Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-06-12
METHODIST BISHOP WCONNELL,
BACK FROM FRONT, SPEAKS
HIGHLY OF OUR SOLDIERS.

is so reliable, and because it touch
es so many points Of interest which
have not been fully understood. 1t is
gratifying to know that our boys in
France are giving a good account of
themselves, and that their moral as
we'll as their physical welfare is re-
ceiving attention. The letter is we'll
worth careful reading.
Bishop F. ]. Mcconnell of the Meth
odist Episcopal church, has just re-
turned from three months visit
to the American and French fronts,
and a part Of the British front in
France. After viewing conditions on
the allied battle fronts Bishop Nc
Cornell says: II consider the Cen
tenary movement of our church the
most important and hopeful sugges-
ton thus far made for the worlds re-
construction after the war;" The
Methodist Episcopal church is cele-
brating the Centenary of Methodist
missions by framing world program
with the express purpose of conserv-
ing the results of the war.
Bishop Mcconnell describes the
morale Of the American forces and
the conditions over there as follows:
when over in France had the i'm
preston that everything was going
all right" said Bishop Mcconnell
Since | landed in New York I was
told that everything had gone wrong,
that we had miserable handful Of
troops over Their, badly provided for
and that we were not doing our part
we'll I am very happy to be able to
say if this is true the people Of France
don't know it.
IF you could stand as I have stood
at a seaport in France and greet Am
erican soldiers, and if you could see
three converted Hamburg American
liners loaded as American transports
with sixteen thousand soldiers on
each ship, you might get the impress
sion that something was happening.
And if you knew that this same thing
was occurring in two other ports, you
might we'll know that America is re-
ally sending over her troops. I was
in twenty eight different places speak
ing to American soldiers and I got the
impression that there were a good
many Of them there, and that all are
being we'll taken care of.
Il ate with the private soldiers.
We had beefsteak, potatoes, white
UI6du anu JULIET, duQ COlI00 Will SuS-
ar and milk in it. For dessert there
was rice with raisins cooked in it,
You wouldn't call that starvation,
would you?
Many people told me that the Am
erican army was detected army
wished to go back home and that they
had no spirit | looked for pessi-
mism. | went one time to an evacua-
ton hospital just back of the Amer
lean sector, and asked: please show
me the worst case you have here
They took me to see McGonnigal. AS
his name might imply, he was not a.
man to be bound down closely by mil
itary procedure. They gave him a
hand grenade, which requires quick
action. McGonnigal pulled the pin
out and then looked around for
place to throw it. He landed in the
hospital with both arms gone and the
rest Of him badly damaged. | talked
to him and then asked: What would
you like most to see when you get we'll
again. He answered.: Well, if it
could be arranged before | go back,
I'd like nothing better than another
chance in the trenches.
Later | went to a ruined village
and talked with some soldiers seated
around a fire, their gas masks in po-
sitiOn, all ready to go into the trench
es. | stopped to see what they were
talking about. Were they talking
about death and general desolation?
No, they were. engaged in an argu-
ment as to which is the best kind OF
a woman to marry, the country wo-
man or the city woman.
Zone night l was permitted to go to
a sort of resting place for raiders
coming out of the trenches, a kind OF
a combination of earthen dugout and
wooden hut. / went up and began to
talk to the boys and they told me that
they were blue. | asked if they were
homesick. They said, Not exactly
They told me that they had been over
in No Mans Land and couldn't catch
a German. All they had for their
heavy work was one German rifle and
a bundle of German newspapers, and
so the men were detected. But that
is not the kind of pessimism that you
could charge up to the American
army.
Perhaps you think / am painting
this picture Of war as all rosy, but it
is not. / heard only one band play in
France while I was there, and that
was a band of Scotch pipers. You
see this is not band playing war. I
never saw SO many different kinds of
mud in my life. Nor have I ever felt
rain that had such a penetrating kind
Of cold as over there, but all those
things are accepted as part Of war,
and heard no one complaining.
"The American soldiers are bring
ing two things to the war. The first
is a quick-wittedness and the second
spirit Of good humor and kind of
helpfulness that is going to be Of
great benefit.
when I was on the British front
one Of the officers told me that it had
been the custom to send the young
American artillery officers up to those
of the British soldiers who had had
training in actual battle He said,
That is, we mapped out a careful
training which took six weeks, but do
you know that there has never been
I