The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-09
UP AND DOWN BROADWAY
ny ALLAN GRIFFIN JOHNSON

BY ALLAN CIR New York, August s-(Special. 1.-The voice of Mars has out-roared the com mercial thunders of Manhattan, and has pierced the armor of callousness worn by the cosmopolte. Ever since it first be- came known that he was about to leave the bloody imprint of his armored heel upon the verdant fields that lie beyond the restless waves of the Atlantic, the atmosphere of Broadway-yea, of the whole island, from the Battery to the Bronx and from the East Side to the Drive-has been different
 It Is as though one touch of (barbaric) nature has made the whole city kin, for there has been a distinct increase of brotherliness between man and man, and the accustomed coldness of the metropoli- tan stare of indifference has been warmed and softened by the red flame of a com mon interest-war.
 The throngs that have hung around the bulletin boards have indulged in conver- sationssand comment; the man who held before his eyes the latest extra .dition of a newspaper, seemed willing to share it's information with whomsoever chanced to be his neighbor upon car or street, and the whole island seemed for once to confess itself interested.
 It has been an unusual condition of af fairs, and yet, underlying it all, Is the old, old reason for the interest mani fested-war touched Father Knicker- lockers pocket; it closed the stock ex- change, it interrupted commerce, 1t in terfered with business generally Ordinarily the world may indulge in whatsoever freakishness it's fancy may direct and New York, sufficient unto it. self, will go about it's business all un- needing. but whenever hand Is placed within Father Knickerbockers pocket he is all attention upon the instant, for therein beats the cold heart of him. which sends it's flow of commerce and finance pulsing through the great arteries of the world.
 And yet this evident interest, and in- crease of brotherliness is bit strange when one remembers that here are Serbs and Austrians Russians, Germans, Frenchmen, Englshmen-all coming in daily contact upon the great local thor oughfares.
 1NNOCAllON God rest Thy pitying eye on Europe now; Look, and in mercy, where her blood
 stained breast,
 In agony fast heaves, while all the rest Shrink back in horror from her sanguined
 brow.
 Blood-lust and carnage have usurped the
 throne,
 Where love and peace, as King and
 Queen, should reign,
 Yet millions pray-let not those prayers
 be vain Oh, grant her peace, in mercy to Thine
 own.
 All-wise Jehovah, Thou who gav'st us
 life,
 Those red hands were not fashioned
 thus to slay;
 They are Thy childrens, Father who Oh, lead them back and end their boot
 less strife. Are men free agents? Then, oh, God above,
 Restrict that freedom-draw them back
 again
 Into that faith they knew ere they were Thou can'st not this deny, for Thou art
 Love
 Make them to know that tis the weak
 lings hand, Which sends the bullet crashing through some heart.
 And lets a soul, all unprepared, depart, Thus soon before Thy judgment seat to
 stand.
 Thy servants, Master, with some power
 instill,
 To so impress the import of Thy word, That men may heed what oft men have
 but heard. And, needing, keep Thy law-'"Thou shalt
 not kill. Make men but think-cool Passion s
 heated brow
 vitry scored
 Over Lust by Reasons finely tempered sword
 And crime before brave Christian courage bow.
 Oh, hear us Lord, and hearing grant them
 rest
 From crime and carnage, if it be Thy
 will;
 Give men true hearts that are too brave
 to kill,
 And wash the gore from Europe's
 carmined breast.
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