ht to be in the ranks of a foreign
army. Probably most of the pacifists would have returned the same
verdict regardless of Poe's love for the cause of the Allies. Yet among
the thousands of Americans in Europe in the month following Poe's death,
there was complete unity of opinion that the old Princeton football star
had done more for his country than all the pacifists put together.
"'A toast to the memory of Poe,' said one of the group of Americans in
the Savoy, that famous gathering place of Yankees in London. 'His death
has made living a lot easier for his countrymen who have to be in France
and England during the war.'"
"There is not an army on the continent in which Americans have not died,
but no death in action, not even that of Victor Chapman the famous
American aviator in France, gave such timely proof of American valor as
that of Poe. In London for a month after his death there was talk among
Americans and in the university clubs about raising funds for some
permanent memorial in London to Poe. There are many memorials to
Englishmen in America and it would seem that there is a place and a real
reason for erecting a memorial in London to a fighting American who gave
his life for a cause to England."
I have always treasured, in my football collection, some anecdotes
which Johnny Poe wrote several years ago while in Nevada. In fact, from
reading his stories, after his death, I got the inspiration that
prompted me to write this book.
"The following stories were picked up by me," says Johnny, "through the
course of college years, and after. Some of the incidents I have
actually witnessed, of others my brothers have told me, when we talked
over Princeton victories and defeats with the reasons for both, and
still others I have heard from the lips of Princeton men as they grew
reminiscent sitting around the cozy fireplace in the Trophy room at the
Varsity Club House, with the old footballs, the scores of many a hard
fought Princeton victory emblazoned upon them, and the banners with the
names of the members of the winning teams thereon inscribed looking down
from their places on the walls and ceilings."
How the undergraduates long to have their names enrolled on the
victorious banner, knowing that they will be looked up to by future
college generations of the sons of Old Nassau!
These old banners have much the same effect upon Princeton teams as did
the name of Horatius upon the young Romans'!
And s
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