The sun., 1919-03-28
AS THE VETERANS PASS.

1
all the greataparades that have passed
through the city since 1865, and has
had much to do with managing most
| of them-never in all my experience
have 1 found the same sentiment, tho
same feeling, the same eagerness in
the crowd that marked the millions
of spectators on Fifth avenue as the
Twenty Division passed in
| review.
The crowd was what we call a New
| York crowd. That means it was a
tcross section of America. There were
men and women in it from all parts
of the United States, from Canada,
| from most OF the countries OF Europe.
Made up of individuals drawn from
such diverse communities 1t was. as 1
| say, what We call New York crowd
| typical of New York because IT was
typical of the whole world.
| Its sentiment was not that OF a mere
aggregation of sightseers. Its emo
, tons were more deeply stirred than
those of a crowd which had gathered
only to see a fine show, to watch an
| imposing ceremony. 1t not only wanted
to see the parade Of military organi-
alton of which it was proud, but 1t
wanted to see the individuals in that
organization, and it not only wanted
TO see them. but each man and woman
felt he or she had right to see them,
must see them, to satisfy an intense
necessity of his or. her being.
IL was not common curiosity that
broke through the police lines at one
or two places. II was something much
, higher and much finer than curiosity.
1t was feeling that comes to men
and women relieved of a great
peril, impelled to express emotions sell
don. aroused and more infrequently
exposed. The spectators could not
and did not look on the marchers as
something apart from themselves, but
az something essentially Of themselves.
In this the demonstration differed
from any 1 have watched, and 1
watched this one, as 1 have others, in
many places and under circumstances
different in each place.
My father took me when I was s
to see the soldiers returning from the
civil war. l do not recall the organi-
cations, but one thing remains in my
mind. Those men looked like veterans
just released from hard fighting. Their
uniforms showed it; they seemed old.
faded, worn. In those days the troops
carried flags into battle, and the flags
those troops bore aloft told their story
of the struggle the country had gone
through. OF some OF the regimental
flags little more than the golden fringe
remained. OF all the fabrics were
tern, discolored, stained. You can see
what they were by looking at the flags
in Grants Tomb
But these soldiers who marched on
Tuesday did not look like their prede-
cessors OF half a century and more
ago. They looked like soldiers, like
the good soldiers they have proved
themselves TO be. the worthy success
sors OF the best the country has ever
produced. They marched, | should
cay, better than those merf of the COS
though l am not sure. But they had
not the worn look Of those other men.
Their uniforms were not faded: their
helmets had been newly vanished;
they might have stepped out of a
bandboX.
Their arms showed no sign Of war.
Their rifles might have been newly is
sued. They had no trophies to show;
no captured guns, no relics OF the
fields on which they fought. In 1865
I saw cannon with the marks Of war
still on them: Tuesday we had no cam
non. And the men did not look tired.
They We're different in way from,
more military perhaps than, the men
who marched down E1ith avenue in the
same division on the way to France
in 1917, but not older. Whatever toll
war has taken from their ranks. no
man could look at them and say with
truth that war had added 10 their
years. They were young men, despite
all they had seen and endured, despite
ell they had undertaken and all they
had accomplished.
1t may be that neither they nor we
can tell yet the fun price they have
paid. The excitement of the welcome,
the JOY OF Homecoming the near ap-
Iroach OF their discharge, may have
stimulated them. But these Young
men do not fl our conception OF vet
Grams although we know they have
earned that honorable title.
This parade of victorious American
troops was splendid; splendid in every !
way. But we must have other pa
radcs of other troops and whom we
welcome them we must see some Ger |
man cannon, some captured field |
ieCcs. The whole town will want to /
see some things the men who display |
them took from the enemy, and the |
men who took the trophies arc en- |
titla1 70 diSpIny