davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-07-19

MIR. and Mrs. A. j. Betaque and Mrs.
Ophelia Harris of Marcellus were call
ers at the V. G.. Sherrod home last Sun
day.
Wint Reynolds left on Thursday for
Chicago to spend the week end with
his children, Lee and family and Miss
lone
Mr.. and Mrs. Frank Van Blaricom
have returned from their auto trip to
Minnesota. They report a delightful
time.
The next meeting of the Paw Paw
Grange will be held the( evening of
July 25 at the home Of Mrs. Francis
Buskirk.
Mr.. and Mrs. Jay Hinckley enter
tanned Mr.. AID Mrs. Whiteman and
family and other guests from Lawrence
to dinner Sunday.
Nettie Richmond is visiting Mrs.
Elmer Empson and expects to make
her home with Eugene Hinchley and
family in Kalamazoo.
Willis Clapp and wife and Mrs. Hazel
Howe and two children of Colon, Pan
anna, were callers Tuesday evening at
the V. G. Sherrod home.
guest at the Bert Spicer home. Mrs.
Heath is a sister of Mrs Spicer's ia
ther, G. $. Clark.
Jay Hinckley and wife motored to
Kalamazoo Tuesday, taking their ten
ants wife to the hospital, where she
underwent a successful operation.
Paw Paw Encampment No. 30 will
have work in the Patriarchal degree
next Wednesday vening, July "a. All
camp members are urged to be present.
The Red Cross society of Dowagiac
will sell a hydroplane at auction on
Saturday of this week at 300 P. NJ.
This "boat' - is given to the Dowagiac
Red Cross Chapter by Mr.. and Mrs.
G. Bishop at the request of their son,
and the proceeds of the sale will all
go to the Red Cross.
Mrs. Clara Woodman is entertaining
her brother, Frank Simpson and his
two daughters, the Misses Marjorie
and Mary of Lansing. They are spend
ing a vacation here, and Mr. Simpson
will divide his time between this place
and Hartford.
The Misses Kathryn Adams and
Helen Annette Of Hines, Wisconsin
Vivian A. Colburn Of Milton, Wiscon-
sin, all students at the E. NJ. G. College
at Berrrien Springs, Mich, and Miss
Florence Oswald of Hazelton, Pa
were guests at the f. E. Merchant home
north of town last Saturday and Sun.
day.
The farmers east of Paw Paw held a
meeting at the Richmond school house
last Monday night to discuss the coun.
ty agent proposition. There is no op-
position to the matter, but some are of
the opinion that it is costing too much
money to operate this department,
especially during the period of the war.
A later meeting will be called to dis.
cuss the matter further.
Mrs. Sheridan Masters and daugh
ter, Miss Helen of Lansing, have been
guests of Paw Paw friends this week
They are enroute to Northport to take
charge of force of 25 college girls
in the cherry orchards of the Dame
estate. These orchards are said to be
the largest in the world. The labor
| is procured as war measure through
the activity of the women's committee
! of the Council of National Defense.
The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-07-19

