Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-07
"HE religion of William Hohen-
zollern has been one of the ac-


zollern has been one of the ac-
tive topics of the whole war
1t has only been in his very latest
utterances that the former German
monarch has not coupled Gott with
himself as an equal, an abettor, OF
perchance a servant. One picture
of the kaiser sent out by the watch
full Boswell, Karl Rosner, showed
William in the act of communion
and we are distinctly told that in
that Belgian church with waiting
audience of German officers the
worshiper never bent the knee
There is a strong contrast between
him and the figure the Los Angeles
Times draws of his conqueror, Gen
eral Ferdinand Foch-"the Gray
Man of Christ" This has been
Christs war;" says The Times
Christ on one side, and all that
stood opposed to Christ on the
other side. And the generalissimo
in supreme command of all the
armies that fought on the side OF
hrist, Is Christ's man."
Lest readers think this a strange
statement for a secular newspaper
to make" The Times brings for
ward the reminder that lit Is the
business of a newspaper to get al
facts" and "if the facts are of a
supernal nature, it is still the bust
ness of the newspaper to get at them
and to record them" When this was
written the full span of General
Foch's achievement had not been
covered, but the end was then clearly
in sight. We read:
THE deeper we question as to who
Foch is, the clearer is the answer
that in every act of his life and in
every thought of his brain he is
Christ's man.
"If you were to ask him, Are you
Christs mann he would answer
Yes
at seems to be beyond all shadow
of doubt that when the hour came
in which all Christ stood for was to
either stand or fall, Christ raised up
man to lead the hosts that battled
for Him.
when the hour came in which
truth and right, charity, brotherly
love, justice and liberty were either
to triumph or to be blotted out of the
world, Christ came again upon the
road to Damascus.
Whoever does not realize this
and see it clearly as fact, he does
but blunder stupidity.
There will be a crowding COM
pany of critics when the war is end
ed and they will all be filled with
the ego of their own conclusions
They will attempt to explain the
genius of Foch with maps and dia-
grams. But, while they are doing
so, if you will look for Foch in some
quiet church, it is there that he VIII
be found humbly giving God the
glory, and absolutely declining TO
attribute it to himself.
"Can that kind of a man win a
war? Can q man who is q practical
soldier be also "a practical Christian
And is Foch that kind of a man
Let us see."
The secret of where Foch used to
go for strength and magical power
to bring home the marvellous VIC
tories" was surprised by California
boy. 1t was not published by any
organ of France, to show the world
how religious" it's leader was:
"a California boy, serving as q
soldier in the American BXpedi-
tionary Forces in France, has recent
ly written a letter to his parents
in San Bernardino, in which he gives,
as we'll as any one else could give
the answer to the question we ask.
Il
name-tells of meeting General
Foch at close range in France.
Evans had gone into an old
church to have q look at it, and as
he stood there with barred head sat
isfying his respectful curiosity, a
Cray man with the eagles of a gen.
eral on the collar of his shabby uni
form also entered the church. Only
one orderly accompanied the quiet,
gray man. No glittering staff of Of
ficers, no encourage of gold-laced
aids, were with him; nobody but
just the orderly.
Evans paid small attention at
first to the gray man, but was cur
ious to see him kneel in the church,
praying. The minutes passed until
full quarters of an hour had
gone by before the gray man arose
from his knees.
"Then Evans followed him down
the street and was surprised to see
soldiers salute this man in great
excitement, and women and children
stopping in their tracks with awe
struck faces as he passed.
sit was Foch. And now Evans, OF
San Bernardino, counts the expert
ence as the greatest In his life. Dur
ing that three-quarters of an hour
that the generalissimo of all the
Allied armies was on his knees in
humble supplication in that quiet
church, 10000 guns were roaring
at his word on a hundred hills that
rocked with death.
millions of armed men crouched
in trenches or rushed across blood
NJ h ~