cities darken
the sun. Better than all, no life blood flows; the fighting men rest in
their lines, the bayonet is sheathed, the bullet sleeps harmless in its
clip.

This at last is peace. In the great cities, the towns and hamlets of
Europe and America, a vast wave of emotion inundates the hearts of men;
in the allied lands there is exultation; in Germany there is at least
relief, and perhaps the dawning of a new hope.

We have had our day of glorification. It is now time for our best
thought, and the first of this thought will be for the men who have
given their lives for our cause and for the men more fortunate, but not
less willing to give all, who in France and Flanders have covered
our flag once more with undying glory, the soldiers of the Marne, of
Cantigny, of the great German repulse east of Reims, of Chateau Thierry,
of St. Mihiel, the Argonne, and Sedan. The graves of our men have
consecrated these immortal battlefields and our sacred dead will live on
in the memory of the republic forever. As for those who return, crowned
with victory, they shall now be first and foremost under the roof tree
of the great motherland, who sent them forth with aching yet uplifted
heart, confident that they would honor her even as they have done.

In this hour we salute our army and our navy, which have not failed us
at any point, in any test, however arduous or fiery. Under commanders
devoted, efficient, indefatigable, our regiments have met the most
famous troops of the enemy and crushed their resistance, have set new
records of sanguinary valor under punishment, and driven always and
irresistibly on to victory. They have written a page in the annals of
the republic and in the history of war which will shine down the ages
with unsurpassed magnificence.

It has been terrible, yet glorious, to live through such a time, even
for us who have not passed through the great experience of battle, who
have not watched and taken part in the heroic charge of our infantry
across death-swept meadows, or heard with our ears the thunder of the
great guns or felt the earth shake under the tread of marching legions.
We at home have had our own experiences, our deep anxieties, our doubts,
our griefs, and always we have been conscious of the might of forces in
grapple and the high issues that hung upon the fate of the armies. In
the background of all our thoughts at all times has been the solemn
consciousness that the destiny of mankind was at