The mirror., 1919-05-01
DAWNING OF A NEW ERA

Changing From War to Reconstruction Period Marks
New Epoch in Worlds History


NZMWHMNRWYKY1MGM GMNRMNIYHMINMWS|
dreamed of for generations, have
suddenly become mighty realities.
The Roman poet said, wings
were not given to man." Man de-
veloped wings! There is no limit
now to what air transit may not
do for human intercourse. We
are apt to think of transport in
terms of life in Europe with all
that civilization has brought to us.
From this standpoint we enquire
what will be the effect of aerial
transport upon our habits. Shall
we visit our friends in the country
by aeroplane? Or shall we in hap.
pier times avoid the miseries of
being shook up by rail and take a
through fight to'London or Paris.
There is no doubt but express SER
vice will soon be by air even if we
do not abandon our railroads alto
tgether. Submarine navigation has
recast the whole condition of ma
val construction. even if we do not
abandon our dreadnaughts alto
gether. At any rate from all indi-
cations there never again shall be
the old race for armaments, no
huge standing armies, no dominion
of the seas so as to menace the rest
of the world. The barbarous blood
tax must cease.
Never more shall the mothers of
our nations have to offer up their
sons to Moloch. The hideous waste
of labor in engines of destruction,
more than half of the entire cost of
government, must cease. And
with the labor, in debasing luxuries
and wanton extravaganza. And
when we are more civilized and
more Christianized we shall erect
monuments to men who have saved
life rather than to those who have
destroyed it.
1t will be a new world in this
twentieth century. Shall we be
new men, new women, worthy to
use it right? There is but one
way to meet the crisis; it is this:
All industry must be devoted to
produce things useful to the entire
mass of our people; never to things
of idle indulgence, appetite, folly,
and pomp; never to things that
serve national vain glory and war
like ambition.
These four years of war have
tried us deeply to the core. The
coming years of peace may try our
manhood and womanhood even
more than war. The war has not
only taught men a great lesson,
but women have learned that
cheerfulness is a duty, a debt of
honor that they owe their fellow
creatures. Women always bear a
heavy burden in war. The heart
aches remain much longer but
women make their fight as deter
minedly as the men and do not
falter until the victory has been
achieved. Women have been asked
to send their SONS away with a
smile, and they have done So, al
though their hearts were break
ing. They have been told to write
only bright, cheerful letters to the
boys at the front, and they have
put the soft pedal' on the sob
stuff" They have been entreated
not to wear black for the heroes
who gave their lives for their
country in order that they may
not depress other mothers whose
sons were on the firing line, and
for the most part they have fore
bore to swath themselves in funeral
garments. This is a marvellous
change to have been wrought in
the feminine outlook on life. for
women as a rule are not by nature
cheerful lot. On the contrary
they are given to fears and fore
bodings as the balloons are to fly
upward, and they have an inherent
talent for borrowing trouble. They
take to sorrow as squirrel takes