Vernon Parish Democrat., 1922-05-25
ALL BELOVED BY
GRATEFUL NATION
Tributes of Memorial Day Shared
by Each Defender Of
the Country.
Reverence Alike for Those Who Be-
gan and Those Who Completed
the Work of Freedom-GraVes
in France Cared For.

The year 1918 brought the signi1-
canoe Of Memorial day directly home
to the present generation. The hero
ism of the sacrifices of 1863 had not
been forgotten, but to the great ma
iority of Americans it was merely
tale, not an experience. After 1918
there were feW Americans who had
not suffered personal loss or bereave-
ment The real meaning Of "dying for
ones country" was impressed on the
consciousness of the people. The sue
ceeding Memorial days have found the
nation honoring the memory Of the
young men who gave their lives in
France and Flanders, and revering,
with new sincerity. the men who, more
than half a century ago, died that
America might live.
Americas Part in the War.
Two outstanding facts of the World
war are universally conceded. Amer
icas participation and Americas sac
rifce were small in comparison with
the labor and sacrifice of the nations
which fought through all the bloody
years of the struggle. Yet, during the
brief period of American participa-
ton, America fought as hard as any
other belligerent nation, bore her full
share of responsibility and burdens,
and thus, coming to the front when the
other nations were weary, actually
won the war. 1t is generally believed
that but for the American army the
German offensives of March-June,
1918, would have carried Prussianism
to victory. America, therefore, with
out bOasting, and with full realization
that her sacrifice was small in COM
parison with the sacrifices Of France
and England and Belgium and Serbia
and Roumania, and even Of Russia,
can cherish the qualification of having
actually Won the war by intervention
at the most critical moment. Belgi-
um's immortal heroism saved civiliza-
tion in 1914; American altruism and
devotion saved democracy in 1918.
But the story was not begun at
Chateau -Thierry. 1t was not even be-
gun more than a year before, when the
United States, driven beyond the ex-
treme limit of patience, formally de-
clared the existence of a state of war.
1t was begun more than fifty years
before, when the young manhood Of
the North marched forth at LincOln'S
call. What was done in 1861-65 made
possible the elimination of 1918. It
is, really, all part of the same glo-
rious story. without Chickamauga
there would have been no Cantigny
the campaign in the Wilderness was
paving the way for the Argonne.
In Honored Graves.
All over the United States the
graves of true American men, graves
new and still unclaimed by nature,
and graves of long ago, leveled, per
haps, by times mercy and strewn with
flowers by natures own hand, are hon
ored today by those whose lives have
been made livable by the nobility Of
those who have died. They gave theiI
all, and today we give our very little
Life was as precious to them as 1t il
to US; nothing that we can give car
be even a weak beginning of their stu
pendous gift. Nor do they demand
great recompense: gratitude and hOm
age, and a moments pause in the mad
whirl of life to bestOw thought ant
a flower on the graves of those whose
lives were the price of our happiness
In France, too; and on the dike-cu
fields of Flanders, our heroes rest
Fear not that these boys of ours, wht
are so far from us today, viii b'
neglected or forgotten. France, savet
from utter destrut ton, is still dumbl,
grateful for the miracle, and genera
tion after generation will weep at tn
graves OF the men who came from
afar-and stayed in France forever
There, where they made their high saC
rifce, they are surely at peace; AM
not even the sorrow of the loved one
over there whose gratitude, though i'm
personal. Is greater than we who hal