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Show SOLDIER BOY 10 mm LIFE "A soldier' of France lay on a hospital hos-pital bed. His shattered arm had Just been taken away. Tho doctor looked down with pity on the white young face. 'I'm sorry, my boy, you had to loso your arm,' he said. The eyes of tho lad flashed. No, no, doctor. I did not loso It,' he said, 'I gave it to France.' His head sank back on his pillow and he whispered, 'My France.' He was an American boy." Young Leland Brewer was hero and patriot of tho same splendid tVpo and mold. Like his American prototype on that bed of suffering over in France, ho too gavo all he had, his life, lo his country whose highest ideals are Liberty and Justice. No doubt he too thought of our debt to France who, In the hour of his country's coun-try's awful extremity, came to her assistance. as-sistance. His country asked that the debt to Franco be paid. Young Brewer Brew-er heard the summons and answered, "I am ready." All his maturer life he had been a dcyotcd student at the foot of his alma mater, the Webor Academy, and now! in the half delerlum of fever, no doubt sentlnent with historical fragments that still lingered in his mind, it had wandered back over a century of time. He remembered reading of the precious pre-cious blood of Lafayette as It oozed away among the withered leaves at Brandywine. and of the lrcrolc consecration conse-cration of Rochambeau at York Town, both the volunteer sons of France, and was comforted with tho thought that ho was doing what ho could to repay the debt. And, maybe, now and then his sen-sltivo sen-sltivo mind reverted to the devastated homes of the descondents of those patriots, pa-triots, now in ashes, and the rights and securities of their citizens that I have been wantonly outraged and i trampled under foot. That constant cry for help would not down, and ho heard tho answering slogan from his own country, "Wo will repay! We will repay!" He heard the call and It was enough. He hesitated not but with stern-set face he donned the patriotic garb of the American soldier, lingered a moment to receive the blessings of a devoted father, tho last embraces of a loving mother and, turning his face toward the fields of havoc and death, was gone and forever. Yes, silently the Grim, Mysterious Reaper lay In wait and to him ho yielded up his young llfo ere it had reached tho goal It sought, and whllo yet tho sun of his aspirations had not reached the zenith of Its ambition. Yesterday from tho sanctuary where he had always worshipped was borne his inanimate form by a solemn procession pro-cession with measured step and slow. Through a vast concourso of citizens that stood with bowed and uncovered heads the solemn cortege made its way, for they had known and loved him all his life. Impressively and tenderly his body was conveyed to Its last resting place among the hills familiar to his boyhood feet, and sentinelled sen-tinelled by the majestic mountains where the wild birds will sing his re-qulm re-qulm through the long pleasant days of summer and the white mantles of winter will bo a fitting shroud. O, what a beautiful life and death! The parents and brothers and sisters while choking back their grief should try to rejoice and be glad and proud of ' such a splendid son and brother that had mado himself a willing sacrifice ! on the alter of his country. Would to 1 God the years had permitted mo to go, or mat I nau a son wormy oi sucn a life and death. How duly Impressive and suitable was the occasion yesterday the testimony tes-timony of schoolmates and teachers, the voice of eloquence bespeaking the esteem In which Alexander Leland Brewer was held by the community whero all his life had been an open book, and the vast .concourse that filled tho sacred edifice to overflowing overflow-ing all this must have been a source of satisfaction as ho witnessed the scene from the Valhalla of God's patriots. pa-triots. These aro solmcn days 'for Ogden and Weber county, for the long lists! in the dally papers reciting the names of those who have crossed tho great divide tell pathetically of the darkened homes all over the land, but we must remember that the homes in western France and In Belgium are In ashes; that old men and little children are being wantonly murdered, their wives and mothers outraged and carried into a slavery that Is worse than death, and we should feel a relief that our lot Is not hard as theirs. We must not falter now, bad as our condition Is, till the final curtain is rung down on the most horrible carnival car-nival of crime since time began. Wo must seek to comfort the sorrowful, hold out a helping hand to the mourners mour-ners that aro fainting along the highways high-ways of life under grieveous burdens, and reconcile tho broken hearted. (Signed) A. S. CONDON. |