New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-11-10
What Will You Do to Serve Those Who Have Served 70,

1t is to save it for him that the Big Seven
have found their way to France. They have
recreated for him, in the camps at home as
well as the camps abroad, all the clements of
the home he left behind. They have sur
rounded him with books, with music and en-
tertainment given him an opportunity for
healthy recreation. The doughnuts of the
Salvation Army may seem to be small item
in world war, but they are known to Allied
soldiers wherever they have gone. And many
fighter has found renewed energy in the
steaming coffee the Salvation Army has given
him, when it seemed as if all his strength were
gone and his power Of resistance to the rack
ing, shreking clamor of battle lost
BRAVERY does not deny humanity. The
~ bravest soldier has his moment of loneli-
ness, of unbearable monotony, of heartache
and worry. He has things locked up within
him that need sympathy and understanding.
Sometimes the sight of womans face, the
face of an American girl, kindred of the 100
600, 900 of his own kind, is the quickest way
to remind the inspirited fighter what he is
fighting for; the quickest way to build over
again in his mind the incentives to going on
He sees in the women of the Y. w. c. A. and
the War Camp Community Service and the
Salvation Army the fine strength of American
womanhood everywhere. AS he has gone to
serve, so they have gone to serve. 1t is bond
between them.
1t is these men who are bringing us the
priceless boon of peace. The war is close on
its end. 1t is for you to say whether they
shall be given momentary acclaim and then
be forgotten. viii you hang them with gar
Law 40
day, and then go back to your own little in
terests2 Or will you go on remembering thew
have done your part in the greatest battle Of
time2 Will you know deeply that your
security, your relief of ntolerable menace. is
owing to them and those who fought with
them2
FOR it is now they need you most IN
that sudden transition from the regularity
OF military life to the unbinding processes o.
peace. Hundreds of thousands of American
fighters will step from disciplined regularity
to a world full of questions for them What
will be their futurea How will they be left
to approach the work which peace times will
put upon them? You want them and need
them at home. For their sakes yes-but for
your own sake, for the sake of your own con-
science and for the heritage of peace and jus
tice which they have brought to you, it is for
you to watch and care for them, guard them,
prepare them for the burdens and response
bilities that await them
They were Americans when they went,
fine, clean limbed, straight men. They will
be Americans who will come back to you
little wearied. still pressed upon by the things
they have lived through. The homes thew
find on their return must justify them in all
they have done. They must be found as
homes that were worth saving.
When the American soldier returns. sees
the torch of Liberty held aloft to greet him,
rides through thousand American towns.
reaches once more the railroad station that
cheered him off, walks through the familiar
streets of his home town, and comes at last
to his own doorstep-it is then that he must
be able to say freely and gladly:
1t was worth it'
1t is for you, you millions who remained
behind, for you to make certain he can saw it.