e colored folks left behind when it went away to
glory.

"Later it was feasted and entertained, and this time very nearly
smothered with hugs and kisses by kin and friends, at the 71st
Regiment Armory. Still later, perfectly behaved and perfectly
ecstatic over its reception, the regiment returned to Camp Upton to
await its mustering out.

"You knew these dark lads a year and a half ago, maybe, as persons
to be slipped a dime as a tip and scarcely glanced it. They were
your elevator boys, your waiters, the Pullman porters who made up
your berths (though of course you'd never dare to slip a Pullman
porter a dime). But, if you were like many a prosperous white
citizen yesterday you were mighty proud to grasp Jim or Henry or
Sam by the hand and then boast among your friends that you
possessed his acquaintance.

"When a regiment has the medal honors of France upon its flags and
it has put the fear of God into Germany time after time, and its
members wear two gold stripes, signifying a year's fighting
service, on one arm, and other stripes, signifying wounds, on the
other, it's a whole lot different outfit from what it was when it
went away. And that's the old 15th N.Y. And the men are
different--and that's Jim and Henry and Sam.

"Col. William Hayward, the distinguished white lawyer and one time
Public Service Commissioner, who is proud to head these fighters,
was watching them line up for their departure shortly after 6
o'clock last evening, when someone asked him what he thought of the
day.

"'It has been wonderful!' he said, and he gazed with unconcealed
tenderness at his men. 'It's been far beyond my expectations. But
these boys deserve it. There's only one thing missing. I wish some
of Gen. Gouraud's French boys, whom we fought beside, could be here
to see it.'

"The Colonel slapped his hand affectionately upon the shoulder of
his dark-skinned orderly.

"'How about that, Hamilton, old boy?' he inquired.

"'That's right, Colonel, sir; Gen. Gonraud's boys sure would have
enjoyed this day!' the orderly responded as he looked proudly at
the Colonel.

"There's that sort of paternal feeling of the white officers toward
their men, and that filial devotion of the men to their officers,
such as exists in the French Army.