The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-01-25


he always insisted whenever he
was threatened with discipline for get
ting into fight: "He began It'll"
Boys realize that justice rests upon
the question, Who was the assailantf
And almost every boy has more than
once suffered under the sting of an
adult injustice which, declining to in
vestigate, punished him for fighting"
when he had been merely defending
himself. OF course, self-defense does
not consist entirely Of warding ges-
lures, for If it did 1t could not defend.
A person attacked must either be
beaten or take his choice of running
away or of striking back; and if the
assailant is the speedier, running away
is mere postponement of being
beaten. But spectators Of a conflict
Especially If they have not noted or
comprehended its beginning) almost
always take superior position of dis
gusted impartiality. "Brutes" they
say. Fighting They ought to be
ashamed of themselvesp
/ remember such q case. A boy
friend of mine, an awkward but spir-
tied ten-year-old, was returning alone
from an afternoons skating when q
sturdier, shorter boy the same age,
opposed his progress, and addressed
to him the provocative formula, "Who
you lookin' at, you dern fool your
My friend replied placatively that he
wasn't looking at anything, whereupon
the stranger demanded hOtly: "You
call me nothin', do your" and, striking
him suddenly upon the mouth, snatched
his skates and turned to make away
with them.
Enter the Peacemaker.
MY friend managed to trip the little
chief, however, and the latter, risin:,
struck out fiercely, whereupOn fight
of some duration took place. 1t was
interrupted by an elderly pedestrian,
shocked and indignant. "You scoun-
drelsl'' he said. Fighting! Stop it !"
Then for emphasis he struck my friend
q sharp blow across the face with an
umbrella, and forced his way between
the combatants. "But he's got my
skatesr' my friend cried. "Shame"
was the response. eff I knew your
fathers and mothers I'd see that you
were both whipped for fighting.
Shame!"
My friend tried desperately to dodge
round the peacemaker, hoping to re-
cover his skates from the other boy,
but he failed, for the elderly man
seized him by the collar. "You would,
would you? Trying to get at him
again, you little beast! No, you don't
I'll teach you to stop fighting when 1
tell you to" Thereupon my friend
got the shaking of his life, and, though
he tried throughout this martyrdom to
convince his shaker that he didn't
begin it, and that the other boy had
his skates, and was now running away
with them, he was unsuccessful in re-
moving the impression that all bellig-
erents are wicked. "There !" said the
elderly man, releasing him at last; "let
me catch you fighting again and I'll
give you a worse one! Go on home
Get out of this neighborhoodl I don't
want to listen to you!
So, bloody and dizzy, my friend went
on his way, and the elderly man pro-
ceeded, convinced that he had con-
Quoted himself in a manner beneficial
to public morals.
What Every Boy Understands.
Now, as any boy understands that
the most important question about any
fight is "Who started it?" so any boy
Also understands that the question
next in order and next in Importance
is "Why did he start itT' Any boy
understands that just peace cannot
be made unless 1t takes these two
questions into vital accounts, and that
disciplinary measures not founded
upon them are arbitrary and unjust
and vicious. Any boy understands
that peacemaker or disciplinarlan
who places both belligerents upon the
same plane Is not only unjust but, In
effect, stupidity partial to the cause
of the guilty belligerent-for one bel
ligerent is guilty.
When the war began in August,
1914, oil those neutrals who wished to
understand the right and wrong of
the matter, that their opinions might
not be unjust, began to seek every
source of information which might
help them to learn who started 1t and
why. At first--as the sources of infor-
nation were not Immediately at hand
there seemed room for argument.
though on the face Of things 1t was
apparent that, Austria first declared
war upon Serbia and Germany then
declared war upon Russia and France.
We saw plainly that Serbia had been
begging and squirming to avoid war
and that Russia had been working for
peace. Austria and Germany were the
countries that declared war, and, of
course, until somebody did actually de-
clare war or actually make war there
was chance of peace.
yrs What Documents Disclosed.