Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-09-19
hUn Poets FAIL
on WAR GuEssEs
THINK m TRUE kul1uR VEIN

Feeseass Only Short end 11srry Wa.
It End Of which Great German
Hests VIII d c~eaqusrers
q the World.
ey EARL pERR BIoogRs.
Rfom the.commsttes on Public Informa-
tion. Washington, D. c.
Speaking Of Germans-as who u NOT
these daysf-e celebrated French poet.
Jean Aicard. has hit upon q rather
neat and happy figure Of speech. In .
long and eloquent poem about the war,
after he has described how the Ger.
man horde. coming forward with
God" as they put It. swept down on
Paris, and has pictured them bafled
and beaten by the miracle of the
Marine. he further recalls how-"hav.
Ing prepared themselves In France q
terriers ~hole"-they
lntrenched themselves therein, defeated.
driven, hurled
Back by the sword Of France and scorned
Dy al Sne WOEiu-
And then what happenedf Let Al
card tell It:
There. in their filthy holes. their natural
A lives the hunted boar, the crouching
soldiers sat;
And. az a putrid pool exhales an evil
smell.
They poured their poisons forth straight
frpv, tha n ~ han
Defled the blue Of heaven and made the
virgin air
A party to the crime they perpetrated
there.
The choking gas that rose. mephitic. from
their holes,
Was very like the breath and odor OF
their souls.
The odor Of their soulsl The pres
ent writer must confess that this
smile strikes him as a remarkably
at and appropriate one.
Today we know only too well the
odor OF their souls, and we are deter
mined to send our men v to those
holes in France, to dislnfect them with
the only serviceable antiseptics-the
bayonet and the bullet Everything
that keeps that odor strong In our nos
trils will be Of help in the salvation
of III country, since 1t will keep us
firm In u determination to do or die.
So one Is inclined to feel that Prot.
Fl. G. Grumbine Of Clark university,
who has recently translated into very
readable English the war poetry of
France and Germany, has done this
country a patriotic service. Professor
Grumbine knows that nowhere are the
Ideals Of a nation more clearly re-
vealed than in Its literature, and he
adds that literature in Its purest form
Is poetry. So he has gone to the poets
Of the two countries to discover what
was In their minds In the early days Of
the war. With an ardent desire to be
fair, he has not chosen verses which
prove any particular point for him,
but has sought to contne himself to
the leading and the representative
bards. In Germany such men as Su.
dermann. Lissauer, and Herzog; In
France, Boutrel and Aicard, the for.
mer a laureate and the latter a mem
Der Of the French academy. And hay
ing translated the verses Of these meu
he has drawn some logical and illu'
minating conclusions regarding the
German god and the French god, thu
German soul and the soul Of thu
French.
orumbIne's Deductions.
Let us glance for a moment bvel
Professor Grumbine's shoulder at tn,
translations he has made; then brief.
let us consider his conclusions. II tn
matter strikes you, dear reader. a.
academic and-dread word-literary
be assured that 1t will not be treate,
here in either academic or %literar.
fashion. Professor Grumblne open
the door for you, and you wander will
him through that dark hinterland-th,
German mind; he leads you on to tn
heights where the French thinker sits
When, much to the surprise o
everybody In Germany, war was de
clared the German soldier immediate
~ rushed to his locker, where every
thing was ready for him, including
canteen filed with fresh water. Stimuli
%taneously the German poet rushed t
his fountain pen which-God and th
kaiser forgot nothing-was also filled
not with water, but with q venomou
liquid that flowed red, like blood. Thi
war has reminded US that 1t Is not tn
maj who fights in the field who Is tn
true master Of hate and bitterness;
IL the highly educated and culture
thinker at home who screams loudes
and foarns most freely ut the lips.
II the German poets had been for
moment at a loss as to what view {
take Of the war, Of course the Germa
government would have set them righ
(There wal that naive newspaper !
Munich which at tho start pleade
patheticalIy for the government
take charge Of public opinion.") On
could fancy some such advertisemer
IN the Berlin papers: "German poe,
Will call at the Wllhelmstrasse b.
tween two and four on Thursday [
secure their points Of view on Il
war;" However, It 10 improbable u
German poets needed n inatrnr%lo