Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-04-10
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1t is hard to give them up; but
there are two sides OF this question:
The side of the boy himself: He
has his own honor to consider; he
has to live with himself, and the
worst doom man can endure Is to
live with q dishonorable self He
may save his life on what appears to
be the most rational Justification, but
will he not thereby lose it?
The moment we hear our coun-
try's call we see the question from
the point of view Of our friends and
loved ones honor. We not only ap-
proved of their decision, but we are
proud Of 1t.
If these boys are nobly glad to
make their sacrifices, we should be
contemplate If we were unwilling to
make our sacrifice in surrendering
them to the call of imperative duty.
such occasions call for { ood qualities
In us, and here we may show our
which we stand. We will back our
boys to the very end.
We keep learning; we learn even
from the ones far away. BY their
heroism we ea:e educated; we have
realized through them that the di-
vinest thing in human life Is sacri-
fice 1t seems strange to say that
the sons are educating the parents,
but that is precisely what Is being
done at the present
The natural impulse Of youth is
toward the heroic. War is o call to
the heroic. The greatest sacrifices
in generations are to-day coming to
our young lives as we'll as to the old.
Could We BE Proud?
II all these dear ones had not re-
sponded to the call of the heroic,
should we have been satisfied with
them? We might have been selfish
ly glad to have had them with us
while their comrades marched away
to certain peril. But would there not
have been elements of shame in our
gladness? Would we not have felt
that their indifference, their prefer
ence for ignoble security was an ac-
cusation of us, and a slur? Would
we not have been, disappointed in
them? When these boys showed
capacity for heroism and sacrifice, did
they not thereby put new honor on
us and unconsciously invoke in us
worthiness that should be equal to
their own?
When the worldwide trouble is
over among all our people there will
be those who have fought and en-
dured for a just and honorable
cause; new standards will prevail;
life will have new values-a sweet
ness of which the people have never
had taste-the Cup Of Freedom"
of which it Is hoped that all nations
will be invited to partake. Millions
of men will return to civil life who
have learned in hardship, misery, in
pain and daily contact with death,
the supreme JOY Of sacrifice. They
will know what it means to give ALL
and dare ALL for a cause.
These are the men who have stood
the test. They will be very contemp-
tuous Of selfishness, cowardice, COM
placency, and those ideals OF life
which are based wholly on material
values. Their minds, having been
sobered and elevated by the tragedies
they have witnessed and undergone,
will lind no point of contact with
those who think only in the terms Of
frivolity and trivial personal aims
and selfish pleasure
Shall We Be Worthy Of Them?
How can we, foreseeing all these
things, fail to make ourselves wor-
thy of the men who have endured
and given their whole life to the
cause for our sake? If it had not
been for all the people left behind
people who love freedom, charity and
loyalty, in America-how would our
men have fought? If we have given
nothing for cause to which they
have given everything, or If, In CIV
ing them, we gave grudingly, and
still keep a grudge alive and show
ourselves incapable Of matching
their active heroism with our own
passive heroism, we shall find that
they have so outgrown us in moral