The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-09-19
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE
PARENTS OF SOLDIERS

From DR.. Lee Davis Lodge, presi-
dent of Limestone College, to the
fathers and mothers of the Cherokee
County boys who are going to the
front. Reprinted from The Gaffney
Ledger.
"My Dear Friends
Will you permit me to say that I
sympathize with you in this dark
hour. The word sympathize, you
remember, is derived from two Greek
roots and means to suffer with. That
is an exact statement of the fact: l
suffer with you. My WI dear boy
has volunteered in the aviation corps
of the regular army. My heart is
wrung by the same agony that con-
vulses yours. All this summer the
thought of the terrible perils that he
must soon face has hung owe me like
a black peril. In the busy hours of
the day the hideous spectre of death
ever and anon touches me on the
shoulder and says: II am come"
but in the silent watches of the night
the same dread portent rouses me
from slumber and terrifies my i'm
agination with images or horror. At
all times an awful fear gnaws at my
heart. my son! O, my sonw Like
the seem Of a moving picture film
nv memories of his babyhood and
boyhood fit before my mind. Now
I see him in his cradle-and now in
his first pair of trousers-and now
as he bids me goodbye at the train
that is to take him off to college. O.,
heart-ache! O, heart-break! Dear
Friends, don't you suppose that I
have felt it all? And SO I say, g"
sympathize with you" And yet,
Friend, I would not have it other
wise-not for a moment. My boy
has answered the call of his ,coun-
try; he has answered the call of the
South; he has answered the call of
his blood. He is doing what I have
taught him to be ready to do, from
the time that he first could talk. God
forbid that my boy or your boy
should shrink and stink and shirk,
when civilization is in peril, when the
dagger is aimed at the heart Of free
dom, when the honor of woman is
menaced with ruthless violation, and
when all the arts and engineery and
implements of hell are let loose up
on mankind. Your boy and mine
have gone forth to fight against a
foe that aims at nothing less than
the destruction of our democracy,
the enslavement of humanity, and
the domination of the world. Our
boys, yours and mine, r fighting
for democracy against autocracy, for
freedom against despotism, for truth
against falsehood, for honor against
treachery, for civilization against
savagery, for right against might,
for God against the Devil. They are
going to cross the water themselves
to keep the war from crossing the
water. They are going to fight in
France to keep South Carolina from
being another Belgium. They are
going to face horror abroad in order
that you and I may not be forced to
face horror at home. So I am will
ing for my boy to 60. I want him to
go. Our fathers fought to win for US
this very freedom that we now en-
joy, this very freedom for which our
boys are fighting now. If French
soldiers had not crossed the ocean to
fight in America, our fathers would
never have won the war of the revo-
luton. A man who will not fight for.
freedom is not worthy to have free
dom. Our boys, yours and mine, are
now going to fight for the very same
great, undying, priceless principle
for which the Confederate soldiers
fought in 1861-the right of self
government. These boys of our are
worthy of their blood, worthy of the
proud traditions of the South, worthy
of the high ideals of America. God
bless and keep them and send them
in safety back to us, if it be His holy
will, Let US not mourn because they
60. Let US rejoice rather that they
are DOING a mans part in their coun-
try's peril. Let no word or look or
gesture of our sadden them as they
60. Let US bid them goodbye with
brave face and love-lit eyes and ten
der embraces, while we commit them
to God, their country and freedom.