The Commoner
AUGUST, 1916
21
passions, embittering hearts. It Is
sowing seeds of bitterness and hatred
which will grow through the coming
years. It Is taking the sunlight out
of the present, and filling all the
horizon with gloom. Has ever such
a crime been committed since Cain
Blow his brother?
It is a sin. It is an offense against
Almighty God. It is an insult to the
Father of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Look at, it in the pres
ence of the cross on which the Prince
of Glory died. If the Christian re
ligion is true, then this European
war is a crimson, awful, damning
Bin. The Man of Galilee has said:
"Love your brother as yourself,"
"Lovo one another as I have loved
you." And the nations of Europe
have said: "We will not have this
man to reign over 'us." The New
Testament says "Bo kind, bo tender
hearted, be forgiving, serve, sacrifice
yourself for others, following the ex
ample of Jesus of Nazareth." You
can not dip down anywhere into the
New Testament without finding a
sentence which breathes condemna
tion of war.
If then war is an atrocity, a blun
der, a crime, and a sin, wo ought to
hate it. Mankind has never hated
war. That is why war survives. Men
have admired war, and eulogized it,
and loved it, and millions do all this
even yet. Art has put a laurel wreath
upon his brow, and philosophy has
thrown round its shoulders a pur
ple robe, and militarism has blown
through silver trumpets Its glowing
gospel of preparedness, and the
hearts of men have been moved and
won.
Europe has never hated war, and
that is the chief reason why she is
now bleeding at every pore. To
scores of Europe's exalted thinkers
war has been-a necessity, a school of
virtue, a inWertfi fall" blessings.
The army and. hayy have marched at
the forefront of all her processions.
Array and naval officials In gold braid
and brass buttons, have held exalted
place at all her social and political
functions. War gamos have been the
most thrilling of all her pastimes.
What European uation'has ever de
spised war?" Whefc the" first Hague
conference assembled the representa
tives of the nations did not set them
selves to the task of abolishing war.
Their chief concern was to perfect
the rules under which the barbarous
gamo could be played. They dis
cussed the rights of neutrals and the
rights of non-combatants, and the
rights of non-fortified places, and
the rights of prisoners, and the rights
of the wounded, and the nature of
tho bullets, and the establishment of
prize courts; but they did not face
the only question of importance the
question of how to abolish war. A
second Hague Conference was held,
and once more, time was frittered
Dr. Charles E. Jefferson's trticle in this issue is reprinted
by permission frets the New Work
WHAT THE WAR IS
TEACHING
By
CIlAXlIiES E. JEFFERSON, D.D.
12mo, cloth, net $1.00
Dr. Jefferson gathers up somo
or tho lessons of the titanic
struggle which Is now shaking
the world. Until war Is bitterly
hated, It can never bo abolished.
Europe has never really hated
war. Dr. Jefferson contends; that
Is why she Is in tho trenches to
day. What she needs what tho
whole world needs Is to bo
made literally sick by its horri
rylng spectacle. This, among
other things, tho Great War is
surely doing.
, Dr. Jefferson's complete volume
should be read In full.
Fleming H. Revell Co., Publtakers
New York and ChlCHKe
away in discussions concerning dis
puted points in the methods of wag
ing war. There was no hatred of
war in Europe to compel theso rep
resentatives of tho nations to grapple
with tho cardinal problem: How
shall wo put an end to war?
Do you think Americans hato war?
Millions do, and other millions do
not. There are multitudes of Amer
icans who are still blinded by art,
and hoodwinked by philosophy, and
beguiled by militarism, and while
they deprecate war, and occasionally
say a disparaging thing about war,
they do not hato it with a hatred
which affects their, character and
moulds their action.
Humanly speaking then, this war
was necessary in order that men
might learn wisdom. Millions of
men are in tho trenches. It is well
that they should bo there, for it is
only there that they can learn what
war is. It is well that tho war is
going to be a long one, because im
portant lessons are not easily
learned. Europe has for centuries
been worshipping Mars, and it is
time that she was learning that men
can not worship Mars and Christ. She
must be taught to abhor that which
is evil. She must cease to be con
formed to the ways of the re-Christian
world, and be transformed by
the renewing of her mind that she
may prove the good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. There is
nothing which Europe so needed to
know as what war is. And there is
nothing which our republio needs
more to know. Wo need to have
kindled in us a deeper and a hotter
hatred of this primeval abomination.
We need to read about its horrors.
We .need to look upon the appalling
panorama of purgatorial misery
which is unrolled daily before our
eyes., We ought in imagination to
walk through tho trenches and see
these chambers of horrors after the
la'sfc-charge. We ought in Imagina
tion to walk through the hospitals
where there are men with arms torn
off, and logs torn off, and jaws shat
tered to pulp, and abdomens ripped
open and the intestines protruding,
and eyes torn from their sockets
hanging down on tho cheeks, and
skulls cracked open and brains ooz
ing out. We ought to move among
the dying and the dead, and see men
in convulsions writhing in agony,
and listen to the piercing cries of
men pleading for someone to come
and end their torture. We ought to
gaze on these sights of hell, and
breathe in the odors of gangrened
flesh, and the stench of unburied
corpses. Do you say this makes you
sick? Do not turn away. You ought
to be made sick. The whole world
must bo made sick. Until it is nau
seated by the loathsome smells and
horrifying spe'ctacles of war, it will
never hate it. And until war is
hated it can not be abolished. What
we need is an ever deepening horror
of war. We shall end war when we
abhor it. We shall abhor it when we
once see it. We can see it if we
look steadfastly upon what is now
going on In Europe. War, for once,
has had all its gold braid, and pa
geantry stripped off of it; all of its
glitter and pomp have been burned
away. Look at Belgium! Look at
Poland! Look at the ghastly heaps
of the Armenian dead. There is no
longer any glamour of war except
in the Imagination of fools. Listen to
what a captain of tho Prussian
guard, Marshall von Biberstein,
wrote just before he died, to the
Fridenswarto from tho trenches:
"Mankind must learn to conquer
war. It is not true that peace is only
a dream, and not even a beautiful
dream. Man must conquer war.
