Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-14


L be afraid to rush out Of the trenches
and face the machine.gun fire." said
Dorothy Owen.
They are" said I. "All the trench
books agree on that point They await
the signal with their hearts I'm their
throats, but their moral courage is
stronger than their physical cowardicc
and they face death with a brave heart
| was talking some years ago with a
Civil War colonel, and he told me that
the man who said he had no fear in facing
fire simply lied. Some power stronger
than fear drives them on
II suppose that must be true" said Doc.
tor McFabre Il have often wondered
what l would do If were ordered to
charge machine guns. l am a physical
coward. When l was boy my mother
taught me that I must not fight had
a sneaking admiration for my playmates,
who would get angry and knock each
other down. They used to pick on me,
and I would run home crying"
THAT is the usual way" said I. MY
friend Ormsbee had a boy like that. His
wife did not want him TO defend himself
with his fists. one day the father told
his boy to knock the neishborhool bully
down the next time he abused him. That
afternoon the little fellow came homo
with a bloody nose and his clothing torn,
but with the light of triumph in his eyes.
lie had measured his strength with that
| of the bully and had won. And he dis.
covered that a blow on his body did not
hurt so much as a blow to his selfrcspect.
That fight did him good"
Il have no doubt Of it," Doctor Nc.
| Fabre agreed. 81 envy the man who
went through such an experience in his
boyhood. He can stand up and fight for
what he believes is right with no fear
that the other fellow will knock him
| down"
But it is brutal to fight" said Cabot
Ames.
suppose n man attacked your sister,"
| said Dorothy, would you defend her by
syllogisms you learned in college,"
81 suppose not said he hcsitatingly.
| "Id do my best to protect her, but 1
! should use force as a last resort"
THAT is the time to use force" re
marked, but sometimes If the other fell
! low knows you are ready to use it you
will not have to. | do not believe we
should have had this terrible war if
| Germany had believed that the rest of the
world was ready to fight for its rights so
| vigorously as it is now doing"
do you think there are any physical
! towards at the 'front.'" Doctor McTabrs
wanted to know.
Undoubtedly. And some of them have
failed in the crisis. They do not tell us
| about them in the dispatches, but we
| know that out of any given number of
men a certain percentage will show the
white feather. Some of them cannot help
| it; others who fear death with as great
a fear have moral courage enough to
force them to their duty. And a few,
who have failed in great crises without
| being discovered, will afterward show a
| bravado that is mistaken for courage.
| They are seeking death to atone for their
moral crimes. William ]. Locke has just
written a story about such a man who
wins the Victoria Cross and achieves a
| reputation for bravery that is the envy of
| his comrades But Locke takes us inside
| the mans soul and shows us the agony
! there. No man without a profound un-
derstanding of the human heart could
| have written it. When Locke wrote The
| Glory of Clementina' he proved that he
| understood the psychology of the mod
| ern woman. Clementina, you remember,
was Indifferent TO the amenities of social
| intercourse with no interest in men. She
wanted a career and found it as a por-
trait painter. But she discovered at last
that she was a woman with wifely and
maternal instincts, ana she surrendered
to them. That was her glory, as it is the
glory of womankind now, has been in the
past and will be in the future"
"You are right, there" said The Lady,
who had been sitting quietly in corner
with her arm about her little daughter
The arm drew the child more tightly TO
her as she spoke.
"'The psychology of the brute man is
as clearly defined in Locke's new novel;
went on. major Boyce, his soldier, is
a splendid animal with a bull neck, fine
figure and musical voice. He has sen.
timent, which some metaphysician has
said is only a form of the sexual instinct
had allowed his soldiers TO be killed in
South Africa because of a sudden attack
Of physical cowardice Then he forced
the only survivor to lie about It with him
When the present war broke out he was
engaged to a charming young woman, but
he had got involved with another one
who later was found drowned in canal
Boyce fled from the town, and when war
was declared he entered the army again
in the hope that he could find death. But
death was not ready for him. In his pur-
suit of 1t he wins the Victoria Cross. and
is blinded by a German bullet. And when
happiness is within his reach at last the
furies that have been pursuing him for
years drive him into the canal to end it
all rather than confess the truth to the
girl who loved him"
Poor fellow" sighed Dorothy.
THAT is the way Locke wants you to
feel" said 1.