Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-09-01

Ing III al attempt at logic. 1T Is Tor
the premier to say. l merely make the
machine ready. The government says
the word that makes 1t move. l able
to stop war! Come, comet"
"But you can-yes, you can with Q
world" she declared positively.
"How?" he asked, amazed. "How7"
he repeated blandly.
Was she teasing him he wondered.
What new resources OF confusion had
ten years and tour around the world
developed in her? Was 1t possible that
the whole idea of the teachers of peace
was an invention to make conversa-
tion at his expense? II so, she carried
1t off 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
fortifications!
He gasped. Then an inner voice
prompted him that the cue was
comedy.
Excellent fooling-excellentl" he
said with laugh. "Tell the premier
that l should lose when l have five
million men to their three millioni
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 fol
the old days when he might take tea
with her one or two afternoons a week
1t would be fine tonic after his isola
tion 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 II she were hurt.
"You think am joking?" she asked
"Why, yes!"
"But l am not! No, no, not abou
such a CHASTITY subject as a war to
day!" She was leaning toward him
hands on knee and eyes burning like
Goals without a spark. 'I"-she pauseC
, as she had before she broke out witt
the first prophecy-"T will quote par
of our children's oath: I will not bt
a coward. 1t is a coward who strike
first A brave man even after he re
ceives a blow tries to reason with hi
assailant, and does not strike back un
| til he receives a second blow. shal
: az h,,r driu ~,
house. If an enemy tries to take m!
! land shall appeal to his sense of Jus
tice and reason with him, but II h,
then persists l shall fight for m.
{ home. II / am victorious l shall no
! try to take his land but to make tn,
! most of my own. shall never cross
frontier to kill my fellowmen.'
Very impressive she made the oath
Her deliberate recital of it had tn
quality which justifies every wore
with an urgent faith.
''You see, with that teaching ther,
can be no war;" she proceeded, "an'
those who strike will be weak; thos
who defend will be strong"
Perhaps" he said.
"You would not like to see thou
sands, hundreds Of thousands, OF mel
killed and manned, would your" sh,
demanded, and her eyes held the hoI
ror of the sight in reality. you cal
prevent it-you can!" Her heart wa
in the appeal.
"The old argument! No, I shoult
not like to see that" he replied.
only do my duty as a soldier to m,
country"
''The old answer! The more reasol
why you should tell the premier yo,
can't! But there is still another reasol
for telling him." she urged gently.
! Now he saw her not at twenty-seve1
but at seventeen, girlish, the subjec
of no processes of reason but in tn
| spell of an intuition, and he knew tina
something out Of the blue in flasl
was coming.
For you will not win !" she declared
This struck fire. Square jaw an,
sturdy body, in masculine energy, reso
lutte and trained, were set indomitabl
against feminine vitality.
Eyes, we shall win! We shall winl
he said without even the physical dem
onstration of gesture and in hard
even voice which was like that of th
machinery of modern war itself,
voice which the sristocratic sniff, tn
Louis XVI curls, or any of the old gal
lery-display heroes would have though
utterly lacking in histrionice suitable
to the occasion. He remained rigi'
after he had spoken, handsome, sell
possessed.
ITO Be Continued