davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
Eren Trees Are Ghosts

at will be seen that the ghosts that
represent deity take on an attitude of
power and sublimity, while those that
are ghosts and no more have a signif-
cance that suggests horror or mere
fear Apparitions have the effect of
spirits have a soothing or pleasing eff
feet, and monsters are merely amusing
Each race and country has its own
way of expressing ghostly ideas and
forms. This is clearly seen in the case
of Tengu, whose form in India is quite
different from that assumed in Japan.
Even the Japanese Christ looks like a
Japanese and the Western Christ like an
Occidental. The dragon of China is
quite diverse from the same species in
Europe, and also again different from
the dragon of India. The forms which
ghosts take are usually somewhat above
nature, if not at times rather unnat-
ural. 1t is probable that the many
armed kwannon, or goddess of mercy,
was once a grotesque form but grad
ually assumed more artistic form
under the influence Of religion and art
The subject of ghost literature and
ghost form is an endless one in Japan;
and no doubt if proper research work
we're carried out some interesting
features of its evolution would be re-
vealed."
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11

need causes such exist at every mo-
ment. TO increase any dominion by
the acquisition of my neighbor's coun-
tries wrote William Penn, there will
never want some accident or other
for pretence.' A secret memorandum
of the German government on March
19, 1918, said: we must allow the
idea to sink into the minds of our
people that our armaments are an
answer to the armaments and policy of
the French. We must accustom them
to think that an offensive war on our
part is a necessity =. We must so
manage matters that under the heavy
weight of powerful armaments, con-
siderable sacrifices, and strained
political relations, the precipitation of
war should be considered as a relief,
because after it would come decades
OF peace and prosperity In the next
year, when a Serbian boy killed an
Austrian archduke, the ultimatum of
Austria, which precipitated the war,
was a transparent sham: for the Cen
trail Powers had long since determined
to extend their sway through the Bal
kan peninsula into Southwestern Asia,
and the murder of the archduke was
merely the excuse for beginning.
"Wars are not necessities. Slug
CARDS speak of next war No royal
madness, then, no lust, no criminal am
bition anywhere, but it is our helpless
obligation TO sit Cor, perchance, to
stand, armed) and confidently wait for
It to run amuck!
"There is no escape from the situa-
tion that confronts US. Our choice
is: an end to these wars of destruction,
or the certain decline of the human
race. War has been perfected. AS to
methods and moralities, we must put
them aside. Our aim is simply the
success of the Fatherland.' 'Interna-
tional law. What is international law
1t Is nothing but the reckoning Of
other peoples on our stupidity
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
IDebatabIe

"Along almost every frontier in
Europe there have always been terri
tories that may fairly be called debata-
Bile, in which the two races on either
hand dwell intermingled, with part of
the population drawn one way and
part the other by the ties of blood
and history. But the wars for these
Of the last thousand years at least
have been almost wholly the work Of
monarchs, honest or dishonest, crimi-
nally ambitious or merely misguided,
1t matters little which. Peoples have
been but sheep driven to the shambles.
"As for the notion that the interests
Of peoples. even the most material in
terests, are ever promoted by foreign
conquests, and thus that monarchs are
serving their subjects when they wage
successful wars of aggression, consider
how greatly the yeomanry Of England
were served by the glorious victories
they achieved on the soil of France in
the Hundred Years Warl Consider how
much the people of Germany were
served by the century long wars in
Italy waged by their Holy Roman EN-
perors to make new German Roman
Empire! A Louis XIV invades all
his neighbors, declares very noun
tains to exist no more when they
stand in the way of his thirst for en-
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
More L0Ue and Less Chemistry!

Atlantic to the Pacific in which eighty
interstate Quarrels have been settled
by Supreme Court within 1870 years,
and they have seen the Canadian bor-
der line unguarded for a century be-
tween two great nations simply be-
cause they both used common sense,
"a great many very simple people
who know nothing of chemistry or
physics, but who do know human ma
ture, are doing some hard thinking
nowadays. And they mean to tell the
wise and prudent that the kind of
knowledge which we now need Is not
more knowledge of poisons or explo-
sives, but more knowledge of democ-
racy and cooperation and free transit
Of goods across border lines.
"A little knowledge is a dangerous
thing, and great knowledge of one
science is dangerous thing if not &C
companied by knowledge of other SCI
ences. Chemistry and physics are like
fire. The world knew too much about
them before 1t learned enough of po-
litical science to control them and pre-
vent their destroying almost as much
as they created. What the world su-
premely needs to-day is the science OF
human relationships, and in this some
learned professors will have to join
the primary cla9s and unlcarn many
traditions
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
Us It True That Wars Have To Be-?

