The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-06-20

70 Dakota into Minnesota, and hire
out TO WORK by the month. and aiter
2 time bur a little piece Of land close
70 where they were working. and III
lie later buy another piece OF iandr
and thsn later we have seen that same
father who SAL in that car, stranger
in a strange land. without money.
without friends-we have seen him hE-
ing in a good home, owning I'VE or SIX
hundred acres Of the best SOL there
is beneath the sun. Yes, and we nave
lived 10 see those little children that
We saw there n the seat-we have
lived to see them occupy POSITIONS
of trust and responsibility; we nave
seen them teachers n cur SCHOOLS.
members of our legislature judges on
the bench, members OF congress ana
members OF the senate of the United
States OF America. Say. Friends. Is
there any other spot On Coos footstcoi
where such a miracle would be pos
sibre. except under the Stars ano
Stripes?
And SOL am an optimist- tell
you, once we can get the VISION INTO
the souls Of men, then don't care
where they came from: they are 20
ing 10 be IN this war 10 the end say.
8 You have air heard I suppose. ABOUT
that Door Irishnaan in the trenches
who was torn to pieces by shell, ano
was being carried back TO the hospital
on a cot, and a kind hearted lady
passed by. and looking on his torn ana
bleeding face, said. "Oh, this war.
This awful awful war;. He looked
up at her and said, Yes, ma'am, it's
an awful war, it's terrible war. but
; it's better than no war e. all Well
II don't know what his philosophy
was. I know what neighbor OF his
thought about IL Hs got THROUGH.
and went home, and iD three days
wanted TO go back. He as asked.
What makes you like il, what do you
want to go back to the bloody trenches
for?" And he replied. Well, sur, it's
the first fight was ever in IN me life,
that the police didn't stop"
When | saw that at Cam, Dodge,
! before all the buildings were COM
pleted, the Catholic clergy were cele-
brating mass in the Y n c. A. build-
! ing, and when / saw the nonSathoiie
chaplains holding service in the
Knights Of Columbus building, and
when il came to me that the chaplains
there at the camp representing the
working side by side, and shoulder 10
shoulder in unity OF effort, trying 10
keep those boys who were away from
their homes. right with God, / said
Thank God, they are getting to
\ gether."
! Lock out of the window and see the
BOYS marching by. in step with ths
drum beat, following the nag. They
L n r1t hn u
/ your own boy is there. you won't see
them for tears There they go-siGe
by side-the boy from the German
home-the boy from the Swedish
home-the boy from the home OF Irish
parents and Scotch parents. and
French parents. and Norwegian par
ents-the SONS OF every race. There
/ they go with steady step-the bankers
boy. and the son of the street clean
{ er;; the lawyers boy and the farmers
boy; the Methodist boy. the Jewish
I boy, the Catholic boy--the boy OF
every creed, marching side by side,
( following the flag On up to the camp,
! then down to the coast,--on to the
transports, and across the great ocean
with all its peril, and over upon the
fields of France-side by side-shoul-
I der to shoulder; then down into the
trenches side by side. and side by side
many OF them will die; and tell YOU
that in the mingled blood of those
boys Of different creeds and races
and classes, we are going to build a
new America-stronger more power
full, more just. ana more free than
ever before
! Yes. the war brings its burdens, but
4 1t is also bringing 10 US blessings that
we never knew before. Oh. If we
would Just keep the spirit up, Oh. IL
we can only keep the spirit right
I the heart right we will have no diff