Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-27
is France Sad? All! Not When the
MOpies Flicker and the Jazz Band rays

rs did the poilus on leave. mora
More music. we must
music! ,,,v opera,
.~,.,tarweirht or featherweight, WIN i
last is better known as HluS
Guess. and you'll guess rightly ~
va, can nut Yourself in the posltioI "
thoss Who have sometimes liked mu.
cir with their meals. A kind frenon
gentleman. who runs a theater t.chJ 49,
J gency. told us about a revue WIZ VIZ,
had a broadway chorus; n We s"
like him always! p,,+ liz.
The show was all rsnt. nu'
A. the close of the first act, they
introduced a regular, genuine :.
ported jazz band, known ere as a
''sherbo!"
we sometimes used to sniff a htt'.
at that music, back home; we useu
som etimes to think it was low. aI!u
common, and all that; but gooa"1h
rrAcious! it was like a sight OF uae
Statue of Liberty, and the an Ou.la.
ines along the Battery, anu ~
Broadway trenches. and al! the o.ms,
dear delight of home! That Jazz pai ~
piayed again from a balcony oue ~
the big promenade foyer, al tnrous.
the long intermission, played iicne.y
split. thumpety-thump, whang, nans,
slam. with the triangles and the bells
and the big bass drum, and some
6. for the well-known moan
, and everything! So.
I OF course there a be no oanc.
/; ing in a country where there Is 20
| much sorrow, but never have we seeI
| anything SO lift up and eXhliarate q
| %concourse of totally mixed people az
| did that wonderful, that mafFeious
that miraculous jazz band!
There were people of all nationall'
ties and all classes, but, whether they
were English, Americans or FTench OF
just assorted, the effect was the same
Eye sparkled into eye, and gleefu
! smile answered gleeful smile, Shout
ders swayed, and feet irresistibly lift
! ed in time to the music, despite the
/ slow shuttle compelled by the packed
crowd.
But the most joyous faces we saw
! were those of a group of queer look
ing poilus, with the lower corners o.
their o%vercoats pinned back. n b1l
| wrinkled boots. and boards growing
almost any place.
lHcS SlOOu SIOuCIlS ailu iidA a 6SAL
T; eral air Of elderly negligence. which
| was striking, to say the least, for sol
! diers; but the most striking thing wa
the joyous CLEAN in their eyes!
We asked an American officer abou
: them. a doctor who had SCI q lot o
! service. He laughed.
ooh. they don't care much abou
the finer points of drill and dress pa
+! radc. They can't do anything but jus
fight. Their entire regiment was dec
Grated. They're getting their first lay
off in two years. They're from Yer
dun"
We took another look: a good long
hard. earnest look. Those fellows had
been strong enough to go through tive
years of concentrated Hades; they
had been tenacious enough to liv'
through conditions which four year
ago would have been declared impos
sible: they had been reckless enough
to expose themselves to fatality 81
often that the imminence of deatf
must have seemed the normal condi
ton: they were supplemented
enough, after all that, to reap TIL
keenest of enjoyment out of a jaz'
band: and, as we watched them, w
knew that such men, men with tina
elasticity of spirit. which is the sc
cret Of the ever-renewed spirit Q
France, can hold another Verdun!