Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-26
THE REWARD
BY DOROTHY DIX
The Worlds Highest Paid Woman
Writer.

THEY are talking in Washington Of
having a special medal struck to
j present to such Of the men in
our army as perform deeds of signal
Falor. even as Germany and England
and France pin decorations on the
breasts Of their heroes, so that all who
see them may know of their bravery.
When this medal is struck, another
one should be struck as a companion
piece 10 it. This other medal should
be in the design of a bleeding heart
with two white bars across it, and on
these bars should be in letters Of
gold the words PATRIOTISM and
COURAGE, and this insignia Of the
highest order of merit should be pin
ned on the breast of every woman
who has willingly given husband or
son to the service of her country.
Hers is a love of country greater
than the love of life, because she Of
fers up on the altar of her patriotism
that which is far dearer to her than
life itself. Hers is a courage greater
than that OF the man who goes into
battle, because he can only die once
while she dies thousand deaths of
anxiety every day, imagining the hor.
rors that may be happening to him.
The man has the strange, thrilling
excitement OF war to keep his pulses
tuned to concert pitch. He has the
rush and press Of work to occupy his
thoughts; new scenes and experiences
to divert him; the support, mental and
bodily, of doing things in large
crowds; the touch of spiritual and
physical shoulders to hearten him up.
The woman must make her fight
alone in the silence Of the empty
home, with nothing but monotonous
household duties to fill her days, often
with a new necessity for pinching
economy now that the bread winner
is gone, and always with too much
time in which to think the thoughts in
which madness lies. 1t takes courage
to face a prospect like that, and the
woman who does it gladly and cheer
fully for her country's sake is just as
truly patriot and a hero as any man
who ever led forlorn hope in battle.
/ should like to see that badge of
the bleeding heart dominated by the
white bars Of patriotism and courage
on the breast of every true American
woman who has not wept, nor pleaded,
nor tried to keep her men folks from
doing their duty to their country.
should like to take off my hat every
time | see such decoration, as a
Frenchman salutes the cross OF the
Legion of Honor, and so / suggest
that when our government strikes
medals for its heroes, it also strikes
a medal to give to the heroic women
who have given these heroes to their
country.
No one would minimize the sacrifice
that a mother makes when she sends
her son forth to war, but this is to be
said to comfort her-war is not wholly
evil. 1t is not even as dangerous as
her morbid fancies paint it, and II
many woman will lose her son in
battle, many another woman will get
back a son who has been reborn in
that fiery furnace, one who went forth
a weakling and came back a man.
Those who know what the training
of an army camp will do for youth
physically declare that as many of our
young men will save their lives
through the war as will be killed by it.
Thin chested, anemic. stoop should
cred lads, who have never done any
manual labor harder than pushing
pen across a sheet of paper or up and
down ledger, and whose only exer.
else has been confined to fox trotting
in a crowded restaurant, will come
back from the war broad of shoulder,
straight as an arrow, big muscled.
Five more years of office work would
have landed these boys in the graves
of consumptives. Soldering will save
them. .....r. s~..:
Hard work in the open air, sleeping
out of doors, regular hours, plenty Of
plain nourishing food, these will drive
the angel with the scythe back into
the shadow for a quarter of a century