The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-06-14

but they don't stay equal long after
they are created Men follow leaders
as sparks fly upward and our govern
mcnt remains free and democratic as
far as we are fortunate I'm producing
leaders and wise in following them,
We take too much for granted to-
day. We accept our liberties as a mat.
ter of course. | am reminded OF a
story In the scriptures of the trial Of
u great man by the name of Paul.
Paul was a jew, born Roman citizen.
when he was brought To trial 10y the
Jewish priests, before the Roman tri.
bunal Of King Agrippa, he demanded
the right of an appeal to Caesar. King
Agrippa was surprised al his claim Of
Roman citizenship and said, at "a great
price obtained | this freedom Paul
answered. but was free born.
"Paul's answer is typical of the Amer.
lean today. We do not think OF the
great price paid in obtaining freedom
we simply think 4 am free born |
want to call your attention. II / may,
to the great price. You say L was
free born but nevertheless. that free
dom which YOU enjoy freely, was paid
for by some one else at a great price.
1t was paid for through countless gen
eratlons in the best blood of your faith
ers. More than that it was paid for in
this generation by blood of yours sons.
The Price Paid.
This thought has been printed deep
in indelibc letters on parchment Of my
memory and my heart For it was my
fortune recently to stand out there in
the valley Of the shadow with the First
American army ana see the price that
was paid. in fun 10y your dauntless sons.
that the world might remain free.
was over there in the vale of destruc-
tion, where one could feel the wind OF
eternity. through the open door of
death, blowing cold on ones cheek.
Yes, saw the price, | was there, thank
God and was permitted to return and
tel YOU about it.
"Thc terrible slaughter which | wit
messed in the Argonne, has made last
ing imprint upon my mind. / would
that I could forget; could blot it out
from my memory. | can see those
sp'ended American boys now as they
calmly walked through that terrible
barrage, and We're blown to pieces by
those hellish high explosive shells. !
can see those lines wither up as they
came into the stream of fire from the
swapping, splitting, snaring machine
guns. one moment | saw line of gal
lant eager American boys, fun of the
vigor of life, shaped in the image OF
God himself, pressing forward. The
next moment l looked upon heaps OF
broken bleeding Jumps of clay, as they
lay there on the hillside SO still and
gashtly. and | thought of the terrible
prich men must pay for liberty and free
government. realized now that freedom
is not a gracious gift of God but u man
won .rivilege torn from the grasp OF
tyrants held and paid for, from gen
GRAFTON to generation, in the blood of
heroes, like the heroes I saw lying dead
on the hillside of France?
1T was stated that at the last we
probably had $50, 900 men in the Argon
ne-but of this number a goodly per
centage made up the supply depart
ments-probably not more than 100000
bayonets ever reached the front line.
Our casualty list is approaching 3oO,-
600, which means that for every two
fighting men on the line for n brief
period of weeks or days, one of the two
was put out of business. Oklahoma
alone has a casualty list which exceeds
e 900, of which approximately 1000 are
dead
The poetical genius of Tennyson has
u certain little British cav
airy organization lin an operation at
in the Crimean war. To all
posterity they are known as the Noble
Six Hundred They charged the Rus
sian batteries, sabered the gunners, and
rods back all that was left of them,
left of six hundred AS compared with
the work of the hundreds of thousands
Of American infantryTnen in the Argon-
ne, this incident WAS IA mere polo game.
The Hebrew poet in his eXhortation to
heroic effort has recorded this climax
Ye shall mount up with wings as ea-
giles; ye shall run and not grow weary;
ye shall walk and not faint The first
Is ordinary, the second is a real effort,
but the third is the final test Of human
We do not begrudge
the six hundred their measure OF
praise; they mounted UP with wings
rs eagles: they sat in their saddles and
caught the spirit of their horses; the
cheers of their watching comrades. the
flash of the sabre, and the roar of the
enemy batteries, standing out in bold
-elief on the sky line as their objec-
.ive-all contributed to the glamour OF
heir task. All that opposed them were
Russian batteries. There were no aero
planes above, no poison gas beneath,
40 lurking venomouS machine guns |
concealed on every hillock, in every |
lump of brush, TO spit forth their death
lealing streams Of hot steel at the prop
sr moment, as the rattle snake strikes |
,ut from his tuft of grass, giving his |
oelated warning as his fangs fasten In
he flesh of his victim.
And yet. into such a nnelstrom of
relish. death-dealing agencies, the scene .
'obbed of all its glamour, those wonder
ul American boys walked. walked,
they saw their comrades with
II up in the winrows of deaths harvest;
10 foe showed his form ahead, upon
whom to fix attention or give back steel
or steel. Nothing before them but the
,roken patches of the Argonne forest,
which gave friendly concealment TO the
enemy engines of death. But
l.. Iaff