Show I 1 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON C Ts A observed with special r ceremonies in canny part H of the united states le H a double anniversary anil JH in both cases it has a sag mea u abier leans it Is the sary of the birthday of marquis de lafayette and it commemorates the first battle of the aarne during the world war just how important these coinciding annl versalles ver sarles are in our history was well expressed by 0 B assistant secretary of war whose speech was broadcast from washington on the occasion of the lafayette marne day celebration last year ills speech in part follows the marne la a well behaved river flowing peacefully through the picturesque countryside of france and past beautiful wooded hills yet this little river Is enshrined in the brave hearts of the french people as marking the line where many time the foreign invader has been repulsed and where twice during the world war the high tide of german advance wept back toward the frontier four teen years have passed since the first battle of the aarne to attempt to give a technical account of the mill tary operations by the french and on one side and the german on the other would be to merely repeat what has been the subject of 10 many learned books and treatises pub lashed since the war the battle of the marne hat rightly been classed as one of the decisive battles of history it was decisive of the early stages of the war the german losses were not overwhelming their armies were still in being and able to make a masterly retirement but it was decisive n another sense for it marked the defeat of the first german plan of campaign and it utterly transformed the situ atlon the avalanche designed to crush french resistance in a month had been fought and the morrow was rome thereafter germany was cam polled to accept a slow war of entrenchments trench ments which was repugnant to all her theories and every week brought her nearer to the position of a beleaguered ed city while for the allies it marked the definite turn of the tide of defeat the effect of the battle of the marne in america wa profound the tre success of the german armies during the first three weeks of the war their and the magnificent lighting qualities of their soldiers had deemed to render resistance futile america had waited wilh bated breath for the news of the capture of parl fand the overrunning of all france by the german army when the news of the marne was received and it became known that the hitherto invincible german army not only could he stopped but was actually in retreat the nation marveled of friendship with france our hearts toward the allied taue tau e ona unacquainted with history might well ask whence came this al most universal sympathy for france it Is bath traditional and historical that young frenchman whose birth we also this dav came to amer lea in its hour of need enthused by the ideals for which the colp tiles were fighting came Iata yette offering hl services cervices vices his fortune and his life in the cause of freedom and equal rights it was more than a magnificent ture if came from the people 0 france an expression of their ampa thetla understanding of the aspera lions of the colonies to found a arre nation based on the principle of the right of the people to rule how well he fulfilled alts mission Is history but the profound gratitude of that klang people has endured through the generations and with the establishment of the republic of prance through bloodshed and agony the friendship of the two great peoples has been ce dented until it ha become a tradition through the generations that have come and gone ilace lafayette served in the army of the revolution to most amerlis Amerl ns lafayette Is a familiar name their schoolbook school hook histories they enow that he was a gal lant young french soldier who burn ing with zeal in the cause of freedom came to this country a me of the darbest hours of the revolution aal offered his services to the patriots they know that he became a valued friend of washington and served with distinction through the remainder of the revolution they may even re member that later in his life he re turned to this country and that eer one president congress and people united to do t the man who had helped establish american inde and because the recent world war Is fresh in the memory of most of them they hae some sort ol 01 a hazy notion our participation in that conflict was to repay lie debt to lafavette which Is made all the more real to them because of hie fact that general pershing upon landing in france Is said to ime stood before the tomb of the great frenchman and I 1 said lafayette we anre here alven though the fact is hat eliat historic utterance was made by colonel sann ton a member of general start it symbolizes so well the historic friendship between the two nations tint we have it in the list of our favorite legends perhaps the affectionate regard of a whole nation for a ann who lus been thee hundred years should be enough of aime for him but lie greatness of lafayette Is more than that suggested by the avenge amerl cans idea of him it Is repealed in the work of a well known historian whose biography of appeared within recent months that Is the hook lafayette by henry published by ahe bobbs mer rill company from it we see that 1 though contrary to the idan of his revolutionary war career I 1 abay ette was never a greit general be was always a greit gentleman nature hid bestowed upon him zeal courage energy honesty frank ness simplicity perseverance a flam ing enthus tam tor what he deemed high causes a disposition so graced with charm tint his wife his family his friend adored him and a rare quality in ambitious men a power of admiration and arat 1 perhaps rarer still a hero to admire worothy of that admiration tant Is the tribute which his biographer pays to him after studying the facts of his life and he continues lafayette ran a career that Is without parallel tn the history of our western world ills life divides itself into episodes first that of bis adventurous youth in america bec eec ond during the french revolution when for a time I 1 am but quoting what others have said he was mas ter of the fate of france and third when in the revolution of liau after a long eclipse a second time he held that fate in his hands and besides this four score beirs later his spirit rose from the grave and more than any other frenchman French min living or dead to bring america into the struggle that determined his count rys fate lafayette was bom in auvergne n son of the rural nobility in a region where the natives have been noted time out of mind for their stubborn ness their thrift and their readiness 0 assume unthankful tasks ie grew up as a country hoy he lacked social graces ans gawky red haired and a clumsy horseman hut the d elre for glory alwaes possessed him jut how much tills desire of ills in love of liberty influenced him to offer services to the amar icon colonists cannot be determine tut the important thing Is lint ahlf young noblemen nob lemin was willing to alva up his assured position in a country where nobility counted for everything to go into a strange land and take part in a revolt against the very socail order to which he himself belonged the story of his association with washington Is a particularly appealing one there are a number of celebrated friendships in history in which both friends have mutually shown both constancy tenderness and loyalty and sympathetic appreciation but there Is none which I 1 have read of which sets off the character ot both friends in go vald and high colored a manner when lafayette was wounded washington whose quarters were eight miles away came every day to ask after him with tears in als eyes awl bade the doctor care for him as if be were his own son while Lafay ettes career as a mill tary leader in this country was not especially noteworthy he was the colonial ardys masac his forte vi as an enterprise which a wiser head directed hla career upon his return to france was more distinguished lie was first a member of alie assembly of notables then of the states general after the attack on the basille he was appointed commander in chief of the national guard of paris han the angry worn eu of carls marched to versailles and threatened the alvea of the royal family lafayette with ty and courage led olarle antoinette toa balcony of the full view of the mob and he saved her life for a day at least and this in spite of the fact that the queen hated him and declared once it la better to perish than to be by lafayette and the but this was lafayette defender of the weak and the oppressed the same lafayette who renounced his titles who tried to steer a middle course during the french revolution between the cruelties cruel ties t the royalty which had brought on the revolution and the cruelties cruel ties of alie mob and he succeeded only in brans ing down upon himself the uon of the aristocracy and the rabble so although lafayette failed to rise to the heights of greatness and save his country from the horrors of the helen of terror tills new biography reveals him as the great gentleman he was a splendid idealist and a rue hero a man worthy of all the holois thai were heaped upon him when he came back to this country for his famous visit and as americans cele brale therone hundred and seventy second anniversary 0 hie birth this year they can do so with the alou that after 11 that time ils fair fume burns as brightly as ever before |