen do not brag. They
just hold ON. Every day we see then.
coming home for their short vaca-
lions. They are a little stopped. they
are not as deb0nair as the United
States soldiers their uniforms are old
and faded. They drop from The trains
a-d quietly aud affecfionately greet
taeir home folk. Some of them have
- come oaeN' ana mothers and
relatives 81 these are there with eager
Lrs- Fn
"ile+ explanation d snake
= .le "7al' oI q message delivered
gear q" eAe race OF 4 mother, such
3 year a. 'ne rell carried g the gates
"ea'ei. ana lne CROWD alsperses
heroes "t dnc
we "aDe4 lhese men "l1h 2 teellne
= ave mere IS g hook IN their eye
quay q tone ~ theNr voice
"a' 'hItiiS' a something ~ their qulef
~NNtleduNI tu0i Is collNeIIinL. We