Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-04-09

Deep appreciation of the debt thai
Wausau and Marathon county owe the
boys going to the training camps anG
GOdspeed on their departure to camps
and thence to the battle front was
expressed again in various ways on
Wednesday morning, prior to the
= time of the fifth contingent of selects
leaving for Fort Worden. Washington
The selected men from this county
could not have had more beautiful
day to leave their relatives and
friends in Wausau and Marathon
county than on last Wednesday.
They reported before the exemption
boards Tuesday afternoon for roll
call and were inducted into the U. S
military service, after which they
were allowed to do as they wanted to-
but to report on Wednesday morning
Z at nine o'clock.
Early in the morning of that day
the citizens of the city and county
gathered at the court house square
IN large numbers. After the drafted
men, ninety-One in number, had been
called and the rolls were complete.
the men from both districts were as
sembled in the Circuit Court room.
where Judge Louis Marchetti made
the following address to them:
Young men:
This is and probably will remain
one of the most important days in
your life.
You have been selected from out
of the mass of men in Marathon
county, as men, sound in body and
in mind, just blossoming out into
manhood, and called in the service
of our country, at a most critical
time.
There are at this time, hundreds of
thousands OF your countrymen on the
other side of the ocean, and a hun
dred thousand of them probably on
the hr1ng line across the water today,
and who can say how many of them,
may be thousands of them, have al
ready sealed their devotion to their
country with their blood and life;
they may be buried in foreign soil;
but their memory will live imperish-
ably in the hearts of their countrymen.
You are now going in the training
camp, and if the necessity arises, you
will take the places made vacant in
their ranks; but wherever you NAV
go, you will uphold and defend, the
honor, the dignity, and the good name
OF our common country. Marathon
county is proud of you, and is conf
dent, that you will do your duty as
men and citizens, in war as well as
in peace.
Young men-Americans all of you,
your country, our country, is the best
the sun ever shone upon; it is a
country worth living for, and being
+worth living for, it is a country worth
dying for.
Never forget for a moment that YOU
represent Wisconsin, one of the best,
the noblest and one of the most pa
triotic states in this Union, notwith-
standing the pharisee'S, and that you
are her children and her representa-
tives, and that your conduct must re-
fleet honor upon your home and state,
while your misconduct would reflect
shame and disgrace.
The glorious flag of our country
will float over you wherever you may
go; that flag under which our country
has become the asylum of the weak,
the oppressed and the down trodden
people of all nations; the flag that
was carried in triumph to victory by
George Washington, by Andrew Jack
son and Ulysses Grant; it has some
times trailed in defeat, but it was
never dishOnOred, and we firmly ex-
pect that, it will never be dishOnOred
by you.
And young men, never forget, that
the American soldier must not only
be brave, he must be more than that
Being born a free man, with the glor-
iOus history of his country in the past,
it is easy to be brave; but he must
be at all times a gentleman, too
Keep clean your body and your soul
while away from home, shun the
temptations which will be thrown in
your way; so that, when you return
home, and let me express the hope
that you may return each and all of
you, that you come back as you now
are. sound and healthy, the pride of
Marathon county, and a comfort to
your parents and your families, and to
the girl you left behind, and who is
aHXiously waiting and praying for
your safe return These young ladies
here viii show their appreciation of
your service, by decorating you with
a flower or two, emblematic of what
you are this day. the flower of Mara
thon county"
At the close of his remarks, he
called the roll and asked the boys to