Their friendship had been
proved upon the fields of France. The wedding march was the wind among
the laurels and the pines.
The "Welcome Home" for him, at Nashville, by the people of Tennessee,
will long be remembered among the public demonstrations of the State.
Tennessee has always been proud of the fact that the conduct of her sons
in those times when the nation went to war had entitled her to the name
of "The Volunteer State." That one of her sons should come back from the
World War, having done, in the sum of its accomplishment, that which the
Commander of the Armies of the Allies called the greatest feat of valor,
while fighting solely on his own resources, of any soldier of all of the
armies of Europe, made the welcome one that sprang joyously from the
hearts of the people. And that this soldier, while poor and still facing
the possibility of a life filled with the deprivation of poverty, with
no assurance but the continued labor of his hands, should turn down the
offers of fortunes because, to him, they were prompted by a motive that
was unworthy--opened the very inner sanctuary of their hearts and the
people came with gifts, that he should sustain no loss of opportunity
and should never be in need. The offerings were not in money. They were
presents from the people. There were fertile acres that he could till,
as that was his selection of the life he wished to follow.
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