The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-26
AS to the Military enlistment.
From the Boston Transcript


The eagerness with which the schoolboys
gulp down all the war talk and the delight
with which they read the scare-heads in
the papers remind one of what Charles
Dudley Warner, in Being a Boy" has to
say on the subject of military instincts:
"The military instinct, which Is the ape-
cial mark of barbarism, is strong in him.
1t arises not alone from his love of fight
ing, for the boy is naturally as cowarlly
as the savage, but from his fondness for
dsplay-the same that corporal or
general feels in decking himself In tinsei
and tawdry colors and strutting about In
view of the female sex. Half the pleas
ure in going out to fuurdSs another man
with a gun would be wanting il one did
not wear feathers and gold lace and stripes
on his pantaloons. The law also takes
this view Of it, and will not permit men
to shoot each other In plain clothes. And
the world also makes some curious dis
tincttons In the art of killing. To kill poo
pie with arrows is barbarous; to kill them
with smooth-bore andi fiint-lock muskets
is semi-civilized. To kill them with breech
loading rifles is civilized. That nation is
the most civilized which has the appll-
ances TO kill the most of another nation
in the shortest time. This is the result
of 5000 years of constant civilization. BY
and by, when the nations cease to be
each other at ALL"
In his book. THE Coming People" Mr..
Dole has some passages that are a fitting
companion TO this:
We are the descendants of sea-rovers
and soldiers. We have been nurtured
through many generations on the songs
and stories of the heroes. There is no one
of US whose heart does not beat faster at
the sound of drum or at the sight Of
marching men. - The most familiar
type of the hero has come TO be the man
who can face death without wavering.
1t becomes. therefore, a perfectly
fair question what effect long-continued
civilization will have upon the manliness OF
the race. Disband the armies, let the
white squadron rust, settle all disputes
in great International court and how
will You be sure any longer to keep tie
tonic iron in the blood Of the youth of this
more peaceful world? What Is this
fine and beautiful thing, courage or virll-
ity, which we all agree that our coming
people must have as truly as our sea-rov-
ing forefathers possessed it? Is It mere
pugnacity, or the disposition to quarrel,
as some might hastily suppose? .
There is no greater mistake than to sup
pose that virility needs the exercise of
fighting, as If there were no other exhaust
i've occasion for its use. 1t Is true fight
ing has frequently furnished the occasion
for the display of courage and hardihood.
Quite brutal customs once held in every
school-yard, where boys were trained to
fisticuffs apd cruelty. But the genera tons
of boys who fought and bullied each other
did not necessarily make heroes; they new
er failed, also, TO produce
due proportion of towards and
sneaks We do better for our
American boys than TO urge them to fight
one anotherss 1t is no longer enough
for the modern state that its leaders shall
be men so brave as not to run away from
an enemy. 1t is not, enough for the cap
tain of industry TO be stronger than any
of the workmen. We want another and
more. costly quality. We have yet to re-
quire in our political leaders that they
shall be brave enough TO stand alone, and
to say the eternal NO TO the projects of
avarice or selfish ambition. We want cap
italsts of moral fiber to decry and veto
the use of bribery and corruption In leg
islation, and none the less firmly wneni
subtly debasing methods promise for the
moment 20 foster their own selfish inter-
ests.
''The truth is superb srnoral courage Is
the crying need of democracy. If man
kind had attained sufficient results in vi
rility In the days Of war. we might per-
haps tremble lest the new civilization .hav-
ing no further fields for Its conquest,
should decline 20 supIne ease. on the con-
trary, the grand attainments are yet be-
fore US. There was never so great a
pressure on the civilized peoples for the
product of courage. Such a demand Is
itself a prophecy that we are on the eve
OF a new and forward march,. IL need not
be marked BY bloody steps but II must
NEEDS be all the more strenuous and mas
terful II will call for brave heartsi who
know not the fear OF death. ora harder
test OF courage-the fear OF the face Of
man"
Mrs. Chaplin OF Tampa. Fla, practical