Omaha daily bee., 1918-07-21
WAR MEANS MUCH To-
BRITISH OLD FOLK
Burden Is Harded on the Old
er Generations Than ON
the Younger, Says
London Writer.

splendidly and now gallantly the
young manhood of the empire has an
swered the great call; how, bidding a
tender goodby to the dear ties of
home, it has gone with undaunted
heart and head erect to fling itself
fearlessly into the fury of the fray,
writes George R. Sims in London
Chronicle.
We know how willingly and whole
heartedly our young womanhood has
volunteered for sisterly service in the
hospitals and in the camps, and how
bravely it has dared the perils the new
methods of warfare carry far behind
the battle front. We have seen our
young womanhood lay aside the fem
inine arts and crafts and employ
ments of peace to take up without
murmur the sterner tasks of war. We
have seen it carry or not only the
work of war, but fill the places Of
men in our commercial undertakings
and our industries, on the land and on
the railways We have seen il re-
inforcing the police, assuring the con-
tinuance of the passenger traffic of the
streets, and saving the postal system
from confusion and delay.
Strain Is Terrible.
We know with what brave hearts
the young wives of the empire have
borne the pangs of parting and the
ceaseless anxiety of the long years OF
war. We know how terrible has been
the strain upon the mothers and faith
ers of the empire, whose sons are at
bay with raging and ruthless foe on
land and sea.
But few of us have quite realized
the extent to which the world trag-
edy has affected the aged men and
women who are nearing the journeys
end, and who, as the war drags on,
begin to fear that their eyes may
never again see the land they love at
peace. They have bravely endured
the long years of alternate hope and
fear, and now they are straining
their eyes through the darkness
watching for the first faint glimmer
of light which will herald the dawn.
Youth that survives the toll OF battle
can find comfort in the knowledge
that the happy days will come at last.
and that in all those happy days will
mean it will have its share.
Still Have Chance.
The middle-aged have still a fair
chance of knowing again the calm
joys and peaceful pleasures of the
pre-war days. They have had to en-
dure the long hours of darkness, but
for them the sun will shine again.
Victory may be delayed, but it will
come at last and bring balm for all
their wounds. They will know at
least that the dear ones they have
lost have not made the great sacrifice
in vain.
But the old folks are oppressed
with the haunting fear that they will
have to pass into the great silence
with the fate of their beloved land
and all they hold dear in it still trem-
bling in the balance. They, too, have
endured bravely. They have borne
unmurmuringly the stress and pri-
vations that the conditions of war
have brought upon us. They have
been sustained by their faith in the
justice of their country's cause and
in the might and valor of the proud
race to which they belong. But their
eyes grow DINNER and their limbs
more feeble, and their last days are
disturbed and saddened by the
thought that they may die and never
know.
No Fear of Death.
Death would have had no terrors
for them If they could have died with
the Song of Simeon on their lips:
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant
depart in peace, for mine eyes have
seen Thy salvation" 1t is the saliva
ton of the Lords cause, the cause of
justice and freedom. it is the glory
of the people of the free lands and OF
the people of their own race and
blood that these patriarchs long to
see ere they 60 hence.
1t is not OF themselves they are
thinking as the shadows gather 1t is
Of the imperial race to which they be-
long, of the great empire that they
know is now fighting for its very ex-
istence, and of the free and happy
land in which their long and useful
lives had been spent so peacefully.
In the evening of their days, with
their life's work done, their task ac-
complished, the rest and peace that
should have been theirs have been
denied them. The cry of battle has
resounded In their ears. Many OF
them have lived on to see the young
of their blood--those who answered
the call OF king and country-pass to
the tomb before them.
Horrors of War.
They have found themselves linger-
ing in a world filled with the horrors
of war, a war in which the hosts of
tyranny, armed with every murder
Gus device, seek to slay or enslave the
free peoples. From a world at war
with this tyranny they themselves
must soon pass, but in that world
they are leaving their children and
their children's children.
IHCy pray tHdL sHCy may Uc per
mitted to linger here until the victory
of freedom over tyranny has been
achieved. They pray that they may
be spared until their eyes have seen
the salvation of the world, and until
their hearts have been eased of all
fear for the future of their land and
their loved ones.
This is what / hear from the lips of
the old folks who talk to me of the
war. "Will those | leave behind me
ever know again the happy, peaceful
England in which | had lived all my
life until this terrible war came, and
in which I once hoped and believed
that ] should die?'
The old folks whose summons comes
now are not only passing into the