Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-06-12

not bathed IN impetuUSity, or bathed in
cruelty, or bathed in oppression, or
bathed in outrage, but bathed in Heaven.
Before 1 speak of the doom of the
sword, let me also say that it has also
developed the grandest natures that the
world ever saw. 1t has developed cour-
age-that sublime energy of the soul
which defies the universe when it feels
itself to be in the right. 1t has devel-
oped a self-sacriice which repudiates
the idea that our life is worth more than
any thing else, when for principle it
throws that life away, as much as to say,
it is not necessary that l live, but it is
necessary that righteousness triumph.
There are tens of thousands among the
Northern and Southern veterans of our
civil war who are 95 per cent. larger and
mightier in soul than they would have
been had they not during the four years
of National agony turned their back on
home and fortune and at the front sacri-
flee all for a principle. 1t was the
sword which on the Northern side de-
veloped Grant, Mcclellan, Hooker,
a Hancock. a Sherman, Sheridan, and
Admirals Farragut and Porter, and on
the Southern side a Lee, a Jackson,
Hill, Gordon, and the JohnstOns, Al
bert Sydney and Joseph E., and Admiral
Semmes and many Federals and Confed-
crates whose graves in National ceme-
teries are marked Unknown" yet who
were just as self-sacrificing and brave as
any of their Major-Generals, and whose
resting places all up and down the An
droscoggin, the Hudson, the Potomac,
the Mississippi and the Alabama, have
recently been showed under with white
flowers, typical of resurrection, and
strewn with red flowers, commemorative
CT the carnage through which they
passed, and the blue flowers illustrative
of the skies through which they
assembled.
But the sword is doomed. There is
one word that needs to be written in
every throne room, in every war Office,
in every navy yard, in every National
council. That word is Disarmament
! But no Government can afford to throw
its sword away until all the great Gov
ernments have agreed to do the same.
Butuntil Disarmament and consequent
the great Governments, any single Gov
eminent that dismantles it's fortresses
and spikes it's guns and breaks it's
sword would simply invite its own
destruction. Suppose before such gen.
eral agreement England, should throw
away her sword; think you France
has forgotten Waterloo? Suppose be-
fore such general agreement Germany
should throw away her sword how long
would Alsace and Lorraine stay as they
are? Suppose the Gar of Russia before
any such general agreement should
throw away his sword all the eagles and
vulturcs and lions of European power
would gather for a piece of the Russian
bear. Suppose the United States with
out any general agreement of disarma-
ment should throw away her sword it
would not be long before the narrows Of
our harbor would be ablaze with the
bunting of foreign navies coming here
to show the folly of the Monroe Doc
trine."
Side by side the two movements must
60. Complete armament until all agree
to disarmament. At the same COM
mand of HALT" all nations haluing.
At the same command of Ground
armsr' all muskets humping. At the
same command of Break rankS!" all |
armies disbanding. That may be nearer |
than you think. The standing army is |
the nightmare of nations. England |
wants to get rid of it, Germany is being |
eaten up by it, Russia is almost taxed |
to death with it Suppose that the mill
lions of men belonging to the standing |
armies of the world and in absolute |
idleness, for the most part of their |
lives, should become producers instead |
of consumers. Would not the worlds /
properties improve, and the worlds
morals be better?
But it is those who have forty or fifty |
years to live who step into the jaws of |
battle. in our war Colonel Ellsworth
fell while yet mere lad. Renowned
Mcpherson was only 81. Magnificent
Reynolds was only IS. Hundreds of
thousands fell between 20 and 30 years
of age. | looked into the faces of the
French and German troops as they went
out to fight at Sedan and they were for
the most part armies of splendid boys.
So in all ages war has preferred to sacri-
flee the young. Alexander the Great
d ed at 50. When war Stays the young it
not only takes down that which they are,
but that which they might have been.
So we are glad at the Isaiahic prophe-
cy that the time is coming when nation
shall not lift up sword against nation,
Indeed, both swords shall go back into
the scabbard-the sword bathed in
Heaven and the sword bathed in hell.
In war in Spain soldier went on a
expedition and, secluded
in bush, he had the opportunity of
shooting a soldier of the other army,
who had strolled away from his tent
He took aim and dropped him. Run
ming up to the fallen man, he took his
knapsack for spoil and letter dropped
put of it, and it turned out to be let
ter signed by his own father; in other
words, he had shot his brother. If the
brotherhood of man be a true doctrine,
hen he who shoots another man always
shoots his own brother.
Tonight against the sky of the
glorious future | see a great blaze. 1t q,
S foundry in full blast. The work
men have stirred the fires until the fur
laces are seven times heated. The last :
wagon load of the worlds swords has
,een hauled into the foundry, and they
re tumbled into the furnace, and they
)egin- to glow and redden and melt, and
n Kissing and sparkling liquid they roll
n down through the crevice of rock I'M :
il they fall into mold shaped like the
ron foot of pillow. Then the liquid
ools off into hard metal, and, brought d