The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1918-07-11
Ar American Business-S0ldier IN
the War Zone.
Part II.

across the world. l want to tell you,
men, that l felt proud of those young
American officers, and proud OF the
thought that too was an American ana
kin with those splendid young fellows
tApplause.)
AS we reached the deck and took our
place by the ]ifeboats the men from be ;
low came swarming up. Instead OF any
confusion there was the utmost OF order
and the utmost of politeness. want TO
saw to you that in all the time was
aboard that ship, during that awful one
and three quarters hours before we were
taken off l did not see single, mean,
cowardly act. did not see anything that
YOU could call discourteous. l did not
see a man push another aside to take MS
place in the boat. On the other hand, L
saw scores of helpful acts, one man help
ing the other the best he could. want
to tell you that the men we are senolng
across the world are worthy. They are
going across in the pride OF American
manhood. They are going to leave their
impression upon Europe. Not only VIII
they be known as splendid lighters, Dut
they will carry across the ideals and 1alr
play of America, so that we Will no longer
be referred to as the barbarlans OF tne
West. Believe me, Europe already IS be-
ginning to realize that the American is
gentleman to his finger tips, whether ne
comes from the workshop or the bank or
the office or the clergy, he is gentleman.
tApplause).
Then began scene that shall never
forget. | wish | could forget 1t was
many nights before could close my eyes
and not have these pictures rise up before
hn ".
pert teaching in the handling CT the life
boats. The boys had never handled life
boats before and now they began suddenly
to try and lower these boats away
saw one boat get half way down, loaded
with men, and then the rope on the front
davit stopped and the rope on the rear
one gave way and the whole load of men
was split into the sea. l saw another
boat fully loaded with men successfully
launched and the plug in the bottom of
the boat was missing and the water
spouted up | could see it like silver
stream as my flashlight bore down upon
it. And | could see some of the fellows
sticking their hands in there, trying to
hold their fingers in the hole to keep the
water from coming in, while others were
bailing out.
saw another boat successfully launch
ed but the boys had not been told to push
rapidly away as soon as it was launched
so that the boat tloated under a davlt
from which was suspended another boat.
Soon the order was given to lower the
boat hanging in the davit and that boat
crashed down on the boat below, and
killed everybody in it. They might have
been saved by little training.
have been criticized for saying these
things, but am going to keep on saying
them until the lesson is driven home to
the authorities at Washington. tApplause.)
Then began for us an anxious time.
About 20 minutes had elapsed before any
sign of a returning ship hove in sight.
You see the first thing that happens when
one of the convoy is torpedoed is not
what you would ordinarily expect, the
other ships to turn about and come back
again to the aid of the wounded ones.
That would be foolish. 1t would mean
the hazarding of the entire convoy and
that is never done. In fact, the ships
apply full steam and go ahead as fast as
possible That is what happened this
night There was no lack of gallantry
in this. 1t is ordinary common sense
To have come back would have been
putting countless numbers of our boys on
the other ships in danger. That was
most unnecessary and unwise. But L
thought certainly that some destroyers
would come back, then as the minutes
slipped along that hope grew very faint
indeed But it is strange, the humor you
can get out of a situation, even an in
tense situation like this.
| remember that | had forgotten my
lifesuit, and it lay to one side and great
long fellow from down in Arkansas, who
had been standing beside me, he and l
had grown very intimate, said: "Why,
Mr. Larned, what have you got in the
that. That is my lifesuit." He said:
wear it?" Naughter.) said: 81 am sup
posed 70 wear it, l might as well put it
on So we tried to get it on The ship
by this time was beginning to list over
to one side very much and it was not
very pleasant standing where we were.
/ wasn't taking any more time than
necessary in getting into the thing, but
hustled into it with the aid of another
fellow, only to find that in our haste got
1t on wrong side to, and as near as figure
it if | had worn it in that position and
gotten in the water | would have floated
beautifully with my head about two feet
under water. Laughter.) We were none
of us mechanical engineers, which one
almost needed to b. to get that suit on,
but finally we did get it on and get it on
right.
The lights had suddenly come on, from
an auxiliary storage battery, l presume,
and the result was that we were more
conspicuous that moment, with the lights
flashing out through the dark than at any
other time during our trip, standing out
there a fair mark for the submarine,
which no doubt was laying to one side
watching the proceedings
But after about 40 minutes we saw
little wink of light over on the port side
and destroyer came along our port side
forward and passed ropes to us and the
boys slid down the ropes into the des-
troyer. They soon filled her. We could
MT get any place near her, the crowd was
so great. We did not have any chance
to board her, and as she finally cast off
her rope and pulled away into the dark
ness our own lights began growing dim
mer and DINNER, like a dying soul, and
the general atmosphere was somewhat
gloomy.
This same chap who helped me with
the lifesuit was about the coolest fellow
l ever saw in my life Imissed him there
for minute, said to somebody: "Well,
where is Hank?" He said: "Here be-"
saw him coming around the end of the