The Bismarck tribune., 1918-08-28
AUDIENCE SITS,
ENTHRALLED BY
EDWARDS TALK
British Fighter Proves Most Ef-
fective War Talker Ever
Heard in City
''HURRY UP, O. AMERICA
Captain of Royal Fusiliers Says
We Must Get Into Game in
Earnest &
"HURRY UP, O. AMERICA

An audience which filled every seat
in the Auditorium and which occupied
every foot OF standing room in The ro.
tundas, stairways am, aisles,, sat fos
more than two hours last evening, en-.
thralled by the terrible earnestness
and the simple sincerity of the mess.
age which Capt. Frank Edwards OF
the Royal British, fusiliers brought
them from the fighting line in France.
Never in the history Of Bismarck has
a speaker so held an audience Of such
proportions. Not word CT his long
discourse was lost; there was, fire.
quently, abundant applause, but for
the most part his hearers sat silent
under the spell Of the tale which he
enfolded, so absorbed in what he had
to tell them that they hardly dared
move. A.,
Edwards, of medium stature, stock
lily built, and appearing to be OF mid
die age, talked straight at his audi.
ence He was spari4g with gestures;
he did not shout or rant but In a
calm, dispassionate, recitative tone,
keyed low, yet of such timble that 1t
reached every section Of the big build.
ing, he told his story with pathos
and a depth OF feeling which carried
his words direct to every heart.
He spoke from a. stage brilliantly
dressed in the colors Of the allies. Al
his side stood on three standards the
Red, White and Blue of Great Britain,
rance and America. The Liberty
chorus formed q background Tor the
speaker, and B. C. Marks, chairman
of the Burleigh county chapter of the
Red Cross, Rev. George BuzZelle,
-Four Minute Man and junior Red
Cross auxiliary organizer, Governor
Frazier and other officials occupied
places on the stage with him. The
outstanding figure to, to everyone
was that OF the British fighting man,
his very being radiati--- passionate
love for the cause in which he spoke.
Chairman Marks spoke briefly on
the Red Cross, and Rev. Euzzelle
again sounded a demand for the wom-
en- of North Dakota to awake to the
needs of the student nurses reserve.
The invocation was rendered by Rev.
NJ. J. Hiltner. At 8 the audience rose
and sang "The Star Spangled Banner"
which sounded from every community
in America at this hour last evening
There was nothing incongruous in an
amphitheatre deckod out with the co
ors of Great Britain by an audience
assembled to hear fighting ambassa-
dor of Great Britain in the singing OF
national hymn which had its birth
in the throes of our struggles for in.
dependence from that power 1t serv-
ed, rather, to show how completely
the old wounds have been healed, and
how wholly one are the two great ma
tions whose unity of interests never
has been more clearly demonstrated
than in the spirit which has existed
since the beginning Of this war.
In part Capt. Edwards said:
Until the day of. victory we must
Garry on. carry on" and l know what
I am saying; know the cost of it
quite as much as anybody here this
evening. Look here men-there is
no one in this room this evening who
longs for peace as l do. l am not
here to glorify war, God FORBID; no
man irf this room longs for peace as I
do. have had four years of this
war aud that means have been away
from home for four years and have
been cut off from the hfe of my home
and my little children for four years
in the happiest and loveliest years OF
their lives. have a little boy at
home, four years old. and that little
chap has never known peace; he has
never seen peace in his mothers 8
heart, he has never seen peace In his
mothers faoe. ell said the other day,
Mother. what is peace?" A child ques>
ton, what is peace? His mother tried
to tell him in baby language. Moth
err" he said, docs peace mean that
daddy will come homer "Yes, dear"
she said. "Then, mother" he said,
"why can't we have peace now?' l
tell you, there are tens of thousands,
hundreds of thousands, millions of our
men in the line who long for peace
now just as that little lad did; but
much as l long for peace there is a
price I can not pay for it., Much as :
IOnS LOT peace Gall uOI puICHoSC H.
nor consent to purchase it by the be-
trayal of all that hold true and right
and sacred and good.
The Pain; the Cost.
Therefore. knowing the pain, and
the cost, the sacrifice and the tears
aye, the blood and the life-I say we
must Garry on, carry on" until the
day of victory dawns, the victory that
shall mean a permanent and blessed
peace for our children and children's 3
children We must carry on. But all
this means sacrifice. unspeakable sac
rifice. You know sometimes think
that in America you stand today in
very much the same place that we did
in 1914. I know there still is.
especially among your young people,
there still is for you about war some
thing Of glamor, something of halo,
something of romance and of advsn'
ture. All, but in England for us that
has passed, never to return; we have
drunk the cup of bitterness to the
<ropo T ot mo mt II thiS wav nor.