Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-06-05
KITCHENER


l. a stormy sunset off the Orkneys the
cruiser Hampshire struck a mine and foun
dered in a few minutes. Lord Kitchener
was last seen talking quite calmly (can you
imagine him otherwise0 to the slips
officers on the bridge.
No one will have forgotten the pang Of
horror and regret that throbbed in the
hearts Of the English.loving peoples when
the news was known. To many men It
the sharpest single shock of the war.
And, so often happens in such cases,
there were many who could not believe
that the great general was dead. 1t was
said that he had been captured by the
Germans or that he had been picked up
by Morse fishermen; he was biding his
time and some day would reappear to bring
succor and blazing aid to his cause.
Such human legends and fablings, un.
reasonable as they may SEEM are always
based on some underlying truth. Kitchener
is alive just in the same sense that Hin
denburg is dead. Hindy may tag around
over the battlefields with Wilhelm and
Rosner, but his work is done; it is sewn up
and shrouded and committed to the internal
deeps. These reports that keep coming
in attesting his continuance are vastly
exaggerated. The failure of his last west
ern drive is simply the epitaph on his
tablet.
Just as truly as Hindenburg is dead.
Kitchener is alive. The work that he
began continues and will continue. Our
H.,
sense his heirloom. It is said that
he never married. that he founded no
family. But he founded family whose
deeds will resound as long as men honor
courage and unflinching patience. In a
years time he raised family of four
million men in khaki. He showed the
world what civilian levies can do. 1t is
tragic that lie did not live to see our
own National Army which would have
spoken so directly to his heart.
The world loves to invent legends for its
great men. Around the tall grim figure
Of Kitchener has grown the story of a
sphinx of ice and iron; a woman-hater, a
demon of efficient coldness and brusGuere.
All such legends We take pains to disbe.
lieve. Mr.. Schwab, Philadelphia's newest
citizen, saw Kitchener at the time OF his
greatest stress when he was planning des-
perately how he could provide his armies
with enough guns and shells. Mr.. Schwab
has told how kitchener's face and voice
were broken with emotion.
It is never safe to assume that A man
is a woman -hater Just because he is a
bachelor, or that he has the temper of a
frosty devil because he scowls at the news
paper mans camera. Kitchener detested
useless and idle chatter. He had a passion
for getting things done. He was born in
Ireland These apparent contradictions so
puzzled the interviewers that naturally they
were in no mood to observe the facts.
Kitchener was wise in the ways Of war
He saw3 long before most, that the conflict
would be long and bitter one. He had
faced the German military machine in his
youth when, as boy of twenty, he had
enlisted with the French in 1870.
Probably the finest and deepest tribute
eveMpaid to Kitchener was that of o.
HenrvA In one of his stories lis it The
Unfinished Story"?l O. Henry describes how
his little shopgrl heroine keeps a photo Of
that strong, solderly face on the bureau
in her mean hall-bedroom to remind her
to play the game to the end and not to
finch before the temptations that assail
her. O. Henry. with his vivid human in
sight read the secret OF that hard fine
face He saw the tenderness and humor
and knighthood behind the stern mask
How often the men who scowl at the pho
tographer are the tenderest after all.
The common people are always right
Tom, Dick and Harry, Eliza and Mary
Ann all the little folk of England took
X. of X to their hearts. India and
Egypt worshped him. He gave England
all he had; behind her errors and alb
surdities he saw the fine tradition of
democracy and clean -handedness that have
marked her dealings with men. In every
trench and field where the armies OF the
Allies are fighting his spirit is still alive.
C. D.. NJ.