Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-23
"DRovIDED the civilians hold out

i
| The phrase came first from the French
and Barres has made II the title OF one OF
| his books, "Pourvu que les civiles tien-
nent." Later another expression was
given to the same idea by. I think, Sir
| William Robertson. who answered a ques
| ton concerning the war with these words
why do you ask me, who am con
cerned with only 25 per cent concerning
a thing which depends on the rs per cent
the people at homer"
From the day ten million Americans
registered in preparation for calling-up,
the center Of gravity shifted to the ninety
million who did not register. The disposi.
ton of the ten million is in the hands Of
the authorities. But the control Of the
ninety million is, with due allowance for
children and incompetents, in the hands
Of those ninety million. That, at least,
has been the experience of England. and
one of the things the ninety million in
America can do Is to scan the record of
the British civilians, to avoid their mis-
takes and to take cheer from their sue
cesses.
Because. on the whole, 1t is a cheering
record The civilians have held. they have
stood the frightful gaff of three years of
war and the signs are that they have still
plenty Of staying power in them. Their
lot has been easier than that of the
French, immeasurably easier than that of
the Germans. But their spirits never were
supple steel, so the French had all the
advantage of residence; and they were
never taught to lie down and shut up,
so the Germans had the inestimable
advantage Of training And yet the Eng.
lish have held
Their sense of humor has done II. q
know this Is a shocking statement. but
II is true) At n dinner party the other
that when the war ended, ten years hence,
some people would positively miss 1t.
Ten years?" queried an old professor,
for whom that seemed the allotted span
of life why, my dear fellow, some Of us
will just be getting used to 1t and know
how to live with it Them
And this man had told me, not an hour
before, of the tragic death of his son in
the flying corps.
The sense Of humor is not the thing
which cracks jokes about the war, al
though there is plenty of that. It is the
sense of proportion which enables so
many hundred thousands to see that their
losses are parts Of an awful and irrepara-
BILE disaster. They feel their sorrow quite
as polgnantly as If a railway accident
had snuffed out the life of a dear one:
there is no callousness to the blight of
death. But no bitterness can enter in,
because people have learned to think of
themselves in their social relations as
we'll as in their personal relations. It is
not likely that mother who loses a son |
thinks deeply Of "the State; but It is |
,ertain that she thinks Of all the mothers
who have lost the sons of Britain in the |
war and, II she is heartbroken, she is
still capable Of pride.
Enlisting for a Lark
In the way of joke humor MANY things
come up. At tribunal recently a man
vas asked why he didn't toin the army. |
What" he replied. "toin the army with |
his bloody war onr' That is, Of course, |
IN attitude which many people will appre
Nate, but 1t Is uncommon. The more |
usual sentiment is that of a friend of |
nine. one-time grain merchant, who was
Kept out of the army in spite of violent
Efforts to get in, until three months ago. |
saw him just before he went off to |
France. and he mixed me a cocktail of |
British and American slang, like this:
This is the llfe eh, what. old kid7 |
Believe me, I'd never have heard Of the
merry old army If 1t hadn't been for
his ruddy war, and think what I'd have |
nissed tell you, civil life is a washout
after this. Cut the stuff about what |
we're nghting for. tell you, 7 like II
'or itself alone. I wished him good luck
n France. and then thought OF some.
hing which hadn't occurred TO me before
Whenever soldiers and civilians are n.
THIN VTNrO"9