Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 February 1919 — HONORED BY ALL [ARTICLE]

HONORED BY ALL

Praise Accorded American Soldiers Is Universal. To Their Bravery and Chivalry on tho Field of Battle Has Been Added Fine Generosity to an Unscrupulous Enemy. “Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth; a stranger and not thine own lips,” says an ancient proverb; which is easier to obey than it has been sometimes, for the air is resonant with adulation for this country and its people —praises for Its benevolence, energy, idealism, army and navy. We have exulted in the praise bestowed upon the boys in khaki for their chivalry toward women, their gentleness to little children, their high morale amid great temptations, and thhir courage in battle. But these virtues were all exhibited to friends and allies. Now comes, however, a testimony to their behavior toward their enemies, which ought, we think, to give us even a deeper joy. “Especial praise,” says a dispatch from Amsterdam, “was given the American troops of occupation by a representative of the Berlin foreign ministry on his return from Treves. “The judgment of all Germans, such as shopkeepers, hotel keepers and men on the street, is that the behavior of the Americans is blameless-” “Blameless!” “Sans peur et sans reproche!” We pity the man or woman who can read that testimony without choking up a little bit. One ought not to forget that these young Americans are among a—people whom .—they have learned to4iate. TFtKere has been one thing above all others upon which they universally agreed, it was loathing and horror for German frightfulness. In all their letters home they wrote of their Irrepressible dread that the war might be stopped in some way before they had taken vengeance upon the Huns for their bestial conduct toward wounded men and helpless women and children. And now they are moving across the country of their hated foes as conquerors ! Oh every highway and at every street corner they see the men who have perpetrated these nameless horrors. Those men are at their mercy. And yet, upon the testimony of these brutes themselves, “their behavior is blameless.” - - We read that they march through these German cities grim and silent; their faces white and their jaws set; looking neither to the right hand nor to the left; self-contained and selfcontrolled. These are the men, remember, wlm went “over the top” in many a bloody battle, singing “We won’t come back until it’s over —over there.” “Blameless!” “Sans peur et sans retprociie !” ■ — ; What a miracle is such young manhood! How strangely its contemplation moves the hearts. What pride we take in thinking that these blameless youths belong to us! They are our boys —yours and mine! If the generation of lads now growIng up in America Is not fired with a spirit of emulation by the conduct of these soldiers of the American expeclitlonary forces, We shall feel like disowning them. There will be but little excuse for rowdyism, inefficiency, Intemperance and cowardice for the boVs whose fathers and big brothers have extorted such admiration not only frpm friends blit foes. —Cincinnati Enquirer. ' ’ —