The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-12-19
DO YOU STILL "CARRY ON?"

The following article by Edith c..
Johnson. in Saturdays Oklahoman,
should be read by all who lack the
interest or do not feel the need for
continued Red Cross work now that
the armistice has been signed and
final peace is assured. The article is
a splendid one and hits the nail
squarely on the head. Read it.
You would not think, would you. that
a single person In this country had
missed the moaning of that thrilling
Yet, there must be a good many that
have not understood 1t. otherwise they
would not be so eager to throw up their
tasks. declare their war work a closed
chapter, and repudiate further re-
sponsibiIity.
Strange. is IT not, that the hundreds
of women who have worked industri-
ously and ~devotedly in scores of Red
Cross units are not willing to see this
war through? And IL is all the tranger
when hundreds of thousands of Ameri-
can soldiers In Europe have no idea of
lying down on their jobs. Eot. that
seems to be the situation. inasmuch as
pleas made to Red Cross units through
out this city and county to carry on the
work of The Greatest Mother In the
World" have. in such a surprising num-
Der of places fallen lpcn deaf or in
on the largest units, you would find
only five or six OF the faithful. A
sadder chapter of my story is the re-
fusal of two of the city units to work
ments, the members having advised the
county chapter TO Onward the ma
%terials to France and Belgium. let
European refugees do their own sew
ing" they say. w have already lone
enough"
How can any woman who has a
margin of leisure believe that shS has
done enough when thousands OF
wretched women in France, Belgium,
Poland, Rumania, Russia and Armenia
call out TO her for aid? Can The Red
Cross quit it's work when Europe Is a
weller OF suffering. even though an
armistice has been signed? NO. g
thousand times NOS the answer OF
ahead of us which will require con-
tinuous effort and support. Three kun
dred fifty thousand homes have been
clothed. Right now, the Red Cross
units of his country have more work
cut out for them than they have had
for six months. As the Germans retire
from devastated regions there Will lie
an increasing demand for refugee
garments. impoverished. shattered in
nerves and broken In health. the wo-
strength with which to sew. And II
they had the strength they have not the
time, for Europe must be rebuilt. and
1t might be wholesome and porifitable
experience for every woman who,
without good and sufficient reason. re-
fuses to rally to the call Of the the nl Red
of some one of those millions oil
European women whom she has read
about. Let her ask herself how she
thinks she would feel u she had lived
for over four years within a few miles
OF German guns, how II would be witt
her IL she had lost every a~ble-bodieo
man in her family. IL she had not hat
enough bread and meat since the bein
ming OF the war? what, likely. woule
he her mental and physical condition II
like thousands of other European wo'
men. she had been deported to Germany
there to work under the lash Of thu
Hun? What is her chilJran had beef
torn from her. and she q been com
turned over ( o tho caprice of Hun OF
hcers? What II she had lived In a coun
try that had no coal for It's civillai
Population for almost four years, ant
certainly very little clothing and rev
blankets. even in the severest weather
Would she not turn in egaer expecta
4 ton to the women of a great, pros
|. porous country like America. and woul'
she not feel that the making a ,fey
. garments for one as wretched as her
self would mean a small effort an
quite the pettiest of sacrifices?.
Most of the sorrows and suffering
In this world exist because we, as hu
man beings, have so little imaginatior
. selves in the shoes OF others, beceus
as W. say. ono-half of the world doe
2 not know how the other- half lives.
That is the only explanation one ca
offer for the apparent indifference Q
women who formerly We're read
q enough to serve the Red Cross. The
4 must not understand. else they woul
u not be so eager to return to the oil
e ways of selfish pleasure. and so reluc
o tant to sew for some helpless bah!
some poor. exhausted. broken-hearte
mother, some lettering old ~grandpar
y ent, or some sturdy little lad, the hop
v of his country's future day.
1t will be many a day before the Re
= Cross demobilizes Until the worker
receive their honorable discharge the
q must. like soldiers, "carry on"