The Redwood gazette., 1918-03-06

Ger, no French nor Italian whose face
does not turn to granite and steel
whenever you suggest that he will
not walk down the streets of Berlin
and institute military court and
try a kaiser and his staff for murder.
That is one of the things that is
settled, and about which discussion is
not permitted by soldier regiments.
The Ruin of Rheims.
Now apply those tests to the kaiser
and his war staff and you understand
why Rheims cathedral is ruin. No
building since the Parthenon was
more precious to the worlds culture.
What majesty and dignity in the
lines! What wealth of statuary!
How wonderful the Twelfth century
glass! With what ightness did these
arches leap into the air. Now the
great bombs have torn holes thru the
roof; only little bits of glass remain.
Broken are the arches, ruined some
of the buttresses, the altar where
Jeanne dare stood at the Gro wning
of Charles is quite gone. The great
library, the bishops palace, all the
art treasures are in ruins. Ancient
and noble buildings do not belong to
a race, they belong to the world. Sac
red forever the Threshold of the
Parthenon, once prest by the feet of
Socrates and Plato; thrice sacred that
aisle of Santa Croce in Florence, dear
to Dante and Savonarola, to be treas
ured forever the solemn beauty of
Westminster Abbey, holding the dust
Of the men of supreme genius. In
front of the wreck of the cathedral
of Rheims, all blackened with Ger
man fire, broken with the German
hammer, is the statute of Jeanne
dare. There she stands, immortal
forever, guiding the steed of the sun
with the left hand, lifting the ban
ners of peace and liberty with the
right. By some strange chance no
bomb injured that bronze. Oh, beau
tiful emblem of the day when the
spirit Of liberty, riding in chariot
of the sun, shall guide greater host
made up of all the peolpes who re-
we're the treasures of art and archi-
lecture, and law and liberty, and
Christ's poor, and will ride on to a
victory that will be the sublimest
conquest in the annals of time!
Over against the greatest military
machine that was ever forged and
controlled by merciless and cruel
men, who have given up all faith in
God, who practice the Ten Command
ments with the "Not" left oat, who
have stamped out Of the souls of
their soldiers every instinct of pity
and sympathy, are our Allies. Here
is Belgium after all her agony, ready
to die 20 the last man rather than
submit to a cruel master, the kaiser.
And there is England and all her colo
nies. How glorious the land! "The
land of such dear souls, this dear,
dear land" as Shakespeare said. She
has already sacrificed one-third of
her total wealth, a million of her sons
and here in France, not bled white,
but tired after three years of griev
Gus toll. Her bankers are tired, her
business men are tired, the women
and the little children are tired, for
they have struggled unto blood striv-
ing against a cruel militarism for
which they were unprepared.
France Is Tired.
The French boy is like untt one
who carried food and drink a long
way unto perishing men, until the
heavy burden forces his fingers to
relax-but give the youth little
time and he will take up his task
afresh and bring water to the thirsty
soldier. The coming of the American
troops has been a tonic to France
and rested her WEAKNESS. Said the
French wife as she sent away her
young husband with smiles and words
of pride: 81 give him gladly. | am
only his wife-France is his moth
er.' And here is Great Britain, whose
fleet today holds the German battle
ships behind the Kiel canal and safe
guards our republic, New York and
Boston. On one side of the silver
dollar write these words, '1n God we
trust" and on the other side of the
dollar write these words, "And In
EnglanPs navy" Every force that
makes toward justice, humanity and
liberty is on our side. Soon or late,
an unseen Providence will take off
the wheels from the chariot of the
enemies of Truth and Justice. That
dying German officer in Roye packed
the genius of moral universe into
few words. Wounded last winter
thru the spinal cord, unable to move
the lower part of his body, for weeks
he waited for death. Two aged French
women cared for the dying man. Lit
tie by little the wings of the Angel
of Death famed away the mist be-
fore his eyes. One day the German
officer sent for the village priest, and
told him that the Won Hinderburg
line was nearly complete, that the
order to retreat had been given, that
the home of these aged women who
| had cared for him so tenderly would
be burned; that not one church, house,
barn, vineyard or orchard would be
left The news crushed the old priest.
In his dying hour a righteous wrath
filled the heart of the German pris-
oner. These are his last words, as
transcribed them from the lips of
that man of God, standing one day
in Noyon: "Curses upon the army!
Curses upon the kaiser and his war
staff! Ten thousand curses upon my
country! Either God is dead, or Ger
many is doomedn' The officer had