The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-04-09
THE MAN IN UNIFORM AND PLAIN
CIVILIAN CLOTHES

er been wounded nor disabled in bat
tie or may never have participated in
one.
He is not in his OLD age forced to
seek shelter at the poor farm or
else starve.
And this generous bounty of gov
eminent extends to the widow after
the old soldier folds his robes about
him and bivouacs on a more peaceful
shore.
This is the tribute the United States
supposedly a disciple of the Prince
Of Peace"-pays to the pageantry of.
war.
But if the life of the citizen is
spent along the paths and towards
the promotion of peace, and its corol-
lory- plenty-then there is no prOvis-
ion made for him by his government
when he becomes by the weight of
years and misfortune incapacitated
for labor.
He may have been an active, useful
citizen: he may have builded houses,
constructed railroads. felled the for
ests, made many blades of grass grow
where only one or none grew before;
he may have been an inventor, law
maker, scholar, painter, sculptor, po-
ct, author, editor, teacher. preacher,
or what not: he may have been a ben
efactor to his state in more than an
hundred different ways, yet if he new
er shouldered a Uusket, nor flashed
a saber. if he never entered the ranks
of those whose profession it is to kill,
MAIN and disfgure. when age creeps
upon him. there is no other escape for
him but the poor farm" or to become
a beggar on the streets.
And in many of the states there
is not so much as a poor farm" to
give shelter TO the aged and unfOTtu-
nate civilian.
This appears TO us as being all
wrong. The man who has toiled along
the paths Of peace should be as much
the soliciude of his government as
. the soldier who has jostled up against
the ''ruHied front of war"
/ How often have we heard il said
that the pen is mightier than the
sword?" But We say it deliberately
and emphasize it that this is all q
mistake. The sword is mghter than
the pen, press. pulpit, field, shop, fac
tory. and all the instrumentalities o.
peace combined.
Our legislators and people gener
ally bow down and worship before The
man in uniform and treat with care
less disregard and indifference the
man clothed in plain citizens attire
Why in a Christian land should thi!
distinction be made in favor of th'
man in uniform?
Why should not the ordinary citizel
who has reared a family and been ;
useful member of the community
have some provision against misfor
tune and old age?
What sadder picture can meet TIT
eye than that of an aged man, VIII
has set the example of sobriety, in
dustry. fTugality and the better lif
in every way, who has enjoyed tn
comforts earned by constant and wei
directed employments. through tn
visitation of some unforeseen calamity
is suddenly reduced from af1uence t
poverty, and now in his tottering ag
is forced to seek refuge from starv5
ton under the humiliating shelter c
the county poor FARM"
We have in our minds eye the sigh
of a man who is now laboring unde
the weight of more than four scOr
years: who has always led a life {
frugality and activity There ha
scarcely been a day i'm his long C;
Ireer that has not been usefully en-
g played-nOt day in which he ha
not been constantly busy. Like man
> others, he had a bearing orange grow
the returns from which were enoug
TO supply him bountifully with all tn
necessarieS and comforts of life. "
in night and by no fault of his owl
it was swept away from him, and
% the helplessness of his old age, gaul
4 poverty and all that it implies stare
/, him mercilessly in the face.
j, That man has done enough for h
, community not to be forced in his oil
. age TO beg. or Starve, or steal.
In these remarks We would not I
understood as at all opposing Ii
:. bounty our government gives to h
soldiers
The soldier deserves every Gel
that he receives from the federal an
=. state treasures.
The writer himself was a soldier
. the Confederate army. the ashes