The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-06-27

manner Of its observance in the years 10 come,
'He Fourth of July will presumably have much
or france In IT, now that the ties between the
nations formed in the Revolution have been
strengthened and cemented anew. And as the
persohlfcation of France stands Lafayette.
Lafayette. we have come" said Prrshing nj
me Great trenchman's tomb. And in a sentence
he told the whole story of our debt to France
ana gave our promise of its payment. What
was that debt to France that we have paid? The
story of Lafayette is the answer,
Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier,
Marquis de Lafayette, was born September 6,
1857, In the chateau of Chavaniac, Auvergne,
France. He married in 1774 and entered the
French army. In 1776, in Metz, he heard the
duke of Gloucester, brother Of George III, tell
the story of the Declaration of independence and
the struggle Of the Americans. Then and there
he determined to go to the assistance OF the
Americans in their fight for freedom. 8%a
To Lafayette there was every enticement to
remain in his native France. He was the pos
SCISSOR Of high rank. He had wealth. No military
or civic post within the gift of the French throne
was beyond his reasonable ambition. And all the
pleasures and the delights of a polished, witty
and luxurious court were at his feet.
On the other hand were the certainty of hard
ship, the risk of death and the prospect OF no
reward save perhaps the grateful memory Of a
people who had nothing but gratitude to bestow.
III ~ was olilb W IllH
but a people whose ill-fed and ill-supplied troops
had sustained defeat, whose chief cities were in
the possession of the enemy, whose treasury was
bankrupt and whose prospects were that their
leaders would ascend the scaffold and their
masses be subjected to the brutal control of a
king who knew little of and sympathized less
with those conceptions Of freedom and those i'm
memorial rights which the colonists had inherited
from their English ancestors.
Rut fharp Uoc In tho heart Of thiS yo,,pp op1
high-born French nobleman a sentiment which
had ruled him from his earliest bOyhood-a sin
cere, profound and inspiring love Of liberty, q
deep respect for the rights Of men, q compelling
admiration for a people who, in spite of the most
formidable odds, possessed the hardihOod and the
yalor to take up arms in defense Of their free
dom.
The voices of ease and of luxury and Of ambi-
ton that tempted Lafayette to remain in his own
native land were drowned IN his ears by the
voice of Liberty, calling from a far-Off shore. So
he voluntarily left all the delights and the honors
Of the most luxurious and the most polished
capital In the civilized world 10 cast in his lot
with the handful of merchants, farmers, hunters
and fsher-fOlk who were waging war for the
rights and the liberties which had been guaran-
teed to their forefathers and to them by the
Great Charter, and which had been denied to
them by the German king who then sat on the
throne Of Great Britain.
He offered his services to America. His king
forbade his going and the American commission
ers were not able to furnish him transportation.
Eyading the officers sent to arrest him, he es..
capped in disguise, and in company with De kalb
and q number Of French officers embarked from
a Spanish port on a vessel which he had pur-
chased, and after a stormy voyage landed on the
shores Of South Carolina. A journey OF 300 miles
on horseback. occupying a month, brought the
Young crusader to the city of Philadelphia, where
he presented his request TO the American con-
gress there assembled. At first he met with a
cool reception. In consideration, however, OF the
importance of his rank and family connections,
and because Of his modest offer to serve as a
volunteer at his own charges, he was rocked
upon with more favor, and by q resolution OF
congress he was granted the complimentary rank
Of major general in the army. Washington re-
eefved him with the greatest kindness, gave him
q place on his staff, and from that time forth
treated him as a son. The friendship then began
was treasured by the young Frenchman as Inc
most precious memory of his public life.
There were giants In those days: examples:
Washington, Hamilton. Franklin. But OF La
f~ayette his friend De Val said:
.sThere Is the most wonderful man or this or
| my other nge. He graduated from college, has