led them to exalt these things by
every art and artifce. But indeed no
people saturated to the core with the
idea Of life as a selfish pursuit of mine
and thine can be expected to frown on
any leader who promises to enlarge
the national boundaries at the cost Of
q neighbor, and something nearly akin
to true patriotism will always rally
peoples around their very tyrants,
whenever any war, good or bad, is
once embarked upon. Louis XIV did
not call in vain on his exhausted peo-
pie to save the country which he him
self had first put In jeopardy. France,
again, raised army after army for
Napoleon; and the Social Democrats
of modern Germany long stood by the
Kaiser in war which they certainly
never would have chosen. Right or
wrong said an American patriot quoted
by every schoolboy in our land amid
the fervent applause Of US all, right or
wrong, l am for my country
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11

literature. The Greek gods are all
very human, like the japanese, and
ghosts cut no great figure. Even the
centaur has human body while other
monsters have human bodies with rep
tile feet, and the Satyr was rather
human, too, in spite of his goats feet.
European ideas Of ghosts are on the
whole immature and show slight traces
Of Oriental influence
"It is safe to conclude that most of
the ideas about ghosts and goblins and
all kinds of imaginary monsters had
their origin in the heated climes. of
the East, where environment lends itself
to ideas of vastness and limitless life
and power. Here, too, the deepest
Creator and the creation. It is not at
all to be wondered at that pantheism
should prevail among the peoples Of
the hot and humid Orient, and where
be a reality.
"Most of the ghosts are spirits of
people who once lived on earth. Some
of these are the spirits of people still
living, and others of people passed
away-spirits discarnate and incarnate.
An incarnate ghost was Rokujyo in the
Genji Monogatari, like Christ after the
resurrection. A similar ghost was Kiyo-
hime in the Japanese drama of that
name, who could transform herself into
snake. The ordinary ghost, of course,
is simply the spirit of the departed
manifesting itself to those on the
earth.
"Apparitions usually take the bodies
of animals, either to play tricks on the
living or to take revenge on them. The
fox and badger are familiar instances
of this cult in Japan. Onyudo, giant,
and the one eyed demon, Hitotsume, are
instances of this, both taking either
the body of fox or badger. During
the civil strife in Nabeshima clan a
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
=: Do Ghosts Stay at Home? =:

that the remotest periods of Japanese
legend have to say about ghosts.
"In the absence Of any accurate pct-
ure of what the ancients of Japan
thought about ghosts, we must turn
to later records, among which the most
reliable and interesting is the Nihon
Reireiki, written by a priest Of the
Yakushi Temple named Keikan, in
the ninth century. In the Konjyaku
Monogatari also there are several no
table ghost stories. But they cannot
be regarded as Of any very great
Importance. AS time goes on 1t is
seen that tales of ghosts grow much
more, interesting. 1t is not apparent
that the first ghost tales of Japan
were much if at all influenced by the
geographical features of the country.
But with Che advent of Taoism from
China the ghost literature of Japan
became enriched by ideas from India,
and after it is seen that Japanese ideas
about ghosts take on more definite
shape and color.
"Now we have the appearance of the
three-eyed goblin Of India under the
name Of Mitsume-nyudo, which finally
is found croaking into the crow-faced
goblin Karasut tengu, so popular in
fairy tales. Indeed the wizard motive
in so many Japanese tales owes its
origin to Taoism as we'll as to Indian
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
Nothing Impossible

"In matters which depend on human
choice, there are no impossibilities. To
declare that there are is to put hu-
manity on the level of Carlyles goose
sitting imprisoned in a circle of chalk
as if girt with an iron ring of fate.
The question is what men will choose,
and their choice has lately had such
enlightenment and stimulation as never
before. Men fail most commonly
through lack of endeavor. AS far as
have taken cognizance of the causes of
the many failures to which the efforts
of intelligent men are table, says
Ruskin, they seem to me more largely
to spring from this single error than
from all others, that the inquiry into
the doubtful and in some sort mex
plicable relations of capability, chance,
resistance, and inconvenience invari-
ably precedes, even if it do not alto
gether supersede, the determination of
what is absolutely desirable and just
"a league of nations for the freedom
of the world is something, as William
Penn wrote long ago, which is fit to be
done. which may be done, and finally,
which is necessary to be done.
What men have always dreamed Of
and worked at, and in spite of each
failure worked at again, seems pre-
destined to ultimate accomplishment.
Each failure furnishes new experience
for a new effort. What we are working
at now will do at least that much, and
as 1T has In its favor tremendous con-
ditions which no previous effort had
power never before assembled and now
greater than all other powers In the
world and enlightenment. disinterest-
edness apd freedom never before
dreamed of, there is no extravaganza
in hoping that it may accomplish
more"
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
Here Is Writer Who Has No Doubts
On the Subject

