Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-04-04

NOAS kHlnB We VlubL nave 10 HOAN ~
our hearts: the true picture Of the
Ithe fatal hour came. Discipline was
there. we VI assured, but what songs
did they sing? In general terms the
New York Globe speaks Of our SOL
dters as singing the battlecry Of free
DOM and wonders II by some In
stinct the refrain from old Civil-War
days welled .up in "Hurrah, hurrah,
background the appropriations OF lover
There" Whatever it was, We a
trust the Globes words that the
spirit Of America was in the songs
!. that came from the sinking ship,
rather than in imprecations against
the foe that strikes in the dark and
wreaks his fury on women and chill
imprisoned strain:
The songs that rose from, the
lfooding decks Of the Tuscan!a are
echoihE in the hearts Of a hundred
milton Americans, cheering them on
to redoubled effort. Not in hymns OF
hate shall our feelings find express
sion. Not in vain threats. Not in
cries for vengeance. But as we, too,
begin to feel the wounds of the
treacherous enemy Of mankind the
song that rose to the lips of u sons
facing death shall. swell our hearts
with the love of honor, of liberty, OF
Justice that alone makes war glorious,
that dispels all doubts, that makes
life and possessions dear to us only
for what they count in h battle for
victory. n
Over the crusllt bodies Of our SOL
Ediers dashed upon the rocks of the
are. all that we have, to the II OF
man for which our fathers raised the
standard our armies fight under IN
France. OF those that have fallen as
men fall 1t Is our part to be worthy.
Cheering each other. they went to
their deaths: cheering each other. We
m tst bear their deaths, and, counting
may not be in vain.- .Cnhastily. un-
skillfully, we took up the burden laid
upon us. Unangrily. unfearfully. we
must carry it.. determined only that
we will fight as those fight that know
their strength and the justice Of their
quarrel. 2
They sang Of America, those that
engllfed. them. SO let us that stand
upon, the shores take up their song, 80
let US still live to honor them that
have fallen. and to carry on cheerful
ly. wisely, thoroughly, the struggle in
which ungrudgingly they gave their
lives"
The singing of the army will be
of the inspiring chapters in the his
tory Of the war. Changes have al
is less of a singing force than it was
in the early days. There is not SO
much singing of route songs, says Mr..
T.. 3. Osborn. in The illustrated Lon
don News, as there used to be when
the troops were being moved up into
the forward sections Of the fighting
zone. The officer who provides this
information insists that this change
does not ean that the fine edge of
morale has been blurted. But changes
of personnel have come oven the
Army:
THE men are as good as ever they
were-better. perhaps, now hat eve
the conscripted recruits are becoming
wary veterans and the iron determ-
hood is tempered to steel. But it was
the Tommy of the old Army-who is
now no more-and the Reservists who
were so fond Of singing and whistling
when on the road or in billets as to
surprise even the gay. gallant poilus
who have inherited such a store of
quaint marching chanties-many OF
them closely resembling the counting
out rimes used in children's games.
The Terfitorials who had had camp
|holidays.swere also tuneful race
J"Butaa4,e multitudes thAt arrived,
later on. taken out of Industrial odcu-
pationss (which were alWayss7Tbefpg.
speeded up. had heen worked too
hard all their lives to acquire sthe
habit o~ftsopen-aiv singing. The mod
ern factory or warehouse or shop<has
no use for chanties; the wheels Of our
vast industrial mechanism have not
ground out a. single JOYOUS f~olk-song.
The successors of the Territorials only
knew the chorusAs of a few popular
musical songs; and their junior off,
ccrs-the majority men accustomed to
the silent. ~engross;ng toll and moil Of
business life-could teach them moth
ing better, as a rule. Such officers
and men look on war as aabusiness
rather than as q sport-the game sof
games-and there IA be no doubt
that their point ofsview makes for a,
higher degree of eficiency>in thefend.
The picturesque side OF warfare has
vanished forever: the late Ivor Camp
bell (that new Stevenson in becoming
who fell on the road to Kut. after
serving in France with his fellow
clansmen) spoke saluta-y truth when
he defined modern war as Organized