Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-06-06

HAITI all nations hating. At the same
command of Ground arms! all mnskets
thinning. AT the samec command OF Break
ranks" all armies d~isbanding. mat may
be nearer than you think. The standing
army is the nightmare of nations, Englalu
wants to git rid of it. Germany Is beng
eaten no by it, Russia is almost taxed 10
death with it. Suppose that the millions OF
men belonging TO the standing armies OF
the world and in absolute idleness, Tor INC
most part of their lives. shoald pTcoma
producers, instead of consumers. Would
not the worlds properties improve ana
the worlds morals be better? Or have you
the heathenish idea that war is necessary
to kill off the surplus populations OF tne
earth, and that without it the world would
be so crowed there would soon be no re-
served seats and even the standing room
would be exhausted? All! | think we can
trust to the pneumonias. and the consump-
tons. and the %fevers, and the Russian
grippes to kill the people fast enough.
Besides that, when the world gets too full
God will blow up the whole concern and
start another world and a better one. Be
sides that. war kills the people who can
least be spared. 1t takes the pick OF the
nations. Those whom We could easily spare
to 90 to the front. are in the p~enitcntiary.
and their duties detain them in that limited
sphere. No; it is the public spirited and
the v~alorous who go out TO die. Mostly are
they young men. If they were aged, and
ulu Only live OF tcu NtiiS ut II ioSN I
live. the sacrifice would not be so great.
But it is those who have forty or fifty years
to live who step into the jaws of battle. In
our war Col. Ellsworth fell while yet Il mere
lad. Renowned Mcpherson was only 80.
Magnificent Reynolds was only43. Hundreds
years of age. l looked into the faces of the
! French and German troop 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 sacrifice the
young. Alexander the Great died at 81.
When war Stays the young ii not only takes
down that which they are, but that which
:ley might have been.
SO we arc glad at the 1saiahic prophecy,
that the time is coming when nation shall
not lift up sword against nation. Indeed.
both swords shall go back into the scab-
bard-the sword bathed in Heaven and the
sword bathed in hell, In IL war in Spain Il
soldier went on a diminishing expedition.
tunity of shooting a soldier of the other
army who had strolled away from his tent.
He took aim and dropped him. Running
up to the fallen man he o his knapsack
for spoil. and Il letter dropped out of it, and
1t turned out TO be IL letter signed by his
own father: in other words, he had shot his
brother. If the brotherhood Of MAJ be a
true doctrine, then he who shoots another
man always shoots his own brother. What
a horror is war and its crueltics We're well
LUIS NuNlI Aii' y SM'NPT
ing through Russia and Poland. displayed
with pride nine great sacks filed with the
right ears of the fallen, and when Il cores
pendent of the London Times, writing of
the wounded after the battle OF Sedan, said:
Every moan thatthe human voice can utter
rose from that heap OF agony. and the cries
of Water! For the love Of God, water! A
doctor! A doctor. never ceased"
After war has wrought such cruelties,
how glad we will be to have the Old Mon
1 Sfpts hjmCnIf Ijn Int hiC divine or1.h hn
spread in some dismantled fortress through
which the stormy winds howl. Give him
for a pillow a battered shield. and let his
bed be hard with the rusted b%ayonets of
blanket that picket ever Wore, and let his
only cup be the bleached bone of one ofhis
war chargers, and the last taper by his
bedside expire as the midnight blast signs
into his ear: The candle of the wicked
shall be nut out"
future | see Il great blaze. 1t is a foundry
in full blast. The workmcn have stirred the
fires until the furnaces are seven times
heated. The last wagon load of the worlds
swords has been hauled into the foundry.
and they are tumbled into the furnace. and
they begin to glow and redden and melt,
and in Kissing and sparkling liquid they
roll on down through the crevice of rocks
until they fall liz Il mold shaped like the
iron foot of a pillow. Then the liquid cools
VII iiiso 4" iihiN i'AaiI atll' VI III olI ol III
anvil, it is beaten and pounded and fash
Toned, stroke after stroke, until that which
was a weapon to reap harvests Of men be-
comes an implement turning the soil for
h%arvests of corn, the sword having become
the plowshare.
Officers and comrades of the Thirteenth
regiment of State militia: After another
year OF pleasant acquaintance | hail YOU
with a salutation all made up Of good wishes
and prayers. Honorcd With residence in
the best city of the best land under the sun,
let us dedicate ourselves anew TO God and
country and home! In the English conflict
called The War of the Roses" IL white rose
was the badge of the house of York, and
the red rose the badge of the house Of Lam
caster, and with these two colors they op-
posed each otherin battle. To enlist YOU
in the Holy War for all that is good against
all that is wrong, | pin over your hearts two
badges, the one suggestive of the blood
shed for our redemption, and the other
symbolic of a soul made white and clean
the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the
l lI1ny Ra na ~. af,, -,-