Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-12-12
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY
A Dangerous Crossing.

Hardwick, the scene of the fatal in
jury to an aged couple when their
team was struck by train, ought to
| be one of the grade crossings to be
eliminated promptly. For stranger
to drive through section, where it
might be thought no crunching iron
horse on shining steel ever pene-
trated, directly and suddenly onto the
very path of the locomotive is some
confessed himself surprised to find
himself suddenly carried onto that
grade crossing after having thought
that he had left lines of rail trans
portation far behind. or that they
were some distance ahead. An I'M
derpass is needed.-Barre Times.
Burning Ourselves Clean.
In the conclusion of that excellent
story, "Paterfamilias,' in the current
issue of the Saturday Evening Post,
new type of modern poet is made to
say:
! Send these people great war! Lift
them from their silk puddle. Blast the
fat from their bodies and the sloth
from their souls; wash the paint from
their faces with tears. Sweep away
the stuffed meats and hot pastry and
starve them into clean hunger. Drag
them through hell and over death,
and make them once more erect and
| hard. and pure-minded. Make them
beautiful and gay; give them back
the simpler love and valor, the stole
/ virtues.
This is merely stating in finished
! literary terms what Herald readers
have seen in these columns ever since
! the declaration of war, what far-see-
ing statesmen and inspired witnesses
| from France and Flanders have told
US, what earnest publicists have writ
ten, what our own congressman told
US only last week.
America, fed high and fat by half
century Of uneXampled prosperity
and commercial triumph, was on the
way to Join Greece, Rome, Egypt,
Babylon, Nineveh and Tyre.
| Hardly midway in the perilous eX-
pertinent of a republic, we fondly
considered ourselves a great nation,
having meanwhile taken to our bosom
every element of human unrest sent
to us from Europe and having been
lulled into a sense of false security by
the very elements that now propose
to plumber us.
Yes, we had begun to loll in our
high places, spending for food, raj
ment and entertainments sums that
would have beggared nations SO
years ago.
We had acquired new vices, new ap-
petites, new Injuries, new customs
or rather all older than civilization,
for the very elements that were rot
ting the moral and physical fibre Of
this nation, centuries ago destroyed
the triumphant civilizations Of the
ancients so soon as they rested from
the sword and ploW and began to live
in luxury.
Now comes the fire of war to burn
away the gross and dross that were
choking and corroding our national
life, to scar our social ulcers to the
bone, to destroy-let us hope forever
1.-The false ideas and swinish content
that threatened our very existence
Meanwhile, let US look to ourselves.
We shall not escape this fame I'M
scathed-not one Of us. Suffering,
sorrow, sacrifice and sanctification to
noble cause must be ours. And, |
before the end, will come such ma
tional agony as never yet shook this
huge, flabby body of ours with it's
burning throes.
Then only shall we emerge "saved |
as by fire" -Rutland Herald.
Heard On the Street.
That the people who want peace
right away must want another war
soon.
That the Junction woman who |
sweetened an apple pie with molasses
is some Hooverizer.
That the pacifsts who are starting |
chain letters would be in chains if |
they lived in Germany.
That they are still drilling with |
brooms in some Of the army camps,
but this will no doubt presage a
sweeping victory.
That the patrons Of the soda foun-
tains must have their sugar whether
the soldiers in the trenches get any in
their coffee or not.
That now they have fixed it up so
that one of our allies will not try to
steal second while another is knock
ing a pop fly, things should go bet
ter.
That the people who complain that |
no progress is being made in the war
are usually the ones who aren't coop
Grating themselves In any way.
That if some of our young officers |
from the country can't think of the |
right word, the recruits will no doubt |
stop when they say whoa"
That three-cent postage has upset |
business a good deal, but it has not |
interfered with the amount of free |
publicity offered to the newspapers.
That great exultation is felt by the
Germans over the fact that 100 or
two of their raiders were able to
overcome a dozen of our soldiers
That those farmers who are hoard
ing potatoes for high prices are prob
ably the same ones who denounce the |
trusts for getting what money they |
can.
That after Junction grocer who |
hasn't any sugar has refused the |
957th call for same, he remarks that |
"Job never tried to run a provision
store"
That some of those people who look |
so downcast haven't sent boy to
the WAY. but re merely ocrn11chu he |