Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1919-06-26

Tho address delivered by the Hon.
Darwin p. Kingsley of New York city
at the University of Vermont memorial
service ut the First Church Sunday eve
ming was as follows:
MR.. KINGSLEY's ADDRESS
In Lear Shakespeare makes one Of his
characters say:
'1f you have victory, let the trumpet
sound
For him that brought IT,"
To-day first Of all we sound the trum-
pet we strike the note of victory. Not
in vain--unless II be by our neglect or
sin-did any son Of this university die
in the great war. In the tragedy of their
taking off, in the manner Of It, In the
spirit of II. we find no flaw. Against
the bitterness Of II we have the inspir-
| Ing consolation of u clean victory. TN
der tho power Of the blows these boys
and their fellows struck thrones crumbled
F, ancient privileges were swept away. The
! Blond Beast was slain. We rejoice while
| we weep we are proud to have been and
| to be u part of an institution that whelps
| such cubs.
! Into d crowded hour they put the whole
| of life. They greeted death no more GER
tainly than we ultimately shall. But
they greeted him in the assault, not in
retreat, They saw no afternoon of days.
From the fresh morning of life they
leaped to the undiscovered country" to
which men go falteringly not when they
| will but when death wills
! They went
not. like the auarry-siave at
night,
, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained
and soothed
BY an unfaltering trust ''''
Like one who wraps the drapery of his
couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant
dreams"
For him that brought victory therefore
| sound the trumpet: for the dead first,
then for the living-for the nine hun
dred odd who served In some capacity,
and especially for the fourteen who were
cited for bravery. Sound the trumpet,
One Of the gravest questions that stu
dents Of democracy in this generation
have from time to time asked has now
been answered. The question was: How
will our youth meet the supreme test
| of war?
We had not trained them for that sort
OF fighting. On the contrary. we had
taught our boys to be merciful. to be
loyal to women, gentle with children and
to hate war. They loved liberty, indi-
vidual liberty; they thought: they de-
cided for themselves. AS against men
produced by generations of rigid disci-
pine, as against the monstrous process
es Of modern warfare, how would our
boys stand up?
Tbn aub
Argonne Forest answered that question
No more unfiinching. clear-headed. I'M
selfish courage was ever seen on any
battlefield In ell the tides Of time than
was shown by these half-drilled boys
This venerable institution in all that
~ygle lost about twenty men-mostly
students. They were aviators, officers
doughboys. engineers, naval men and
doctors They died variously; some in.
stantly in action; some suffered and died
In camps: the fate of one boy is wrapped
In impenetrable mystery Their spirit
the spirit Of the American army. is per-
haps perfectly expressed in the daring
conduct and heroic death Of Lieutenan,
Clarence M. Coilord of the class of 1917
When the order came. over the top he
went with his men; up a hill, through
a valley. up another hill. until a machine
gun bullet pierced his brain. Smitten tc
death he raised his hand. beckoned his
men forward and fell-forward. That
was the spirit OF the whole army. Free
men-undisciplined and unframed by the
standards of militarism-were more thar
a match for the disciplined product OF
Germany.
While I make no apologies for war,
am not sure that the soul-quickenine
which we and all the world got wher
death took Collord and Adams and Aid
rich and Brown and Buxton and Cham.
berlin and Foster and Hunt and Palmer
and Page. was not worth more than al
they could have achieved had the vision.
of their splendid youth been allowed tc
become realities in the achievements OF
full maturity. And who shall measure
the inspiration that comes to us from
those others who faced death as un
fiinchingly and were not allowed theil
Forbush and Freeman and Furber ant
Ingalls, and Murphy and Noble and Phe
Ian and Parker. To them-al averag,
American men and boys-fate issued thu
supreme challenge. They never fiihShe d
They answered unhesitatingly. and dice
smiling.
Consciously or unconsciously they al
died for a great cause. That cause Il
greater than democracy, greater thar
country About to die, Edith Cavell saw
a vision and said II now understanr
that patriotism Is not enough"
Incompetent leadership. provlnciaiisn
and selfishness promise to delay the tri
umph OF the cause for which they died
The collapse of Germany has put intt
the hands of the allied powers an oppor
tunity to achieve IN a generation wha
otherwise may be realized only afte
centuries Of fighting. At present the in
dications are that the world will continue
TO travel over the broken. cruel. blood,
road It has so long followed. There 4
to be no quick emergence into a new
order under which law shall rule be
tween nations, under which wars shall
be made improbable IL not impossible.
Nevertheless, that new order is wha
the people OF the world now demand
achieved. 1t would be almost a politica
miracle but 1t would not be unprece
denied.
! Our fathers did exactly that. The,
wrought a like transformation in 1888
and the rays of the sun Of that new da.
still warm US and make our path clear
Then an old order was abandoned and
new order adopted almost overnight
Then Jealousies were suppressed: fea
was quieted: tho voice OF prejudice wa
stilled. Then the cry that each stat,
. must preserve md defend IT'S own M
critics went up throughout rho rplonl a.
as II does to-day nmouRat the nations
but 4 was overwhelmed by tina crv th.