The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1918-11-08

children who stretch forth little arms
from which the hands e struck off
by the swords Of German officers?
For those French boys and girls with
sightless eyes? For those
whose little bodies rest in the church.
yards Of Italy, that died in pain from
poisoned Hun candy? For those other
children slowly starved to death in
Poland or massacred in Armenia?
Toys? Toys made by the Huns to
whom innocence and childhood are but
toys to be played with and then crush
ed and broken? Toys whose very con-
tact communicates and leaves upon the
touch Of babyhood invisible clots Of
blood? As well bring a deadly SER
pent into the home to spew its venom
on the cradle. Why shall we befoul
the purity of American childhood
with a reminder Of the fiendish treat
ment the Huns have gloried in ever
since that fateful August Of 1914. Can
n even look upon a Noah's Ark
made in Germany" and put from his
mind those hundreds Of helpless inno-
cents whose silken locks are twined
with seaweed? Can one hold a Ger
man doll in her arms and forget the
thousands dead from famine who once
made glad a mothers arms? Can a
boy find delight in the ~contortions
of a mechanical Hun clown and forget
those brave young men who writhed
in agony when crucified on castle
walls by these same Huns? Can a
ball colored with the red of Huns fail
to suggest the flame from bursting
grenades hurled by arms uplifted in
the attitude of "kamerad"?
Let those who would invite fear
some ghosts into the home to hover
round the Christmas tree buy German
toys. If one would hang the boughs
with evil omens, and bid the wall of
agonized spirits float through the
branches and fan the Pickering flame
of candles, let him buy German toys.
Let those who can, make merry with
the product of those very hands which
even at this moment are eagerly fill
ing shells with poison gases and dead
flames and hurting them against our
own flesh and blood.
And what of the merchant who for
sordid gain would barter these souve-
Mrs of a loathsome nation and insult
the loyalty Of lisping lips? What
could more delight the cunning Hun,
what more quickly bring the sneering
smile to cruel faces, Of gladden. heart
less hearts, or encourage him to hope
that even now we tolerate his brutal
ity and welcome what he wants to
sell? If now, when as a nation we
are in universal condemnation of Hun
ism, yet do we hold out Jul hands to
accept his works, what will he think
and with what measure shall he esti-
mate the sincerity of u expressions
of repugnance and horror at what he
has done since the sun rose this morn
ing? What mitigation can we claim
in the thought that America was not
yet overseas when these trinkets were
fashioned? Even while the guady
paint was yet fresh upon these trink-
cts were Belgian girls being dragged
into slavery worse than death.
We do not lack for toys; toys by
trainloads made in American factories,
by hands which are clean; toys also by
carloads made by our ally in Japan,
where childhood is sacred, and love,
not hate, is taught at mothers breasts
Even were there none, far better our
boys and girls should go without than
find pleasure in the handiwork of a
nation which made a public holiday to
celebrate the loss of the Lusitania
and which in these latter days is
stepped in the "glory" of monstrosi'
ties. Could our little men who sacri.
flee many a childish pleasure to buy
, war stamps and contribute pennies t.
the Red Cross, and our little mother.
who knit so nationtlv with hands tho,