The Washington herald., 1917-12-07

The question of whether or not
American women should wear |
mourning for their dear ones who
are slain in this terrible war Is be-
ing much discussed.
There are many who believe that
by shrouding ourselves in black we
are showing only a fitting respect
to the memory OF those who gave
their lives for our defense. They
forget that there is finer tribute
than tears and mourning. 1t con-
sists in initiating the courage OF
those who went forth blithely and
bravely to meet death for the sake
Of the faith that was in them.
There is not one of those gallant
spirits that, If it could speak, would
not bid us not to waste time or
money on the outward trappings of
woe, but to expend our every cent
and our every ounce OF energy in
prosecuting the war and seeing to
it that our dead have not died in
vain.
Ordinarily whether a woman puts
on mourning or not when she loses
a member of her family. is a mat
ter personal to herself. and in which
no one else has a right to meddle.
But the war has swept away all
OF our little individual stockades.
Now no one lives to himself or dies
to himself. We are united in a
common brotherhood and sisterhood
Of humanity as never before. and
what each one of US thinks and says
and wears, reacts directly upon a
whole community.
For this reason I think that no
matter what a woman's personal
feelings and inclinations in the mat
ter may be, she should put them
aside and not wear mourning for her
dead during the war. She should
do this for the sake of the morale
of the general public.
Everywhere she goes-on the
streets, in the shops, at church. on
the trains-she will meet countless
thousands of other women whose
men are "over there" in the trenches.
| on the firing line, on the seas, daily
and hourly exposed to danger. These
women's hearts are torn with anX-
iety. Fear OF what may be hap
pening to their beloved tears at their
very souls continually.
! Perhaps they have come out on
the street because they felt that il
they stayed at home another hour
and pictured to themselves the hor-
ror Of shrapnel and bomb swept bat
tlehelds they would go mad. In
the crowds, in the shifting scenes.
in the gay store windows they are
trying to earn an hours forgetful-
ness.
Suddenly in the crowd their eyes fall
upon a woman. two women. a dozen.
perhaps hundred women all dressed
in deep mourning. They are the
mothers, wives and sisters Of soldiers.
They are living illustration of the
dangers of war and what war means
to the women who are left behind. 1t
brings to every woman whose men
are at the front a poignant realization
of the risks that her loved ones arc
facing that skaters her courage and
fills her soul with bleak despair.
! What the psychological effect. not
only upon the minds Of women. but
upon men, of the sights Of thousands
of women dressed in mourning Is ap-
palling to consider. 1t would cast over
us all pail of gloom in which hope
would die and effort slacken and every
one would be downhearted.
That is not the spirit in which vic
tory is won, and SO the woman whose
husband, son or brother has sacrificed
his life on his country's altar will be
doing a public service and best honor.
ing her hero's memory il she puts on
her old colored dress and goes un,
whiningly about her daily duties.
She saddens no one else with hel
sorrow. She stabs no other woman tc
! the heart with a remembrance of hel
own loss or a sudden fear of the dread
fate that may be coming to her, too
Her colored dress, worn when hel
very soul is black with mourning. is
the red badge of courage. She i.
. of the men at the front and the wom'
en- at home.
Another reason why women shoulC
not wear mourning during the war i!
because it is needless waste and ex
pense. We need the looms to weav,
other cloth than black goods. We
need the money that mourning cost
=. for other purposes-to feed the living
and clothe the naked.
Every woman has a lot of dresser
: that have months and perhaps year,
of service in them that would hav,
: been thrown away IL she went int
mourning. Going into mourning alsC
involves a thousand expenses in thu
way Of the small but necessary ad
juncts to a woman's toilette. Blacl
) articles have to be Of better qualit!
. than colored ones and consequent!
> cost more. The price of a very cheal
mourning outfit would buy a libert1
bond. The cost of complete mourn
ing equipment for a well-to-do famil!
would buy many liberty bonds.
: 1t is said that this war is going t,
be won by money and that the victor
will be those who bave the last bi,
guns and the last tons of shrapnel
9 Therefore, the women Of the countr,
: can not only do big patriotic duty
but avenge their dead by putting thei
money into bullets instead Of crepe.
. Another reason and perhaps it's tn
most important reason Of all, VIII,
i women should not wear mourning dur
8 ing this war Is because of the effec
= that clothing themselves in black vii
: have upon their own health and spir
its.
That women are depressed by. wear
Ing mourning and are made sick an