Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-10-26
My Patriotism

The boy came to me for advice.
| suppose because l had been his
fathers best friend. The boys
father had enlisted in the Spanish
War and was killed fighting under
Lawton in the Philippines. The
boys mother was an intelligent
American wOman-one of those
women who believe that honor is
the finest thing in the world. With
the worship of her husbands pa
triotism and bravery in her soul,
the mother had brought the boy up
to be a straight thinking, straight
acting youngster. l had watched
the boy grow up, and l was proud
of him.
When war was declared it did
not take the boy long to make up
his mind that he ought to enlist,
and his mother agreed with him.
It was' perfectly natural decision
for him to make. The training that
he had received from his mother,
and his pride in his fathers devo-
ton to the country, made any
other course seem pitifully weak to
the boy, and, besides, he had a
keen appreciation of the justice of
| the cause for which the United
/ States is fighting. He did not ask
for advice as to himself He was
| perfectly clear about what he
| should do. But he was disturbed
| about his mother. Was he doing
| right to leave her? Knowing both
| the boy and the mother as l did, l
1 knew that after they had made up
/ their minds anything that | might
say would be useless. So after l
had given the boy the usual good
advice he left.
After he had gone l began to
think about my own position. l
had never thought very seriously
about patriotism, but in a general
way 1 regarded myself as an aver
age patriotic citizen. Since the
| trouble with Germany started,
had ''stood by the President" l
had had a good deal to say about
liberty and democracy, and the ne
cessity of crushing Prussian mill
tariGm. | had also made a number
of more or less trite remarks about
saving and sacrifice; had even
gone so far as to decide to get
along with last years car, and /
had made an investment" in lib
/ erty bonds. But l had done moth
ing, nor had l contemplated doing
i anything that would interfere with
my comfort
| But here was this youngster-
| just beginning to feel the Zest of
life, full of splendid enthusiasm for
making his life worth while, will
ing to risk his life in order that the
present generation and generations
to come may live in peace and Sc
curity. And here was this mother
willing to chance her last hope of
happiness to help preserve the
honor of her country. What right
had to let this fine boy-and there
is nothing finer under the sun than
clean-minded, red-blooded Amer
ican boy-go through the horrors
of war while 1 made no sacrifice OF
consequence? What right had l tt
| let this mother suffer, as l knew
she would suffer, all through the
| long days and nights that her boy
was away, and not do my best tt
stop it?
Altogether l did not feel very
well pleased with myself l bega1
to see that my patriotism was /;
| good deal of an affectation. The1
and there l made up my mind tha
l was going to make my patriotism
mean something to me and to m,
country. My fighting days ar,
over. l would only clutter up tn,
trenches and get in the way of bet
ter men, but 1 can help supply tn
funds that may end this war befor
the boy-the boy that 1 love as m,
own son-is killed or returned
home a hopeless cripple, and be
fore the last ray of sunshine fade
from the mothers heart, and l an
| going to do this to the utmost O
my ability.