Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-05-01

this enough? Mrs. %s% ~
Mary Roberts Il aAS&yz
Rinehart, in he -YH,S- ,S--===.=
little book, Tho O
Altar of rree. MARY II. RINEHART
dom" Just pub ished by the Houghtor
Miflin Company. of Boston, says that il
is not. personal service" she declares
"is not rolling bandagcs for the Other
woman's sons" She discovered this " hen
her own son wanted to enlist last year in
the army that went to the Mexican Dor
der. She saws:
was willing to have him do his
duty but I asked him 10 wait. Woman
like ] wanted time. felt that surely
this cross was not for me to bear so
soon.
Then--and may he forgive me for
telling this because of It's purpose
after n day or two he wired asking his
father and myself If we wanted him to
be n gutter
| came TO my senses then and the
necessary permission to enlist was
signed and sent Then | sat down and
wrote to him and said we would stand
squarely behind him in whatever he
did.
Easy? II was the hardest thing |
have ever done. But ! am glad now.
I would never have forgiven him, |
think had he failed his country. But
I nearly failed him.
She expresses what Is in every mother's :
heart when she says that every mother
would go to war herself If by so doing
she could keep her son in safety. But
this privilege of sacrificing herself for
her sons is denied to woman for tho rea.
son that the sons must offer themselves
and risk their lives for the sake of those
principles we all hoia dear in order that
the mothers and the sons of the future
may live in peaceful freedom. Mrs.
Rinehart continues;
Yet war is not necessarily death I
try to comfort myself with this Per-
haps II will help other mothers 1t is
hazard, but it is thing of vast rewards
and much cheerfulness, of democracy, OF
big moments and little feastS of smiles
and grumbling, Of labor and rest, and
of that joy in his kind that only the
hoy knows. And underneath 1t all.
buried deep and never articulate, Is
that feeling OF doing his bit for his
country which is the foundation on
which nation rests secure.
| wish | could always remember
these things. l have panicky times
Wnen tne sun UleS 1OF me ana my WOrIU
goes black. Rut I am like the other
mothers. I shall go through with It,
and | would not have things otherwise.
| would not have my son do other than
he is doing. He is still in his teens,
hut he is a man and this is his country.
| have not raised him to be a shirker,
Only-this is a matter for everybody.
II is not my war or his or the war of
the other college boys who are always
the first to go. just as all benefit
by the country, so must we share and
share alike its dangers.
This is the way this mother looks at
the ruture. Inc prospect would not be
so full of perils if the mothers had been
alive to their obligations in the past
years. Years of peace have blinded the
women, as they have blinded the men to
the necessity of preparation. On this
point Mrs. Rinehart makes these peril
nent remarks:
Sometimes in these last troubled
days. when every newsboy on the street
under my window has been crying War,
I cover my eyes and see that gallant
little first army of England springing
to the call and facing without hope the
great trained German army. 1t was
the best England had. and 1t is gone
almost to a man-because the mothers
had not insisted that every man in the
empire bear his share.
What if your boy and mine could be
part of a vast trained army? His
chance would be better. Better? There
would be no war You and l. trembling
for what may come. are paying the
price Of not having risen. an army of
women, and demanded what may now
come too late.
hat
must consent, whether with gladness or
reluctance does not matter, that their
sons do their full duty in the great crisis
through which the nation is passing.
This is the first duty of women. Their
second duty is in the extension of moth.
erhood to the preparation of the sons for
their task. Nay, it Is right, for, as she
says, I'm return for what we give, we
women of America have the right to de-
mand certain things. First OF all, we can
and must demand time that our boys be
trained" To consent that they should
take the field without adequate prepara.
ton would be like consenting to murder.
Too much time has already been wasted.
The nation should go to 1t with all its
might WIFI inc "oinel supporting every
move In order that their sons may have
more than a sporting chance for life
when they take the field
Mrs. Rineharts book is the best re-
cruiting document that has thus far ap.
peared. It is a call to patriotism based
on sound sense illuminated by knowl.
edge of war conditions and sanctifed by
A,y her /,
has been tried and not found wanting.
c. w. ID.