The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1918-10-10
ENCOURAGE
OUR ARMY
ALL YOU
CAN
By MRS. WILSON WOODROW.


was irritable before. And now I'm
cross and horrid all the time" Or,
81 have Just had one thing after
another happen to me illness,
bad luck, everything gone wrong"
Or, II don't know what Il Is, but I
have never been 80 miserable and
unhappy before. There Is some
thing in the air." They are right
There is something In the air
War. For:
The grim gods Of the past have
arisen,
The black swamps throb and the
mountains boom,
And the dust from their iron-san-
daled feet
Shrouds the sun In a blood-red
gloom;
Out OF the northern mountain
passes
Flame the banners and glare the
swords,
The old gods march from their
wild morasses,
The old gods march with their an
cient hordes."
And no matter how occupied We
may be, or how remote the actual
scenes OF battle, we are all in
VolVed in the mighty struggle The
waves Of that sea OF conflict and
pain and death are beating cease
lessly upon our inner ear and
breaking over our hearts. We are
all In it, whether we are soldiers
or nurses or Red Cross or 7. NJ
C. A. workers, or sitting here In
the safe security Of our homes II
is a part Of our consciousness, and
none may escape 1t, rich or poor,
high or low. The war has come
home to US all. Many OF Us read
the other day Of a conversation
which a nurse who had recently
returned from the front Is said to
have held with q famous surgeon
His Discovery.
He was by nature and training
an agnostic- But he said that
since he had witnessed in the hos
pitals and on the battlefield the
courage, the seh-saerifce, the in
difference to danger, the trans
cendent heroism, which was uni
versal and not confined to the few
he had been convinced against ms
will and beyond all peradventure
of the subliminal nature Of man
and Of the existence Of the great
Over-SouL
All the history we have ever
read seems tame in comparison
with the pages we are turning 50
fast today. The ages have re-
sounded with the echo Of great
and chivalrous deeds, but all OF
them which have lived as the
theme of song and story are the
commonplaces Of today.
While we sip our coffee we read
each morning in the newspapers
epics that will fill the books Of
historians thousands Of years
from now.
There are many who say that
this tremendous conflict is the ira
vail of a world prior TO the birth
Of a great new era
]. for one, can never see the
marching ranks Of our splendid
boys without believing that this
new era, predicted for ages by the
dreamers, the prophets, and the
seers of this earth, is already at
hand
Our First News.
venture to say that now with
our American boys fighting on the
western front, there are very few
of US who do not Immediately turn
to the casualty lists in the news
papers. Our interest in them IS
very personal. So that we who re-
main behind are also in training
and on the battlefield. For al
though we war not with flesh and
blood" we do with grief and
heartache and sorrow and de-
spair.
the courage and all the cheer and
all the determined putting aside OF
our personal woes and disasters
Our first duty is to keep our
spirits up and to encourage others
to do so, for our mental states
viii certainly react upon those
dear to US who either have zone
to France or are going.
They should have from US the
bravest, brightest and most heart
eninp letters possible, not mes
sages filled with gloomy forebod-
ings and details of home worries.
/ am aware that this has been said
before, but it cannot be repeated
too often.
"They also serve, who only
stand and wait" And our service
should be to see that no words OF
despair 20 wailing across the sea-
Neither does it help you or anyone
else to 90 about moping and COM
planning that you are so blue"
or so indefnably depressed" or
so "apprehensive." By this YOU
are only giving aid and comfort
to the enemy.
The things we want to send
across the ocean are men and
ships and food and stores and runs
and ammunition and aeroplanes,
but above al we want to send
cheer.
And to send it we must foster
and conserve it az home. The
thing for every one of us 20 do Is
, 70 Hooverize ON gloom