The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1918-08-20
MIRACLE Of battlefield BURNS
ALL SELF-THOUCHT OUT Of YANkS
aardBoIed Boys Dropped Into the Furnace Of War; Come Out
With the Dross Burned Away, se-Sacrifcing Heroes
Hold Back in Suffering for One In Greater Suffer.
+. ina to Be Cared for First.
Nv CLARENCE suDlNcToN keLrANp.
ming back out Of the

hot blast of the great battle-those
boys of q certain division now famous
throughout France and one day to be
famous throughout the world. Ihey
were not coming back because they
wanted TO, nor because they had hau
enough of 1t; they were being brought
on stretchers, wounded gassed, she'll
shocked, to an advanced dressing sta
ton. Some of them seemed just boys.
One could see them grit their teeth
TO hold back the moan OF pain.
"Hard luck, pal?" said doctor In
ferroratiyely as the bearers set down
stretcher in the courtyard.
The boy shrugged his shoulders, act
ually shrugged them as well ns ne
could, bundled up on that stretcher,
and grinned wanly.
"Comln' fine, If I can get you fel'
lers to save that foot. She's smashed
plenty. If you can't-nll the same.'
"We'll run you right in"
"Nix, bo, not me. I'm gettln' past
nil right. n0thin' but my foot. You
Jest lemme be here and git busy with
them guys that's hurt. I'm on the
waitin' list"
That was one boy. He belonged to
m outfit that bears a name far ana
wide for being boiled hard. Tough
birds, you hear them called, rough
talking boys with the crust Outermost.
II you had seen them month before
or two months before when they had
not had their purifying in blood and
fire, you would not have prophesied
that they would hold back in suffering
to wait for one in greater suffering to
be cared for first. 1t was an attribute
that was not apparent to the casual
eye. Hard-boiled, you would have
agreed, and you might have felt trif1e
sorry for the enemy that had to en-.
counter them. But you would not have
stood by with tears in your eyes-nOt
i'm your eyes, but rolling down your
cheeks-and have muttered again and
again: "Here are men"
pross Burned Away.
But now they have felt the scorch-
ing breath Of war. Suddenly they
had been dropped into the furnace and
had come out with drOss burned away.
Something had happened. They were
still hnrd-bOiled. Their language was
made up of the same words, but the
words had taken on n new meaning,
their very faces had taken on a new as
pect. In spite Of blood and CRIME, and
the discolOratlOn and burn Of gas, you
could see that something was present
there which had been absent before
until you could not see at all for the
flooding Of your eyes.
T-got mine No use-spOrt
Can't dO-nothin' for--me
Glt-busy with some of them
boys--yOu kin-help."
That was the spirit. That was the
thing that had been burned into their
souls by the hot breath OF war. They
had forgotten themselves. Jim was
not thinking Of Jim but of Mike. Mike
was not thinking of Mike, but Of Jack,
Each passed 1t on.
| The dressing station was small and
many must lie outside until the men
who were taken In first could be evac.
uated. You heard groans, but amid
the groans you heard CHEEKY gritty
words. "Oow, that d leg
HOw's Charlie maxim It? Anybody
know? seen him git 1t Dow
"They Just took Charlie in. He
wasn't snyin' much"
"Sny, them stretcher bearers ought
to git the Croy de Gerr, them birds
ought to. See em fetch me back will
them shells bustin' like 1t was rainln''
And would they hurry? Not d.
bit. ] hollered to them to Kit n move
on or they'd cit busted on the dome
hut that little shrimp says for me t.
mind my own business, he was carryin
that stretcher :. Afraid lf h,
hustled he'd shake me up and hur
me some. Can You beat that?
OoOw!'
, "out Of Luck Nothing"
"Youre next, son." said lieutenan
doctor. "Where'd you get it?"
LEG ana n chunk somewhere In tn
chest"
"Out OF luck"
"Out Of luck nothln'. Didn't bay
oret three of them Germans befOr
they got me? Eh?. Luck"
The story goes that this divlsiO
was called upon to stop the rush q
iive times It's number. The story goe
farther, and says they not onl
stopped the rush hut caused
movement In the other direction.
was not nm affair of hours hut Of day.
days of constant, hitter, hand-to-han
fighting, with horrors added by tn
Hun that no American soldier ha
ever been called upon to face. Br
they had damned the flood; had eve
swept II back for little, and the
were proud.
But their achievement on the fiel
5 was not the great thing that came int
view In those days. 1t was the spir
that famed up In their hearts-n,
merely spirit of courage, of darln
of heroism against odds, but spir
of altruism, of love for the other IL