The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-06-26

In Its observance. But whatever the
manner OF Its observance in the years to come
ne Fourth of July will presumably have much
Oh france In 1t. now that the ties between the
nations formed in the Revolution have been
strengthened and cemented anew. And the
personihcatiOn of France stands Lafayette
Lafayette. we have come. said Pershing at
the Great Frenchman's tomb. And In n sentence
ne told the whole story of debt to Frnnce
and gave our promise Of its payment. What
was that debt to France that have paid? The
story of Lafayette Is the answer.
Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier.
Marquis de Lafayette, born September 6.
1897. In the chateau of Chavaninc. Auvergne.
France. He married In 1774 and entered the
French army. In 1776. In, Metz, he heard the
duke Of Gloucester. brother of George Ill., tell
the story Of the Declaration of Independence and
the struggle of the Americans. Then and there
ne determined. to go to the assistance Of the
Americans in their fight for freedom.
To Lafayette there was every enticement to
remain in his native France. He was the pos
SCISSOR Of high rank. He had wealth. No military
civic post within the gift of the French throne
was beyond his reasonable ambition And all the
pleasures and the delights Of a polished. witty
and luxurious court were at his feet.
On the other hand the certainty of hard
ship. the risk Of death and the prospect of
reward perhaps the grateful memory Of q
people who had nothing but gratitude to bestow.
In America there was nothing to beckon him
but q people whose ill-fed and ill-supplied troops
had sustained defeat. whose chief cities In
the possession of the enemy. whose treasury was
bankrupt and whose prospects were that their
leaders would ascend the scaffOld and their
masses be subjected to the brutal control of a
king who knew little OF and sympathized less
with those conceptions of freedom and those i'm
memorial rights which the colonists had inherited
from their English ancestors.
But there was in the heart of this young and
high-born French nobleman a sentiment which
had ruled him from his earliest boyhood-a sim
cere profound and inspiring love of liberty a
deep respect for the rights of men, a compelling
admiration for people who. in spite of the most
formidable odds. possessed the hardihood and the
vnlor to take up arms in defense of their free
DOM
The voices Of ease and of luxury and of ambi-
ton that tempted Lafayette to remain In his own
native land were drowned in his ears by the
voice of Liberty, calling from a far-OfY Shore So
he voluntarily left all the delights and the honors
Of the most luxurious and the most polished
capital in the civilized world to cast in his lot
with the handful Of merchants, farmers, hunters
and isherfolk who were waging for the
rights and the liberties which had been guaran-
teed to their forefathers and to them by the
Great Charter, and which had been denied to
them by the German king who then sat the
throne of Great Britain.
He offered his services to America. His king
forbade his going and the American commission
ers not able to furnish him transportation.
Evadng the officers sent to arrest him. he
capped In disguise and in company with De Kalh
and a number Of French officers embarked from
n Spanish port vessel which he had pur-
chased and after stormy voyage landed on the
shores of South Carolina. Journey of 900 miles
on horseback. occupying u month"; brought the
Young crusader to the city of Philadelphia where
he presented his request to the American con-
gress there assembled. At first he met with a
cool reception. In consideration, however. of the
Importance of his rank and family connections
and because Of his modest offer to a
volunteer ut his own charges, he was looked
upon with favor and by resolution of
congress he granted the complimentary rink
Of major general In the army. Washington re-
ceaved him with the greatest Kindness gave him
a place on his stan. and from that time forth
treated him as a The friendship then began
was treasured by the young Frenchman as the
most precious memory Of his public life.
TMere were giants in those days: EXAMPLES ::
. Washington, Hamilton Franklin. But ~ ed
fayt1fe HIS friend De Val said:
.srhere la the most wonderful man Of this OF
any ether age. He graduated from college. has