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Show THE FIGHTING MEN. That is an inspiring story of the English officer who "eamo back." Through gallant service in the "Foreign "For-eign Legion" of. France, a cashiered lieutenant colonel, decorated with the military medal and the medal of the legion of honor, has .been restored by King Georgo to the position he held and even to the regiment ho served in when ho was tried by court martial and dismissed just as the war was beginning. be-ginning. The nature of his offending does not appear in the record. All we know by the record is that Lieutenant Colonel John Ford Elkington committed some offense which resulted in his dismissal from the army. Now the additional information is given that the charge did not reflect upon his personal courage. cour-age. Banished from the English army in October, 1914, Lieutenant Colonel Elkington Elk-ington joined the "Foreign Legion," tho most distinctive military organization organiza-tion Bince the world began. Its code is somewhat like the code of our western west-ern states in the pionoer days. No one is asked about his antecedents; he is presumed to be a man of courage until he shows the white feather. And thus it has come about that the men of the legion, scalawags and criminals for the moat part, officers dishonorably discharged dis-charged from other armies Slavs, Turks, English, Italians, Americans and even Germans flght for France on the torrid deserts of northern Africa or wherever elEe the legion may be assigned as-signed to duty. These men who have failed in their duty in the battle of life perform the one duty that is required of them by the. legion to fight and to fight bravely. In the present war this legion of human derelicts dere-licts has held the .battle line in many a forlorn hope or has charged over the Germans when other organizations have failed. Xot all of the "Foreign Legion" are bad men. For example, there is that Boston prize-fighter who is one of the popular men ql the legion. So far as we recall, he was just a good prizefighter. prize-fighter. Even virtue does not bar one j from the legion. You may be as honest, , as honorable and as virtuous as the i most saintly of churchmen, and you will be permitted to join the "Foreign "For-eign Legion." Of course, you must not be squeamish about your associates. You must overlook many things, but, like your comrades, you must know how to scorn death and to die coolly. In a word, you must be of the breed of the fighting men. As the military world goes, courage has more power to shrive the sinner than prayers and repentance. Had Lieutenant Colonel Elkington donned sackcloth and ashes and wept tears of repentance morning, noon and night where all the passers-by might see, he would have earned nothing .but contempt con-tempt and the ready sneer that he was an accomplished hyprocrite. But he had tb wisdom to join the "Foreign Legion" as a private, and the courage to win the most coveted military decorations deco-rations of the French republic at the cost of his legs. But Elkington thinks it worth while. As ho stumps about on his sticks he is glad to be back with his old regiment and, obliviouB of the past, officers and men are glad to have him back. It would be a sad world, indeed, if a man were not allowed to "come back" once in a while. . |