Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-06-09
FIRST IMPRESSION ON
REACHING "BL|CHTY'
English Writer Tells OF Gloom,
Welcome American Soldiers
Find I'm England.
FIND NO BANDS PLAYING THERE
Suggests That Even Armagcddon
Has Its Amenities, and That Ar
irving Soldiers Should Receive
More Rousing Greeting.
Bi MAX PEMBcRTOS.
international News Bureau

bt hSA ffsnbtitJoN.
international News Bureau1
Young America Is going 10 see it
through. and already he has set about
the business. 1t is no longer neces-
sary to hide the fact that some thou
sands of him are setting foot on our
shores every week. il is equally true
to say that he is thinking about us
and our ways all the time. and that
some OF his thoughts perplcx him.
Let us take the story of some imaE-
ined and wholly nonoxiDtent American
boy and try 10 follow him upon his
course. lie has lived In a country Of
great atmospheres and OF restless en-
dearor. Hc was n clerk. perhaps. 500
miles from New York. and had hardly
seen the sea. Europe was a place to
which mi!lionaires desired to go. Amer
lea was the only home OF true free
dom He himself might live and die
millionaire II only he hustled about
enough.
When war came and his country
decided to so in. fine scnsc OF duty
animated him. He WAS asked to go and
hight for that France which came to
the assistance OF his forebears more
than 100 years ago. Also he was TO
give hand TO the mothcrland-which
had its back 10 tho wall in the name
OF Liberty. Tho blood OF a fEhting
race stirred within him at the call. and
he blew the trumpet OF freedom from
the housetop.
1T WAS A CASE OF
LIBERTY on THE YOKE
a mighty nation bestirred itself and
the thunder or its power rumbled even
upon an Eastern horizon. There was
no choice. the wise mon said Liberty
or the yoke-and when did America
suffer the yoke?
our American boy heard all this and
presently he went into a training ca,np.
They made soldier OF him and bands
played him aboard a transport Such
flags and such cheers! Thousands Of
pretty eyes turned upon him IN ad-
miration. lie was going 10 m. ue.t
10 settle the kaiscr's affairs. and the
heart OF America went with him I,
~ true that the transport itself gave
MIN something OF a shock. for II waa
terribly crowded. and men Law Ike
aardines In tin. and some Of them
were very sick
Moreover. for two years the Am4r,-
can press had been telling him m.
danger Of submarines, and he Ind no,
'ean the recent German admission OF
inPotency whore transports are con-
nanful!y. and his nights are very dark
As one OF the most thoughtful and
far-seeing Of his mentors-a sergeant
OF my acquaintance-has said Every
tradition OF his America ~ what
eh by the circumstances of nj. vow
age yet band CT n nag upon this sise
"onid cause him Instantly 10 forre,
the fact and bands and raEs certain.
~ there should be-"
SHOULD REMEMBER
ARMAGEDDON's AMENITIES
Men who 60 to war do NOT ernec,
TO be embarked upon a picnic. and thu
HmcFica'i soldier is no exception He
IS mere to do his duty, and right we'll
lie is doing 1t But there are ameoi
ues even OF Armag eddon. and IL in
our bu'iresS to remember them.
Could any place be gloomier than
tho quays where land hlgh-spiri,ed
DArtagnans who have had many sea.
sick days In transport? Is this
nliGhty. then? No flags are here nor
banners No band plays. The soldiers
about are few and chiefly veterans
me morning breaks dark, perhaps and
there are mists In the estuary. Or IL
Is raining and gloomy town drips from
It's suffered caves the measured drops
upon a glistening pavement
Young America is Interested In all
ne sees. and thinks that our trains arc
MISUNDERSTANDING for children to play
with. SO small they are. But can we
wonder * all his courage is unable
TO HIT sense OF depression, and that
his early ideas about us are quite
wrong? He has left land where the
sunshine is often as Inspiring as a
draft OF wine. He is one OF the
most temperamental beings in the
"orld-and this gloom. this silent town
the little trains the waiting for the
~elcomc-well, 1t is not what he looked
for when he left the States. war had
then its panoply and the trumpet was
to sound. Pity. indeed. that we can
not make some show at the blowing
1t 10 quite true and is to be admitted
that our young fellows first impres
sions OF the English countryside are
gratifying. He speaks OF us as his
forefathcrs have spoken. We are n
people of a fair garden. and our hedge
rows are wonderful. How much he
would like to visit some OF the old
mothers In those dear old cottages! He
is very much mothered at home. and
rarely has he not some well-beloyed
isis" to pet and care for Perhans
he thinks that when he comes to the
camp he will enjoy his leisure In some
ancient hamlet where there arc roses
above the portals and white cans at
the windows
Vain hope. The little tour is not
for him. He begins the dull round
Of duty and he thinks that he has seen
England. Perhaps it is as well that
we should not ask what he writes
home about us.
This is the situation. The remedies
are obvious. and to our hand. They
concern both ourselves and the Amer.
lean authorities. War is not a picnic
and every man who leaves the Ameri-
can shore is told plainly that he Is
about to enter a war zone. The lofty
serenity and religious majesty Of the
French mind is indicated; he is pre-
pared to enter France as he would en-