Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-02-21
Mis1e11ang.
A TALE OF THE WAR.
"4s thy day is, so shall tie strength be-"
BIT T. s. ARTHUR.

Warl The very word sent shudder
to the, heart of Mrs. Irwin, From a
child up, it had been associated in her
mind with all that was horrible and
wicked. To become soldier, seemed,
to her perception of the case, to involve
a cruel instinct, She saw no glory in
the profession of arms. Toy drums and
swords were never seen in the hands OF
her children, except through the unwel-
come agency of aunts, uncles or friends;
and they were in these cases. soon re-
moved, with sober homilies ON their bad
Significance,
81 will teach my children she
would say, "to love their enemies; not
to hate and destroy them. To ever be
on the side of peace and good will to
mankind; not on the side of hatred and
destruction"
Mrs. Irwin read tracts and books pub.
lished by peace societies, and in the ar
gument against war crowded her mind
with facts, statistics and reasons to de-
gree that made her formidable debator
on the non ncombative question, with al
most every one that happened to be
drawn into an argument. twas useless
to talk with her about the undying an
tagonism between good and evil, and the
necessity of external as we'll as internal
combats; of national regeneration
through the baptism of blood; of stable
peace only through the destruction of
enemies, she denied the positions. All
wars were wrong, she eontended, and
might be avoided.
Not in anything had Mrs. Irwin
swerved from her peace principles, up
to the period when Sumpter fell. But
that event was like throwing, suddenly,
into strong, smooth current, broad
obstruction. Her whole being was in a
tumult. She caught for breath like one
in danger of suffocation. She felt as
though the firm foundations on which
she had been standing for years, were
crumbling under her feet. Mrs. Irwin
loved her country and revered its flag;
and this assault upon the one, and des-
ecration of the other, fred her soul with
Indignation; and when her oldest boy,
not yet in his twenty first year, said to
her with clenched hands and flashing
eyes. 5''
"Mother, this must be avenged"
She did not answer, but sat, with
pale lips and face, looking at him in
such trouble and bewilderment of mind
that no thoughts became coherent
enough for words, until he added. as he
drew his slender form to his utmost
height 81. 75.ss
"And there is one ready .--
"John! Johnl" fell in weak remon.
strances from Mrs. Irwin. "Don't
speak SO! don't let murderous spirit
bear you away" - ~ 80
Don't say murderons," replied the
boy, with SO much of rebuke in his
tones that his mother answered
quickly ''
ga spirit of revenge, then, John
Vengeance is mine saith the Lord, and
will repay it,
''Mother! shall we tamely submit to
see this nation destroyed, and its flag,
which has been honored throughout the
world for eighty years, shot at, rent, and
trampled upon?' The boys eyes
cleaned fercely. "For one, l say no
And have mistaken my mothers heart
if it does not echo back the word. I do
not forget the lesson you taught me
years ago, that love of country is mex,
to love Of God. And if we love an OBJ
ject purely, we will not defend it when
assailed? Nay, even lay down our lives
in its protection?"
In spite of all her peace principles,
and horror of war, there flowed into the
mind of Mrs. Irwin such feeling of ad
miration for the outspokep patriotism of
her son, that even she read pride and
approval in her humid eyes. ..
"War is an awful thing, john" said
Mrs Irwin. $50
II know it is, mother. But, there
are worse things than war; and that
worse thing is at our door, You under
stand this as well as do. They have
thrown doya the guage of war, and there
is nothing left for us but to accept the
hard necessity" e-
r