The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-08-27
IT'S A WAR
 OF MANKIND
Not Professional Soldiers But Patriotic Civilians Compose Our Armies.

! A twentieth century "Sartor Resar- tus'' is about due; but, so far, the twentieth century Carlyle has not put in an appearance. There is already ample material from which to weave a new philosophy of clothes---espe- cially of old clothes.
 What stacks of old broadcloth, serge, tweed, and fustan suits, collars, and neckties, silk and cotton shirts, lavender socks, and all the varieties of head and foot gear have been dis Icarded during the last four years for the drab habiliments of modern war fare! No man with any flight left in him is free from qualns of conscience when he buys a new suit in these days; he realizes that he is no longer a man of fashion, and feels that this bit of tweed may be his last.
 What deep heart-searching, soul searching, and pocket searching ques- tions lie concealed in wardrobes, cup boards drawers, trunks, rag bags, and secondhand clothes stores at , this very moment waiting for expres- sion in immortal song and story!
 What chapters of "Reminiscences D ) ''Idyllic," Pedagogy Getting Un- der Way" "Romance''---w what epics ) of the soul might be written of the transition from the black night of the } Everlasting No" of indecision to the glorious dawn of the Everlasting ns : Yea" of enlistmentl To the late f wearers of these mountains of cast l off civilian clothes there came the il- t illuminating. n1essa ge: Doubt of any } sort cannot be removed except by ac-
 tion. Do the duty that lies near est to thee, which thou knowest to be
 a duty!"
 Rarvaster and more thrilling Iliads r and Odysseys are ready for the in-
 sptred pen of the modern Homer e Such Titanic clashes of arms, such thunderous onsets and sangu1nary A wrestlings never were seen on the
 ringing Plains of Troy as have beer enacted on the fields of France ant
 Flanders in this our own day Nevel 5 did man make such alliances with ol > fling such defiances at Olympus a! e they are doing in these spacious ant 7. embattled times. The gods of fire, air @ and water are at mortal grips in thi!
 Armageddon.
 And to think that all this started
 with the putting off of a suit of olc
 clothes! Wars in the past have chief Is 1y been fought by regular armies, ,b, l. men who trained as soldiers in time l, of peace, who paraded in scarlet anC e blue with gold braid and brass but tt tons, aT& who were forever itching fo IS a fight. This is a war not of soldiers
 as such; 1t is a war of mankind, be
 cause it is a war for the whole O
 mankind, and not for any one par
 ticular army or nation. It is war h fare against military clothes and fo
 the vindication of old tweed and serg suits.
 The soldier and the civilian were
 few years ago distinguished by tn
 clothes they wore; today the civilia,
 is the soldier, for the very life of tn
 civilian is threatened. Civil life i
 Germany was obliterated 40 years agc
 and the whole nation was put int
 military uniform. Civilian clothe
 were so much camouf1age hinterlift ,n when worn by a German, and eve at when Fritzy wandered abroad on bus ,s tiness or on his kultur campaigns h r. was conscious that he war merely
 disguised member of the advanc guard of the armed nation that wa - to sweep the world when "The Day a Der Tag) arrived.
 m What tender memories of love an " beauty, of domestic happiness an
 contentment, what lofty ideals, whs n. ardent social, intellectual, artistic, an e' spiritual aspiration are wrapped U
 in those old clothes of the glad day . of peace that are no more! We sha D. dispose of these old suits, we sha
 barter with the alien at the back do, on to secure the highest price for ther at but who shall value their worth to si- or to coming generations of men, VI
 men ,and children? How many me for who are today nobly maintaining u ip- strife and are ready to fight to a fiji ion ish rather than put off the khaki ac- shame; how many will e'er they sle, ax- tonight long wistfully to get bat
 into those old clothes of a peacef be and industrious civilian Hfe?---Lo ms don Globe.