The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-01-02

forces until he received a COM
mission in one Of the most
famous of Britain's guard regi-
ments. After our entry into the
war he applied for his discharge
and returned home to aid in pre-
pairing his countrymen to take
their places at the front. He Is
now at one of the national army
cantonments.
In August, 1914. / was cowboy, or
/ playing at being one, on a cattle
ranch in the interior of British
Columbia. My great ambition in life
was not to own the ranch, but to
save enough money to take me to
the San Francisco exposition when
it opened. After that didn't care.
Unblushingly / win confess that
my abilities as a cowboy were not
so great that they kept me from be-
ing excused from my duties on the
range to be sent on a thirty-f five mile
round trip every Saturday for the
mail. I didn't mind the ride, though,
and one Saturday in August the
early morning found me jogging
along the road to Dog Creek for mail,
not with my mind on the beauty Of
the Fraser river, slipping rapidly to-
ward the seas as though to escape
the rolling hills. as a poet might say,
but on what they would have at the
Dog Creek hotel for lunch, as / al
ways had my MONDAY meal before
starting back.
There had been some rumors out
on the range Of war in Europe, but
figured those Balkan countries
were always fighting, and they were
more than 5000 miles away at least.
or that / was sure, so why worry?
Dog Greek was excited when i ar
rived. 1t seems some people had re-
treated from a place called Mons
and were being chased by the Ger
mans, so the Germans were fght-
ing, anyway. Then a big Indian
finally informed me that Englands
big white chief was going to war, or
had gone to war. and that he was
going too. Would L?
Well, that was a puzzle. j wasn't
English; / wasn't a Canadian. The
newspaper said the United States
was neutral, so thought l ought TO
be. Still, dash 1t! while / was an
alien, had lived in Canada, enjoy
ed her hospitality and made the high
wages Of the country. Lots OF my
friends were Canadians, and they
were going down to enlist.
Anyway, we argued 1t out. Not
politically, not economically, but
along the lines of common decency.
Even IL / were an alien had been In
that district more than a year ana
owed Ii to Dog Creek and the dis
trfct to 70. / wanted to go. II would
be great TO go to England, see Lon
don, and then to France! Geel 4
began to efEervesce when thought
about Ii, so made an appointment
for the next night with the Indian.
I rode back to the ranch and threw
my mail and job at the foreman.
The following week found us in
Vancouver, the chief and myself
Then things began to get palmer
at least to some people. But l cared
nothing about broken treaties, kul-
tur," the rights of nations, big or
small, nor did ] care about freedom
OF the seas. 1t was sufficient 10 me
that the country which had given
me the protection of its laws and the
right to live wanted to help England.
7 figured the government knew what
IL was doing better than did, and
II suited me, SO to the recruiting OF
fice we went, and by the simple pro-
cedure of moving my birthplace a
few hundred miles north l became
Canadian and a soldier of the expe-
dictionary force--a big word with
christmas found me in a well
trained battalion of troops with no
more knowledge of the war than the
retreat from Mons, the battle OF the
Marine and a daily newspaper re-
port of 100000 prisoners here ana
another. 100000 casualties some place
else. And we wondered IL II Woulu
LAST until we got there. secretly
praying that 1t would.
In April, 1915. we heard OF the
gassing OF the first Canadians at
Ypres, and the first casualty list from
that field hit Vancouver with q thud.
The people on the street went along
a. little more seriously and looked
AT YOU with a look which can't
describe. Personally, I thought "
was a terrible thing to do and Won
dered what kind of people the Ger
mans must be that could <WltnouI
warning deliver q foul blow like that.
In a prize-fight the kaiser Woulo
have lost the decision then ana
there We wondered about gas ana |
argued the matter out in our bar
racks. Some of us, bigger FOOLS |
than the rest, contended that the |
German nation would repudtate It's
army But days went by and notn-
ing of the kind occurred.
i began to take my soldering
little more seriously. III a natloAi
wanted TO win war so badly that II /
would damn its good name forever
by using such foul means II must
have very big object in view. II
seemed to me, but diplomacy not pc
ing my forte, couldn't see the Cd
ject.
ready for the voyage 10
EsnoIand when news came OF the
qinIlIng of the Insitania. That even
ing our convoy steamed, and real
ized for the first time that ! was a
soldier in a serious war Between
poker. blackjack and crown and an
Choir with the crew we talked ana
argued about the two big things that
had happened in our soldier lives
vas and the IIusitania. And to that
We soon added liquid fire. We all
a greed they were not the methods OF
war that should be used by
civilized nation, so we concluaeo
that. as the German nation stood De-
hind it's army in these barbarous
methods Of warfare, the nation, de-
spite its music, its poetry ana ~
science. must be lacking in all the
elements OF civilization as we know
II today. and that Ii it should win
This war IL would be very lincoln
Portable to belong to one Of the al
led nations or live in this world at
AIN Certainly German manners
would not improve with success.
These were not the reasonings Of
/ grant you. Nor could
they be regarded as the conclusions
drawn from a.@highly searching and
exhaustive inquiry. but they were
the results of the arguments Of
battalion of men ready to take their
place in France to back up their
words with deeds-mOre than ever
eager and willing to give their all IN