Mrs. w. r. Sellick is on the sick list
this week.
Fred CLOSEUP of Kalamazoo was call
ing on Paw Paw friends on Monday
last
Mrs. Pershing of Kalamazoo is a
guest of her mother, Mrs. T. j. Cav
anaugh.
Miss June Lowell of Union City was
guest of Miss Audrey Cross last
week end.
Harry Busley has been on the sick
list and is home from Bankson s Lake
to recuperate.
Mr.. and Mrs. r. G. johnson have
returned to Kalamazoo, after a week s
visit with his mother, Mrs. A. M. De-
Vail.
Ed Bailey of Detroit is spending the
week with his family here and Incl.
dentally taking in the races at Kala-
mazoo.
Harold Downing Of Griffith, Ind, has
been visiting relatives and friends here
this week and will 60 to Detroit to
finish his vacation there.
Mr.. and Mrs. Harvey Sherman were
in Kalamazoo on Monday and attended
the opening day of the races at Recrea-
tion park.
w. A. Reidl and family returned to
their home in Chicago Monday, after
spending a week at the home of his
brother, Jake Reid and family.
There was real family gathering at
the Chas. Lake home last Sunday. All
the children, Mrs. James Shanahan of
Lawton, Mrs. George Clark Of Morenci,
and Lynn of Camp Grant, with their
families, came to spend the day at
home.
The Dvckman House is now open to
the public, and it is no exaggeration to
say that no hotel in Southern Michigan
has finer furnishings, and is better
equipped to cater to the wants of the
public. The place is a credit to the
community, and should have the lib
eral patronage of the public.
Attorney Marshall l.. Howell died at
his home in Cassopolis last Friday aft
ernoon, aged 70 years. He has been a
lifelong resident of Cass county, and
one Of the most prominent members of
the bar in southwestern Michigan. He
has had many cases in the circuit court
here, and was well known to every at
torney in the state.
The townships of Antwerp and Por-
ter dedicated a service flag in the viii
! lage Of Lawton Wednesday evening,
with an appropriate patriotic program.
There are So blue stars and one of gold
in the flag. The gold star is in mem
ory of Private Fred Cross of Porter
township, who died in southern camp.
The County Musical was held in
the village of Hartford last Thursday
July IL. The program consisted of
violin, cello, piano and vocal numbers
also ensemble work. few representa-
tive pupils were chosen from the music
classes in Hartford, Bangor, Decatur
Lawrence and Paw Paw. Those SC
honored from this village were the
Misses Charlotte Young, Jean Warner
Thelma Sprague and Dorothy Ander-
son, and Master Howard Jennings, all
from the piano class of Miss Irene
Lane. Following the morning musical,
picnic dinner was enjoyed in the
park.
The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-07-19

Chester Campbell and family of Paw
Paw were visitors at the N. G. Mer-
chant home last Sunday.
VIM. Burns Of San Francisco, nephew
of John Burns fthis city, was in Paw
Paw Wednesday.
The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-07-19

A number of letters from our soldie.
boys will be found on page of this
issue.
The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-07-19

Mrs. w. r. Sellick is on the sick list
this week.
The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-07-19

Mr.. and Mrs. George Weston spent
last Sunday at Paw Paw Lake. Mrs.
Weston IS mother, Mrs. Cora Barrows
of Lawrence, accompanied them.
The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-07-19

Mr.. and Mrs. A. j. Betaque and Mrs
Ophelia Harris of Marcellus were call
ers at the V. G.. Sherrod home last Sun
day.
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

farewell. The young wife had no
friends near at hand. She had to
take the train right back to Chicago.
The K. of c. chaplain who per-
formed the marriage ceremony in
terpreted the case as one for spe-
cial effort. The priest escorted the
girl to the jitney. He saw the tears
yelling back of the brave brown
eyes, and he was afraid that if the
little woman once broke down it
would be mighty hard for her to
reach Chicago.
But when they shook hands she
met his sympathetic glance with a
courageous smile.
"Well, we've got each other,' she
said. And, in reply to that shining
piece Of human satisfaction. the
chaplain could only shake the firm
little hand more heartily.
A X. of C. chaplain was sitting in
his little room early one morning
reading the Office which every priest
must read, and which takes about
one hour of his time every day. A
pale, full moon hung over the sleep
ing cantonment and the dull tramp
of the pacing sentry could be heard
An improvised lampshade of carbon
paper shadowed the little room, so
that when the chaplain looked up at
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21
Pershing Needs
That Sort of Man

