The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-05-24

IFfseSAg ia %zEsls Ez4lBE seek ulEI OUT.
hf"' "SSSSA-----s.-aSS did not know
where he was,
I The American soldier abroad is
Theoretically still in America. He
Egets his letters through an American
lbranch postoffice in Paris, and they
are fsent to him in care of his regi
lment and his company with no more
Adefinite address than american Ex-
Evolutionary Force" MY son knew
lgny. Paris address, but he could not
feven has he wished to do so, tell me
his.
With a few thousand more impa-
tient youngsters my boy had enlisted
before the draft. fearing that he
might draw a late number. He
signed up on the day when l sailed
for Russia, and he was in France
nearly two months before I returned
to the United States. Thus our sep
aration had been a longer one than
was usual in this war. So when he
wrote me in March that he had been
given a weeks leave and hoped to
be sent to Aix-les- Bains, hoped
so too most fervently, because had
been ordered to Aix-les- Bains to
write the story Of the first vacation
OF our soldiers.
No Need OF Worry.
I arrived two days after the first
contingent Of men, the dried mud of
the trenches caking their uniforms
and their worn boots, had marched to
music and cheers through the flag
draped streets Of AK. drove d.
rectIy from the station to the head
quarters Of the provost marshal, and
asked if a certain private soldier
was in town, and If so where. He
was there, and a sympathetic young
man in the uniform Of the military
police searched the lists for the rec
ord of his hotel. 1t is part Of the in
telligent care taken of our soldiers
overseas that even on their permits
sions, or leaves from duty, the high
est authorities know exactly where
they live and how. No mother need
worry lest her son get lost in France.
He can't get lost.
In two minutes I had my sons
! address and was on my way to the
hotel. He was not there, but the
blackeyed little patronne, also sym
pathetic, found me a room on his
floor. 1t was near the luncheon hour
and sat down at the window near
lest the street, eagerly sCrutinizing
Eevery soldier who passed, especially
Ethose who turned in at the hotel
gate. Finally a soldier came swing
| ing down the street, and it seemed
sto me that the looked familiar. Yet
I was not sure. Could nine months
E1Tafe such a difference in a boy Of
Twenty? This one, with the absurd
E1ittle scrubbing brush mustache and
1.-The cap on the side If his head, was
Efaller, broader, straighter than my
bBon. He was more intensively alive.
FiYet he walked like my Julian.
| I waited for him to come upstairs
Ebut he did not come. I decided that
k1le had gone directly to the dining
room, SO went downstairs and into
1.-THE big room, every table Of which
twas filled with uniformed men, eat
ling, laughing and talking.
Adopting An Army.
It was the boy. was so over
Ewhelned at the sight Of him that
Ecould not take more than a step in
ito the room. I could not speak.
tBSomething Of my intense emotion
Eup, saw me, and in one bound was
Beside me with his arms wide, just
las when I used to visit him unex-
Epectedly at school. Mother, moth
[ er!" he cried. Instantly at the word
fthe noisy talk and laughter stopped
dead, and every man in the room
sprang to his feet. It was not a
/ tribute to me, but to their own moth
Jers at home. Right there I adopted
FIhe American army.
am proud to say that a small
section Of the American army, all Of
at in that hotel, adopted me. Some
Efwere too shy to come up and be in
troduced, but I had broad SMILES
81 80
ways, when entered the dining
roon1, the same chivaIric greeting.
talked with hundreds of soldiers
that week in Aix-les-Bains, and in
the little fourteenth century town Of
Chambray, two miles distant, also a
vacation center Of our men. It is
not mere boasting to say that they
are, man for man, the most amazing
Iy fine looking soldiers in the world
They average rather larger than the
English, and broader and more mus
Eular than either English or French.
t'RegardeB done, les epaules!" Look
at the shoulders, have heard doz-
ems of Frenchmen exClain. And they
might as we'll exclaim, look at their
pink and healthy skins, their clear
eyes and splendid teeth. A genera
Hion ago we were known as a nation
of dyspepfics. No one in France or
England viii ever call us that again
Our soldiers are as nearly perfect
physical specimens as any men
alive
Ready And Eager.
They are remarkably intelligent.
giTI1eir eyes and ears are wide open
10 learn all they can Of the wonder
fuI land Of France, and especially
of the historic past which lives in
old chateaus, ruined castles and Ro-
man remains all over France AK
Ies-Bains, ais every one probably
knows, Is In Savoy, which was once
an italian state, but which voted
Itself French sometime in the eight
cen -fifties In Chambray Is an an
si6nE chateau which was the seat of