New Britain herald., 1918-07-15

! Ril1er- Hegeman Drug Stores, John J. McBriarty, Nathan Noveck, w. H. Russell and Druggists Everywhere.
 - --------------------=------, ------------=--------, ever free. Tn November 1781, Lafay- cite sailed for France amid the tear l full goOdby of his soldiers, and his | soldier hero George Washington. 'Lafayette and Washington! The 1 Frenchman and the American Great soldiers both, but above all great MEN. Besides such names as those the pretensions of a Kaiser, the con quests of a Napoleon, the world en- pire of a Caesar, can only dwindle and shrivel as time marches on into insignificance.
 "So today it is not Napoleon, but Lafayette here we are!
 "How dramatically history has per mitted us to return the debt to France If France came to us in the hour of our desperate need, so have we gone to France in hers. If France lent us 400 millions of dollars at a time when we had no gold at all, we have lent our billions to France when she is nearly exhausted. If Rocham- beau and Admiral de Ternay sailed with their frigateS and soldiers for the Colonies in the hour of our crisis, we have conveyed our soldiers to her, sent her our grain and meats, and have helped keep her sea coast free of raiders at a time when every ounce of French manhood must be ] utilized in the land forces.
 France Where U. s. Was. France today Is much as we were 1 in 1777. Strong to suffer but fast 1 failing in all but resolution and cour- 1 age. France who has seen a whole l generation of her manhood moved down. France who has borne the maiming of countless thousands of 1 ncr men by methods of warfare that the Hun has invented hideous and l horrible beyond words. France who l has mobi1ized her men up to AS, who has grey boards in her army because the poilus, the stalwart younger men, l are gone. France who pretends no l longer that war is anything but l painful tedious and heart rending | obligation, yet who is willing to fight 1 it out until the right peace comes. { "Peace for our children. they say now over there.
 "Destiny has dramatized her plans l for the payment of our debt to ] France. America has not been lured
 
 l ious winning legions, nor by con- l quests such as marked the zenith of Napoleon's glory. Rather we are l seeing in France today what Lafay- l cite found in America in 1777-poV- 1 erty, wretchedness and the bleeding 1 wounds of a whole nation in arms. 1 And we are paying our debt in the l very spirit of Lafayette's words to l Franklin. America today says: Now 1 is precisely the moment to serve l your cause; the more people are dis l cOuraged the greater utility will re- suit in our coming; if you cannot l supply us with vessels, we will turn
 to and build them in our own ship 1 yards at our own expense to carry our good wishes and ourselves to the l shores of France.
 ''So, it is, Lafayette; here we are.
 One million of us. as young and as brave and as intelligent an army as ever the world saw. Here we are, em barking upon your shores. France,
 ere you are aware that we are ready to come. Here we are. marching l through your sleeping towns and Vil- 1 lageS, France, in the early dawn of mornings in spring. Here we are 1 France, and you in night cap and
 gown are startled to hear tramping
 feet along your quiet streets. You
 leap from bed and peer through
 closed shutters, and from under l shades.
 America Joins France.
 Here we are France The morn l ing is misty and the dew is settling
 on our khaki uniforms and Slisten- 1 ing upon our OminOuS rifles and you
 can hardly make us out down here in
 the dust and the mist. But it is us,
 France, glorious France; see there at
 the columns head the most beauti-
 full flag in the world! The flag Lafay-
 cite saluted and loved, France, 140
 years and more ago. Yes. here we
 are France; you who have learned
 the amazing news and are filling the
 streets this early morning to behold the wonderful sight Thank you for
 your gracious cheers and your blessed
 tears, and forgive us that we had not
 come three years ago, and pray with us that it is not yet too late.
 "Yes France, yes Lafayette, here
 we are at last. Here we are, you ] wonderful people of France, kneeling
 there on the sidewalk crossing your selves in praise for the renewed strength that has come to you. Yes,
 children, of Trance, innocent and
 yet so sinned against, you little folk with your strange shouts of les ami's' } throwing your flowers for us to tread upon.
 Here we are. all the wide and
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