It's hardly any wonder that Gen
eral Pei shing wants more men Of
that callbre, no matter what their
religious profession, overseas with
his army. He knows their effect on
the boys, how they help in the vital
work OF sustaining the morale of
troops who have not yet tasted the
purgatory of modern battle. His
sister, Miss Pershing, probably ex
pressed her brothers sentiments
when, witnessing a crowded mass in
n. of c. building at a Western
camp, she exclaimed: They are the
kind of boys my brother wants."
ana the commandants in the can
tonments at home are just as eager
as is General Pershing TO get the
right kind of religious help for their
men. 1t counts vitally in the win
nlng of the war. From General
Scott down the big men of the army
have joined the enlisted men in at
tending those inspiring spectacles
That GO by the name of field masses
and the highest dignitaries of the
Church, Cardinal O'Connell, Bishop
Hayes and many others, have per
formed the chaplain's duty of cele-
brating SUCH masses.
The Knights of Columbus have up-
ward of a hundred chaplains in
home camps and about fifty over
seas. And with the expansion Of
X. of c. work at home and abroad
SO that future expenditure will ap-
proxlmate a million dollars week.
many more of these chaplains will
be provided. The men need all thev
can get and the K. of C. are going
to take care that as many of the
hundreds of young and middle aged
priests who have volunteered for
service In the olive drab uniform as
can be spared will be sent to the
camps to promote this sterling work
for God and country.
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21
Chaplains Worked
From Morning Till Night

At Camp Merritt, for instance,
there are two X. Of C. chaplains,
and careful averaging of their time
gives them exactly four hours for
sleep in every twenty-four. Being
the debarkation camp, Merritt is,
for obvious reasons, place where
it usually occurs to the soldier,
whipped into physical trim by stren-
uous training at some interior en-
campment, to get himself into spirit
ual shape for the trip across the u
boat infested ocean. The chaplains
are unusually busy at Merritt.
Whenever regiment is under or
ders to embark the day preceding
the departure is heavy one for re-
ligious work. The men throng the
X. of G. building from morning un-
til night, making their confessions.
There is always midnight mass for
the boys, who by the hundreds de-
prive themselves of much needed
sleep to attend. They receive Holy
Communion and go back to barracks
to march out again after a two or
three hours nap, shouldering their
rifles and singing songs as they take
the route to the port Of departure
to No Mans Land.
The solemn side of the war comes
home to the civilian on visit to
Camp Merritt any evening preced-
ing the debarkation of fighting
unit. The K. Of c. building will be-
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21
By John B. Kennedy
Editor of "The Colambiad'

w 7HO could look a beef-fed,
Nv khaki-clad scrap pper
squarely in the eye and
call him a sinner? Or a miserable
sinner? Only an inordinately bra
zen Pharisee, or a gentleman rather
premature in his charity for the
benefciaries of his life insurance
and accident policies.
Yet there was a time when
Fighting" Fred Funston had to re-
mind certain misdirected zealots
that if soldiers were sinners they
were no worse sinners than civil
ians, and the hint was wisely ac-
cepted that they might resent any
unlimited attempt to turn them into
saints.
Which does not imply that SOL
diers are impassive to religious ap-
peal. They are, in the aggregate,
more practically religious than civil
ians. Visit any big cantonment
when field mass is being celebrated
or when other impressive religious
ceremonies are being conducted, and
the attendance of the fighting men
will compare more than favorably
with the attendance in city churches,
when the number of men in camp
and the number of civilians in a
parish are considered.
What the soldier doesn't like is
not religion, but the obtrusion of re-
hgion. One of the cardinal truths
driven home by military discipline is
the fact that there must be time
and a place for everything. This
the soldier learns, and, as a result,
in the regimen of his leisure hours
he finds time to observe the outward
forms of whatever religion he pro-
fesses. But he resents any attempt
to drum religion into him.
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

and, like all men with heavily bur-
dened souls, took it upon himself to
shed what he considered the chief
part of the burden by way Of easing
the situation.
II amt been to confession for
twenty-odd years." he said.
Better late than never" the
chaplain said.
And the twenty-year catalogue
was unfolded. But as the corporal
was leaving be halted.
Zone or two of the fellows in my
outfit are in just about the same way
l was,' he said. "They want to get
fixed up
"Send them along,' said the
priest.
"Not right away the corporal
replied. I'm not through with my
farewell furlough. These other fell
lows are in barracks"
But before revelle the other fel-
lows had reused the chaplain from
his two-hour sleep and been accom-
modated precisely as was the gaunt
corporal. Perhaps this incident, and
the hundred variations of it that
could be told, and we'll authenticated,
illustrates the reason why Bishop
Hayes of New York, who has charge
over all Catholic chaplains, selects
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21
Thirty-hve Per Cent of Soldiers Roman Catholics
Who Fight Best When Prepared to Go
Over ''the Great Divide''

