Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1914-10-22

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Il shall not beat my fst on the table
defending war a. you did defending
peacel" he retaliated with significant
enjoyment.
But she used his retort for An open
ing.
"oh. I'd rather you would do that
than Jestl It's human. It's going to
war because one Il angry. You would
60 TO war as q matter OF cold reason"
'Tf otherwise. should lose" he TO
piled.
Exactly. You make It easy for me
10 approach my point. l want to pre-
vent you from losing!" she announced
cheerfully yet very seriously.
YES? Proceed. brace myself
against an explosion Of indignationl"
at Is the duty OF teacher OF peace
TO use all her influence with the people
she knows" she went on. $50 ! am
going to ask you not to let your coun-
try ever go to war against mine while
you are chief Of stan"
Mine against yoursi" he equivo-
Gated. why, you live almost within
gunshot of the linel Your people have
as much Gray as Brown blood in their
veins. Your countryi MY countryl
Isn't that patriotism?"
Patriotism. but not martial patriot
ISM" she corrected him. my thought
IL to stop war for both countries as
war. regardless Of sides. Promise me
that you will not permit 1T"
Il not permit I'll" He smiled with
the kindly patronage Of a great man
who sees q charming woman founder
ing in an attempt at logic. 1T Is for
the premier to say. l merely make the
machine ready. The government says
the word that makes 1t move. able
to stop war! Come. comet"
But you can-yes, you can with q
world" she declared positively.
"How?" he asked. amazed. "Howf"
be repeated blandly.
Was she teasing him he wondered.
What new resources of confusion had
ten years and a tour around the world
developed in her? Was 1t possible that
the whole idea Of the teachers Of peace
was an invention to make converse
ton at his expense? II 80. she carried
1t of with a sincerity that suggested
other depths yet unsounded.
Very easily" she answered. you
can tell the premier that you cannot
win. Tell him that you will break your |
army to pieces against the Browns
Notifications"
He gasped Then an inner voice |
prompted him that the cue was
comedy.
Excellent fooling-excellent!" he
said with laugh. Tell the premier
that I should lose when l have five
million men to their three million!
What a harlequin chief of staff /
should be! Excellent fooling! You al
most had mel"
Again he laughed, though In the
fashion Of one who had hardly unbent
his spine, while he was wishing for
the old days when he might take tea
with her one or two afternoons week.
1t would be fine tonic after his isola-
ton at the apex Of the pyramid sur
veying the Difference Of the lower
levels. Then he saw that her eyes,
shimmering with wonder, grew dull
and her lips parted in rigid, pale line
as if she were hurt.
"You think am joking?" she asked.
why, yes!"
But am not! No, no, not about
such CHASTITY subject as a war to-
day!" She was leaning toward him,
hands on knee and eyes burning like
Goals without spark. "I"-she paused /,
as she had before she broke out with
the first prophecy-"I will quote part
of our children's oath: I will not be
a coward. 1t is a coward who strikes
first. A brave man even after he re-
ceives blow tries to reason with his
assailant, and does not strike back I'M
til he receives a second blow. l shall
not let a burglar drive me from my
house. If an enemy tries to take my
land shall appeal to his sense of JUS
tice and reason with him, but If he
then persists shall fight for my
home. If am victorious shall not
try to take his land but to make the
most of my own. shall never cross a
frontier to kill my fellowmen.'"
Very impressive she made the oath.
Her deliberate recital of it had the
quality which justifies every word
with an urgent faith.
"You see, with that teaching there
can be no war;" she proceeded, "and
those who strike will be weak; those
who defend will be strong"
Perhaps" he said.
"You would not like to see thou
sands, hundreds of thousands, of men
killed and manned, would you?" she