Image provided by: Library of Congress; Washington, DC
About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1919)
TH E CHEMAWA AMERICAN W H E N G EN ER A L P E R SH IN G W A S A BOY “ John made a business of getting his lessons. If he was a trifle short on brilliance, he was very long on backbone. Farther, he carried with him such an air of self-determination, self-propulsion, self-conviction as made him a leader at an early age. His teachers liked him because he was studious and contentions; his parents liked him because he was obedient and thoughtful; the boys liked him because he was fearless and independent, the girls liked him because he was courteous and gentle; everybody liked him because he was truthlul and clean. Do not conclude from this re cital that young John was a pale, precise, goody-goody boy of the sissy or mollycoddle type. Par from it. This description is of the boy John J. Pershing, gen eral and leader of the first American army in France. As told by Edward Earl Purinton in The Independent, his story is full of suggestion for the preparation for leadership that every boy ought to have. In the first place, backbone is better than brilliancy. The other day one of the experienced men in a state reform school for boys said to me, as the five hundred boys filed out, “ Notice the boys who stand straight. Their backs have straightened. That is when we be gin to io have hope of them, just as soon as they straighten up." John Pershing was studious and conscientious. The average American boy does not exalt these qualities in theory or in fact as in the marks of manhood. The average boy does not want to study much. He wants to get by. He wants to put something over on the teacher. John Pershing was obedient and thoughtful. Most boys, in America at least, are short on discipline and respect for authority. One of the big jobs of the American army is to “ lick the men into shape,’’ as they say, which means to bring them down to disci pline, so they act and fight together. While he was studious and obedient, he was fearless and independent. These things can go together and ought to. The well-disciplined mind and life is a pre paration for conviction and courage to stand up for conviction. A boy can be a good student and an obedi ent son and a fearless fighter at the same time. Once more, he was courteous and gentle; in the best sense of the word, he was a gentleman as a boy. Courtesy ought to go with courage. It is always the mark of a real officer. Courage that is brutal is not manly. Lastly, was truthful and clean. The first duty of a soldier, as taught at West Point, is to tell the truth at any price, not to lie at any cost. Further, if a man does not live straight, he cannot shoot straight,’’ said the young officer. If a boy is not clean, he cannot be fit and strong, All eyes are turned to General John J. Pershing, not only in America, but in Europe. Back of the general, back of the man is the boy John. His boy hood is speaking to you today.—Wellspring, GET B U S Y A mixture of optimism and common sense is a factor of first importance in everything pertaining to industry and progress. From an exchange we glean the following: Cheer up; you’ve been having a hard time of course, but things are now taking a new turn. Owing to the eccentricity of our system of time, the mornings don’t begin to grow longer till the middle of January, though the afternoons start lengthening about the middle of December. We have now reached the point in the year when the daylight is increasing at both ends. The seed advertisements have already put in an appear ance and the other harbingers of spring will soon be multiplying. We can now begin to look forward, in stead of being absorbed altogether by the present and the past. Let the dead bury their dead. There are more things now waiting to be done in the world than ever before and W’e must all spit on our hands—to use a poet ic expression—and get ready to do ourshare. Don’t use up your energy complaining; get busy and keep busy. M AY GET TH ER E The Aero Club of America has planned to send an expedition to the north polar regions to suivey the north pole by airplane. It is proposed to raise $250,- 000 to finance the undertaking and provide the most complete equipment ever sent out. The expedition which, according to the plans, is to be led by Capt. R. A. Bartlett, an experienced explorer, commander of one of the ships that went with Peary on his north polar expeditions, will “ explore, survey and photograph the unexplored parts of the arctic regions and establish the existence or non-existence of land or lands in that region’’ and also “ explore, the upper air and the bottom of the polar basin. It is hoped that much valuable work of a scientific nature will be accomplished, particularly in the polar basin. The plans call for a ship to go to Etah, about 600 miles from the pole, next June when the ice will be broken up enough for the ship to cross Melville bay. A large seaplane or land airplane is to be carried by the ship for the flight over the pole and for exploration over long distances. After establishing a base at Etah seaplanes are to fly on northward to Cape Columbia and there establish a base for the large plane. Both large and small flying machines will be put into service in earnest during the six weeks after the middle of July when weather conditions normally are best and it is expected that during this period the most important work of the ex pedition will be done.
