Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-09-30
BUTTE BOY LAUDS
PARTISAN MORALE
JACK LYNCH, NOW AT SORBONNE,
SAYS FRENCH SPIRIT is
MAGNIFICENT
Life in Once Gay Capital Moves On
Much As Usual in Wartime, He
Writes, Although Streets Are Dimly
Lit, Crowds Trimmed.

Gone would be utterly emotion
less to resist being stirred by the
magnificent calm and composure
ofthe French people under the ter
rifle strain of war;" writes Jack
Lynch, Butte student now study
ing at the Sorbonne in Paris.
Young Lynch went to Paris last
summer and chose to remain in
spite of the danger of air raids
upon the French capital.
In a letter to his aunts, the Misses
Julia and Veronica Lynch Of 545 West
Mercury street, Butte, Lynch continues:
True, Paris has changed. The light,
gay atmosphere of Paris, known to
tourists from all over the world, has
not disappeared but it has been
dimmed Somewhat. The theaters, the
cafes, where Partisan life seems best
to reveal itself after dusk, are still
continuing their traditions, but the
crowds are thinned out and a more
serious undertone marks the atmos-
phere.
Life Much AS Usual
But life moves on, much the same
as usual, though at night the streets
are dinaly Lit and In the air there is
the tension that nation modified
like all France, waits; in readiness 1t
waits, hour on hour, and day on
II cannot believe that Hitler can
dare, In his policed and indoctrinated
Germany, match the public morale
with that displayed IN France. In the
long run, it Is the disposition of the
public that makes war possible :,
or peace. In italy, know, the people
dread the prospects OF war and among
the Germans how many thousands
there must be whose sympathies lie
not with aggression and conflict, but
with quiet and peace.
I'm contrast with the attitude of the
French p0pulace, that Of the Ameri-
cans has been deplorable. I mean, of
course, those Americans In France and
who came from other parts of Europe
to Paris in the search for bookings
home. The atmosphere at the Ameri-
can express gave me the wiIlieS, be-
cause excitement, bordering on hys-
terra, was exaggerated and unneceS-
sary. Here 1t Is the Americans
who let their emotions carry them
away. One would think Paris already Is
u a semiruinous state, with the bombs
falling from the air.
Americans All Actors
"As q matter Of fact, I suspect that
The emotions among Americans were
not genuine, that they were finding
/ deep pleasure In an overdramatiza- !
ion OF their predicament. Americans
are all actors
1.-THE censorship has been declared |
1ere and I don't want to fall under |
suspicion Of espionage. All I have mem |
ioned Is common knowledge. Here /
/ stay until evacuation Is absolutely |
necessary; until must make q hasty |
( dignified exit out the back door
rust 10 my ability TO keep a step /
head Of trouble. :"
The young man is a graduate Of |
Christian Brothers high school and
4 the University Of washington at
SEATTLE. Following his graduation from
he was an instructor at
Ieattle college.
Accompanied by two aunts, Miss
Teronica Lynch Of Butte and MRS. Ed
ard Pettigrew of Shelby, he left last
une for Europe where he plans to
btain his Phi. d. degree at the Sor-
oune IN Paris.