Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-04-20

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Unauthorized reprinting for any purpose
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ARTICLE 6.
"Quack! Quack! Quackl"
can imagine Herr Teufelsdorf. Of
the German intelligence depart
ment, solemnly setting down the
strange words.
"Hey, diddle-de-diddle
The cat and the fiddle"
That must have been as puzzling as
"Ride-a-cock-horse to Banbury
Cross" Little Jack Horner sat in
his corner" Jack and Jill went up
the HILL" and similar extraordinary
statements picked out Of the air by
listening Germans, and sent to Ber-
lin for translation and for study by
their code specialists.
What did the herr professors make
Of them?
What did they made Of such seem
ingly, meaningless combinations Of
words as 'corn-mush" and "high-low-
jack?
Doubtless there were profound consul
tations. I can vision the research car
ried into libraries, where all available
"Amerigana," was ransacked FOR a clew
70 the mystery. Mother Goose. no doubt.
was discovered as the source Of the
rhymes. and her history was studied for
some possible explanation Of their use
I can imagine heated debates between
refund and rubicund uterad as to the
occult significance of these quotations
from the nursery songs Of the United
States. I can imagine erudite and ela0o-
rate theories advanced.
GERMANS
WERE DAZED.
The reference to the breakfast menu
Of the American people and to one Of
their popular indoor sports must have
been hopelessly bewildering.
The Teuton mind never could under
stand the American mind. II was per
picked bafned. dazed by our thought
processes. and the more it tried to explain
or interpret them the more mystihed It
became.
So far as I know It never guessed the
meaning Of our Mother Goose messages,
which sang over the North Sea and out
on the Atlantic in wireless vibrations
For that matter, the British were puz-
zled at first when they picked up the
queer words and phrases and snatches OF
rhyme. Il sounded as II the inmates OF
a Iunatic asylum had somehow got hold
Of a wireless apparatus and were calling
'ouack! Quack! QuackV and Corn
meal mush'' to q var-crazed world.
"Red-white- blue was one Of the
phrases which had a sound Of possible
sense to British ears, but when It was
ampliied to "Quackl Red-wh hite-b blue =
even their smartest code experts were at
a loss TO interpret It
British naval officers at Plymouth were
much concerned about these ineIrncable
sayings which foated through the atmos-
phere and sounded in their rsdiophOnes
FEAR NEW
GERMAN TRICK
Was somebody "spoofng them" and
the war and the world IN gensralf or
was it some new German trick? Some
scheme Of the enemy to distract atten-
ton, to set the British puzzling over
meaningless mystery while he pulled OF
some plot against them7
They were relieved when explanations
were made. They smiled. and even
chuckled politely, when they were told
that these quaint contributions TO the
serieI communications Of the war zone
were merely the issuings Of orders and
exchanges Of compliments among the
perky little American submarine chasers
which lately had arrived from across the
Atlantic.
sauey. high-spirtted, devu-may- care
lot they were, and they came capering
into the zone Of danger and death with
laughter and song.
doubt il you will find in all the an
nails Of the war a better picture Of
American psychology-the psychology Of
American youth in the face Of peril and
eadsr the high obligation of duty. Nor
will you find anything which illustrates
better why Germany lost the war and
the allies and America won It: why our
hurriedly trained armies played the mis-
chief with the morale and lighting front
Of the enemy's super-trained disciplined
and experienced troops.
HAD FAITH
AND HOPE.
The child-hearted attitude toward life
which could go to war talking the
language of the nursery, using homely
phrases and the songs Of the cradle to
conceal the serious messages Of life and
death and tragic action which compose
the communications Of war, was the at
tftude OF faith and hope and cheeful
cOmradeshfp which endured all denials
and pains without murmur, and faced all
perils without finching.
In those days of hardship; in those
days when men endured long vigil,
whipped by wind and spray: in those
days when sudden death lurked beneath
the wave and every COB kissed his sweet
hearts picture good-by at least once IN
twenty-four hours, you can imagine how
it helped in the grimness and serious
ne5s and deadly Oppressiveness Of the
job to have the comic relief which came
when your sub chaser scudded through
the seas calling "Quack, Quack! Quack!
High-low-JackI from its wireless; or
when some bit Of nursery lore sounded In
your radiOphOne, such as a reference to
"Mary's little lamb" conveying inror-
nation that the enemy would have given
all the beer in Munich to get
This new code, the words Of which
were familiar TO every American, had
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