The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-12-30

the same old storm, but some towns
have better press agents.
The death OF Tom Shevlin, the fam
Gus Yale football player, at the age
of "a is another illustration of the
truth that the trained athlete is al
ways short lived and unable to resist
acute disease. The men who live
the longest and can stand the most
are the medium sized, strong stom-
ached, wiry cusses who eat plain food
and work every day.
1t Is certainly untimely and unfor
tunate that cabinet crisis should
arise in England with the war enter
ing upon most crucial stage in the
Balkans. Nothing could possibly give
the central powers more encourage
ment than the usual breakup OF. eff
cheney which accompanies a change
in ministry Herald,
The central powers may feel en-
outraged but If SO they will simply
fool themselves Whenever England
is really doing something big she
manages to have on hand at home a
big domestic, political, social and &c
onomic row that makes it look as
though anarchy and rebellion would
shortly break the nation into a thous-
and pieces. Remember the graphic
story told in Pepys diary when the
Dutch drove the British fleet off the
ocean and even sailed into English
harbors and destroyed English ships,
when Spain and France laughed at
the assumption that England had any.
thing to say in European affairs and
repeatedly ignored the English king
when he tried to put in word; when
England lost many of her, best col
onies; when English credit was
mraired both at home and abroad;
when London was plague-swept and
then burned. With all these and
other troubles too, numerous 10 men
ton the English picked on this par.
ticular period for nasty row be
tween the king and the parliament,
for bitter fight between tie admiral
of the navy and the chief officers of
| the fleet; for an experiment in Wild
cat business speculation for a re-
fusal on the part OF landowners to
! pay their taxes; for failure to enlist
in the navy because the men weren't
paid; for the king TO involve the
N n crnnfinI ~ al; M
tentions to Nell Gwyn; for the kings
/ brother, the Duke of York. to disgrace
the whole royal family, and for a few
other small troubles. Yet the Eng
| lish never even considered the situa-
! ton serious and amid turmoil at home
! and threat from abroad calmly pur.
sued their way to final success. From
| that day to this whenever England Is
really hard pushed or straining every
nerve abroad, the folks at home pick
out that time TO tear the government
to pieces, make over the principal
British institutions and mix in a few
riots and threats OF Instruction.
The central powers have reason to be
crisis and the threat of split over
CONSUMPTION. They indicate that
England is getting reused to a point
where her enemies have reason to
tremble Whatever the opinion of
the cabinet the English people have
felt all along that the French and
Russians and Italians, etc, etc, with
a little encouragement and financial
assistance would be able to pull the
British empire through unscathed. OF
course If the British have really got
to do the job themselves they will go
at 1t in the real British fashion and
it may include few new cabinets
and fixing up some other little details
that have been overlooked or ne
elected.
Il have watched them in their tan
trums, all that pentecostal crew.
French, Italian, Arab, Spaniard.
Dutch and Greek and Russ and
Jew
Celt and savage, buff and ochre,
cream and yellow, mauye and
white.
But it never really mattered till the
English grew polite,
Till the men with polished toppers,
till the men in long frock coats,
Till the men who do not duel, till the
men who war with votes,
Till the breed that take their pleas
ures as st. Lawrence took his
grid.
Began to beg your pardon and-the
knowing croupier hid.
Oh my country bless the training
that from cot to castle runs
The pitfall of the stranger, but the
bulwark OF thy sons
Measured speech and ordered action,
sluggish soul and unperturbed
Till we wake our Island-Devil--no
wise cool for being curbed"
- II