The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-06-22
As They Start Overseas.

|
y maa stood on the littlc stage OF
q Y. II. G. \. hut at one of the can.
tcnmcnts and asked the question.
lie was, to the careless eye, in the
Khaki shirt, trousers and puttees. no
different from any one OF the splen-
did, clear-eyed, Outstanding America
soldiers VINO faced him and roarod
the answer:
Hes all right"
Then the song started with will
bat some way it did not 20 quite as
we'll rs the man cn the little stage
thought it should. Down he lcaDcd
ana fairly ncw across the aisle with
Sins, men sing-whats .iIe matter
with you, have you lost ynur pep ?"
As he came back the building shook
with the last line, 1T isn't going to
be such a hell Of a rain after all"
The eyes or every man in the room
held the form Of the man as he
sprang lightly again to the stage.
Obodicntly every soldier sang all the
songs he started, only once Or twice
did he again make excursions down
among them, calling soiae of them by
name as he did so, and when he did
the noise from over thousand
lhroats Was dcafering rs the words
Of "Over There and "Frcedom, I'or
Ail, Forever" came from them.
y little joke from the man on tho
stage brought ready laughter, ana
chen his face grew tense and he rails
cd his hand.
Men, we are up against the real
thing now. We are leaving as you
know for whore we VIII have 20 fight
tor all we hold dear ana sacred.
Today the place in front Of my
window has been an altar. As look
ga out my window j knew that pray
ors were continually ascending 10
il1avon. \ gray-hairod woman woula
pass with her boys arm thrown li2ht-
ly across her shoulders, while in her
eyes WAS the light Of the supromo
sacrifice; younger women walked
hand in hand with their swcethearts
or husbands their men; fathers did
not disdain to look into The faces o.
their sons with tcar-d!mmcd eyes.
they were ali saying wordlcss prayers
for our safety
"Men, we are going to do our duty
our whole duty. We arc going to
make thosc tears Of sacrifice fears
of pride. We arc going tho Who'll
way, even though it leads to the end
Of the long trail"
There was q moments silence, and
then the man on the stage said: 81
want all the officers Of this regiment
up hcrc beside me-" and up clambcrcd
dozen or more splendid youngt
chaps. Then with his head bowed
ne asked tho chaplain TO say n pray
or. The solemn words evidently found
rch0 in every heart, ard little later
every man in the room sang with
Ill his soul: My country lis OF thee
ana he thought Of his country, his
homo, the loved ones he was lcavn.
behind
Up, up asccnded the great melody
Of masculine voices:
Long may our land be bright
With freedoms holy light
Protect US with thy might
Great God. our King"
\ moments silence and thcn Dis
missed" rang out i'm sharp command.
whe mau hcsi."tcd iust inc fraction
ot second ana young voice from
,hc Lacl, shouted the question:
"NVhars the matter with The colo
nI?"
Like "A c1nron'a roar came bacl,
the answer "Ue's an r.sht'"
"Nho.s al risht."
In still !oudcr volume was shout
td.
"Tho colonel"
And Tho tramp OF marching feet
proclaimed The fact that America
WEES sending another regiment o. her
...t,,.,,.. ,,., ., 81. ,,.,,. 40 otno,,