Show pop 0 A t by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 6 which to 1 j observed obvert ed with 1 ceremonies in many parts part D of the united states stares is afi a double anniversary anil ant in both cases it has baa a pig ig 9 at meaning tu top amer i cans it Is the an hanniver nIver i sary of the bIr barthony thony ot of marquis de lafayette Lafay etie and it commemorates the first bottle battle of the marae during the alie world war just how bow important these coinciding annl anni vcr Ter sarles earles are in our history was well expressed by C B assistant secretary of war whose speech was wag broadcast from roin washington on the occasion ca sion of the lafayette marne day celebration last year ills ul speech in part follows the marne 19 I 1 a quiet well behaved little river flowing peacefully through t the be picturesque countryside of 0 france and past beautiful wooded hills yet this thil little river Is I 1 enshrined to lo the bravo brave henra hearts of 0 the french p people ople as marking the th line where many times time the foreign invader has ban been repulsed end and where W here twice during the world war the b high agh tide of german advance was wept swept back toward the frontier fourteen years tears have passed since the first baittle of the marne to attempt to 10 rive a technical accod account nt or of the military operations by the french and british on one side and the germans german on the other w would out of be t to 0 m merely repeat what be has been the subject of us 0 o many learned books and treatises published since the war the battle of the marne has rightly been classed as one of the decisive b battles attles of history it was decisive ot t the be early stages of the war the german m a n harmles losses ases were not overwhelming their T h e ir armies were still etall in being and able to make a mit masterly sterly retirement but lt it was deci decisive alve in another sen tense ia f tor or it marked the d defeat efe a t of the flirt fl re t german plan of campaign and it utterly transformed the situation the avalanche designed to crush french resistance in a month bad been fought and the morrow was come ca m 6 thereafter germany was corn com pel belled led to accept a slow war of entrenchments trench ments which was wag repugnant to a all 11 her theories and every week brought her nearer to the position of a beleaguered beleaguer 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 A n tries was profound the tremendous ened ous success of the german armlet during tb the first three bree w weeks e eks of the war their bogani organization tation and the magnificent qualities of their soldiers h had n d seemed deemed to render resistance futile e america had waited with bated breath tor for the news of the capture of paris and the overrunning of all france by the he german army when the news of the t marne was received and it ft became known that the hitherto invincible ge german aro n army not only could he stopped topp but was actu actually aliv in retreat the nation marvellia marv elrd ellid the ties of friendship with france turned our hearts toward the allied cause one unacquainted with history might well ask whence came this almost universal sympathy for broo prance nee it to Is both traditional and historical that young frenchman whose birth we also honor this day came to america in its hour of need enthused by the meals ideals for which the colonies were fighting came lafayette offering hr him services his fortune and his life in the cause of freedom freed and eidal qua rights it was more than a magnificent gesture it crime came from the people of france an expression of their sympathetic understanding of the aspirations of the colonies to lound found a free nation basted based on the principle of the right of the people to rule how well be fulfilled his mission Is history but the profound gratitude of that struggling people has endured through the generations and with the establish man ment t of the republic of france through bloodshed and agony the friendship of the two great peoples has been cemented until it ha become a tradition through the generations that he have come and gone tince lafayette served in th the n army of the revolution to most americans IR lafayette fayette Is a familiar name their schoolbook school hook histories they know that ile he was a gal lant young french soldier who burn ing with zeal in the lie cause of free freedom freedona donk came to this country a one of the darkest hours of the revolution sun ani offered his bis Eer services vices to the patriots they know that he became a valued d friend of washington and served with distinction through the remainder 0 of the revolution they may even remember that later in his life lie he rp ire turned to this country and tant everl ever olie ie president co congress agress and people quilted to do t the hie 1 man 81 whit had helped establish amerl nn inde pen dence and because file lie recent rec ani world war to Is fresh in the ol of most of theta them they have sonie some sort son ol of a hazy notion that out our in that conflict was to repay the ahi to lafayette which Is made all the th more real to them beci tuse of tile the fact that general pershing upon landing in ic france Is 15 said to have stood before 4 ra aw I 1 wo 1 I 1 A I 1 A j gl r t 6 cil v J rw r 4 N A t OY I 1 it kl N 11 11 g N 1 si I 1 lp 1 I Z pit the tomb of the great frenchman and said lafayette we are herel here I 1 even though the fact Is that that historic utterance was