Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1918-05-24

OF the Red Cross Is the duty or mercy
and succor and friendship.
knIts World Together.
Have you formed picture In your
imagination OF what this war is doing
for us and for the world? In my own
mind / am convinced that not hun
dred years OF peace could have
knitted this nation together as this
single year of war has knitted 1t to-
gether, and better win than that, II
possible, 1t Is knitting the world to-
gether. Look at the picture. In the
celter of the zone four nations en-
gagged against the world, and at every
point of vantage, showing that they
are seeking selfish aggrandizement;
and against them 2S governments rep
resenting the greater part OF the pop.
ulation of the world, drawn together
into new sense of interest a new
sense Of power, new sense OF unity
of life. The secretary of war told
me an interesting incident the other
day. He said when he was in Italy
a member of the Italian government
was explaining to him the many rea-
sons why Italy felt near to the United
States. He said. If you want to try
an interesting experiment. go up to
any one of ehese troop trains and
ask in English how many Of them
have been in America and see what
happens He tried the experiment.
He went up to. troop train and he
said, How many of you boys have
been in American and he said 1t
seemed to him as if half OF them
sprang up: Me from San Francisco,
f,-o, oil
was part of the heart OF America in
the Italian army. People that have
been knitted to us by association,
who knew us, who had lived amongst
us, who had worked shoulder to
shoulder with us, and now, friends OF
America were fighting for their ma
tive Italy.
Friendship is the only cement
that will ever hold the world together.
| And this intimate contact or the
great Red Cross with the peoples who
are suffering the terrors and depriva-
tions of this war is going to be one
of the greatest instrumentalities oil
friendship that the world ever knew,
and the center of the heart OF 1t all,
if we sustain 1t properly, will be this
land that we so dearly love.
Great Day Of Duty.
"My friends, great day Of duty
| has come, and duty finds a mans
soul as no kind of work can ever
| find it.
"May say this: The duty that
faces us all now is to serve one an.
| other and no man can aiford to make
a fortune out of this war. There are
men amongst US who have forgotten
| that, II they ever saw 1t. Some OF
| you are old enough am old enough
| to remember men who made for
| tunes in the civil war, and you know
how they were regarded by their fel
| lowmen. And your relations to the
Red Cross is one of the relations tina,
Will relieve of the stigma. You cant
give anything to the government. II
| won't accept 1t. There is a law
against accepting even services with
I out pay. The only thing that the
government will accept is loan and
duties performed, but 1t Is grea'
deal better to give than to lend OF
to pay, and your great channel for CIV
! ing is the American Red Cross. Dowr
in your hearts you can't take ver5
much satisfaction in the last analysis
| in lending money to the government
of the United States, because the In
terest which you draw will burn YOU
pockets. 1t is a commercial trans
action and some men have even dared
to talk about the rate of interest, no
knowing the incidental commentary
that constitutes upon their attitude
But when you give something Of YOU
heart, something of your soul, some
| III 30 W
particularly when it Is given in sllcf
form that it never can come bacl
by way of direct benefit to yourself
You know there is the old cynica
definition of gratitude as the livel.
expectation of favors to come Wen
there is no expectation of favors Il
come in this kind of giving. Thes'
things are bestowed In order tina
the world may be filter place 7
live IN, that men may be succorec
that homes may be restored, tina
suffering may be relieved, that tn
face of the earth may have the bligh
of destruction taken away from 1t, an
that wherever force goes there shal
go mercy and helpfulness.
Give Until It Hurts.
"And when you give, give absolute
ly all that you can spare, and don
consider yourself liberal in the giving
IL you give with self-adulation y0
are not giving at all; you are givin
to your own vanity; but II you CIV
until it hurts, then your heart bloc
goes into 1t.
"And think what we have here.
1--WE call it the American Re
Cross, but 1t is merely branch of
great International organization whic
is not only recognized by the sta
utes of each of the civilized govern
ments of the world, but 1t is recoi
nized by International agreement an
treaty as the recognized and accep
ed instrument alike OF mercy an
succor. And one of the deepes