New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1921-06-17

I'of many wars this year were marked
perhaps not by an unusual solemnity
but certainly by a seemingly larger
appreciation Of Americas duty 10 its
dead.
Within a few days there reached
5000 American soldiers who obeyed
the last call in France while serving
their country and u sister republic in
the hour of need. Many of these
bodies have been brought TO Wash
ington for interment in the great Ia
tionaI cemetery at Arlington.
Everywhere la Washington at this
present time there is ia evidence the
red poppy of Europe. 1t is the poppy
of Flanders field, the poppy of the
valleys of the Marine and the Meselie'
and of the fields bordering the
stretches Of the Meuse aud the for
ests of the Argonne.
1t seems L me that this flower,
which has been adopted as the Me-
mortal bay flower by the American
Legion, deserves of itself some sI,e-
cial consideration. Ii was remarkable
how the blOod-red poppy OF France
took hold of the Imagination OF the
American soldiers. For centuries ia
France il has been regarded IN "a
sense as the war flower, or perhaps
rather as the flower of wars alter
math. Its color likewise has been
significant of sacrifice, ana as IL
; grows abundantly on virtually all the
~battlefields of France, and the whole
II ut one time or another has
been a battlefield, ii has come 4" be
looked upon as at once Il companion
and Il memorial to the dead heroes
of the land.
| have found that many Americans
believe that the red poppy of France
which blows also in Flanders fields, Is
essentially a spring blossom. 1t Is
true tina the poppy is more aDulluaiit
IN the spring than at other seasons OF
the year, but from April until NoNeim-
Der here and there through the fields,
the red poppy always may be seen
| have seen it in profusion growing
in the fields between the lines of the
French and the German armies, III
the foot hills of the Nosges, in late
April and in early May. | have seen
the fields of the advanced zone north
Of the Marine in the months of Sep
TENDER, October and November.
The French soldiers look on the
poppy as a symbolic flower. They
have an extreme sympathy with ii
and their feeling toward the blossom
quickly extended itself to the ranks
of the American armies. The bios
SONS of this plant which has been
the theme of soldier and civilian poets
for years is single, and yet its petals
have a tenacity of adherence To the
stem which is unusual in flowers so
sparsely leaved. The American sol
der, not over given in the main 10
sentiment, used to pluck and wear
the peoples. Many an American Went
into battle with II poppy in the button
hole of his blouse.
The American Legion took cogni
zance of these things when ii adopted
the poppy as its memorial flower. So
far as | know the European poppy Of
this species does not grow in Amer
lea.
Flowers Profuse In France.
In France as in America today at
this time of the year natures floral
feast is spread. In 1915, two years
before the United States entered the
war, | was with the French armies In
the fields along the Moselle river rear
Pont-a-Mousson, and not far from the
great city Of Nancy, which AT that
time was only eight miles from the
German line. In that year my So
journ on the eastern front included
a part of April and a part of May.
Looking over the fields which were
se~mipeaceful, because at that time
the Moselle region was a comparative
ly quiet sector, one easily could i'm
agine himself 10 be back In the
meadows of America. The blood-red
poppy was the C1ly floral stranger to
the eye.
The dandelions, the buttercups, the
daisies and the clover all grew abund-
antly in the fields, and so far us the
u%nscientifc eye could determine. there
was no difference between the species
Of these plants growing there in the
embattled fields Of France, and those
growing In the peaceful fields Of
America.
In the spring OF 1915 at memorial
time, the thought came TO me for
chilly that perhaps before long in
those fields would be enacted the trag-
edles which would add TO the solem-
nifty and the significance of future
Memorial days In the United States.
The L~usitania had just been sunk.
and news of II had come to France.
From that hour 1t seemed TO be the
belief of Frenchmen, and OF such
Americans as were in France, that
the entrance OF the United States in
to the war was inevitable. The fu-
lure gave substance to the thought.
Hindu MusiS.
Be IL In devotion, in love or In