Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-07-30
"IF THE CIVILIANS HOLD OUT"
1t Is the Folks Back Home That the Army De-
pends on to Help Them Win
Through
BY GILBERT VIVIAN sELDEs

down the size of their saddle of NUT
ton. The soldier grouses at the mud
| alone.
| Yet, to the civilians honor be it
! said, those at home have schooled
; themselves moderately well in disci-
! pline. The more fact that voluntary
rationing in breadstuffs has actually
! cut down the bread consumption to
! the point where official rationing may
| be unnecessary is an indication of
what a democratic people can do
when it makes up it's mind. But l
am not so much impressed by the
mere bearing of discomforts, because
every man in the British Isles has
! before him every day pitiful and
! striking examples of those who have
borne worse and will bear worse to
the end of their days. You can hardly
pride yourself on learning to eat por-
ridge with salt instead of sugar when
your neighbor is humbly learning to
cut his meat with one hand instead
of two.
Physical sacrifices are trivial when
they are made by those at home. The
thing on which the civilian popula-
tion of England can bank is the tenn
per in which it is taking these stress
full months. The whole world is in
W
old question returns Can it be done
, How much longer will it take? Will
there be anything left of us when it
is done? Will it be a good peace,
after all, when peace does come
| These questions are everywhere, and
| the most thoughtless give heed to
them. And every day there is an
other tug at the taut string of their
| emotions.
The string does not snap. There
are precious few signs of nerves"
! People talk more about themselves,
perhaps. than they did before the war,
although I am inclined to doubt the
stories about silent Englishmen," un-
| less they referred to a small and un-
| important class. But ii is the fact
that they are still not afraid to talk
| about themselves, to show you how
much they feel, which guarantees
what can be said of them. The cards
of their emotions are on the table
and you cannot detect a false one.
How One Woman Felt About 1t
A woman whose husband has just
been called up told me what she felt
1 think she was trying to prevent me
from feeling cut up about his going
IT am sorry Philip is going" she
said, but 1 feel just as I always did
when he went off on long trips to
South America. OF course, I think OF
the danger of his not coming back
/ I'd hate myself If 1 couldn't bear tc
| think of it. because he's bound tc
think of 1t. too. I suppose I'm very
like most of us. When the war begar
1 knew nothing. about it. l was fol
England and against Germany, like
the rest. / won't bother you abou'
the separate phases-read Mr.. Brit
ling or mething-because 1 went
through the usual experiences. Phi
was for joining up at once; 1 KEEP
him back. He told me in a half
Joking way that he wanted to go ou
and fight so that Phil junior woulC
be able to row in the eight at OK
ford twenty years from now and no
have to pay German taxes on hi
home in Surrey.
We'll now he's going and he's hap
pier. I'm not happier and L suppos
l shall be rather miserable at times
l don't think / shall be particular!
proud of Phil unless he does some
thing specially noteworthy; and /
certainly will not be any consolation
to me if he gets wounded or wors
to know that it was for the right side
I'm simply praying that he'll come ou
of it with the lucky majority. If h
doesn't-I-well. 1 don't want to tall
about it any more. But l think wei
all see it through, and I'll be jus
like the rest"
1t would be very hard to say "Goo'
luck" to that.