The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-03
WHAT BOOTS 1T!

| tThe practical people are beginning to CUES
btion the value OF Capt SCOTS achievement. ina
much as he gave his life to attain it,
! Hearken and pity. now ye men OF hearty strain.
The mighty present listens. full Of manly fear,
10 this the tinsel mandate Of the timid town.
This whispering d futile players at the game
VI pettnogged commercialism's irksomenesS
These mannikins Of manners wonder-wonder why
Red blooded men will lay down all their gains to
yield
Their losses TO good natures store-for other
Men: they cannot the profit in such pain:
They fail 10 note where aught may multiply or add
BY sacrifice. In trenchant Christianity
They early learn TO lisp that may find his life
Till 1t be lost But all their kindergarten. soft
And tender whimpering philosophy may not
In Truth accomplish understanding Of the lift
The strong uTsTing throb that drives this headlong
thrust;
Against the wall Of natures stern Tipped silence
toward
Her questioning They take their refuge in the
smile
That tells Of Don Quixote. for they never know
How fine the mills of the gods may grind.
How long shall live
Our brothers till they realize how small thing
Success isl And how many nations must be bonn
To live and die-hov many kinds Of people must
Have been-or eer We recognize the goal 10 not
The race. The fruit is not the tree-or else it
would
Have shrlnk TO ashes in the glare of Old Col
gOthas
Shame Nor ever God man has said that ct
Is good" But be ye weary well in doing
This was doctrine TO oershoot their shields of self
And start them tiptoe stretching for a logic shelf
Wherein TO rest their elbow Of desire for super
Manhood. Socrates perceived that rest was death
We know why summer Stays the spring on Ea,-
ters knees;
We know why winter listens at the gate ajar
OF farfung autumn: yea. knew it is the way
on times progressive ecstscy eternal urge
or discontent and yearnins for fields to till.
The good earth yields no better blooms than these
real men
Who ask customary usage for their slaves
Who slaves Of other lips to strengthen them
But build their music from the primal energy
That stirs them into gantase Of heartstrung notes
To speak TO nature in her good instructive tongue
To their straight seeing childish eyes the world
and all
Its snowhakes and its iceberrs all its rainy drops
And oceans. all its grains Of sand and mountains.
all
Its sunshine and its lightning all its colors. gray
And vivid. all its length and breadth and thick
ness,
But SO much raw material inherited from Father.
And the heirship of the stands their sponsors
While they marshal all the universe to serve.
They pick. they choose. they cherish, and they
alter not.
However they may grow they seem the same. their
pitch
Is to eternity's concord infnity
Speaks in them and We hear within their words
the echoes
Helpless of aselons lonsings to be free
As they.
And aye. the rub is there. We long; they do
As almoners Of honor. theirs the duty is
To show US how to I've and never death may
take
Ausht Of their value from them. never chance
may strip
The least of any laurel from their proper brow.
Envy, greed and all uncharty must pass
But steadfastly these men have lived alone as rods
And standing the fitting floor of life have
taught
Us how to raise hands Above our swirne heads
And lay them firmly the brink Of surer power
An attitude. withsl. that crowns Us in their decd
As fullest partners in the cosnic enterprise
DAVID STUART WALTERS
March 10, 1913.