Thero must, there will como a time
which will know war no more."
A poor man should be polished, for
he receives many liard rubs. Ex.
?F?fE
First Printing J Million--Just Published
By Harold Bell Wright
When
a Man's a Man
Illustrated by the Author Cloth 12mo $1.35
WHEN A MAN'S A MAN is a fine, hifc, -wholesome novel o simplt
sweetness and virile strength, "While tho pa&cs ore crowded with th
thrilling incidents that belong to the adventurous life of tho unfenced
land depicted, one feels, always, beneath tho surface of tho stirring
scenes the fcreat, primitive and enduring life forces that tho men and
women of this story portray. In the Dean, Philip Acton, Patches,
Little Billy, Curly Elson, Kitty Reid and Helen Manning the author
has created real living, breathing men and women, and wo aro made
to feel and understand that there come to everyone those times when
in spite of all, above all and at any cost, a man must be a man.
Popular Edition One Million Copies
The Eyes of the World Also Just Published
Uder leased rifchts by A. L. Bart Co., Nrw York
Illustrated Cloth 12rao 50 cents
Over 34 Million Copies Have Been Sold at $135
Clune Film Pr6ducin& Co. will have ready August 15th, Premier
Production of "The Eyes of the World," visualizing the story in a
Cinema-Theatrical Entertainment
Other Novels by the Sara Author
That Printer of UdellWThe Shepherd of the Hills The Calling of
Dan Matthews The Winning of Barbara "Worth Their Yesterdays
Nearly Seven Million Copies of Harold Bell Wright's books have been
sold The fcreat heart of the reading public is an unprejudiced critic
THR -RnCffT STTPPT.V rmffPANTV. PnMUWa
x? E. W. REYNOLDS, Prwtdeat 231-233 Wwt Moaroe Strwt, CHICAGO r
RILEY'S FIRST POEM APPEARED
IN 1870
James Whltcomb Riley's first
printed poem appeared September 7,
1870, the year lie was 17, in the
Poet's Corner of the Greenfield (Ind.)
Commercial.. It was entitled: "The
Same Old Story":
The same old story told again
The maiden drops her head,
The ripening glow of her crimson
cheek
Is answering in her stead.
The pleading tone of a trembling
voice
Is telling her the way
He loved her when his heart was
young
In Youth's sunshiny day;
The trembling tongue, the longing
tone,
Imploringly asks why
They can not bo as happy now
As in the days gone by.
And two more hearts tumultous
With overflowing joy
Are dancing to the music
Which that dear, provoking boy
Is twanging on his bow string,
As, fluttering his wings,
Ho sends his love-charged arrows
While merrily he sings:
"Ho! Ho! My dainty maiden,
It surely can not be f
You aro thinking you are master
Of your heart when it Is me."
And another gleaming arrow
Does the little god's behest,
And the dainty little maiden
Falls upon her lover's breast.
"The same old; story told again,"
And I listened o'er and o'er,
Will still be new, and pleasing, too,
Till "Time shall be no more."
Riley sent two or three of his first
productions to the Indianapolis Mir
ror, which were printed. The editor,
however, wrote to the enfyo bard
that ho had better devoto bis talents
to prose. Chicago Tribune.
IMPORTANT TESTIMONY
A lawyer was examining a Scottish
farmer.
"You affirm that when this hap
pened you were going homo to a
meal. Let us be quite certain on this
point, because it is a very important
one. Be good enough to tell me, sir,
with as little prevarication as pos
sible, what meal it was you were go
ing homo to."
"You would like to know what
meal it was?" said the Scotchman.
"Yes, sir, I should like to know,"
replied the counsel, sternly and im
pressively. "Be sure you tell tho
truth."
"Weel, then, it was just oatmeal!"
' Pittsburgh Chronicle.
Wt Mil late eeftt-rjittt let me rer
SUtynMlhi6AonHtotWfiS2oih.ortlnthel
x nontlic I claim to bare tho onlr euceeetfal
care for bunloaa ever made and I want you to Jet
m eena jroa treatment, mux, entirely at My
sir i
expena. X dos't eare Mow many so-cuioa caret,
or ehlold or pad to erer triod without uncceea
ldo&'tearaltowdlMCTUtAdyotifMl with them all
fou ham not tried urevre, and I hare each abeo
ate confidence la it that 1 aw ReJaa: t eead
yea a treataieat abaelHtalr MlEE. It to
woaderfal vet elnnla knra treatment which tiu
Here yos almost inataatly of ail rain; it reraora
the eaaee of the bualoa aad thna the sal r dhtarm.
ity. dleaipeara-all this while you are wearing
tighter ahoee than crer. X know 1 1 wl) I do 1 ! tkja !
ami L vast yoa to send for a. treatment, JFJUEl,
k mr azaanae. ueeaoee kaow
re will the tall all your
f rlande about It jut aa those
7.532 others are dolne bow.
Write bow, aa thte aanoaBc.
meat may not appear la thl i
saner aaaUL. Jmt. mt vosr
name and addreaa sod treat j
mentwm De ee&tyoa promptly
aa, bIaIa eealed. nrloM.
ft. T0T KEMEY . jJ
- 3521 .. MIU
v pi:
-S
