The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-06-06

This was the last line OF the poem
u~nderscored:
And grant, o Lord, that | may play
the man"
"Perhaps here's a better explanation
Of why men stand and fight" said he,
turning to the table by the side of his
cot a number of books supplied by
the y. NJ. c. A. He handed me a
volume OF THE Rhymes of a Red
Cross Man." by Robert w. Service.
Read that" he directed, pointing to
a verse. Read it out, for | like to
hear it'-and | read:
so stand, my son; look gritty,
And just 'um a little ditty,
And only be afraid to be afraid!
Just old yer rifle steady.
And ave yer bay'n't ready,
for that's the way good soldiermen
is made.
And if you as to die,
AS it sometimes 'appens, why,
Far better die a 'ero than a skunk;
A-doin' of yer bit,
There amt no bloomin' funk, funk,
funk"
You mean" said |, and he took the
words out of my mouth:
Il mean we fear nothing but fear.
The boys are not afraid to die; they're
not afraid of the boche; they're only
afraid they'll be afraid. That's the
way it was with me. | had thought
it all out, and | quit thinking about
getting wounded, or getting killed, or
fighting ha%nd-to-hand. | only Won
dered whether my nerve would hold
or not"
and when did you learn that it
would?"
ooh, Immediately the fight began.
First thing | knew the fight was on.
The boches were coming. We We're
ordered to fire. The boys all around
me were fighting. | knew that | was
all right. | would have died rather
than showed fear-and | was not
afraid. | never was so happy in my
life, happy because | knew | was not
afraid"
And how about the freedom of the
world, and making the world safe for
democracy? Were you thinking of
such things at the moment"
"Oh, no. That had all been settled
beforehand. Our nation had settled
that. The private has his problems
as well as the commanding officer, and
he can only settle one thing at a time.
You've settled a lot Of things before
the shooting begins. The only thing
you can think Of then is the fight, how
to defend yourself and lick the fell
lows in front of you"
and these problems of the private,
what are they?" | inquired.
well the first problem with me
was WlClltl Tic CLllCu oldtCS OuSul
to get in or not. At first thought it
was an ordinary European row that
was none of our business. Then | re-
called that at college there were a
half dozen German students who were
always Boosting of Germany. We had
a debate on the Monroe Doctrine and
these fellows had attacked it. re-
called that they had arranged the de-
bate, selected the subject and the side
of the question they should represent.
Much was being said about German
propaganda in the United States, and
it occurred to me that this had been
a small bit of it. | hadn't thought of
it at the time. | remembered that in
the Monroe Doctrine had quoted the
kaiser something like this:
Far away over the sea speech
is spreading, and far away flows the
stream of our influence. Neither on
the ocean nor across it can any great
decision be again reached without
Germany AMI the German emperor.
God has called us to c~ivilize the
world
And so my first problem was solved.
Tie kaiser's threat to. extend his par
~ticular brand of military, monarchal
civilization across the seas was revolt.
ing. solved the second problem that
confronted me by volunteering"
The lad paused and laid back on his
pillow as though that was the end OF
1.-THE problems rather than the begin
ming. Presently he continues:
"Of course there were many other
problems. There was mother-and