as if it were merely a series Of ex-
ploits performed as SO many whims of
princes. Then popular thought e. .
always pendulum-like swung slow
ly but surely to the opposite view,
and history came to be regarded as
record of fatalistic forces before whose
progress no individual was anything.
1t is a false and degrading doctrine,
though useful to kasers.
every individual, great or small, is
a part of the forces at work in the
world during every moment of his ex-
istence; and if his powers of leader
ship are great, or if his position is
favorable, his opinions may become
decisive for untold millions. So let
US have done with the notion that the
rulers of the world are but instruments
of forces beyond their control, and
that the evils they do are not their
own. This is never the tone they
assume in case of victory.
"Yet it would indeed be far from
the truth to suppose that even the
most despotc war lords are ever quite
free from the atmosphere about them.
Prejudices and traditions bind and
limit us all. The aggressions of
Louis XVI or Napoleon cannot be
read without reference to their periods,
and the Prussian policy of expansion
by force was certainly not original
with the recent Kaiser. And yet it
would be sheerest nonsense to say
that Louis XVI had no choice but to
wage war on all his neighbors, and
that Louis TX would have done the
same thing had he been king of France
at the same time. Had Napoleon never
been born, would some one else have
kept Europe afame for a quarter of
century in just the same way? When
one speaks of Prussa's warlike ex-
pansion as policy forced upon Prus-
sian rulers from Frederick the Great
to William II by any necessities or
wishes OF their peoples, let him re-
fleet just what it is that has been
expanded 1t Is not Prussia's people
nor their freedom nor their happiness,
but the rule and dominions of Prus-
sia's kings.
"If ambition needs reasons If wars
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
When Father
Duffy Was
A.W.O.L

FATHER DUFFY's life was at stake.
Father Duffy is shepherd Of as
wild and rollicking q regiment of Irish
men as ever rushed Boche machine
gun nest or struggled with foreign
tongue to make a French colleen W.
derstand. Father Duffy reached
Remagen with the 1e5th Infantry to
find the place as bare Of army extras
as a miser's pantry.
Plainly the good father had Co get
something for his flock. But he was
unable to get to Coblenz to get it
that is, he couldn't get pass. So he
went A. w. O. L.
When he reached the headquarters
town of the Third Army he dug UP the
secretary of the Knights of Columbus
and yelled for help. The secretary told
him to make out list of things the
flock needed. Father Duffy went to it.
He overlooked nothing and when the
list was completed 1t looked like suf-
frage petition.
The secretary then took Father Duffy
to the Knights of Columbus warehouse.
"We're having little transportation
difficulty" said the secretary, land
most of our stuff is still 70 come
through. l don't know what we hsve.s
But the 1s5th's chaplain figured that
even If he obtained one-half of the
stuff on his list his outfit would be
satisfied. 1t would have something.
They reached the warehouse, went in.
side, and rummaged around consider
ably. Then they came out again.
Father Duffy carried In one hand two
pictures, in brown sepia, Of General
John J. Pershing. In the other he had
deck OF playing cards-Stcrs an4t
Stripes.
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11

which formed the one recognized signal
for war So it was with the Germans,
and for several centuries after Rome's
fall, the history of Europe, filled with
turmoil as it was, was nevertheless in
large degree the history of the move
whose constant strife was to that ex-
tent necessary.
"Gradually, however, Western Europe
became settled. The northern migra-
tions and invasions ceased, and the
late invaders, now duly distributed, be-
came quite content to abide where
they were. Eastern Europe remained
for a long time exposed to the inroads
of Asiatc peoples, and doubtless un-
settled even in itself; but since the
Magyar invasion of Hungary, a thou
sand years ago, there have been no
great and sudden changes in the dis
tribution Of European races. There
have been of course colonizing move
ments, particularly those Of the Ger
mans eastward between the eighth and
the fourteenth centuries; but these at
worst have been the cause of only
minor, localized conflicts. The great
wars Of Europe for the last thousand
years, where not religious, have been
due not to any pressure of peoples,
not to any striving for "a place in the
sum- but almost wholly to the ambi-
tions of rulers, now become hereditary,
court-plotting war-lords, no longer
chosen leaders of peoples. but dwell
ing apart from peoples, and regarding
populations merely as cannon-fodder
to be spent in their rivalries for
glory power and extent of domin-
ions.
"No one, Of course, would pretend
to deny that rulers have often been
moved to war by loftier motives than
mere personal ambition. Some Of the
most warlike monarchs have been
lovers of their countries, and jealous
according to their lights to promote
their peoples welfare. Nor can any
one doubt that peoples themselves have
commonly shared the feeling that all
wars are glorious when successful
The interests of those who have con-
trolled the destinies of nations have
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11

