Evening star., 1918-07-07

gees are crushed or suffocated; once
in q raid on London burst water
pipes drowned those mothers and
their little ones, who had sought
refuge IN 9 basement-.drowned them
like rats In a great trap.
Now let us return to the maroons
which / had watched as they burst
above the sleeping city; let us con-
slider them from the point Of view Of
the United States. where chivalry to
babes and children are regarded with
That night they were about a
million and quarter women in this
greatest city; there were about two
million MILL and a quarter children: They
Of warfare and of decency they
should have been exempt from wars
destruction. In New York state and.
think. one or two others we would
electrocute. and, believe in every
by violence did such one to death.
Like that of a gunner shooting
blindly into a covert, the "luck" of
these huntsmen of the air might be
'good"--a bomb which one of them
might drop (by the pulling of a
lever) might fall into an empty
street. might drop to explode harm
lessly in. some park space, might
strike building emptied of its oc-
-cupants at the days end and kill no
one; might, in other words. assassi-
nate no innocent and helpless babe
asleep, main no young girl. strike to
eternal rest before her time no soft
checked. tremulous-lipped, silver
haired old lady.
But any gunner OF the forest may
go homeward disappointed without
game. Patience is a requisite Of the
; And SO with the Hun airman. He
can only fly. ,grinning his ghastly
grin, his tense lips barring his clench-
ed teeth, and hope to murder with
efficiency. The most expert and in
dustrious of the~iaiser's trained as
eassins of the innocent may fail.
They do their worst and trust to luck.
Devils could do no more.
Down in the basement where we
gathered we could hear the grumble
OF far distant guns beginning. Mind
you. we were not soldiers In the
front-line dugouts as an attack ap-
preached; we were civilians who had
gone to bed as you I'M New York
city, you in Chicago, you In WASH
ington. you in San Francisco. you IN
New Orleans, you at Jones Cross
roads, will go to bed tonight.
II
We were not armed. 1 nt WHI, WIN
its trenches and it's tanks. its barbed-
wire entanglements and its bomb
dumps, with all its ordered offense
and prepared defense. was far away
from us, upon the continent, In
France, where armed men fight
armed men legitimately. And yet
We knew the searchlights were
aplay above our heads. sweeping
Gods own heaven for hells own dew
lis. we had seen them play thus
many times, with displays such as on
American cities into gasping wonder.
Each night the searchlights here
must practice. in preparation for the
occasional night when murderous
tends may fly into their beams. Their
operators are right honorable mem
bers of the British Society for the
Discouragement OF the Murder or
Young Children, OF London's Guild 10
.f;uard Old Women From Assassina-
ton.
who was down there in the base
ment as all this began above? Well.
in an outer hall, sitting in chair
against the wall. was an aged noble-
man, whose eightieth yearJwas speed
ing as he listened~to the guns<-calm.
stern faced. interested. immaculate In
evening clothes, quite unshaken by
the turmoil of explosions In the outer
world. A British captain. escaped
from hospital perhaps a month before
he should have been out of his cot
through the kindness of doctor who
had thought his venerable mother
might speed his convalescence better
than the nurses, smiled at this old
lady's apparent unconcern tbut wor-
ra,f,,. fNr haR In q m nj