The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-11-02

l would press no one to go to war,
nor to stay at home against his own
conviction. But somewhere, for ev-
cry man. a stage is set. Somewhere
the words are being spoken that are
his cue. We say to our men, Boys,
go on and do your part"
To be sure. we see here and there
a, woman who want men to linger
from important things to pick up
her handkerchief and bring her q
drink. But, these are serious times.
We are all having a lot Of the fool
ishness taken out of us. The world
is in one of those times that try
men's souls. And, as always in such
times, it is woman's wrok, not mere.
ly to keep her own soul from bend.
ing, but to prop up the souls of one
or two men.
The woman who has a soldier in
her own family owes him the duty Of
being one OF his props. Suppose q
boy from a home where he has had
too much sympathy and too little
practical encouragement, should write
home something like this: hurt my
finger yesterday peeling potatoes and
no one has been around to see how
! am getting on. The officers of this
company don't seem to care whether
a fellow lives or dies. The other
boys all have it in for me-" etc. Be-
lieve me or not, there are women
who would Immediately write to the
captain after this manner: II YOU do
not take better care of my boy, I
shall write to the War Department
about you. Besides, did not send
my boy to the army to peel potatoes.
AT home, we have always had ser.
wants to do these menial tasks.
guess you think you are too good to
peel potatoes yourself, but l have
told my boy he does not need to peel
potatoes for anybody, and If you
make him do such thing again.I will
have him sent home"
How many of you really sympa-
thizeg with, the mother I have imag-
ined? Lots of the worlds "sissies"
would have developed into men, il
they had been born orphans. q
] want to lay down this rule. Don't
pity the soldier, admire him. The
more hardships you see in his lot
the more you must admire him. You
cannot admire the same people you
pity, Try it; 1t can not be done. We
must j.. choose between pity for our
soldiers or admiration for them. /
say, give them admiration, lots, OF 1t.
l have heard the spirit of Company
d commented upon many times. It
is the thing that has put the plus
sign in their record. 1t shows that
they are men and that their women
are women, in the highest sense of
beth words. 4 cannot tell you too en-
that we women must re-
gard as one of our highest duties the
task OF maintaining the spirit of our
coldiers.
And. then we must feel that It is
our duty to maintain the spirit of the
nation behind the soldier. This
means keeping our own spirit strong
and true at any cost, and helping the
next woman when we can. 1t means
that we must not cover before life,
hard as 1t is these and the coming
days. 1t means we must give our
friendship more readily to each other.
We, the wives. mothers, sisters and
sweethearts Of the men who are not
afraid Of death, must stand together,
lnafraid Of life.
There is practical value in this.
Not out of the mind out of the spir-
t comes sacrifice. Out of the spirit
comes bravery. No man is beaten
until he surrenders, and no one sur
renders while the fight Beems worth
while. Our 'peUpie wifi give, and our
soldiers will fight as long as their
spirit remains unweakened.
Here we women take their place
against the foe-as protectors,s of
Americas spirit. For this is the
Ultimate line Of defense-the spirit
If the nation. guarded by the souls
If its women.