McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1918-07-26
'mprover without a peer.

WpT0Ver WITHOUT q peer.
] was saying what wonderfully
good thing this war is going to be
fo- our boys. | Inever realized it SO
fully as when saw my own son in
his uniform as yeoman Of the Uni
ted States navy a while back. He
never was slouch. but tie service
had made him look like a new man,
nevertheless and he was proud of it
too. But the most important thing
of all is that our boys are the clean
est set Of soldiers and sailors that
ever went into war; clean in body
and mind and heart, and therefore
if for no other reason, they will win.
| have been astonished at the amount
of filthy literature and pictures found
on the Huns whom we run in here as
enemy aliens The French are pat
terms of morality beside the real
Prussians, to whom nothing is sacred
and nothing too low for them to stoop
to. Baseness Of character is associ-
ates with cowardics, and when you
get one Of these degenerates into a
corner he will go all to pieces"
while clean, wholesome man will
fight till the last ditch.
In the Civil War our military au-
thorites learned a valuable lesson.
1t used to be thought dangerous to
put bridal on the boys and make
them stay clean, but wisdom has
come to the rescue of onr soldiers
and sailors, and a most wonderful re-
form Drought about An experience
of twenty-four years in the pension
Office at Washington, where | saw
many thousands Of reports Of hospit-
al surgeons. taught me what vile dis
eases have done in times pas5 for our
soldiers and sailors. Diseases Of vice
have disabled more men than bullets,
and in many cases the disability was
not only lifelong, but resulted in
blindness, insanity, and the sufferings
and death Of their unfortunate fam
lilies. So this time Uncle Sam took
the opportunity by the foreiock, and
he said to the rumseler and the har-
lot: "You stay away from my boys:
need them in my business The
wonderfully low death record in the
army and navy IA percentage lower
than ever before in history and the
magnificent feats of valor performed
by our boys, are proof enough that
those boys are thousand times bet
ter off than they would be with the
old temptations within their reach.
Lead us not into temptation" said
the Master: He knew how strong that
temptation might be, and how much
better it would be to avoid it. Now
those fine young fellows will come
back to US improved in body, mind
and soul, better equipped than those
left behind, to carry on the tasks
that will confront the nation after
the war. That is most of them will
return; some will not, but would you
not sooner risk their salvation in that
other world to which they went from
the field Of battle, clean in body, mind
and heart, than If they had followed
a life Of slothful ease and sin athome
poisoning themselves with with the
devils sugared doses? SO that what
ever may come, our boys are safer
than they ever were, and better off
than we could have imagined they
would ever be. Their clean living
will so impress them with its advan-
tages that the ginmill and the brothel
would have small attraction for them
any more after their return. But
those evils are fast disappearing
from our midst BY stern laws which
themselves are the children Of the
war. Could the Hun
have smagined that he would do us
such q favor, he would never have
started the war. And then to think
Of his having to get whipped ont Of
bis boots for his painsl 1T is to
weep as he would say
LINDSAY S. PERKINS.
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