The Monticellonian., 1918-01-25
By BOOTH HARRINGTON

VERY ordinary man can remem' T Der that during his boyhood there
 was one vital point upon which
 he always insisted whenever he was threatened with discipline for get ting into a fight: "He began It r
 Boys realize that justice rests upon the question, Who was the assailant? And almost every boy has more than once suffered under the sting of an adult injustice which, declining to in vestigate. punished him for lighting when he had been merely defending himself. Of course, self-defense does not consist entirely of warding ges- lures, for if it did it 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 conflict (espeeially if they have not noted or comprehended it's beginning) almost always take d superior position of dis gusted impartiality "Brutes !" they say. "Fightingl They ought to be ashamed of themselves !'
 I remember such a case. A boy friend of mine, an awkward but spir- ited ten-year-old, was returning alone from an afternoons skating when sturdier, shorter boy the same age opposed his progress, and addressed to him the provocative formula, "Who you lookin' at, you dern fool youT' My friend replied placatively that he wasn't looking at anything, whereupon the stranger demanded hotly: You call me nothin', dc you?" 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 thief, however, and the latter, risin-, struck out fiereely, whereupon a fight of some duration took place. It was interrupted by an elderly pedestrian, shocked and indignant. "You seoun- drelsi" he said. "Fightingi Stop it ]" Then for emphasis he struck my friend a sharp blow across the face with an umbrella, and forced his way between the eombatants. "But he's got my skates l'' my friend cried. "Shame !" was the response. If l knew your fathers and mothers I'd see that you were both whipped for fighting. Shame" !"
 My friend tried desperately to dodge round the peaeemaker, hoping to re- cover his skates from the other boy, bus 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 I tell you toi" Thereupon my friend got the shaking of his life, and, though he tried throughout this martyrdem 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 onei Go on home! Get out of this neighborhoodi 1 don't want to listen to youi'
 So bloody and dizzy, my friend went on his way, and the elderly man pro- ceeded. convinced that he had con- ducted himself in 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 it?" Any boy understands that just peace cannot be made unless it 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 disciplinarian who places both belligerents upon the same plane is not only unjust but, in effect, stupidly partial to the cause of the guilty belligerent--for one bel igerent is guilty.
 When the war began in August, 1914, all 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 it and why. At first-as the sources of infor- nation were not immediately at hand -there seemed room fer 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 a chance of peace.
 What Documents Disclosed.
 AS soon as the diplomatic documents were published we all saw-any per son who could read was able to See that Austria had haen hant unau war