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

striking distance of the enemy. AS they passed
the retreatng French they were met with cries Of,
You're zigzag; you're crazy. Sure death ahead.
There is no hope; go back" But these eager,
smoOth-faced Americans, who had smeed
the smoke of battle not made OF the STUFF
that goes back when the enemy is in front I'm
perturbed they landed in the mud and under
cover of the woods formed their lines and calmly
waited for the dawn, when about $4,000 americans
met and held and stopped five German divisions.
lApplause1 So fierce and unfaltering was the
attack that the enemy took it for granted that
there unlimited reserves in the rear.
"The miracle was performed, the march on Paris
stopped the oncoming hordes turned back, the
Chateau-Thierry drive began, the destiny of civil
lizaton changed. [Applause.l
THE soul of America had won because 1t had
broken the cocksure spirit of the enemy, had
kinded in the breasts of the dropping allies a
morale that ran from one end of the lines to the
other For the supersOldier of the world with
tremendous advantage of numbers, had been out
supered by few simple, modest unframed Ameri-
cans; and these same Americans were here in
great numbers, and they were coming by the thou
sands The war could end in but one way. At the
height of the Chateau-Thierry drive, when the pail
of that terrible certain daily advance, when the
Smelling of Paris and the nightmare of air raids
was too recent to be forgotten not Il soul could
be found in the ranks of any army or in any walk
in life so base but he free to admit that it was
the American soldier who won the war, turned the
tide saved them when they had their backs to the
wall Yet now when it is all safely over, there
are those who ungratefully say We would have
won. anyway They would, like HI. [Applausel
"Our boys were far from their homes. 1t put
shame into the hearts of men who were fighting
for their very hearth sides and families to see
such daring and spirit in lads who needed no spur.
If began June at Belleau Wood and continued
through the Aisne-Marne drive, the Somme cam
pagn St Mhiel, YpresLys, through the Meuse-
Argonne clear up to November II. Six months
and the job was DONE
'Reared on American SOIL imbbng her prin-
cples of freedom the American soidlef''did not
need wears of intense training He was used to
thinking and deciding. In pinch, every man was
an officer The intelligence of the American
eouipped him to understand the war game quickly.
Heroes every one, they dared to move apart
twenty thirty fifty, sixty feet; they dared to fight
alone and die alone. The average run of the Eu-
roDean soldier has not the private initiative to
fight alone and die alone. He fights best in mass
where he sees the form of his companion ahead,
feels the rub of the elbow of his pal at his side,
hears the tread Of his comrade in the rear lie must
have crowd to give spirit and soul TO do and die.
The American soldier because of his individual
development has soul power that dares stand alone.
The European must group this soul power to pro-
duce the necessary courage. The American soldier
is a lion who dares forage alone. Wolves hunt in
packs The American soldier is an eagle who
dares soar aloft in the awful solitudes Swallows
hover in thousands The American soldier dares
70 die right now. The European soldier tomorrow.
Asl, the German soldier officer who won the
war and he will tell you that ii was the Ameri-
cans That it the Americans who advanced
into no mans land without hesitation and came
on with that logged determination that sharp
shooter. rnachine-gun nest, ambush hand grenades
rifles concealed mines, gas shells, curtains of fire.
small and big artillery, the blasts of hell itself
could not stop. [Applausel
at is the soul in the breasts of these boys up
here in the gallery that is going to count 1t is the
sorI that measures the size of the man, whether
cn rho battlefield or in the conflict of life, and our
hind friends in the gallery have been tried and
found not wanting