Show NOW THAT NINE YEARS ARE GONE armistice day Is largely a time of personal remembrance nine years ago the armies of the allies and of germany were engaged en aged in the last battles of the world war the armistice called on november Io 11 1918 has as yet been only an arms uce a stacking of arms with peace on earth existing precariously at times and in various localities by custom armistice day has become a day of remembrance we stand for two minutes silent to reflect on those years in all the con fusion distress and poverty left as its aftermath the purposes tor which presumably the war was waged have been pushed aside by more immediate problems of national interests caused by the war there anve been riddles of econom acs politics and national and pes oual ambitions to add to the confusion combined these clashing forces have rendered impossible the fulfillment of our war alms and much of the time hae so obscured them that we forget what they were or that we ever bad any desire to forget war americans have had another obstacle tc a clear understanding of the war the battlefields are in eu rope inaccessible to us except for tourists but a constant reminder on the european s doorstep save tor fam ules and friends directly interested we see little trace of the effect of the war upon our men we have been prosperous our skins were hardly scratched by the war and we recovered quickly so auckly that the war seems like a bad dream we wish to forget as soon as we may the shouting and tumult have died armistice day has become a time of personal remembrance dedicated to the individual we lay our offering of respect at the tomb of soldier in an effort to demonstrate our for the endurance courage and determination of common men we do not send up paeans for our glorious victory for we arc sure neither of the glory nor the victory re at the end of a dreadful night mare was the general emotion at the cloe of hostilities and it has remained the common sentiment low the world Is recovering slowly from its shell shock and we begin to eee the war ID perspective as the thing of horror it was after the arms uce it was safe to assume that those soldiers who had had most active service talked least of their elpe there was nothing they could say except to tell the things they were trying to forget memory of war to them was mental anguish demoi les of horror the serg earit of infantry who remarked 1 I never thought back in boston that I 1 could ever bayonet a man but then I 1 had never led a platoon against a machine gun nest and had halt of them knocked off does not like to recall the face of the german machine gunner as the bay olat pasesa through his throat all soldiers who had any considerable amount of combatant service have similar memories they might be the scream of a mule on a shell cracked wracked road the ludicrous tumbling of a man blown in the air by a high explosive shell the face of a stricken comrade gradually turning black from a hemorrhage the feeble struggles of a mortally wounded soldier trying in vain to get on his feet or the hammering of the barrage in his head or aching fatigue whatever the memories they were of incidents the soldier would like to forget multitudes of them were in the minds of soldiers when the armistice was called that was why when they climbed out of the slimy mud of shell holes and stood erect on no ember 11 1918 there was nothing in their hearts but a boundless gladness that at last the infernal thing was over perspective now possible with such thoughts fresh in his mind Is it surprising the veteran sol adler did not like to discuss the war with folk who spoke of going over the top as of a game but nine eara leave gone by and slowly tongues that were bound have loosened war la not all horror little by little the amusing incidents began to be told the man who went to sleep while putting up barbed wire in jo mang land and had to be hunted for the blithesome details of the first and second A W 0 L evenings in grandpere Grand mere kitchen the squad cent out to sup press a machine gun that found it self in a patch of aliw blackberries and staged there time blurs the sharp edges of horror and the mind recalls the lighter so with the war it Is only decently lecent ly it has been talked about again arst the amusing happen ings and lately the realities hac been told bisot merely the soldiers but all the peoples engaged in it never wanted to tear the word again when the war ended dut the parade of years has placed the great conflict far enough away from us to be seen stories of the war appear in magazines in books on the stage and in alie movies and everywhere the effort has been to achieve realism the literature of the war Is grisly literature there Is no place in it for the poisonous roman that seeks to glorify war us the natural est of national manhood boston globe |