The Washington herald., 1918-02-28

noIscs, uIoWiHS ufc Sduutcot dud
tisntiy, It's bells tinkling, and its
driver, Q wide-cheeked fellow with q
pipe in his mouth and q peppermint
stripe across the end Of his muffier.
sits in drowsy content. the reins dang
ling loose.
Something Gray PASSES.
A bright-eyed old woman steps
briskly along. her market basket
on her arm; q sturdy peasant girl
with a push cart; q boy racing
with a dog; just enough movement
to give life to the restful panorama
Out there the deep blue water,
held lovingly in the arm Of a green
sloped promontory. and spreading be-
yond to blue tnfinity. The waves
tumble rnerrily In on the beach. spar
king and flashing in the sunlight, and
tossing their dainty caps Of pearl on
/ the sand with reckless extravaganza.
| A few gulls ride /fat-breasted on
the water, bobbing like corks; a
few others circle lazi1y In the air;
and above all. over gulls and sea
and beach and winding road. cart,
old women, girl and boy and dog.
| roses and green-clad hills and
white chateaux. there bends a se-
rene blue sky, deep, fathomless,
with only here and there a fieck
of fieecy cloud to make the blue
more vivid.
Oh it is q beautiful world;
beautiful!
And to think that all this glori-
GUS Paradise was given to man to
be it's lord and master, given to
him that he might enjoy its
boundless wealth, and live in peace
and plenty.
J But what Is that new movement on
, the road among the hills?
Something gray passes there; q big,
covered wagon; another, another. q
/ long procession of them.
| Ambulances. for up in the hills there
are vast hospitals for convalescent
wounded.
War! The whole dream, the vision
Of peace and plenty. the thought Of
Thanksgiving for the gift Of all this
beauty of sea and sky and shifting,
breathing life, fades away.
Wari There Is war in the world. q
war 50 colossal, so far-reaching. that
no human being. even in the most
sequestered spot Of this terrestrial
universe, can be free from its deaden-
ing touch.
A sudden rage mis- the heart.
Why should there be war; this war;
any war!
Why, where all nature is devoted to
the business Of living. and blossoming
into beauty. should human kind have
suddenly fallen upon itself to main
and mangle and destroy!
Why should humanity have risen in
one mighty appalling madness to kill
itself!
| Why should It have bent all its en-
ergy, and all its mind, and all the re-
sources Of the teeming earth, to the
Lone grisly business of death.
There Ii no sane mind but that
stops, startled. to ask this unanswer-
able question, no properly constituted
soul which does not cry out in an
agony Of passionate protest against
this awful condition.
We must stop 1t! There must be
no more war!
What More Can We Det
comes the chilling thought OF the i'm
potence Of our fury. What can We
! do that we are not already doing?
There succeeds q feiing Of utter
helpiessness, a feeling that this ruth
less cataclysm OF carnage is super
natural In its immensity, and there is
a faint moment when one, seeming
pitifully small and weak before a
monster so gigantic. recoils from the
/ struggle, and would like to creep
| away into q hole somewhere. and
numbly exist until the storm has
passed.
1t Is necessary to still that panic Of
the mind. for II is little less than a
panic, a recoil and a Quaiiing Of self
against q disaster so universal that
| no human creature may feel safe
from its imminence.
An atom cannot stop Re rushing Of
a food, says Fear.
To the aid Of the individual Reason
must come, as It has come to this ma
ton Of France. through her individ-
uals. Enduring rocks are made Of
atoms which cling together.
The rage against war, the passion
ate protest against the very possibility
Of war is here from the highest to the
lowest, for these are human people,
and cruelty Ia abhorrent to them; but
exactly because the rage against this
war and all war, is in them, they have
fought and are fighting. at the side Of
their staunch allies, with a sublime
courage which has never wavered from
the first, and will never waver to the
last; for that Is the only way in which
war is to be stamped out.
Calm Rage Fiereest.
There is no rage so terrific as that
which holds itself calm; and that is
the secret OF the Frenchman's never
changing attitude toward this colossal
conflict; and 1t is his greatest strength.
The German loudly proclaims him
self. Let him win a slight advantage
and he boasts to the world that he is
already victorious!
Even as he does so, he discovers that
the French, entirely undisturbed by
the reverse 50 far rs their plans are
concerned. are steadily treading to the
front. are steadily marshaiing their
resources, are steadily facing the line
Of living flame.
Let the French obtain a slight
advantage, and the German boasts
to the world that he has laid q
strategic trap. and that he is al
ready victorious.
II we have correctly read the psy-
chology of events, II worries the
German. that caimness of. the
French.