THE LIBERTY COLUMNS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 309, 24 September 1918, Page 9

THE LIBERTY COLUMNS

AMOVING SCENE BEHIND THE

BATTLE FRONT

THE COMING OF AMERICA

(By Major C. J. C. Street, 8.. G.A., author of "With the Guns," otc.) The quay looked strangely familiar as the boat came silently-alongside t.with a marvellous ; accuracy bpm , ; of long practice.' There was'.the samo group to welcome her arrival; the' military and naval landing'officers, a sqUad of military policemon, -two gendarmes, wearing the graceful blue steel helmet that has become universal for French troops wherever they may be stationed. Further: along was. the wooden hut; sheltering the A'.'M;L.O;,\witli a queue of officers waiting their turn at' the pigeon-hole, and beyond this the usual motley crowd, soldiers, and civilians strangely mixed, stretching 'away - ; towards the town. ■' Strangely familiar,: yet. with 'an elu-. sivo note of unfamiliarity that puzzled the dye, which roved ; over a thousand, well-lsnown objectß to dwell• suddenly on ouo hero and there that Baffled memory to-recall.. Details they. were,. a hat that might have belonged to a.' soldier of- the Australian forces, but somehow did not: a packobviously-dif-. ferent to the British pattern; a badge that recalled the name of no Britishregiment.; lii'factjta ,sum,.of- dofail that' had.-\inipcrceptibly 'olianged'; i'tha aspe.at of :the.porfc during -tho last few nionths. , " \lt was not until.the car had threaded its way out of the town ;aiid. was'travelling along the dusty main road that led away from'the Base . towards-the training-areas, that the dotails began to. collect, and .'form a definite impression! The town was a purely British base, the. country beyond it bad been a British training area.. As' the car topped a rise in tho straight tree-bor-dered road, a long khaki column, moving in its own, cloud of dust, could be seen in the distance. , A British battalion route marqhing without a'doubt. But as the car slowed'down topass it, tho sudden realisation that tho.column was not British became apparent. There was something in the men's carriage, in the swing of their arms, their stride, that, was indefinably though obviously different. '• And then the truth burst upon us. It was American. -.. -The next' few miles contained a constant succession of surprises.' vWo hadheard of the American troops in France, had read,of their magnificent exploits in the line, know something of. the keenness "of their training. But that thejy existed in such/quantity as. tvq , saw /before, our, 1 ' eyes'' wo had neverrealised. Figures on paper are apt to bo meaningless, one reads them without forming an adequate idea of what they mean." But here, 'on the roads of France w© passed column after column of -Americans,, .sturdy,, well-sot-up, marching with' a swing' and a oarriage that told of perfect discipline and per-fect-moral; with- a .light in their eyes fliid a-song on-theirJip's that showed] .a.cheery eagerness, to..be.^througli'with, the drudgery of' training, -.that' they might be.lt for to thathasraised 3,5m,;a1l- over ..Erancc,: '• In severy'.'.village: ittio" StripEjs.liangß';iiVeii-.«yeiry.. cottage • windpw; : the ."."women ..-and,-' oldi meii working...inr.tlibf nold- ; ior-,by the. roadsido smile and ;sjppak a welcoming word as the marohing columns <pass them. On the walls are placards de-' blaring that July 4, the day-of American Independence'; should be observed as a day. of. natidhnl rejoicing,, similarly to that festival ten days later, when the Freuoh colebrato the laking.of tho Bastille, and the birth ; of their own freedom. Those two days/of July raise kindred thoughts in the hearts.of .the children of the two Republics, ~; And frornthe distance c'oines all £he while the' deer* note of the-guns, that sounds' like triumphal music. In spite of the enemy's 'niost-desperate efforts, in ' spite of the' nervous scorn . with which heirprpfessed-to regard the threat of American "intervention, this irresistible army grows and grows, sworn not to withhold'its; hand until Germany is utterly and finally-beaten. : This is the message th&t'these-, eager:columns■ convey to the, world, that the great BeV public ofililberty'will never rest till militarism's''crushed, and the rights, of the free people are ro-flstablished on earth.'"' 7'' ; : : !■ v,-„ . '