! Catholic priests. They are not COM
missioned by the government, and,
although this deprives them of mill
tary standing, it places them in a
position which, at times, works out
to better advantage than if they
were commissioned and subject to
military discipline. But regular
army chaplains will be the first to
admit that the K. of C. chaplains
render a great and substantial SER
vice to the men in the camps and at
the front, and, as for the men them
selves, one has only to visit the
nearest cantonment to witness how
thoroughly they utilize these chap
lains.
1t may seem anomalous that these
chaplains should be furnished to the
army by an organization indepen-
dent of the War Department, al
though recognized by and co0perat-
ing with it. But this apparent
anomaly is easily explained. Ap-
proximately 35 per cent of the men
in the American army are Catho-
lies, and they are often so distrib-
uted that, despite the utmost fair
ness in the allotment of chaplain
cies in proportion to creedal repre-
sentation in the ranks, large num-
bers of Catholic soldiers find them
selves in regiments to which a nom
Catholic chaplain is attached. They
must, then, rely upon the K. of C.
chaplain to attend to their religious
welfare. Again, the Catholic faith
is peculiar in it's requirements for
sufficient practice on the part of its
adherents-which necessitates a
close personal contact between the
priest and the layman, and it is
easy to understand that when a
Catholic army chaplain finds him
self located where he has to minis
ter to thousands of men the chances
for personal contact are quite re-
mote. Here the K. of c. chaplain
solves the problem.
That he solves it we'll is being
demonstrated in every camp where
these chaplains are located, and
there is hardly camp in the coun-
try where they are not. At the
front three K. of C. chaplains have
already been mentioned in dis
patches for conspicuous bravery un-
der fire. And while those at home
have not yet had the opportunity to
become battlefield heroes, they are
accomplishing work which by it's
very arduousness entities them to
heroic rank.
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

But the brides are usually just as
brave as their husbands; they ac-
cept the fact of war, and, whatever
heartaches they may have, they
manage to conceal them until they
get out of sight of the boys who
leave them behind.
One little woman came all the way
from Chicago to get married in the
K. of C. building at Merritt. She
couldn't sleep on the train, and,
when she arrived in camp, she was
d pretty tired bride-elect. The
bridegroom had three hours liberty.
Then they had to bid each other
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

the most robust physical material he
can find for the onerous posi-
tions.
Consider-for a typical case of
bearing the straying sheep back to
the fold-the case of Ginger"
Ginger" came from the gashouse
section of New York, and he reached
Camp Devens in a very dissatisfied
frame Of mind with men and things.
He hung around one of the K. of c..
buildings there because it contained
a free pool table, although he missed
the thick haze of smoke over the
table and the frequent understanding
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

tapping on his window a pale face
stood in relief against the half
gloom Of the camp beyond.
The chaplain, not without misgiv-
ing, went to the door, opened it and
admitted gaunt soldier, who greet
ed him gingerly.
expect to go tomorrow, father
said the corporal. "Can you hear
my confession?"
Of course the priest could. He
explained he was there to do that
very thing at any hour of the day
or night.
But the gaunt corporal blinked
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

Of "bum' shots with strings of pro-
family.
"Ginger" acquired a reputation as
tough guy because he said "dis'
and "dat" and ''thoity-thoid." But
Father McGinn, X. of c. chaplain
at Camp Devens, saw that under
meath the rather raspish exterior
"Ginger's" heart was as true as any
that beat inside a regulation army
shirt. He didn't pal up with "Gin-
ger"--back-slapping and the hail
fellow-well-met stuff doesn't exactly
work with the gashouse bunch. But
he told Ginger" that if he didn't
have anything particular to do on a
Sunday morning he might drop
around to the K. of c. building.
"Ginger' dropped around and at
tended his first mass since the days
before he hurled his first brick from
a tenement roof on a placid cop up
holding a street lamp below.
"Ginger' had no aesthetic regard
for the service, although he might
have been impressed by the serious
attention which the thousand or so
boys present displayed. But one
thing made big hit with Ginger" j"
It was the bell rung at the most
solemn moments of the mass. He
figured things III for himself and
probably had lonely battle with
the old. remembered prejudices
against the 'cissy guys" who tried
to get in soft at school by helping
out the priest at church.
Ginger" won the battle. On the
following Saturday evening he
turned up in Chaplain McGinn's s
Office, where tall lieutenant was
engaged in conversation. Ginger"
butted right in.
"Have youse,' he asked the priest
(and who shall sneer at the dialect
Of a warrior, particularly when the
warrior is red-headed?)--"H Have
youse got anybody to solve mass to-
morror, father?'
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

