The Last Million: How They Invaded France—and EnglandHay, Ian
Philosophy
The Last Million: How They Invaded France—and England
Hay, Ian
World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
At the other corner of the deck stands Antonio. That is not his real
name, but no matter. He will inform you that he has already crossed
the ocean—once. A brief exercise in mental arithmetic will presently
cause you to realize that Antonio cannot have been born in America. This
is so. He crossed over ten years ago, in the steerage of an Austrian
Lloyd liner, outward bound from Trieste, on his way from the sunny but
unremunerative plains of Lombardy, in search of a mysterious Eldorado
called Harlem, New York. And now here he is, aged twenty-six, picked out
by the groping hand of the Selective Draft, on his way back again, to
help rend those same plains (among others) from the Hun and restore them
to their rightful owners. He is quite cheerful at the prospect, though he
would sooner be with the Italian Army than with the American. Not that he
is lacking in patriotism towards the land of his adoption, but—
“I gotta two brother over there,” he explains. “Besides, here I gotta
talka da Ingleese. Alla same, I feela fine!”
Antonio is not the only man who is going back with a personal interest in
the European situation. On a coil of rope on the well-deck, broad-faced
and Turanian, sits another young man. If Antonio’s real name is difficult
to pronounce, this man’s is out of range altogether; for he is a Russian.
He is addressed indifferently as Clambakovitch or Roughneckski.
“I live fifty miles from German border,” he says. “I come over here seven
years ago: I go through Berlin and sail from Hamburg. Now the Germans
have my home. I do not hear from my people for three years. So now I go
home—through Berlin again!”
“And after that?”
After that, Clambakovitch Roughneckski’s plans are perfectly definite. He
is coming back to America—for good. Already he is wedded to the soil of
Pennsylvania. Antonio’s views are the same.
The affection of her children for America is a wonderful thing. Domestic
or imported, it makes no matter. To the native-born American, America is
still the little country—the little strip of coastline—which stood up
successfully to a dunder-headed monarch in days when men did not govern
themselves: to the naturalized American, America is the land which gave
him his first real taste of personal liberty. Each cherishes America
to-day—the one because he helped to make her free, the other because she
has made him free.
We are in the danger zone now. It is difficult to realize that thrilling
circumstance, because no one seems to worry at all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account