Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-12
FRENCH BOYS TOURING AMERICA
CONSIDERED ENJOYS OF PEACE
Interchange of Visits by Youth of Two Nations
Praised Remover of Misunderstanding.
Won Trip by Historical Orations.

most important single section. of a
historical expedition. Their particular
interest, fostered by the American
Goodwin Association, is to learn
about the land in the discovery of
which men Of France took such a big
part. The boys worked for the
distinction which is theirs as winners
Of an oratorical competition. They
| learned about "The French Pioneers
in America" and with their intelli-
gence and information wrote their
orations and won the prize.
Names in Native Tongue.
! They are members of a great party
| comprising statesmen, historians,
engineers. railroad officials and editors
| of national reputation. sponsored by
the governors of the six Northwestern
States, and known as the Columbia
River Historical Expedition. All
along the way they will meet evidence
Of the work of such men as Father
Marquette, discoverer Of the upper
Mississippi; La Sale of Rouep, Du
Lhut, whose name survives in Duluth:
Pierre de Varennes, Nicolet of
Cherbourg, Radisson Of ST. Malo
and the Verendrye brothers, who first
saw the Rocky Mountains.
They will see monuments dedicated.
will hear unnumbered tales of the
early days and their trials, will assist
in celebrations like the parade of old
Red River oX-cartS at Grand Forks
and will recognize in many Indian
names the influence of their own
language. There were the Occur
d'Alenes, the Peu d'Oreilles and the
Nez Perces, whose own chief Joseph
was the last Of the red men to make
! GNkA ..A l.
ago against the white mans invasion
In the Mississippi River. the Rockies
the plains and the cities with remi
niscent names there will be for the
French boys a sense Of belong
Ing. Was it not. indeed, their fathers
who helped bring this land into being
mon of France who penetrated the
dense wilderness in the spirit Of ad
venture, the love of a struggle for
new worlds to which we today owe
our very existence?
viii Take Data Home.
Back home these French boys vii
go loaded with experience filled with
the knowledge Of the country across
the sea Of which their people know
only too little. They will tell all they
have seen.
American boys, winners Of the con
test and participants in the great
historical expedition. will dispense tc
their homes enriched by their eX
perience, anxious to spread their ad
miration for the nation represented
| by the boys they have come to know
and respect. In the circles reached
F., by these boys on both sides, limited
at first but widening, will grow and
| prosper q mutual understanding that
cannot fail to make future relations
easier.
1t is the fact of the youth Of these
international emissaries, the young
spirit that will make itself felt, and
therein, when it grows as 1t will
| therein lies the solution Of everything
that may confuse and distress us now
France of today, the youthful France
will know America, young America
and they will understand each other
Following over the trails of pic
neers In a romantic period of American
history they are themselves pioneers
in a period Of French and Ameri
can history not whit less important
The time needs the influence they
can exert. Their word will count, they
will be heard as authorities, as those
who know that of which they speak
May their education bear fruit
guided by the intelligence that has
won it.