The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-10-24

mediocre mind, that can multiply and |
exploit the inventions and discover
les OF the other races. The Germans !
contributed practically nothing to the |
invention of the locomotive, the |
steamboat, the MarconiGram, the au-
tomobile, the aeroplaine, the phono- !
graph the sewing machine, the reap
er, the electric light. Americans in
vented for Germany her revolver, her
machine gun, her tulretcd ship and
her torpedo submarine. In retrospect.
1t seems absolutely incredible that
Germany could have been so help
lessly and hopelessly unequal to the
invention Of the tools that have made
her rich. But that is not her gift. If
sheffield can give her a model knife
Germany can reproduce that knife in
quantities and undersell Sheffield The
German people keep step in a regi-
ment, in factory and On a ship, and
therefore are Wholesalers The
wrench mind is creative; stands for
individual excellence. .and is at the
other extreme from the German tenn
permanent. The emblem Of the Ger
man intellect is beer; the emblem Of
the English intellect is port wine; the
emblem of the French mind is cham
pagne; the emblem of an American
intellect. like Emerson's, is u beaker
hlled with Sunsiline-r.y knowledge
OF these liquors is based on hearsay
1t is this lack of imagination that eX-
plains NietZsche's statement that for
| 200 years Germany has been the
Heine declared the name Of culture
was France.
1t is this total lack of mental ca
pacity to appreciate architecture that
! explains Germany's destruction of
Isome Of the noblest buildings of the
world. She cannot by any chance
conceive how the other races look
upon her vandalism. Her own for
eign government expressed it pub
licly in one of her state papers: Let
the neutrals cease chattering about
cathedrals. Germany does not care
one straw if all the galleries and
churches in the world were destroyed
providing we gain our ends. Guizot
in his history of civilization, pre-
sents three tests of a civilized peo-
ple:' First they revere their pledges
and honor; second, they reverence
and pursue the beautiful i'm painting,
architecture and 1iterature third
they exhibit sympathy in reform to-
ward the poor, the weak and the un-
fortunate.
| Now apply those tests to the Kais-
er and his war staff, ard you under
stand why Rheims Cathedral is a
ruin. No building since the Parthe-
non was more precious TO the world 5
culture. What majesty and dignity in
the lines! What wealth of statuary,
How wonderful the twelfth century
glass! With what lighlress did these
arches leap into the air! Now the
great bombs have torn holes through
the roof; only little bits of glass re-
main. Broken are the arches, ruined
some Of the flying buttresses; the al
tar where Jeanne dare stood at the
crowning of Charles is quite gone
The great library, the bishops palace
all the art treasures arc in ruins.
Ancient and noble buildings do
not belong to n race; they belong to
the world Sacred forever the thresh
hold of the Parthenon once pressed
by the feet Of Socrates and Plato;
| thrice sacred that aisle Of Santa
Croce in Florence. dear to Dante ana
Savonarola; to be treasured forever
the solemn beauty of Westminster Alb
hey, holding the dust of the mer of
supreme genius. In front of the
wreck of the Cathedral of Rheims
broken with the German hammer is
the statue of Jeanne dare. There she
stands, immortal forever. guiding the
steed of the sun with the left hand.
lifting the banners of peace and lib
erty with the right. BY some strange
chance no bomb injured that bronze.
oh, beautiful emblem of the day
when the spirit of liberty, riding in Il
greater host made up OF all the peo-
pies who revere the treasures of art
and architecture and law and liberty
and Christ's poor, and will ride on to
a victory that will be the sublimest
conquest in the annals of time.