South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-12-11

father and mother What ne had
20 say 20 them was very brief and
was a decided surprise 20 the girl.
For Gods sake take care Of
your daughter. 7 am trying 20 keep
my boys straight-bu, girls like
this make 10 difficult"
a cruel saying2 Yes. cruel as
surgeons knife. True? Yes. true as
the story itself-which ends here.
! do not know the sequel. The con
dition exists. and we must face IT,
There are many boys in the army
wei schooled against open vice but
defenceless against the most ins.di-
Gus OF temptations-the temptation
that does not advertise itself as one.
Do YOU believe that child was for
a moment guilty in thought when
she spoke 10 the officer, though she
used the street-girl's formula Try
TO get her side Of the little drama
that might so easily have been a
edy-that so often has The
soldiers calling has always been in
vested with a glamour OF romance
IN feminine eyes, and the present
world condition while exposing the
horror and evil Of war as never be-
fore has paradOXically rather aug
mented than lessened the admira-
tion of the individual soldier. The
mantel Of the Crusader is upon him
each OF these boys in khaki is a
young st. George, arrayed against
the dragon I'm a supreme war
against war. With our minds reso-
lutely fixed upon righteous and en-
during peace. today in America the
soldier is a hero more than ever be-
fore. What is more natural as a re-
suit than a heightened interest and
a generous desire 10 make the last
days Of our bows on this soil az
happy as possible2
Youth is so sure Of the integrity
OF it's own motives so sure Of its
own strength; and the youth Of our
day is so sure Of its own wisdom
Not without excuse. Ignorance has
no armor so invincible as half
knowledge. Our young girls.
through a score Of channels. know
all the wickedness Of the world by
sight and by name Familiarity has
its usual fruit of contemptUous con-
idence, and added to all this is out
wardly, the relaxing Of former con-
ventiOns. and below the surface the
more violent AID radical readjust-
ment Of mind that is one Of the
most striking phenomena of our
day
The German troops retreating
from Arras blew up the main roads
as they went, TO check the allied
pursuit. The British engineers
blew up in their turn the houses
that remained standing near these
craters, and with the debris filled in
the new roadbed This is hardly an
exaggerated figure for what has
happened in so many minds that the
experience may almost be reckon
ed universal. It is a time OF de-
struCtiOn upon destruction, Of a be
wildering shift OF long established
values. Despite the fashion of de-
crying Kipling's first poem Of the
war, I doubt if the world situation
has been better summed up by any
writer of prose or verse than il is
in his lines:
Comfort, content. delight,
The ages drought gain
Have shrivelled in a night
Only ourselves remain"
We have the feeling that what
ever treasure has been wrought in
to these selves Of ours we are sure
of-and Of that only. Is there one
thinking person who does not real
lie that we are no more tranquil
comfortable and stable than were
Rheims. Arras, Antwerp and the
rest i'm the summer of 1913? What
has come TO them, the next turn OF
the wheel may bring TO us. The
impossible, whether it be a foreign
invasion or a social revolution. has
ceased 10 be impossible. Improba-
BILE is the strongest word that one
dare use nowadays in regard TO out
ward circumstances. AS the gar
ments OF life have grown unreal 10