New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-03-16
ooking Toward the New Grand Army of the Republ
Memories of Common Service
Certain to Call for Preservation
i'm a New Fraternal Body

know, better than the rest Just how NM,
pleasure and romance there is conns,..a
with it. Would they go?
They would. And those who could -.
would curse the age limit, their worns-
their physical incapacity that prevan,ss
them. What is more, they would ha AZ
first, the very first. Ask the soldier -.
self if he wouldn't.
That is the best answer as 60 The ver....
of the Great Experience. Once il ,n..
"hell of war" and now it is a "gooa -,
time" Yet one wonders why, after u,
they would go back. And the question !
hard to answer. Perhaps it is that ~.
glamour of the past which has done =
Perhaps it is the lesson that the hra;n,..'
cog has learned. Deluded and warnea -
ready to take the plunge again, to Throw
away 1.-THE fine things of life" It NAV !,
has sense of patriotism. Or is it because h.
really liked it?
1t comes down to something No so,a;,s
can ever forget-the companionshin ~ \;
fellows when they marched together-tbs
pleasure OF meeting men, all with the same
troubles, ali with the same hopes. II f..
nothing else than their society he would 60.
it through again. The war has formal
companionship of arms which has made thu
war itself a period of pleasant reminis.
cence Without the men the picture loss.
its subtle charm. Septsarges becomes WIN.
it really was-a pitiable, shiverinr l;tts
place, rent by the wrath of q hundred hmm.
hQ rHn &c &c nNf- \
the filth of the roadway, and the forest IA
the northeast shadowy place of torturo
and death, where red ran into the mira n
the footpaths. So we reach a theory yet Ia
be disproved that the men made the war 90
much as the war made the men.
1t Is a pleasant legacy--one of the few
pleasant legacies-of the front that whom
they meet the war will lose a part OF il,
grlmness. There Is the sympathy and
understanding which only one soldier can
feel for another, the friendliness which 70.
suits from an experience they all havs
shared in. Already it is drawing them to.
gether, this aftermath. Strangers meet in
the street, made friends by their acouaint.
ance with their mutual friend, the German
high explosive. Groups gather together.
chatting of the party that is over.
1t means more than idle gossip. Il means
union of the soldiers into fraternity
not soldiers and workingmen's council
not political body, but still body Of men
with definite opinions, whose opinions will
be respected. Inevitably the graduates Of
"the most thorough college in the worlds
will band together, if it is only to talk
about the past and the glamour, to wonder
at the lights of Broadway. They travelled
too far together ever to return entirely and
entirely forget, even if they wished It,
Their discharge from the army has not
freed them They are still in the army Of
the Republic.
The brand is on them-the brand Of Cain
or the brand of democracy, whatever you
wish to call it. They will never leave that
army. The ranks are formed, and the
ranks of the new grand army will not be
broken, any more than those OF the other
which stepped from the field of Gettysburg.