Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-02
FIRST THRILD
OF GREAT WAr
The Touch Of Steel on August .
1914, Gave Us a Tingle
Which Has Since
Died Out


than the very first-the swift, sudden
thrill Of adventure which came over he
two years ago today. The later phasa.
we can reconstruct. Actually, in all tba
literature of the war, nothing finer ba.
been done than just this work, published
a year ago by the subtle American b,,.
manist, Simeon Strunsky. The days NJ
the Uhlans, the phases of Won Kiuo,,
and the Marne, the shifting passions ana
condolences of the world after the middle
of August we can remember and record
But the earliest days are hard.
They are hard because after the mid
night misery of these two years we ar.
not willing to confess how joyously ,vo
met the first onset of arms The sear.
ingy impossible has happened In Amsr.
lea, for our whole huge advantage from,
the war has been vlcariously taken. W.
have not suffered, yet we have beam
purified We have not fought, not died,
yet we have been ennobled. From IN.
first we understood our odd role which
was to be not that of q spectator AZ a
play but of the living prize for which
knights engaged in battle. We shrank
from war, but 1t held our eyes. Unawar.
of the vast forces which were ready
spiritually unprepared for the horrors
which were to come, we breathed fast al
the new excitement in the world.
The Joy of Battle
we breathed was sitting with gun.
powder, and later still was acrid with
the seas which swept over the Lusitanias
dead. OF that we were innocent We
knew only that the heavens were burst-
ing into gorgeous colors of fire, that the
hand OF man had leapt to his sword and
the bright blade shone In the wild light,
We read of American tourists hurrying
pell-mell out Of Europe. and we wished
that we might be there. We should not
hurry. We should stay and see the most
magnificent spectacle OF our time. The
world had been full of million little
things in which we took a passive in.
terest A great wind came up and swept
them away and our nostrils extended to
the blast.
We had been prepared for complica.
tions the minute Germany and Russia
came in, and it was on the second of Au-
gust that we knew for fair that they
were in. Patrol engagements were re-
ported, Ambassadors had departed and in
the west France was mobilizing her
armies. There was the rub. With Rus.
sia, 1t may be said, we had no sympathy.
We had had too much to do with her
revolutlonaries, had sent contributions
and protests for too many Kshineffs, had
seen our only treaties cast aside because
Russia would not recognize American
citizenship complete. But France! We
could hardly forgive her alliance with
Russia. We felt, in spite of many dis
agreeable things, that her proper allianes
was with us. And there came back
memory of Versailles in 1871, of that day
when William I was proclaimed German
Emperor in the palace sacred to every
tradition of imperial and republican
France.
We did not order our sympathies, but
we can separate them now. They wers
with Germany against Russia and with
France against the world. They might
have remained so to this day.
Our First Sure Things
OF two things we were firmly con
vinced. That Russia would be snapped
back, broken and defeated as she was. Of
seemed to be. by Japan, and that Franci
would fight gallantly but unavailingly F
against the superior German arms Ger
man efficiency was already beginning to
be a bit of a tradition. 1t was in the air.
In our vague speculations we turned 70
England for assistance. We knew thai
England had the habit of fighting on the
winning side. And this is what she gavs
us on this day:
(OficlaD The policy of Great Brit
ain will not be affected in any way by
the announcement that Italy has de-
cided to remain neutral.
Italy will have to settle later on with
her own partners as TO the justifica-
tion OF her action. - The
French Government has never been di-
rectly or Indirectly led to believe that
Great Britain was pledged to any par
ticular method of discharging her OBJ
legations to France, and although she
will remain (adhereO strictly to the
spirit and letter of the understandings
his Majesty's Government have not de.
cided II they Will interfere.
They have always reserved to them
selves the right OF determining how
they shall play their part in the Triple
Entente.
From that day dates the distrust Of
England, which can be discovered under
any number OF layers OF Entente sym
pathy. 1t was the time before rainbow
colored books appeared justifying this or
that. 1t was the time when we had hoped
greatly that Sir Edward Grey might stopI
the whole thing. At that serious moment
OF secular history. when a nation had teI
announce itself to the world. we saw Ens-
land weighing her chances, almost heard
her counting coin. We know now that
she did come in. with fine enthusiasm.
with high moral purposes which she care
fully explained TO the world apd to her
self. But our trust was never hers, and
may never be.
A Joyous terror was our supreme emo
tion then. and we listened half-heartedly
TO those who spoke of the awful sacri-
hces. the carnage and the brutality which
must ensue. We laughed at agitators o.
peace and at the Socialists. We fouted