The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-10-18

The winning Of the war becomes a
personal affair TO the chaps who are
fighting. Our chaps are splendid. They
are not the hair.brained idiots that
some war correspondents depict from
day to day. They're perfectly sane
people who know to n fraction what
they are up against but who
carry on with a grim good nature and
Z determination TO win with q smile.
never before appreciated as ! DO
toIay The latent capacity for big
hearted endurance, that is in the heart
Of every man.
"You see mild men. timid men, al
most girlish mon, carrying out duties
which in other wars would have won
Victoria Crosses. don't think the
soul OF courage ever dies out Of the
race any more than the capacity for
love. An il means is that the occasion
Is not present. We carry %
because, if we don't, we shall ct other
mon down and put their lives in dan
ger And there's more than that, we
all want to live up TO the standard that
prompted US to come"
Some weeks later young Dawson
pens these, shall | say, tragically true
lines? 1.-The stupendous terrprs of
Armageddon demand less courage
than the uneventful terror Of the daily
commonplace. In London at q
distance from all this tragedy of cour-
age Tie is speaking now Of ten days
furlough he enjoyed in London with
his parents)- felt that ] had slipped
back to lower plane, A kind OF iiab-
biness was creeping into my blood
the old selfish fear of life and love Of
comfort. It's odd out here where the
! fear of death should supplant the fear
of life. one somehow rises into a con-
tempt for everything that is not brav-
est. There's no doubt that the call Tor
sacrifice and perhaps the supreme sac
rifice can transform men into nobil-
! ity Of which they themselves are I'M
conscious. A modern battlefield is an
abonination of desolations. There is
nothing glorious about war. War is
utterly destructive. 1t doesn't even
create courage, it only finds it in the
soul of man. And yet there is one
quality which will survive the war and
help us to face the temptations of
peace--that same courage which we
have unconsciously discovered out
here"
would like to add more from the
writings of this Coningsby Dawson,
but time forbids. One hesitates to try
TO add comment or counsel to these
words from this and other modern
prophets Of the same type. / trust
your own hearts have responded to
these noble sentiments and that al
ready some deep searching questions
and some far-reaching practical inter
views have firmly gripped you.
But in commenting upon these
want first to emphasize this, All
these writer's | have in mind deprocate
war as the unnatural, abnormal, the
unchristian thing, the most wastefu
and brutal and hellish business that
man can be engaged in. No person
can alphabetically follow theii
thought and be militarist in the
common acceptation of that word OF
feel that there is any glory or gran
deur in war except in the unselfisl
spirit that animates the men who en-
gage therein from the highest mo-
tives. Young Dawson writes: "Witf
the brutal roar of the first Prussiar
gun the cry came to the civilized
world, FollowMe,' just as truly as j
did in Palestine. Men went to theil
! Calvary singing Tipperary, rubbish
rhymed doggerel but their spirit wal
equal to any Christian martyr in
: Roman amphitreatre, Greater low
hath no man than this that he la.
/ down his life for his friend Gu
chaps are doing that consciously, will
ingly, also without bitterness toward
! their enemies. They've followed thei
ideal, freedom, and died for it."
, Yes, this is splendid! but one can
, not but raise the question, why is j
t necessary for men to await the su
prome crisis before this generous un
selfish spirit asserts itself?
\ Young Dawson writes II don
, think that the soul of courage eve
e dies out of the race, only the occasio
( for showing il is not present at al
A times as it is in war. We carry O
d then because if we don't we shall lie
Y other men down and put their lives ]
G danger, and then we all want to Inv
a up to the standard that prompted u
r to come"
d "The occasion for courage not a.