The Glenwood post., 1918-05-18
UNSELFISH MOTHER
TRIUMPHS IN POEM

In poetic lines and phrases DR.. James
l.. Hughes of Toronto has penned an
answer to Edwin Markham s rhymed
opposition to the raising of an army by
America to combat the rush of Kaiser
Wilhelm's S Prussian hordes against civil
lization S most sacred laws. Mark
ham called his poem, ~ Did Not Raise
My Boy to Be Soldier.' The epic
reply bears the caption, "The Unself,
ish Mothers Reply and it neither
countenances nor credits the subter-
fuges adopted by the "slacker" to
avoid selection for army service.
Markmah wrote:
o mothers, will you longer give your
sons
To feed the awful hunger of the guns :?
What is the worth of all these battle
drums
If from the field the loved one never
comes?
What all these loud hosannas to the
brave,
If all you share is some forgotten
grave2
The answer will attract more than
passing interest in Salt Lake, because
DR.. Hughes is well known in this city,
having attended several educational
conferences here in the past few years.
Greater significance is given the lines
written because DR.. Hughes has, since
the writing, lost a son in action. The
hcdy lies under the sod in France.
Breathing in its every line Christian
fortitude, while yet bespeaking courage
and determination to do all to quench
the fiery lust of the European oppres-
sor, DR.. Hughes poem reads:
THE UNSELF1SH MOTHERS
ANSWER.
God gave my son in trust to me;
Christ died for him and he should be
man for Christ He is his own,
And God s and mans; not mine alone.
lie was not mine to "give.' He gave
Himself that he might help to save
All that Christian might revere,
All that enlightened men hold dear.
''To feed the guns! Oh, torpid soul!
Awake and see life as whole,
When freedom, honor, justice, right,
With heart aflame and soul alight,
He bravely went for God to fight
Against base savages whose pride
The laws of God and man defied,
Who slew the mother and her child,
Who maidens sweet and pure defiled.
He did not 60 to "feed the guns,'
He went to save from ruthless Huns
His home and country, and to be
A guardian of democracy.
"What if he does not Gomez you say,
All, well! My sky would be more gray,
But through the clouds the sun would
shine,
And vital memories be mine.
God s test Of womanhood is, 1 know,
rot "will he Gomez" but "did he go2"
My son wei; knew that he might die,
And yet he went, with purpose high,
To fight for peace, and overthrow
The plans of Ch:jst r relentless foe.
lie drea 1ei rol Tic battlefield;
He went to make fierce vandals yield;
If he comes not again to me
1 shall be sad; but not that he
Went like a mana hero true
His part unselfishly to do,
Ny heart will feel exultant pride
That for humanity he died.
Forgotten grave!"' This selfish plea
Awakes no deep response in me.
For, though his grave may not see,
My boy shall ne FER forgotten be.
My real son can never die;
'Tis but his body that may lie
In foreign land, and I shall keep
Remembrance fond forever, deep
Within my heart for my true son,
Because of triunips that he won.
1t matters not where any one
May lie and sleep when work IL done.
1t matters not where mon may live;
II my dear son his life must give,
Iosannss ! win sing for him,