The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-23

They we're told to wear old clothes.
and apparently all took the hint. In
their present garb not one OF them
could break into a fashion plate. After
two days and two nights on the train
they were hustled out at a siding,
lined up in twos. and marched under
a blistering Southern sun over four
miles OF dutsy roads to the regiment
OF their assignment. Truly a motley
crew; carrying boxes, bundles, valises,
limping and slouchlng along, getting
the laugh from the seasoned veter-
ans" Of six months service, to whom
they look up with awe and reverence,
as heroes Of many campaigns, who
swing along jauntily with their haver-
sacks strapped to their backs and
rifles on their shoulders.
And these city bred weaklings just
arriving who are tagged after a FOUR
mile march are the men who are to
measure their dash and daring and en-
durance with the German? Yes. and
II you have any doubt about them Just
look at their brothers, who we're the
city bred weddings six months ago.
The UNIT have been sent back home,
and the potentially At have been made
over in the military development
camp and now these boys swinging
along are fit for fighting.
/ took stroll among the grimy
crew that had arrived in the after
noon. Soap and water had done Won
ders with them. They seemed more
like our own kith and kin again, and
with the CRIME and dust was washed
away the sense Of shame they seemed
to labor under. This contingent was
from New York State, but represented
every tribe and tongue and people
and nation" Uncle Sans net had
brought in all races and classes, all
trades, occupations and callings.
The recruit is inspected inside and
outside; undergoes all kinds Of exami-
nations-the heart, lungs, ears, eyes,
teeth and brains: everything but the
examination OF conscience. He is CIV
en- injections. NEGOTIATIONS, and vac
cinations, and finally Is given a num-
Der Even before he receives a uni
form he is marched off to the drill
field, and is doing right Dress" left
face" Squads right" and wonders
how it is he had not learned to know
better his right hand from his left;
wonders. too, how he has so many
clumsy feet; and just discovers that
he never knew how to walk: never
knew how to carry his backbone. his
chest and his chin. They are all awk-
ward squads in the beginning. More
over, there is the badge Of his inferi-
GRITTY; his civilian clothes. But at last
comes the day when he is given a
uniform. and what a change it makes!
Nothing so speeds up the process Of
Transforming him into a soldier. He
feels he Is more soldier than he was
yesterday; so he appears, and so he
acts, and so he is. The cowl does not
make the monk, nor the uniform the
soldier; but in the one case and the
other there is a symbolism, the express
sion Of relation between the interior
mind and the external ceremony, that
is real and potent. Man is not wholly
spiritual. He is wrought on through
the senses, law Of our being. which
the divinely wise church has ever rec
ognized.
Contrary to accepted notions. it Is
the country boy rather than the city
boy that is the first to reach the hos
pital. This is especially true in cases
of measles. mumps. scarlet fever and
infections Of the throat. In the past
the city boy has been more subject
to the germs and Is now more i'm
mune. OF course. where there are
large crowds banded together there is
danger of contagion. but this is mini
mized In the army by the sanitary
and hygienic rules of Spartan rigidity,
and again because Of the skilled sur
geons and physicians now in the
camps the death rate is lower than in
civil life. Uncle Sam has modified in
his hospitals the best medical experts
Of the country. and the poor boy has
now the services Of specialists that at
one time were accessible only to the
very wealthy. The best of the coun-
try's corps Of nurses is likewise in the
army hospitals, and those back home
need have no worry as to the care
their boys are receiving when in the
hospitals. Nor is Uncle Sam neg
Letting the moral health OF his sol
der boys. Never was a nation more
solicitous for the morality of its army,
and never did a nation take greater
meaps to procure It. This Is manifest
In the increased number Of chaplains,
and the order that they be given every
facility in their work, the stringent
regulations protecting the boys with
In and without the camps, the various
agencies encouraged nv tho Coverp