Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1922-08-31

There is one young lad up there, deaf in one ear
both hands gone, blind, yet he is studying law He
has learned the typewriter, and he writes as fine
a letter as any one of you can do with your sight
[Applause] They all very much alive. They
have refused to be downed. They have tackled
their handicap with the same spirit and go and
dash that they bucked the stalemate of the
trenches, and with a YELL Come on boys, do you
want to live forever| sent the American spirit up
and down the allied lines to win the victory for
the world" [Applause]
Here are some of the good things in the elo-
quent speech of this blind legislator speaking for
the blind ex-service men:
eve have been accustomed to believe the Euro
pean propaganda that everything overseas is far
far better than our home product; that to produce
a soldier up to European grade, they must be
drilled year after year. But here these raw
American boys performing deeds of judgment, de-
cisiOn and valor that forced from their wartrained
allies and opponents the admission that they had
never seen or heard the like.
"a heroic soul here and there would have been
within the bounds Of expectation, but the constant
grade Of the whole product of the nation drafted
and volunteers, with whom you came in contact
there the death fields could not but give you
pause and force the thinking mind to ask why
nation had produced such universal phenomena.
"In touch with these wonderful men day after
day. in whom heroism was as common as the dirt
under foot, comparing them with the other SOL
diery, l impeled to ask myself what made
this vast gap in the fortitude, courage Judgment
between human individuals of the same civiliza-
ton, and the answer was driven in upon me that
the difference lay in their greater soul power
because at last God had reared government I'M
der which the soul, that thing akin to Him, could
grow; government whose aim was the develop
ment and fostering of initiative of the individual
where they had freedom to choose between right
and wrong; where any citizen could aspire to the
highest office in the land where religion was I'M
hampered their thoughts unrestraned, where they
dared to think and feel out loud; where equal op-
portunity was their birhright, and no high wall of
'VerbOten' is endured where each stands upon his
own resources for what he is and what he can do
and every man is the equal of his neighbor; where
the Stars and Stripes from the towers of our pub
lie schools speak the spirit of America and beckon
her children to heart of understanding that can
discern between right and wrong
"It Ia true the allies furnished the guns but
America furnished the soul that won the war;
[Applausel Until that soul was loosed In combat
upon the battle fields defeat OF the allies was in
evituble Paris had been ordered evacuated Big
Bertha shells were bursting everywhere In the
streets, CONSERVATION prevailed Lines Of refu-
gees were streaming from the city. A German
army headed by the Prusslan Guard and COM
munded by the crown prince, advancing with
the steady precision Of clockwork at the rate of
four to five miles day. German patrols had been
captured within six miles OF Paris, The terrible
bombardment and onslaught of the shock troops
had forced the French back and back until the
Germans, gaining possession OF the heights about
Bellenu Wood, had cleared the roads for eight
miles in advance.
with their march unressted for several miles
ahead the Prussun Guard was ordered to put on
their dress uniforms with spiked helmets. The
officers decked themselves In dress regnlla with
sturched bosom shirts The Germans Ind no other
thought but that they were going trumphanty
into Paris Tho French believed it, the English
believed It. the Bclginns believed 1t, the Italians
believed It. nil tho world believed It. But the boys
Of four American regiments did not believe It. The
Fifth and sixth marines. tho Ninth nnd Twenty.
third infantry Of the Second division, being the
nearest at hand, crowded into trucks MS close
as they could stand and hurried in the night to