New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-12-29

story writer, OF course have nothing else
to do but answer chatty little missives like
yours. And naturally I know al about the
marines. Why. TO be sure, have met sew
eral OF them, and whsn I was IN Now
Yorl. lest fall saw whole punches Of them,
some quite close, too. SO here goes.
Gut first OF, Gladys. you shouldn't write
it marreans. True, the name is pronounced
as ii it rhymed with beans, but it isn't
spelled that way. Not by our best spoilers.
And the marines themselves wouldn't Ike
4. II fact It would be we'll 10. TO sus-
gest beans to them at all. could tell
you why, but it would take up too much OF
your valuable time
And nextly-Hov can you tell marine?
Listen, Gladys. If he's marine you don't
need to. He knows. h-huh. Anything you
or could tell him would be old stuff.
Absolutely. That's why he's a marine.
He, has been told everything there IS TO
tell, from how to eat hot slum with three
tined fork. up to where to punctrre Prus-
sian SO he'll stay good. And he has not
only been told, but he has remembered.
Oh, my, yes! What a marine really knows,
Gladys, if we had to lug it around would
make heads ache
maybe you meant though-How can one
distinguish a marine from a-well from a
postmaster general a Bengal tiger? An,
now, Gladys we're getting down to brass
tacks. That's right where l live, drawing
vivid verbal distinctions such as that ]
do it with either hand and without The
aid Of a net.
The tiger, Gladys, likewise the bearcat,
the catamount and other Wild hora-or is
it fauna-they wear their stripes running
around while the marine sports his running
up and down the outside of his pants
pardon me, Gladys-trouser legs. The
marines, you will note. have red stripes
Oh, quite red. And q lot OF very brassy
buttons on their jackets. That Is, they 60
when they're not wearing something else,
which they frequently do. Yes, under
stand. The -Ioosefoot Band boys have
uniform something like that-the baby blue
trousers, with red stripe and every
thing. But if you become confused. and
are really in doubts as to whether one OF
them is marine or not, ask him to sing
'Montezunla' through his nose. If he can
he is.
When. of course, there is the insignia.
You Will see it on their caps, II they hap
pen to be wearing caps; or maybe on their
they would, or you wouldn't be seeing them.
It's q cute little thing, the marines in
sigma. Lno1g something IKE boiled
huckleberry pudding with : conpie OF Ssh
hooks run through it. or like lady hen
hawk trying to hatch OFT fractured door
knob. I'm sure you get me, Gladys
"Also, the marines may be identified by
their motto. Just where they wear that
sure TO find it somewhere about them -
YOU look close. Il is 'Semper Fidel.s. 20.
It has nothing to do with fiddles One -
Gladys. 1t is 4 phrase taken from the
Sioux dialect, ! think, meaning literlu~.
Where do We go from here?'
Should you still be in doub. whether
you're talking to marine or a subway
guard o. something like that, j-st ask
him, Gladys, e he had q pleasant time al
Chateau Thierry. Ii he springs gr. Ike
opening q double boiler, then he l.
"And now, Gladys, you know aim ~ a.
much as I do abous. the marines But
don't let it make You round shoulce~ed.
Sincerely yours,
"SEWEl-L FORD
There is al extract from General A.
hertus Wright Catlin's book. With the
Help Of God and Few Marines" de-
scribing the attack at Belleau Wood:
Il say they Went in as II on parade. and
that IS literally true. There was no veil
and wild rush, but 3 deliberate forward
march, with the lines AZ right dress They
walked az the regulation pace, because a
man is OF little use in hand-to- hand bayo-
net struggle after a hundred-yard dash. Nv
hands were clenched and all my muscles
taut az watched that cool, intrepid, n.as-
terful defiance Of the German spite
The marines have war cry that the can
use to advantage when .herc is need q
II. 1t is bloodcurdiing yell calculated 10
carry terror TO the heart OF the wait!a..
Hun. am told that there were Mild yen.
in the woods that night when the marines
charged the machine gun nests, but there
was no yelling when they went in. Some
one had reported that they advanced ca
those woods crying Remember the Lusi-
tania.' If they did I fe;,~i 70 dear it.
Somehow that does~'t sound like the thing
a marine say under the conditions.
Into veritable hell of kissing bullets, into
*.iat death-dealng torrent, with heads bent
as though facing a March gale, the shat
tered lines OF marines pushed on The
head wheat bowed and waved in that meta
cloudburst like meadow grass in a sumner
breeze. The advancing lines wavered and
the voice OF q sergeant was heard abovc
The uproar:
Come on, you , 10
you want to live forever
And finally there is the dispass;onate