to go over the top and set foot on German soil after more than four years' courageous fighting. Here are some of the expressions with which colored privates gave vent to their happiness at the war being over, in this sector last night:

"We done signed another Emancipation Proclamation!'
"That "New Freedom" must come we have won it.'
"We came to France and won a man's chance!"""

How France Received the Negro Soldiers

Let Mr. Tyler's fascinating and gossipy narrative of the life of the American Negro troops in France close with a reproduction of the tribute paid them by the French people themselves. The following is a translation of an article written by a talented French woman and published in the leading newspaper of one of the large French cities:

"A peaceful town, far from the front. A beautiful June day full of perfume of roses; resplendent summer freely bursting into bloom, indifferent to human plaints, frets, and agitations. A boy of ten years, head like the urchin of the year one, runs through the streets crying: "The Americans are coming to B-; the inhabitants are invited to greet them.'

"The Americans! For months they had been discussed; they had been expected, and there was great curiosity; groups of people go down to the public square of the town, where they see upon our white streets the first ranks of the Allied troops. But what a surprise! They are black soldiers! Black soldiers? There is great astonishment, a little fear. The rural population, not well informed, knows well the Negro of Africa, but those from America's soil, the country of the classical type, characterized by the cold, smooth white face; that from America could come this dark troupe -none could believe his own eyes.

"They dispute among themselves; they are a little irritated; some of the women become afraid; one of them confides to me that she feels the symptoms of an attack of indigestion. Smiling, reassurably, 'lady with all too emotional stomach, quiet yourself! They do not eat human flesh; two or three days from now you will be perfectly used to them.' I said two or three days, but from

that very evening the ice is broken. Natives and foreigners smile at each other, and try to understand each other. The next day we see the little children in the arms of the huge Negroes, confidently pressing their rosy cheeks to the cheeks of ebony, while their mothers look on with approbation.

"A deep sympathy is in store for these men, which, yesterday, was not surmised. Very quickly it is seen they have nothing of the savage in them, but, on the other hand, one could not find a soldier more faultless in his bearing, and in his manners more affable, or more delicate than these children of the sun, whose ancestors dreamed under the wonderful nights along murmuring streams. We admire their forms-handsome, vigorous and athletic; their intelligent and loyal faces with their large gleaming eyes, at times dreamy, and with a bit of sadness in them.

"Far removed is the time when their inauspicious influence was felt upon the digestive organs of the affrighted lady. Now one honors himself to have them at his table. He spends hours in long talks with them; with a great supply of dictionaries and manuals of conversation. The white mothers of France weep to see the photographs of the colored mothers, and display the portraits of their soldier sons. The fiancées of our own 'Poilus' become interested in the fiancées across the sea, in their dress, in their head dress, and in everything which makes woman resemble woman in every clime. Late at night the workers of the field forget their fatigue as they hear arise, in the peaceful night, the melancholy voices which call up to the memory of the exile his distant country, America. In the lanes along the flowery hedges, more than one group of colored American soldiers fraternize with our people, while the setting sun makes blue the neighboring hills, and gently the song of night is awakened.

"And then these soldiers who had become our friends depart. One evening sad adieus are exchanged. Adieu? How we wish they may be only 'Au revoirs.' Promises to correspond, to return when furloughs are granted. Here and there tears fall, and when, the next day, the heavy trucks roll off in the chilly morning, carrying away to the front our exotic guests, a veritable sadness seizes us.

"Soldier friends, our hearts, our wishes, go with you. That destiny may be merciful to you; that the bullets of the enemy may spare you. And if any of you should never see your native home again, may the soil of France give you sweet repose.

"Soldiers, who arrived among us one clear June day, redolent with the scent of roses, you will always live in our hearts."

CHAPTER XXI

NEGRO MUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE

Recognition of the Value of Music by the U. S. War Department— The Patriotic Music of Colored Americans-Lieutenant James Europe and His Famous "Jazz" Band-Other Leaders and Aggregations of Musicians-Enthusiasm of the French People and Officials for American Music as Interpreted by These Colored Artists and Their Bandsmen.

"You cannot defeat a singing nation," a keen-witted observer has said, in noting the victory spirit engendered by the martial music, the patriotic songs and the stirring melodies of hearth and home that have moved the souls of men to action on all the battlefields of history.

"Send me more singing regiments," cabled General Pershing, and Admiral Mayo sent frequent requests that a song leader organize singing on every battleship of the Atlantic Fleet.

Since "the morning stars sang together" in Scriptural narrative, music has exerted a profound influence upon mankind, be it in peace or in war, in gladness or in sorrow, or in the tender sentiment that makes for love of country, affection for kindred or the divine passion for "ye ladye fair." Music knows no land or clime, no season or circumstance, and no race, creed or clan. It speaks the language universal, and appeals to all peoples with a force irresistible, and no training in ethics or science is necessary to reach the common ground that its philosophy instinctively creates in the human understanding.

The War Department was conscious of this and gave practical application to its theory that music makes a soldier "fit to fight" when it instituted, through the Commission on Training Camp Activities, a systematic program of musical instruction throughout the American Army at the home cantonments and followed up the work overseas. It was the belief that every man became a better

warrior for freedom when his mind could be diverted from the dull routine of camp life by arousing his higher nature by song, and that he fared forth to battle with a stouter heart when his steps were attuned to the march by bands that drove out all fear of bodily danger and robbed "grim-visaged war" of its terrors. Skilled song leaders were detailed to the various camps and cantonments here and abroad, and bands galore were brought into service for inspiration and cheer.

The emotional nature of the Negro fitted him for this musical program. The colored American was a "close up" in every picture from the start to the finish and was a conspicuous figure in every scenario, playing with credit and distinction alike in melody or with the musket.

No instrumentality was more potent than music in offsetting the propaganda of the wily German agents, who sought to break down the loyalty of the Negro. The music he knew was intensely American-in sentiment and rhythm. It saturated his being-and all the blandishments of the enemy were powerless to sway him from the flag he loved. His grievances were overshadowed by the realization that the welfare of the nation was menaced and that his help was needed. American music harmonized with the innate patriotism of the race, and the majestic sweep of "The StarSpangled Banner" or the sympathetic appeal of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee," were sufficient to counteract the sinister efforts of the missionaries of the Hohenzollerns to move him from his moorings.

No labor is ever so onerous that it can bar music from the soul of black folk. This race sings at work, at play and in every mood. Visitors to any army camp found the Negro doing musical "stunts" of some kind from reveillé to taps-every hour, every minute of the day. All the time the trumpeters were not blowing out actual routine bugle calls, they were somewhere practicing them. Mouthorgans were going, concertinas were being drawn back and forth, and guitars, banjos, mandolins and whatnot were in use-playing all varieties of music, from the classic, like "Lucia," "Poet and Peasant," and "Il Trovatore" to the folk-songs and the rollicking "jazz." Music is indeed the chiefest outlet of the Negro's emo