The Jasper news. [volume] (Jasper, Missouri) 1898-1924, 1908-12-17
CHAPTER ~.
The Harness Of War.

the land, giving promise Of wealth of
| bloom and prodigality of harvest; but
| the pillow stood idle and rusted in the
waiting fields, the meadows went un-
shorn, and the crops, in which lay the
riches of peace, implanted. Every.
| where was the growing din of an
archy and the stern clangor of war. A
people who had never tamely bowed
| head beneath a yoke, nor rebelled
| at just ruling, found themselves dis
| traught in the whirling current of un.
reasonable tides which carried them
| out to they knew not what.
A tame yielding of territory over
which their flag had once flown, an
| equally passive surrender of islands
which had come to them of their own
volition, seeking in the spread Of the
| eagles wings the shadows of security,
| and, last of all, as browning climax
of folly, the sending of warships to
neutral ports! From east to west, as
| the oceans run, from the border line
of the north to that of the south, there
swept over the great waiting nation
| call to arms. No dam built by mortal
man could have stemmed that rising
| tide of indignation save the one that
was erected by the administration In
| the hours of its stress. News of IL
came unheralded as had all the
| ominous stories preceding it.
Even at the moment when an over.
throw of the governing power at
Washington seemed imminent there
| flashed across the wires from GOV.
ernor to governor the quick and in
sistent demand for fighting men. In
| every armory was heard the resound-
| ing clash Of rifles. A hundred thou
sand men, drilled for the emergencies
] of country's need, sprang to their
weapons like tensely strung warriors
Of old awaiting the pretor's command
| to charge. A country, which through
| days of defeat had seemingly slept,
| sprang into the harness of strife, as If
electrified by the God of Battles. Sim.
ultaneously with the ordering out
of all National Guardsmen and a
further call for volunteers, which re-
| ceived instant response, every railway
traversing the country was reQuisi-
toned by the war department.
Yet, in all this turmoil the destina.
ton of this suddenly modified and
splendidly powerful army remained o
secret. In vain the press of the coun-
try and its most influential citizens de
manded knowledge; but not till the
day when from all directions swarms
Of armed men sailed forth, was this
information given. And as II black
ened by a scourge of locusts, the
Canadas awakened one morning to
find that along 5000 miles Of border
land were spread line of soldiers, the
most singular line of repulse ever
stretched between nations. 1t was one
CT accommodation.
Not even the commanding officers
as they took their stations knew the
why's or wherefores of this most re-
markable move, although their in
structions were Of the simplest, and
were that under no circumstances
were there to be acts of unfriendliness
nor, even under provocation, move
ments Of aggression. They were to
stand as an insurmountable barrier
between the United States and the
dominion, prohibiting traffic, passage,
and communication, and nothing more
No man might cross the border, and
wires, which in days Of peace carried
from one country to another the news
of the day, were cut and torn from
their poles as If no further word
might ever be transmitted through
them.
, Nor was this all. Wherever cable
! touched on all the outer edges of this
: great land might be found soldiers in
charge. Wireless telegraph stations
) were abruptly closed, prohibiting
} the use even of the air ITSELF Procla
: nations were issued that instructions
had been given for the perforation Of
any airships attempting outside com
munication, and the penalty of instant
I death was threatened any aeronau
: who disobeyed this command.
From every seaport vessels of al
Y nations, friendly or unfriendly, were
J., summarily excluded. Protests from
8 captains and from companies were
f ignored. The United States was sud
t denly blockading not only its OWL
4 means of communication, but sealing
: it's ports az well. No message nigh
I be carried in or out, and, as If fearing
y also for its southern border line, tho
soldiers Of the regular army were
1 placed there. The vessels of the nav
J. which were in the home waters OF tn,
t Atlantic were put on patrol duty
8 steaming up and down the eastern
4 | uytt no ot,l ay.tf u nf
8 men on their beats. To the world a