packed, not as on other nights for
one of the innumerable vaudeville or
movie entertainments staged there,
but with boys intent upon their last
letter home before sailing overseas.
The secretaries, five Of them, are
occupied through the night passing
out stationery, retailing stamps and
answering thousand-odd questions.
The steady, creeping sound of a
thousand pens travelling at varying
speeds over sheets of paper is all
that is heard in the building save
the murmur Of the priests and peni-
tents who line the walls of the build
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21
Must Be Ready
To Cross Great Divide

The American soldier considers
his religion a private and personal
affair. Face to face with the most
serious thing in life, he INDUCES in
lntrospection without being bounded
into it. The average healthy dough-
boy searches his soul more often
than his robust, care-free appear
ance might lead one to suspect, and
it is safe gamble, which most army
chaplains will take, that the men
charging over the trench are just as
ready to cross the great divide and
face their Creator as other citizens
who are warned six months in ad-
vance of the date when they may
expect to make the excursion for
which no round-trip tickets are ever
issued.
The Importance the governments
OF the various belligerent nations at
tach to religious influence over
their fighting men is amply evil
denced by the generous assignment
OF chaplains to the troops. Even
the terrible Turk appreciates the
soldiers need of spiritual help to de-
leat the inner enemies, which, if al
lowed to roam through heart and
head untamed, would impair eff
clency in dealing with the outer en-
emy.
The soldiers themselves are quick
70 respond to the personality of q
chaplain, even though their nick
name Of Charlie" indicates q GER
tain flippancss. The chaplain, like
'he school teacher, has to prove him
seif before he wins the respect Of
'he men to whom he is assigned, but,
once he demonstrates that he "be-
iongs,' the boys are for him, and for
,i'm strong; they adopt him as their
ioster-father, and his advice is
sought in the hundred, little prob
,ems that turn up in every soldiers
"le-and acted upon.
No set of men doing service for
'ne United States army get closer to
we soldiers Of their creed than the
Mn'ghts Of Columbus chaplains. The
a. OF G. chaplains are, Of course,
New-York tribune., 1918-07-21

ing awaiting their turns in the i'm
provised confessional. Here and
there a boy will look up, pensively,
wondering what last little tid-bit of
good cheer he can insert in the let
ter home to offset the blues which he
figures must always be produced by
his goodby missive. But there are
no sighs. These boys are soldiers.
They remain, every man-jack Of
them, for the midnight mass, after
which they step out of the building
ready to face all the terrors the
Huns may loose upon them.
Always, when troop movement
is imminent, the chaplain will be re-
quested to perform marriage cere-
monies. This is no light task for
K. of c. chaplain, as every marriage
between Catholics, contracted ac-
cording to the law of the Church, re-
quires formalities which cannot be
dispensed with. To protect the wom-
an in every marriage and to guard
against clandestine weddings, basic
requirements are laid down for the
two parties to the marriage to fulfil
before any priest, whether chaplain
or not, can pronounce them man and
wife. Letters must be obtained from
the pastors of the man and woman,
and several pertinent points of in
formation truthfully supplied which
could hardly be given by anybody
contemplating a rash marriage.
The chaplains do not encourage
last-minute marriages; they have
been found not to affect favorably
the morale of the men contracting
them. Military discipline must nee
essarily be of such a nature that it
cannot make a single exception, and
often the case has occurred where
girl goes to Merritt. gets married,
and must take ber honeymoon with
her husband during his few hours
of liberty within the confines Of the
camp. Then the chaplain has
double job. He must console the
girl and cheer up the bridegroom.