Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-03-11

watched MS orot1le1 N9P hoinp
Snne out there on The front, and 5ne
hsrnas Of France we're being enrolleu
m a scroll Of fame, in1perishab!e N :"
enduring. on which the name OF Kehe
Tabourdeau would not be inscrineo:
there would be no such gttterlns
scroll for the youngest sons Wno iau
stayed at home to make poots:
A year passed. Leon cane JACK Gn
,aeve. rnedalled, bearded. worn, Ola
before his time, and went again into
the orgy OF bloodshed which the EHu
had compelled.
Marcel next. ,,..,.
Only one now to work IN the llttle
shop, but only work enough LOT one;
however; for the gentlemen VINO nau
bought the Tabourdeau boots had an
heen gallant gentlemen and were
dead, or at the front, or, II too olo
for that, were in bureaux ana de-
partnents, and pouring out their 4
money for France as their sons were
pouring out their blood; and they
were not buying boots.
Nevertheless. Rene kept the snop
open to ~perpetuate the business o.
and his brothers when they should
return from the trenches, and Tor
their children and children's children.
and for the sake Of France, who
would need all her industries after
the
So Rene worked on alone, and alone
he went home to dinner, q alone ne
had gone at the hrst, and the maid
had been dismissed long. long age.
and the sleek little pony, Reynard,
was now at the front for France;'and
the house was very, very silent: more
the news came that Marcel.
was dead; more SO when the news
came that Leon had died IN gallant
action.
Silence is always filled with thought.
Rene. after the nearly fo9r years
still a young boy in his straight.
slender figure, but the romance had
gone out Of him.
There was no more thought in him
Of dashing wonderfully forward and
capturing a. position, and dying
grandly with the. name of his beloved
country on his lips;, there was no
more thought in him of dazzling ad-
venture on the ba~ttlehelds, for those
things had become sordid and COM
mon in this most wicked OF all wars.
There is no romance in being shot.
by an unseen foe Is miles away no
exhileration in being machine-mur-
dered by exploding shells, no thrill in
having death drop out of. a blue sky,
no great adventure in being slaugh-
tered as one of uncountad thousands.
Rene had time to reflect, As his day
approached, time to understand
vaguely what a young man misses IL
he dies; his chance at everything, the
| right Of youth to anticipate. the glory
Of an unknown future; adventure, ac-
complishment. SUCCESS, fame, love!
A man Of 40 has lived his life;a he
has tasted Of everything, and any,
thing which he can have after 40 is
only more Of what he has had before;
more adventure, more. ambition, more
failure, more accomplishment, more
success, more love.
But boy Of 20 has had nothing,
not any one thing Of the heritage
which the future holds amidst her ex-
quisite mysteries.
And every day the news came back
that this or that or the other young
man whom Rene had known, or whom
his friends had known, a exchanged
the glittering future Of this life for the
far more mysterious future Of an
other life!
The day came when Rene. closed the
famous shop of Ta%bourdeau, Pere ct
Fills, and delivered his last order, and
went home in his uniform.
Then Madame Tabourdeau, who
had braveiy endured, for France, one
bereavement after another, rebelled.
"Oh Rene; Rene! If you had only
been born in January in place of De
.irember! Then I should have had one
son tor one more year,"
Rene. tall and straight and. hand
1:son,e in. hissuniform, turned his grave
eyes on his mother. the eyes Of a man
in the face Of a boy, and he put his
hands on her shoulders, and he smiled
down at her. il 81
but it is now. Masnan' that France
needs me- he said;1 and Madame
Tab%ourdeau, looking into the heart of
the last of the Tabourdeaus, under-
stood; and smiled!
Madame Tabourdeau is all alone i n
the Tabourdeau house now and she
lives by the small income from her
investments in he French war loan.
and from what she grows in her
garden. and it does not take much to
keep her. for she has little appetite
these days; but she has great courage,
and great pride. and, yes, even great
happiness for the, spirit of Rene
Tabourdeau is the spirit of all the
young men of France who are now
going to the colors. They are going
with a higher motive than romance,
they are going witlrea higher impulse
than fervid enthusiasm, they are go
luS IKE mon DeCdUSS france NcEOe
: them nov and from every spot in this
beautiful land the sturdy
tramp, tramp, tramp, OF the footsteps
of handsome. well-set.up young men,
their heads held erect and their eyes
clear, and their bodies alive with the
~Istrenyous training they have given
themselves, for this climax Of their
lives; and their faces are set stead
tasty toward the battlefront, and
their hearts, beat with the most
sublime type Of courage, and in them
is that greatest Of all emotions, the
devotion to sacred duty which is sane
toned by the mind, the heart, and the
soul!
Small wonder that France takes
fresh hope from the contrast Of these
serene young patriots with the whimp-
ering. snivelling- young Germans. who
had TO be taken out. OF the trenches
In a hurry and sent to the rear. lines
because Germany could not trust
them; small wonder h France rests
confident in the outcome, secure that
her share of the line will hold, secure
in the knowledge that the new classes
OF the French army are as staunch,
and as steadfast, and as reliable as
the heroes who held verdun..
In these new classes survives all
the spirit Of the France of old!
Germans Trying To
Conceal Airplane
LoSses From People