The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1919-01-02
IN. a. sHoAF VIII
ApAD' LETTER
NnHaTnLpr ~. IVll

leDads Xmas Letter. This is the
request that has passed through he
ia. r. r., and feel certain all the
boys will remember their dads to-
day, and take full possession Of this
unique opportunity to express this
remembrance. We all love our dads,
even though we do not write to
/ them as often as we should or color
our devotion with innumerable adjec-
tives. Rather we symbolic our love
and devotion by obedience, honesty
and assuming the fullness Of mans
part and honor. Somehow, it is awk-
ward for a son to pour out his senti-
lments to his dad.
War is a horrible, unnatural way of
settling human ideas. 1t is against
all force of mind and happiness. 1t
,uts deep into the heart Of a man,
and therefore, it is that some day
there comes to every soldier time
when all his hopes are shattered.
There is only one light that holds the
soldier up so that he can again see
the stars behind the clouds. 1t is
love. Lights Of love alone pilot a
soldier safely through the storms of
war and saves him from becoming
savage. So it is that the biggest
thing in soldiers life is his mother.
She is the symbol Of love to him. He
knows she is thinking Of him and
praying for him in the heat of earn
lage when he sees companions about
him going to their reward upon a
/ field Of honor. No wonder it Is,
then, that we force out our heart
/ longings and sentiments to our moth
ers- occasionally to our sisters and
sweethearts our impressions and
philosophy to our friends. To dad
usually 60 a few facts and then an
appeal for a small sum to tighten
/ the horrors Of the hell we are con-
stantly in Therefore, it follows that
7ur dads are slightly neglected, but
aot forgotten. No, our dads are not
forgotten. We are men together,
only our dads are the older Our
aearts are tempered alike, and there
fore, we feel that our common words
and problems and thoughts need no
special expression among ourselves;
vet there is somewhere in the make
Iup of every boy love for his dad
that all the powers cannot shat
ter or destroy. Mothers pray
for peace and safety for us; our dear
old dads pray that we play the man,
conquer and die Therefore, we. feel
meeting of two ideals within us.
of which neither is superior to the
other. What better idealism is there
to inspire soldier than live, yet
olav a mans part Z"
We came into this war fresh, Wig
orous, but raw in experience We
came to match bayonets with the
most formidable military machine the
world had ever seen. All the armies
out here had four years Of actual ex-
perience on us. Yet true to the ira
ditions Of our fathers, we had to play
TIE man. What did we do? We
drilled all day and studied at night
to fill ourselves for the objects We
came here to accomplish. With the
experience of our allies before us and
with that determined resolution mi
orr hearts that we must be worthy
OF our dads, we soon ceased TO be
pupils, but instructors and leaders nj
the art nf warfare. | shall tell you
now that had we not cared for our
dear old da6a those living and dead,
the spirit of thofe WIN male 1ur|
country glorious ia reace and M
vincible in war. those who disciplined
us in our youth, our record out here.
might have been a different story.
The facts Of history will reveal that
mo Drawer. better educated, more m
Etrepid or fearless soldiers ever swept
across "No-Man's Land" than bows
who came from the new world. We
led the way. We smiled when thlngs
went dead wrong. We had sn1lfe
for all our allies. We laughed at
death and scorned retreat. The ma
lions were astonished. Instead OF
lus learninc from them they turned
70 us. They were inspired; they
lifted their heads; they regained the
consciousness Of their strength. In
/ a burst Of invincibiiity and enthusi-
ISM our united arms pushed on un-
it'll the Hun fell down and surrendered.
THE war was over quicker than it
might have been lost.
4 When | first went into the war
zone it was natural for me to pick
me out Tommy" and talk Of the
war. They said the gar was lost.
1t was up to US to win it, yet they
said we could never beat the Hun
out of his entertainments. | doubted
his opinions, but | took them for
what they were worth. Finally !
went in myself where / could see for
myself. Whenever Americans went
into the trenches the war opened
anew there. When came out / told
| the boys the Huns couldn't stand ev-
Ierything He gave us all the hell he
could. We gave him from six to ten
i times as much hell as we got. We
knew he couldn't hold up. He must
break. Then the day soon came for
Ius to not only defend but smash his
lines. This we did. The story is
known to the world.
During those days we passed
through there were times when our
fresh hearts seemed dark, our
strength gone, and our hopes blight
led Were we not fighting in the big
gest, most horrible war the world has
passed through? Yet we played the
man part with all the gallantry Of