The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-07-17
WHAT poucHRovs LEARNED

Mont, SLanuaTu, anu tHeH dH5WeTeu
by that gentleman in an article. He
points out the various ideals and
ideas picked up.by the doughboy as
he served in the army, and the fol-
lowing are some of the important
Things that Mr.. Sullivan believes our
young men have learned.
During the months that separated
the beginnings and the ends Of some
three million careers, things Of es-
sentially the same nature happened
to three million men. They changed
their views; they think and act diff
ferently about any number of things
ships and shoes and sealing-wax,
cabbages and kings, especially kings
If 1t hasn't done a thing else this
, war has taught one-haf Of the mas
culine American world how the other
half lives, together with various items
of information concerning the less
prominent brothers, including the fact
that they are just as human as any
body else, quite as susceptible to emo
tons, good and bad and very often
capable of staging little performances
that resulted in their being kissed
on both cheeks by T. French general
with a ticklish beard, who at the same
time pinned a little cross on the left
side of their blouses
Everybody was in pretty much the
same boat during those nineteen
months. 1t didn't make a heap much
difference If your dad did happen TO
be the high mucky-muck back home,
or your uncle a Senator, or your moth
er one OF the millionaire Smiths Of
Shutdown, you know. Despite any
golden spoons that might have adorn-
ed your physiognomy at the moment
of birth. you got your hell as quickly
and as effectively as anybody. TX.
p" came to you as often as it did
to Pete, the butcher boy from avenue
A. And somehow, hours and hours
spent at the ceremonial rite of peel
ing potaties, with Pole peeling away
at the other side of the tub brought
about discussions that cleared up
many misunderstanding between your
point of view and Pete's and led to
the discovery that you had many
things In common, and the further
discovery that on the basis of real
accomplishment Pete probably was a
lot more of man than you
Maybe your platoon commander had
been your chauffeur prior TO April,
1917. II made no difference. however.
He did not hold 1t against you as long
as your rife was free from oil and
dirt Saturday morning. And natu-
rally you were inclined to forgive him
for his unwarranted assumption. The
piano-player in the movie" house
captured hundred or so Germans
and all the decorations he could carry
without getting round-shouldered,
while the world champion prize-fight-
er stayed at home. So it has been.
the la-de-dah boy went forth to corner
the market on bravery, while the foot
ball hero of the class OF 1912 took
his out in talk It's funny world
In the service men were judged for
what they were. The trimmings didn't
count, since machine-gun bullets PEN
citrate the prince and pauper impair
TALLY and with the same result.
Flashes of yellow have been known
to appear in the fiber of the chosen
ones as often as In the "rabble"
Thus II was that the old standards
were cast to the four winds and O.
new order brought into existence in
which the aristocrat was the man who
came nearest to being the answer to
Kipling's "If"-the man who had cour-
age, nerve, and humanity. and who
didn't tell you about it.
Men learned to Judge men by what
they showed. If man had the goods,
he passed. he was member of the
crowd. II he didn't, the delightful
intimacy nf barrack life soon disclosed
the fact Barrack life. as every SOL
dier knows, has about half the pri-
vacy attributed to the goldfish.
There were several types that might
be met with in an outfit. The crawler,
WHO diWdyS udus all cASuSo Tcduy W
get himself off a fatigue detail and
who was always on sick-call when
there was prospect of hike with
full packs. The hand-shaker, some
times called shorter and uglier names,
seeking advancement for himself by
"souping" around the officers and car
rying tales, The tightwad, who saved
twenty-nine of his thirty dollars every
month. who, the boys declared. would
not spend nickel to see the Queen
of Sheba. Finally, the kicker. con-
tinually bemoaning his cruel fate and
refusing, like Rachel or Job, or who
ever 1t was. to be comforted, kicking
at everything. good and bad.
The three million learned to spot
those birds with unerring accuracy,
and don't think they are going to be
hoodwinked by their parallels in civil
life They exist there Just as in the
service
The spirit of brotherhood that has
been born in the heart of the Amerf
can soldier by the common expert
ences OF army life is something beau