Daily Kennebec journal., 1925-11-09

AoHuouS moral issues 1nvOlVed-|
with rare and lofty idealism and
War.
"As fresh in my mind as the
events or yesterday are the remem-
ORANGES OF those war meetings which
we then held in Augusta-on the
Square, here in this hall, and else,
where-when we called upon orr
citizens to give their money, and our
noys TO give their youth and their
lives. How magnificent was the re-
sponse in each case! Bows from
sand Hill, boys from the East Side
and the West, heard that voice
whose call man must answer or
lose his soul. donned the uniform of
their country, and offered them
serves to fight for humanity and CIV
llization and democracy in the fields
OF france. l can see them now, my
Irlends, those khaki-clad boys, as
they met here in Augusta to entrain
ior service, see them again, as thew
tnen were, in the strength of youth
and the flush and vigor of their
young manhood, their eyes ELOQUENT
WIN iofty purpose and heroic re-
soiVe, leaving the old home scenes
leaving rather and mother, brother
ana sister, sweetheart and friends.
stood with you on the sidewalk
! with head uncovered, with proud
tears In my eyes, with an unuttered
prayer In my heart, as those BOYS
swung past to the station, heads
erect, shoulders back, eyes front,
WIN the nag of our fathers waving
above them.
What sort of boys did we send
to France? The best, the cleanest.
In h4
stralghtest OF limb, the keenest of
brain, the most eager of spirit! Boys
worthy the best traditions of Ameri-
can courage and intrepidity! Boys
who went into battle with poppies
IN their helmets. and a song on their
lips, and courage in their hearts
that knew no faltering!
These boys Of ours took their
places with their allies upon those
felds incarnadine. They faced the
ultimate, and thank God, they faced
1t unafraid. They charged into the
very mouth of Hell, and made calm
acceptance OF its hazards. They
manned the steel-swept trenches.
The troubled earth between the lines
was carreted with pain. Red death
rode whistling on every wind, and
gray poisonous death came creeping
stealthily upon them. wrapped in
mist and charged with awful tor
ment. They faced an enemy cruel
and cunning, trained and efficient,
experienced and vastly powerful. OF
all things spent and squandered there
upon that red horizon, young human
life seemed held least dear Of all.
And against such foe, on the morn
ing Of July Is, 1918, the boys from
Maine launched that great counter
offensive at Chateau Thierry. They
formed the spear r-head of that fierce
thrust that reduced the Marine sa-
: lient, saved Paris, and started the
great German retreat which never
ceased until beaten and exhausted
foe sought an armlstice.
These boys here did it. You may
search the pages Of American history
from the inception of this Repultc to
the present day. You may cecall all
deeds of sacrifice and heroism: and
you will find inscribed there no
prouder, nobler. sadder record than
that written by the boys from Maine,
in their hearts blood. on the fields
of Chateau Thierry, st. Mihiel. and
the Argonne.
Seven years ago. the bugle sang
truce, the war ended, and those boys
full carnage returned to home and
loved ones. Many Of those boys re-
turned wounded, blinded. gassed,
crippled and crazed; returned but to
die of wounds or disease: or to live
out long years of suffering and fight
the GOOD cause Of cheerfulness and
patience under affiiction. until they
shall be honorably discharged from
service here, to be mustered into that
great host of their brethren. who
have gone before. tenting on the
eternal fields of fame. You men OF
the Legion who faced death Tor
American ideals have quietly taken
your places in the community. sure
bulwark against which the waves OF
national peril shall beat In vain. You
will grow old along with us. but
they who fell, knights Of the Living
Cod. who met the dawn upon farth-
er shore, they shall come back from
Frances poppied sod, to be our boys,
unchanged, forevermore."
"The war is over for the dead. but
not for us, the living. The fight Tor
world peace and justice Is still on:
Ours is the duty to see that out OF
this war shall come spirit OF nu-
man brotherhood, OF conservation,
and of service as great as the war
itself. Ours the duty Of establishing
neace among the nations on the pas
is of those American ideals Tor
which our boys gave up their young
lives. c.r,,,.
tee of the United States senate may
procrastinate; the senate nsen,
sometimes called the morgue OF our
international hopes, after seven .ons
wears, may seem no palnIui anch ~
gain" but back from the hearts am
the homes and the cnurcnes ..
America there comes noooihs in
med that will not be denied until
America. in sympathy and UNDER
standing, shall have assumed ner
share Of world responsibility, hung
the stars and Stripes with the colors
ne forty- eight other nations in the
Corridors Of the World Court, ana
resumed her rightful place OF spirit
ual and moral leadership OIL eno 10
tions of the earth.
"The boy who fell in Flanders
Eield dropped from palsied hand the
banning torch of world peace. Inc
wives and mothers of this iano'
christian men and women every
where. have snatched 1t up ana Kept
a aIight with the breath OF prayer
Of hope, of conservation to the un-
finished task. The bereaved mother
Of the boy who fell has hung her
golden star in the sky of hope as
emblematic of that star OF Betnle-
hem. No mother of today but stands
at the cradle, looks on the race OF
her h baby boy and prays God that.
grown to early manhood. he may
never be fodder for the cannon;
looks on her woman child, and prays