The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-01-09

abroad began to be chock full O
"hells" as II the newspaper cores
pondents, too, had realized that unde
diers found it necessary to have al
outlet in their language for the emo
lions running riot within them with
out in any sense intending to be pro
fame. Papers in the United State.
which for years had been noted FOL
the c%arefulness with which they GU
out of all stories any semblance o.
strong English, the Boyce papers
among them, got into the habit oil
leaving in the "hells" just as they
came in over the cables. Even tho
most Puritanical of them surrendered
when they were called upon to pub
lish that thrilling story of the lost
battalion of Americans who fought
for three days with Germans on al
sides of them. For Major (now Lieu
tenant-Colonel) Whitelesly. command
er of the battalion, made himself fam
Gus with his reply TO the Germans
who sent a white flag and the demand
that the Americans surrender. Tell
them to go to hell" was the word he
sent back and started fighting again
No one thought enough of it to re-
Duke Herbert C. Hoover, the Food AID,
ministrator, the other day when Ger
man emissaries tried to see him with
a view to getting a supply of food for
Germany ahead CT other nations. Tell
them for me personally that they can
go to he'll" said Hoover, among other
things, and he struck a sympathetic
chord all over the world. Incidental
ly. Hoover in this way revealed him
self as a much more human sort of
a person than any n had supposed.
Most of us had an idea that Hoover
was a cold-blooded individual whose
chief joy in life was depriying us of
hot biscuits and sugar in our coffee.
But that one message proved him a
real man and, whether we approve Of
profanity or not, his reply to the Ger
mans received three cheers from our
hearts.
The Stars and Stripes, a newspaper
published by soldiers for soldiers in
the American Expeditionary Forces,
fact that our boys, having won out,
are easing down a bit on the language
they use. Also it quotes a noted Amer
lean preacher who was in the trenches
around Chateau Thierry as saying:
IF profanity will help win the war,
I am for it." And other chaplains
who were in the thick of the cuss-
word barrage during the fight merely
smiled. Perhaps only the most rigid
of training kept the c%haplains from
joining in. They may have been like
the very dignifed minister who was
playing golf and missed a stroke that
would have meant victory for himself
and his partner. The partner cut
loose with an elegant line of profan-
ity until, remembering that he was
playing with a clergyman, he apollo
gized. Said the minister, who had
been quite chagrined by his own mis-
play: There are times, my friend,
when we ~clergymen are mighty thank.
full that not every one is a church
member"
Now that the war may be said to be
safely won, it is up to history to de-
eide just how big a part the concen-
trated cussing of the twenty-five AL
lied nations played in winning the VIC
tory. Meanwhile no doubt we will be
leaving III a considerable number Of
"hells" and "damns" from our con
versation.
To the Blade reader who inspired
this little talk on hell, we submit the
following anonymous poem as reveal
ing to just what an extent hell" has
become one of the most-used words in
our vocabulary of today:
You sometimes hear, Its cold as
hell"
IT'S often said, ITS hot as hell"
When rain pours down, "It's hell"
they cry;
It's also hell" when ii is dry;
I'VE hate like hell" to see it snow;
ITS a hell ot a wind" when it starts
to blow.
Now, how in the hell can a person
tell
Just what is meant by this word
'hell?"
Tha. married life is hell" they say,
When you coine home late there is
'"hell" to pay.
Hell, yes" Hell no." and ooh, hell"
too,
1.-THE hell you don't" and "The he'll
you do"
And What in the hell" and "The hell
with this"
And "Who in hell?" and "Oh, hell,
where?"
And What in the hell do you think
carer"
The Hell of it is" and at sure is
hell'-
And still we don't know what in hell
is hell