The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-06

cathedral for VeSper services. was
Just that lonely. Indeed I was so
lonely along about 5 O'Clock that I
stood looking at a window Iull OF
canes and swagger sticks, thinking
maybe if I bought one 1t would per-
haps be company for me. l hadn
spoken a word for three hours, and
the town was getting in on me. 1t was
at o'clock that sided up to group
of English gunners sitting at a cafe.
and offered to buy them another
round of the pale, stinky, stringy beer
of Italy, If they would let me talk to
them. They thought was German
spy; but l didn't care. l tried to ex-
plain my Red Cross uniform; but it
was obvious that they didn't beheVe
me. But they talked English. even if
it was guarded, and let me talk, which
was really what / wanted to do. So
gave them all the stories of blood and
carnage 1 had picked up in France.
And 1 got this one in trade. The Tom
mics were treating the American sol
dfers Somewhere in France to the
stale flaccid beer of the French. "A
| BIZ flat. don't you think?" asked the
American, slipping his pot. .Oh well,
answered the Tommy, May be so.
! It's been waiting for you three years."
which l think is a fairly good one. AS
the afternoon grew old 1 left the SOL
diers when they had drained their
pots and took up my weary way to
the cathedral
1t was not a large cathedral, but it
was an interesting one. 1t is the only
cathedral 1 ever saw adorned by an
equestrian statue. Also it has a shrine
! of the Virgin where she performs
marvellous cures, and where are teSu
monials of the miraculous esca pes that
have come to those who have prayed
| to the Virgin. On each side of an
| altar to the Virgin is a panel of pic
! lures showing how the devout were
saved-Saved from fire and flood,
from shell and bullet, from sickness
and lightning, and in another part of
the cathedral is great pile OF
crutches, which the worshipers had
discarded, including wooden legs, and
| arms, and in a few cases wooden
heads, which indicated the restored
reason of those who had prayed. So
| in these perilCuS times the shrine to
| the Virgin is crowded with petition
! erS- Mothers and wives and fathers
and children came Struggling in pray
ing for mercy to their loved ones. 1t
| is not in my creed to believe much
| shot and shell and fire and lightning s
blast Or the pestilence that walketh.
Yet 1 had no ribald sneer for those
dear folk who came. They were
looking for help from something out
side and beyond themselves, and so
| their hearts and minds were for the
moment of prayer, at least, diverted
| from things of this earth. And some
way, as the ages pass, as we think
more seriously and deeply of things
outside and beyond ourselves in this
| earth, we slowly rise as individuals
and as a race. And those who have
minds that need the Virgin as a SYM
| bol-need the Virgin, and that's all
there is to it. The God I pray to
probably would interest them as little
| as the God they address interests me.
And doubtless my God is a "bloomin
idol made of mud" to those whose
| hearts are cleaner and purer than
mine, so it is not for me to smile at
the Virgin and her blessed shrine.
What! White Likes Garlic!
That night ate dinner at an Off
GERS mess in chateau used by Ma
| poleon. The chateau is furnished
largely as it was furnished in Napo-
Icons day-in a grand style. 1 should
think as soon of undressing in an
American county courtroom as putting
on pajamas and ducking into bed in
that public place. But the dinner was
good; all the meals in Italy were good
SO far as that goes AS a matter OF
Isrecord, 1 may say that 1 enjoy the
cooking of the Latin races more thar
I do that of the northern and colder
blooded peoples. 1 frankly like gar
lie; 1 am fond of olive oil. 1 stand
for every kind of macaroni. spaghetti
ravoH and vermicelli that the broad
empire of Rome" can afford-even il
1 do not like the Latin attitude toward
women, and have a low opinion OF
Latin politics, taken as a whole. 1t is
sometimes complicated with man
slaughter, and often hinges on specia
privilege, and is generally fairly de-
vious. Latin politics, again speaking
broadly. differs from the politics OF
the north, in this. There is Away:
one delegation in the Latin conven.
tioE, which stands ready to come or
the last ballot With us, it is goot
politics to get that delegation OF
the first ballot! The allies have JUS
tried the plan of coming on the las
ballot, and it doesn't seem to worl
out. Band wagon politics never pays
That is the lesson of Udine