Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-11-24

should start today to march by the
door of this Court House, If they
should pass by eight abreast, forty
inches between lines, if they should
march without their equipment-just
solid lines of men-for ten hours a
day at the rate of three miles an hour
their ghostly tramping would still
be heard, their sunken accusing eyes
and their weary war-worn bodies
would still be seen by the middle of
January. Can you see them q?
Tramp, tramp, tramp! hour after
hour day after dayl week after
week! Can you see them? If you
can, you can just begin to see what a
price was paid for peace.
The Fate of the Living Soldier
And yet that wasn't all. Not
not even the beginning of the loss OF
war. For a greater army marched
home, many of them worse than dead
The other day, the people of Ohio
voted as to whether we should give
them justice and mercy for their sac
rifice. And one third of the voters
of Ohio said by their ballots "No!" ]
am thinking of just one of them, a
relative of mine in Michigan. -Four
year ago, he went away. The glad
ness of youth was in his eyes, the
color and fullness of youth was in
his beautiful cheeks. He was only
boy The spring of youth was in
his steps. Just a little more than a
year, and he came back. Those
glorious eyes were sunken, and burn.
ing with an unnatural fire. The
cheeks were pitifully drawn and thin
the chest was cramped and narrowed
that had so gladly breathed the all
of heaven, the gait was the dragging
gait of an old man. In one year!
And he is numbered by the thousand:
And, my fellow citizens deny hin
justice or dole it out grudgingly. Ny
fellow citizens, many of whose
pocketbooks were swelled by tht
agony that he bore,- and bears. NJ
wonder such a deep, sarcastic cry
found it's way into the pages of 8
New York paper.
THE UNKNOWING
Five Stars upon the ribbon that ht
| wore,
One a citation, but he would not tel
! What he had seen and done, no
how he bore
That rain of shot and shell.
"No woman knows" he said, "nol
ever should,
The horrors that we had to undergo
There in the Argonne and il
! Belleau Woods;
Thank God, you need not know"
We need not know the hell in whicI
they earned
Those stars, the hell through whicl
they must advance;
We need not know what othe
women learned
In Belgium and in France.
We need not know, because the!
gayly went,
Leaving behind them all for whicl
they cared,
Nor asking what their fate woul,
be, content
If only we were spared.
We thought we knew, we dranl
our cup of tea
Without much sugar and we Learned
: to knit;
We danced with soldiers where tn
world could see,
And prattled of "our Bit"
We thought we knew; when the,
came back again,
We crowded round and welcome
them in state;
We lionized them for a while-an
l then
"War Stuff" went out of date.
Why should we know that they ar
poor and i'll?
That ought to be the government
affair.
They sought to spare us-why no
spare US still?
Why should we know, or care?
We need not know! We dance alon
our way,
Play golf and bridge, attend tn
latest show,
Meanwhile they die. God pity u
today.
Who are not fit to know!
And that isn't all the price we pal
! for peace. War takes the best an
, leaves the worst to breed. The to-
of war will show itself in ever
, Grady thru the generations yet un
born. 1t killed not only those mani
: millions, but the children hidden i
, their virile lons. And our race wi
never cease to pay that price.
, The moral and religious price W
! paid is felt today in every church, i
, every home, in every agency founde
on unselfsh sacrifice. 1t is seen i
! the hardened cynical faces of youn
boys and girls. 1t is heard in tn
! wild jazz music of the dance. 1t
: Iimmeasurable. The highest price c
, all.
War Failed
| The reason and imagination stag
= gers at the price that in enc war me
{ have paid for peace. And yet W
E face the dismal fact that, so far, tn