The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-01-27

be also practical Christian? And is
Foch that kind of man? Let us
see."
The secret of where Foch used to
go for strength and magical power
to bring home the marvellous victor
les" was surprized by a California
boy 1t was not published by any
organ of France, to show the world
how religious" its leader was:
"a California boy, serving as a sol
der in the American Expeditionary
Forces in France has recently writ
ten a letter to his parents in San
Bernardino in which he gives, as well
as any one else could give, the ans
wer to the question we ask.
"This American boy-Evans by
name-tells Of meeting General Foch
at close range in France.
evans had gone into an old church
to have a look at it, and as he stood
there with barred head satisfying his
respectful curiosity, a gray man with
the eagles of a general on the collar
of his shabby uniform also entered
the church. Only one orderly accom-
panied the quiet gray man. No glitter
ing staff of officers, no encourage of
gold-lace aids, were with him; nobody
but just the orderly.
"Evans paid small attention at first
to the gray man, but was curious to
see him kneel in the church, praying.
The minutes passed until full three
quarters of an hour had gone by be-
fore the gray man arose from his
knees.
"Then Evans followed him down
the street and was surprized to see
soldiers salute this man in great ex-
element, and women and children
stopping in their tracks with awe
struck faces as he passed.
"It was Foch. And now Evans, of
San Bernardino, counts the expert
ence as the greatest in his life. Dur
ing that three-quarters of an hour
that the Generalissimo of all the Al
lied armies was on his knees in hum
BILE supplication in that quiet church,
10000 guns were roaring at his word
on a hundred hills that rocked with
death.
millions of armed men crouched
in trenches or rushed across blood
drenched terraines at his command,
generals, artillery, cavalry, engi-
neers, tanks, fought and wrought
across the map of Europe absolutely
as he commanded them to do, and in
no other manner, as he went into that
little church to pray.
"Nor was it an unusual thing for
General Foch to do. There is no day
that he does not do the same thing
if there be a church that he can reach
He never fails to spend an hour on
his knees every morning that he
awakes from sleep; and every night
it is the same.
Moreover, it is not new thing
with him. He has done it his whole
life long.
eff young Evans could have fol-
lowed the General on to headquarters
where reports were waiting him and
news of victory upon victory was pill
ed high before him, he would doubt
less have seen a great gladness on
the Generals face, but he would have
seen no look of surprise there.
"Men who do that which Foch does
have no doubts. When Premier Gle
menceau, the old Tiger of France,
stood on the battlefront with anxious
heart, one look at the face of Foch
stilled all his fears. He returned to
Paris with the vision of sure and GER
tain victory.
"The great agnostic statesman
doubted, but the Gray Man of Christ
did not doubt.
"The facts, then, in the case are
that when the freedom of the world
hung in the balance the world turned
to Foch as the one great genius who
could save it against the Hun; and
that Foch, who is perhaps the great
est soldier the world has produced, is,
first of all, Christian.
"Young Evans, of San Bernar-
dino, just an everyday American boy
from under the shadow of old San
Gorgonio, spent nearly an hour with
Foch in an old French church, ano
not even one bayonet was there to
keep them apart.
"They represented the two great
democracies of the world, but there
in that old church they represented
Jointly, a far greater tliing-the de
mocracy of Christ. Literary Digest