Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-21
kHvE rs BEST WORTH LIVING
't WHEN DIFFICULT TO LIVE
Ee Code Of Robert Louis Stevenson Becomes Anscer to
Y q Woman Uho Is Blue About the War-The Glory in the
Darkness Of Some Of Our Days

~ IL HAVE letter here from reader
G whe has made me think 1t rings
avery true. One knows that platitudes
4*&bout the number of agreeable things
Win life will not ease the ache in her
heart. She does not seem to crave
F1's'f-ph let -us- be. e.ioyful-consolation
Here is part of the letter:
rft Have you anything to say to a
E<WOman who is base enolgi. to e blue
oil the time about this war? ! have
two brothers in the war and man
whom ] love dearly. | can't seem to
81 rise above being crushed. When the
casualty list comes in the paper | am
.Afraid to look at IL, although ] know
VII should hear the news first If any
3. thing had happened to these men or
4 mine. Some women seem to be so
.hrave. / know them. | know women
irtwho have lost boys who are brave and
10 on doing their work and trying TO
smile And here am whose dear ones
~ have been spared so far, although two
MOI them have been in the war since
the very beginning. ! go to many
sY bright, jolly places TO try TO get my
mind off things. I try to think that
Wife is not so hard But 1t is no use.
4 must be small in nature, because |
nScant help thinking that life is bitterly
cruel I wish YOU could say some.
thing to help me. ! am wom2 who
has position"
COME ONE else--one of the worlds
stsC great contemporary writer's - has
e@said something. I believe. dear friend,
sFthat can help you. He is Gilbert X.
Chesterton. the Enelishman. who was
xrspeakin of the immortal Robert
Louis Stevenson, master of life" IS
ss wen as letters.
~ "Stevenson." Chesterton wrote. re
i, allied the great paradox that life he
comes more fascinating the darker it
sa grows; that life Is only worth living
rs far as it is difficult to live His
supreme difference from all common
optimists is that all common optimists
say life is glorious in spite of the dis.
4 agreeable things. but Stevenson says
life is glorious because of the disa gree.
sable things
gST AM sure you understand this mes
i sage. NJ. X. You are going the
wrong way to keep Yourself from being
Il blue. You are trying TO push out of
your mind the thought that war is
going on and endeavoring to find
---peace in trivial things that refuse to
I'LL your life. You can find peace. dear
friend. strange as it may seem. only
In the war I wonder IL YOU are doing
for instance: mending soldiers over
coats. for another instance. These
things, every day perhaps rs they
might seem to be in our workaday Y
cities can teach you the glory of our
war and the glory of the darkness Of
life at the present time. You could
sit down and try to arrive at this stat
Of mind. but I am afraid you would
not succeed. It is only by working
with the boys that you can be thrilled
and filed with the cause we are all
\ eerving. You speed your fingers. lest
\ In delaying a man no less dear thar
your own shall want fer bandage!
or for sweet fresh hospital garment.
II to make easy his hours. In this work
you will arrive at the glory of oul
ause, even as the soldier who wa
= -1fE-4Flsath to be drafted and three month";
II later in France writes home the fer,
II letter of a young knight gone forti
Il to conquer.
I wonder if it is possible. for you tt
u get a day a week at canteen service
at some nearby camp Then there i
i the visiting of the soldiers and sailors
Z families through the civilian relief o
4 the Red Cross. These things will
: teach you the glory OF war and th
4 true meaning of Chesterton's interpre
4 tation of Stevenson's life. You will
2 learn that other generations hav
4 gone through life living on its petit,
II surface. Ours is the right and privi
Il lege to sound its depths. We hav
lived TO know that all men and womel
have hearts, that life is good becaus
81 these men and women are willing t
lay down their lives for each other.
~ ADD one more little statement tha
y will help you, that you can weav
into your daily work. Figures fror
X the Bureau of Publicity of the TreaS
4 ury Department tell us a soldier ha
J only one chance in thirty of losing hi
+ He on the battlefield one chance il
q Nifty of dying from wounds receive
IS<> TITT n ATT "