made by colonel stan st niton a member of general Os staff it symbolizes so well ell the alsto historic alc friendship between the two nations that we have incorporated it in the list of our favorite legends perhaps the affectionate regard of a whole hole nation for a man who has been dead these hundred years should be elou enough b of farni fame for him alna but file greatness grent iness of lafayette Is more than that suggested by the average amerl cans idea of him it Is ree revealed aled in the work of a well known historian whose bin biography graphy of lafayette appeared within recent months that Is the book Lit lafayette fayette by henry awl bt sedgwick published by the be bobbs mer ller rill company from it we see that although contrary to the popular idea of his big Revolution revolutionary ar y war career lafay ette was never a great general gene ralf he wits was always a great gentleman nature had bestowed upon hina him zeal courage energy honesty frankness simplicity perseverance a flam ing enthusiasm for what b he deemed high causes a disposition so graced with charm that his wife his family life fits friend adored him and a rare quality in ambitious men a power of admiration and what Is perhaps rarer still a hero to admire worthy of that admiration that Is the tribute which ills his biographer pays to him after studying the facts aarts of his life and he continues lafayette ran a career that Is without parallel in the history of our western world Us ills life divides itself into episodes first that of his adventurous youth in america see sec ond during the french franch 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 akio aate a long eclipse a second time he held that fate in his hands and besides beside this four score years later late his spirit rose from the grave sad did more than any other Fren frenchman chimin living or dead to bring america into the struggle that determined his big count rys fate lafayette lafaette BBS as born in auvergne a son of the rural nobility in a if region where the natives have been noten time out of mind for their stubborn ness their thrift arid and their theft readiness of of assume unthankful tasks lie he grew up as a simple country buy boy lie he im ked social graces was gawky red linfred and a clumsy horseman but the de sire dire tor for glory always possessed him last just how much this desire or hla his lit in exo rahle love of liberty Influence il a him to offer blit hl services to the amer airier lean colonists cannot be determined but the important thing Is that tills this young nobleman was willing to give up his assured position in a country where nobility counted for everything to go eo into a strange land and take part pan in a revolt against the very soda social order to which he himself belonged the story of ills his association with washington Is a particularly appeal ing one there are a number of celebrated friendships in history in which both friends have mutually shown both constancy tenderness and loyalty anil sympathetic appi appreciation L lut ill there e r P Is none which I 1 baoe bae read of which sets off the character of hot both friends in so vivid and high colored a man ner when lafayette was wounded washington whose quarters were eight miles away came every day to ask after him film with tears in his eyes and bade the doctor care tor for him as if he were his own son while Lafay ettes career as a mill tary lary lender leader in this country was as not especially noteworthy he be was the colonial ardys maser his forte was popularizing an enterprise which a wiser lend head directed his career upon his return to france was wag more distinguished lie he anns as first a member of tile the assembly of notables then of the lie states general after the attack attach on the bastile he was appoint ed in chief of the national guard of paris carls when the angry worn want en of paris mar marched clied to versailles an ani and I ahr threatened the lives of the rhe royal turn film lly La lafayette huyette with remarkable fagael ty ly and courage led marle antoinette to a bale balcony oily of the palace in full view of nf the moh arid and he saved her life fire tor for a day at least and tills in spite spile of lie furl fact that the queen guern hated him and declared once it Is better to perish than to he be saved by lafaiette and the 11 but this was lafayette defender of the neak aenk ond and tile the oppressed the elie same lafayette 10 fayette nh i ho renowned renounced ned his titles atle who tried to steer a middle course luring during the french revolution between the cruelties cruel ties or of the royalty alch which had brought in n the revolution and the cru ellies elfes of if the rrb and he succeeded only in bring ing flown down upon himself the condemns cond emna Linna ulm of tile the aristocracy ond and ohp the rabble so although lafayette failed to ris rise to tn the heights of greatness gie atness end and save his country train from the horrors of the file reign of terror tills this new biography reveals him blin as the great gentleman tie he was a splendid Id idealist enlist and a true hero a man worthy northy of till nil tile the henris bilonos that ere beaded upon him when hen he came hack back to tills this ca country latrY for his rail ramous lous visit and us as americans celebrate the one adred und and seventy second anniversary of if ills bilili fill jear they can do so with ohp linn ilori that afler 1 ill 11 that thai time his fair fume fame burns as brightly us as eter eer before |