The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1918-08-20

| SdH you 10 SOHletnlHS lOT uHeS6
boys who are being brought In here2"
the officer In charge demanded.
"What can we dot"
Something to eat and smoke. Cof-
fee. A bite and smoke do wound
ed man more good than anything else.
Do you know, some of those boys have
been out there In that for two days
with nothing to eat but hardtack"
So the Y sent its men and its trucks;
1t made coffee, 1t brought such fruit
as 1t could; It carried chocolate bars.
'Here you are, sport" said one Of
them, coming into the courtyard.
'Here's cup Of chocolate"
The hoy raised himself painfully
on his elbow and reached for the cup
then he metioned II away.
IT hain't hurt much-and there's a
lot Of guys here that's messed bad.
You hain't got enough to go around.
CIT busy"
"Tve got smokes and hot chocolate
for every man. Go ahead"
"Honest? I won't be robbin' none
Of them birds7"
Honest"
The boy drank-and was transform.
ed.
"That's livin'," he said softly.
One boy was brought in with
broken leg. 1t had been an accident
and not wound won in battle. He
had got In the way Of q motor.
truck.
"Jest flx me up out here what you
can," he said.
"YOu 60 to the hospital, son."
mix. Hospitals for those fellows
that's hurt. just got busted pin.
You fix me here and leave me here
When you git chance"
Language Needs New Word.
Somewhere, some time, they had all
got this thing. 1t had come to
them out of the flame and crash of
battle; 1t 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 fancled he could detect a gen.
tieness 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 OF
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 it. 1 don't know what
it is." Even he, Injured to suffering
and to scenes Of bloodshed, wiped his
eyes. "They're-they're-w damn
1t all, they're 'somethlng! Nobody
was ever like them I"
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 man who was acting as orderly,
nurse, assistant, anything.
The Y man went over and touched
the boys forehead.
"How about 1t, old MANI" he said.
"Kind Of--lOnesOme Maybe
you could SIT here
till :"
The Y man sat down and hand
struggled toward him. He took 1t
and held 1t In his own, and he whis.
pered to the boy q moment. Maybe
1t was prayer. Whatever the words,
1t was prayer. The wounded man
lay still. his hand In the hand Of the
friend who had come to him In his
last dark moment-his last glorious
moment. i
Another Kind Of Courage. d, -,
The courage Of the battlefield seems
to be common cOmmOdity;, but the
courage to bear pain without .filnchinE f;
to realize the approach Of death with
out crying out; to reach q moment
when you know you must face, life
maimed, without arm, leg, eye--aBd
not to curse with black rage or cry
out with despalr--that Is another kind
Of courage. But II was there. NQt
one man had 1t, hut 1t seGned as II
all those wounded had lit was n6t
the gameness of the bulldog. 1t was
something that had to do With the
soul. It was greatness, II was fine.
ness, 1t was thing that compelled
the watcher to uncover his head and
stand barred In its presence.
They We're Americans. Perhaps II
was their blrthrlght. More likely II
, was 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 ha'
been written with repression, with .
striving for understatement, with {
wish to tell the truth. The thing wa'
there. They brought 1t back with
1 them,
D "How are you making It, sport
t Here's a cup Of coffee"
{ "You come around to me afte
!, you've given some to tho boys Ovel
I there. They need It."
i That Is what was there. II hal
It read something new into the meaning
/, OF the words American soldier, Al
t the doctor said, some new word mus
% be coined to designate II. Il was borI
n Of hottla ouA =. .-~~-