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Show A Young Man to Honor El THE BOY WHO FOUND HIMSELF IN THE WAR I And Now Returned, Realizes the f Value of Home Life, Self-Reliance Self-Reliance and Kindness I By Dr. Wm. A. McKeever. Our t Nation BtM-Kaown So- cloloBionl Writer. CERTAIN" tail srventeen-year-A olrl youth left home at the i (imp of the break with Germany Ger-many and. without the consent of hi pnrrnts, Joined the army. He irent to France, fought through the terrible battle of the Argonne. wan I I twice wounded and has Just nov E feturned a top sergeant full- chested, rounded out. superb In health, strong as an ox, six feet one This youth left the h!g city a flabby. spindling boy, He came I back a sturdy, rugged man. He went away with the mind and behavior be-havior of a "high school Veld." He came back with the mental hack-ground hack-ground and the sober judgment of a seasoned man of affairys. From the da he slipped away to Join the army to the day of the , recent noisy reception of his re-. re-. ( lurning regiment In New York Har- I bor. young Sergeant It was a student In a lemarkable school of W transformation. It was all Hie wa o him a continuous stumblinc Into the unknown and running against the unexpected. While perhaps we have failed thus far to recognise It as such, 11 wo have in this case a charming illustration of the prodigal son of a 01W1 who was dissatisfied with jl home, who thirsted for adventure and broke away; who nte the dry husks of rough privation and fed tie hungry swine of soul-ronsum- j.. lug anguish, and who Anally came bark disillusioned. 1 have seen the fQ world I have had ervoueh. this &3 place is good enough for ine, I fett shall be happy in the homeland such Is the enriched judgment of this joung horo of the Argonne But the moat charming aspect of the enriched personality of our oun- warrior is yet to be de- ,, scribed. On this very day lie is I spending his time in the big city from which he enlisted, visiting the mothers of the dear boys who 7 ne'er came back. You can lmaglno hi the rest the last words of a dying - comrade, the token of love to be y arri.d back to the sorrowing ones. the description of that faraway burial place, the word picture of .. a ln joung hero laving down his ES life for humanity, the suppressed : tears and choking emotion of the T( f listening mother, and finally the ? visitor withdrawing. himself touched to the depths of his own hip heart in sympathy for the bc- rea ed. Now, here Js the verv essence of a splendid and promising manhood man-hood and citizenship I could sit at the feet of this returned prodigal prodi-gal for an hour and listen eagerly to his story. And while he related re-lated the stirring incidents of his outer world I should watch the course of the transformation of his Inner life as If It were all a Iv Id moving picture upon a screen. I wont to meet this boy some J day nd grasp his hand I want to claim him as my spiritual kin. j 1 want to remind him that he be-I be-I longs not only to his proud parents but to the commonwealth and to the nation. This sturdy youn knight-errant, who went away two years ago to find wild excitement and adventure I want to explain to him that the really Rreat thing which he found was himself, his own soul . And. to close the Interview, I want to remind the young hero of my confidence in his future- ThHi same self-reliance which led htm to risk himself as a volunteer and go Into the great struggle for world democracy; that same persistent per-sistent courage with which he Waded through the bloody trials of the war, thru same human kindness which led him to bring comfort to the household of his dead comrades all these. I say are the Indications of a personality w hich will force its way to the front in the world of ord'nary human affairs. |