Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-06-17
HOW THEY MAKE
REAL AMERICANS
Boys Summer Camp IncuIcates
High Ideals.
WHAT IT DID FOR ONE BOY
Foreign-born Lad Learns That His Fa.
ther Was Wrong and That America
Means Something Besides a Dollar
Mine-chums With Son Of Fathers
Employer and Imbbes True Democ.
racy.
BY NORMAN w. GREGG.

BY NORMAN w. GREGG.
In the fifteenth year Of his existence
something happened to Steve which set
several OF his inherited views at
naught and changed the entire cur
rent Of his life. Steve had been born
in a land of dreary, endless plains aud
long. cold, snowbOund winters. where
MS parents and kinsfOlk lived color
loss, monotonOus lives embittered by
hatred of the mythical noble who
owned the estate they titled.
SteveS family emigrated to America
short time before Europe was plunged
into the chasm of war. They went at
once TO section Of great city where
their native language was about the
only one heard.
The head Of the house secured en-.
pioyment in a great factory amt con-
tlnued to read newspapers prfnted In
characters queer and undecipherable
10 an American boy. Very often after
supper, In spite of the fact that hts
daily wage was more than he had
earned in a month in his home land,
the father would denounce in hoarse
Gutturals the men who owned the for
est Of smoking chimneys among which
he lubOred.
Making Real American.
IL was at this time that an Oppor-
tunity to spend summer at Camp
Roosevelt was given Steve. With boy
ish celebrity he had mastered English
fairly, despite the foreign atlnOsphere
OF his home, and his keen, alert little
face impressed one Of the officials of
the great corporation who offered to
pay the nominal cost of the outing.
His father ragged. He would not have
his Son contaminated with militarsm,
but the parish priest said it was good
and the mother pleaded for the life in
the big, happy t-of-doOrs; so at last
he gave reluctant consent Steve
was happy.
With hundreds Of other boys, he
boarded great lake steamer and. af-
ter several memorable hours on Lake
Michigan, landed with the rest Of the
cadets at MuSkegOn. Many cars were
waiting to transport them to Camp
Roosevelt, and Steve found q place In
than himself Their inexpensive khaki
uniforms were exactly alike and the
fact that his new friends name was
the same as the owner Of the factory
In which his father worked meant
nothing at this time.
Ted and Steve, arriving together,
We're assigned to the same company,
hnx x-it fnI In
alongside In the same squad tent II
suppose we're bunkies now" said Ted
when they had disposed of their few
simple belongings and had a brief
breathing spell. "Me am satisfied"
returned Steve, and a friendship which
endured through eight happy weeks
began. After mess, Steve named the.
great institution where his father was
employed. Mine works there too"
said Ted, and with this mutual bond
their social status was established. 1t
was not until many days afterwards
that Steve discovered that Ted's father
was the employer Of thousands of men,
but by this time the virus Of Ameri-
canism and democracy had taken hold
in his bayish soul. Not even his IA
Their could talk about his "bunkie" or
his 'bunkies" family and get away
with 1t.
Life Works Wonders.
The well-regulated outdoor life
worked wonders in both. They took
on pounds and added inches. They
grew brown and hard and what the
army officers who drilled them called
"snappy," Steve learned to swim and
shoot and Ted, who knew all about
wrestling and boxing, had the delight
of seeing his protege scrap his way to
regimental lightweight champion.
He was further dumfounded to find
that the camp commandant, Capt. +. l..
Beals, U. s. A., instead Of being a ter
rible car, was kindly, approachable
friend. quite as interested in his joys
and sorrows as Ted.
In his new life the Stars and
Stripes had come to be symbol OF
something big and splendid, something
which Ted and Captain Beals and all
the other boys loved. All at once he
realized that his father was wrong;
that America meant something besides
d0llar-mlne. Camp Roosevelt, the
boys national camp at Muskegon,
Mich had added citizen to the ma
ton.
Steve and Ted are going back this
year-together. And Steve is bringing
Michael, his fourteen-year-old brother.
Mike, however, will have much less to
learn, for Steve's patriotic propaganda
has had results. Even the taciturn ia
Their has felt it.
1t was a holiday and Steve and his
father stood watching parade. Steve
clutched his fathers sleeve excitedly.
"See, father, 1t Is flag like what l
carried at Camp Roosevelt. 1t is our
flag. Take off your hat. All we Amer
leans do It," He stood rigidly at the
salute while his father, little shame
facedly perhaps, lest some Of his ex-
countrymen witness It, uncovered and
tia starry emblem swept past