The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1918-09-05

the officer In charge demanded.
"What can we dor
something to eat and smoke. COZ
fee. A bite and a smoke do a wound
ed man more good than anything else.
Do Won know. some of those boys have
been out there in that for two days
with nothing to eat but hardtackF
So the Y sent its men and It's trucks;
II made coffee, il brought such fruit
as 1t could it carried chocolate bars.
"Here you are. sport" said n OF
them. coming into the courtyard.
Here's a cup of chocolate"
The boy raised himself painfully
on his elbow and reached for the cup
then he motioned ii away.
81 haln't hurt much-and there's a
LOT of guys here that's messed bad.
You hain't got enough to go around.
Git busy"
1--WE got smokes and hot chocolate
for every man. Go ahead"
"Honest? I won't be Robin none
of them blrds?'
y
The boy drank-and was transform
ed.
"That's Twin" he said softly.
One boy was brought In with a
broken leg. It had been an accident
and not a wound won in battle. He
had got in the way of a motor
truck.
"Jest fix me up out here what you
can" he said.
"You go to the hospital, son."
'Nix. Hospitals for those fellows
that's hurt. I just got a busted pin.
You fix me here and leave me here
When you git a chance"
Language Needs New Word.
Somewhere. some time, they had all
got this thing. 1t had come to
them out of the fame and crash of
battle; II had been carried to them
on clouds of soaring, noxious gas; 1t
had awakened in them through suffer
ing and through the sight of suffering.
They were the same, yet they were
not the same. They were not gentle,
yet one fancied he could detect a gem
fieness in their voices. But out OF
the battle and the suffering, something
better than they had ever known came
to them. There was utter ignoring or
self, and 1t was a thing wonderful TO
witness.
"We've got to have a new word In
the language" said a captain-surgeon.
"Game won't do. These boys are some
thing more than game. I've never seen
anything like 1t. / don't know what
1t is" Even he, Injured to suffering
and to scenes of bloodshed, wiped his
eye "They're-they're-why. damn
it all, they're 'somethingr Nobody
was ever like themr"
One boy lay inside on a mattress
on the floor. His chest was rising
and falling as he struggled for breath,
"He's on his way" said the doctor
to a Y man who was acting as orderly
nurse, assistant, anything.
The Y man went over and touched
the boys forehead.
"How about it, old manT" he said
"Kind of-lonesome . Maybe
you could sit here
till . :"
The Y man sat down and a hand
struggled toward him. He took II
and held 1t In his own, and he whls
pered to the boy a moment. Maybe
1t was a prayer. Whatever the words
1t was a prayer. The wounded mar
lay still, his hand in the hand Of the
friend who had come to him In hi,
last dark moment-his last glorious
moment.
Another Kind of Courage.
The courage of the battlefield seem,
to be a common commodity but tht
courage to bear pain without finching
to realize the approach of death with
out crying out to reach a moment
when you know you must face life
MANNED, without arm, leg. eye-and
not to curse with black rage or cry
out with despalr-that is another kind
of courage. But II was there. Not
n man had 1t, but it seemed as II
all those wounded had tit vas not
$500 aA1N
the gameness of the bulldog. II was
something that had to do with the
soul. 1t was greatness, Il was fine
ness, 1t was a thing that compelled
the watcher to uncover his head and
stand barred in its presence.
They were Americans. Perhaps II
was their blrthright. More likely II
was a new thing; newly born of the
day and the business of the day. What
ever 1t was, whenever and however
1t came, 1t was present. This has
been written with repression, with a
striving for understatement, with a
wish to tell the truth. The thing was
there. They brought 1t back with
them.
How are you making II, sportp
. Here's a cup Of coffee"
You come around to me after
you've given some to the boys over
there. They need IT,"
That is what was there. II has
e a something new into the meaning