Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1915-03-04

this season OF the year communication
from Linden" would be appreciated,
perhaps, by some OF your many readers.
The reason I'm sending this article to
you for publication is because | regard
your paper as being one OF the best
papers published within the confines o.
this State. We hear war talk on ever
side, and so Pm going to write about
war.
WAR.
In times of war it's hard, think, to write
OF other things.
The summer and the flowers and the
little bird that sings,
All fade away into land OF stories and
ofdreamS,
And everywhere the echo rings from bat
tie prayers and screams.
say the echo, but mean the sympathy
that starts
And creeps forth quite unbidden from the
center Of our hearts.
And the morning calm is broken by the
newsboys' piercing yell,
AS he hurries by us shouting OF the
papers he must sell.
We read the news in headlines that are
may inches high,
We murmur at the millions that are called
upon TO die.
We wonder if the forts can stand the
heavy falls OF lead,
And shudder for the mothers that are
waiting home with dread.
We callthe airship funny" and we call
the tactics "queer,"
We wonder at the fires that have made
the towns SO drear.
We quarrel and we argue as TO who shall
win the fight,
We change our minds at any time through
out the day and night.
And yet with all the fussing in, our work
and in our play,
We realize that the battles rage some
thousand miles away,
And though we show our fighting thoughts
we really know full well,
That seas are stretched between us and
the roaring shot and shell.
often stopped 10 wonder, in the days
OF long ago,
How people felt in Europe when our
wars were raging so
wondered how in times OF strife the
folks could work away,
Without constant watching for the dawn
ing OF the day
When Peace would be proclaimed abroad,
and toes would all be one
A land OF brothers living in a country
filled with sun.
And yet today we sing and dance and
frolic as before,
Though all the universe, il seems, is bathed
in fevered war.
The books of history are stained with
crimson finger marks,
And all the maps that deck our walls were
torn by human sharks.
The ground that makes garden fair was
covered once with dead,
And lily buds are blooming where some
conquered hero bled.
We speak the names of generals great,
with feeling and with awe,
Because they lived some years ago, and
died at last before
We lived ourselves; and we will cheer at
battle grounds and towers:
And we will build marble shaft and cover
il with flowers.
And yet in many other lands they need
us as we play,
For dying men and boys are making his
tory today.
Life, Death and Love once stood beside a
field,
Where men had fought with sword, and
gun. and shield,
And as they stood, Life spoke with bated
breath.
And said, "a wonder when the foes will
yield ?"
Then Death with hollow eyes looked at
the men
Who gasping lay about his feet. and then,
"a Think" he said, "when all the world is
drenched
In blood, the strife will finish-only thenl"
But Love looked far away with tear-filled
eyes.
"My friends" he said, "beyond the sun
there lies
A land where flowers bloom with perfume
sweet,
Where no one suffers pain and no one
dies.
And in this country at the rainbow's
end
There lives a King who is a Helper,
Friend;
Who pardons sin and washes guilt away,
And when men know His love, the war
will end"
w. J. KNOTT.
Good Advice to Farmers.
The United States Department OF Agri-