Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-04
NUMBER 4.

~ OMDEh l.
F.. There were four of us, resting in
the shelter of an ''arbi," at the fir
ing line in Flanders. Shell were
bursting around us - just near
enough to give point and penetra-
ton to our thinking. From where
we lay, we could look over all the
Lys Valley from Ypres to Armen-
tiers and beyond. We could see the
planes fighting over Ypres, wheel
ing, splitting spangles of fire from
their machine guns, lodging she'll
fire, attacking, looping the loop, tail
diving amidst little puffs of cotton
where the anti-craft guns were
sending gruff messages to the clouds.
We could see the great woody
bears" bursting over the roads, and
the flash of our big guns behind us,
as they answered. Even could we
see the signals flashed from plane
to battery where the limbers and
lorries crowded the roads. We could
see mile after mile of No Mans
Land. a desolation so utter that the
very color and form of the earth
were changed so as to be easily dis
cernable at q distance of ten miles.
A wreck Uttered seaboach under a
bowling gale.
We had walked ten miles through
mutilated towns and villages. The
little town on whose site we lay
was a sample,-one square, brick
pillar some twisted iron and red
smudge on the. mud-all that was
left of a once Smiling and happy
little town. All it's men-folk were
either killed or MANNED and most
of it's women were broken and
scattered with the strain and horror
Nf H. t-t fn pig grl ln
a black ruin where the enemy had
centered his guns on a thread fac
tory full of working girls and blown
them and it to a gruesome frag-
ments
And we four were watching,
thinking. We were an Australian
private in the ranks, a British OFF,
Ger, an officer in the marines and an
American Clergyman with a long
string of degrees representing four
teen years of steady education"
And here was what that clergyman
was thinking that day at the front;
Those airmen, mere boys, were play
ing an active part. They knew all
the complex code of war signalling,
they knew in a definite and thor
ough way, the actual use of the
compass in the sky. the aerostat,
map-making from planes-all the
complex science of flying under war
conditions. The private knew the
signals, wig-wags, the science and
practice of trench warfare. The
captain knew all the multitudinous
things that have to do with guns,
big and little, their trajectories,
powers, range, the ways of laying
them, elevations, practical ballistics,
knew geography and topography
with a sureness and detail amaz-
ing to a mere scholar like the
clergyman. The marine officer
knew the complex science of the
sea fighter, seaplanes, submarines
and the rest These men whose
total education" amounted to less
than one half that of the scholar"
were able to carry on great task,
with gertrude, amazing ability and
effect. They could handle regi-
ments. drill men, plan out at least
ia local campaign, understand at once
the meaning of every move. And
they were in it doing things, MAX
ing history, while the clergyman.
who had a classical and scientific
education as the ordinary colleges
teach, was able to do what in this
great crisis? Wash pots and mugs
in Y. M. hut; amuse the boys, and
do the score of little things all
of which any one of these men
could also have done. At their
work the clergyman was helpless, at
his, even on his speciality, preach
ing. there were at least two of these
| laymen who could stand in his
boots and do good service.
Here was great world crisis.
here were literally millions of lives
at stake; here were anguish and
heroism, seething human action
reaching over half a world, and
the clergyman was helpless to do
any one of their jobs even at a
pinch-while every man of these
half educated" warriors could not.