SAINT streams of mud pouring down
the Ganges and the Indus suggest
the excitement of dragons tearing up
the bowels Of the earth, while the
torrid lands Of the south produce ex-
haustless forms Of strange life. It
takes little stretch of the imagination
to form creatures Just a little more
extreme than those visible. In the
Ramayana poems there is frequent
reference to ghosts and monsters,
devils and demigods of various kinds.
No doubt many of the gods of Bud
dhism had their origin in these tales.
The Persian Variety
"Then there is Persia, with wealth
Of ghost literature, which undoubtedly
Rad some influence on both India and
China, while in Egypt such tales as
the Arabian Nights were we'll known.
The lordly river Nile and the vast
wastes Of the Sahara left their indel-
ible impress on the native mind and
led fancy to endless extremes in the
days Of primitive man. 1t is not at
all surprising that many Of the Egyp-
tian gods are no more than ghost
monsters of human fancy. Greece,
with physical formation not unlike
Japan, had similarly slender ghost
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
There Was a Time

There was q time when wars in
Europe were, humanely speaking, un-
avoidable-~that Ia to say, when they
were conflicts Of peoples fighting for
lands to live In. To the German peo-
pies dwelling north Of the Rhine and
Danube fifteen or sixteen centuries ago
II was matter OF life and death that
they break the ancient Roman frontiers
and find now homes inside Rome's do
minions, whether because Huns and
Slavs were pressing them out Of their
own ancient homes, or whethor the
growth of their populations, combined
with their ignorance Of the arts Of
life, had rendered their foreats no
longer sufficient. Here were wars
wagsd by peoplss--aggressions, indeed,
and yet literally contests for place
In the sun. They wore not conquests
made for tho glory Of rulers, whose
only part In battle WAS to reap the
spoils Of victory. Fighting wan tho or
dsr Of the day, 10 be sure, but " was
tho ciamor of tho fighters themselves
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
Chinese Ghosts

at is remarkable that while Japan
ese ideas of ghosts and apparitions
are thus rather immature and primi-
tive, the ideas obtaining in China on
such subjects were far more grand and
majestic. The reason may lie in the
reese landscape, for China has great
mountain ranges shooting heavenward
along her western frontiers, which
from remote periods must have i'm
pressed the native mind with the vast
ness and grandeur of nature, the i'm
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
4 OMBATING the inevitability
of war, Lucia Ames Mead,
4 national secretary of the

Woman's Peace party, un-
dertakes in "The Public" to answer
the presumption Of u Harvard pro-
fessor that "the future war Is best
to bo prevented by research in
chemistry and physics, making pos
aible such wholesale, instant de-
struction that men would be afraid
to go to war" The writer goes on
to say:
"He bases this on the theory that
fear is the only deterrent, since man
Is a fighting animal; the fighting in
atinct has shown little change in the
masses since the time Of Cain and
Abel His whole argument Ia con
fused and sophistical, and Is danger
GUS because when an able, honest SCI
enlist talks he Ia listened to. Were he
speaking on his own subject Of physi-
cal science we might listen and learn.
But when he speaks on questions Of
human science, which involve political.
economic and moral problems, he Is in
world In which knowledge Of gases
and Of trinitrotoluol gives one no ad-
vantage in Judgment.
"rhc solutions to be arrived at In
Parir depend largely upon fundamental
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11

mysterious cat appeared, the object Of
which was to take revenge.
"Then there are ghosts that take the
form of natural objects, such as trees,
the Sumizome- -zakura Of Japanese leg
is the willow tree of the Sanjusangendo.
Spirits that appear in the form of COB
Inns or dragons are creatures Of the
fancy only. Nue, the tabled night bird
of Japan, and Koshin and Dabi, which
remind one Of the griffin of Western
rnvtholopv
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
WV WHETHER ghosts and su-
wv pernatural apparitions
have racial qualities or

have racial qualities OF
characteristics may be
gathered from a study of the litera-
ture of the subject, DR.. Chuta Ito
tells us in "The Japan Magazine"
And he goes on to say:
THAT ghosts partake of the racial
idiosyncrasies of those who claim to
see them or TO write of them may be
taken as a matter Of course. Just as
the inhabitants of a country show the
influence of its geographical peculi-
arities or features, so ghosts betray
the nationality of those who father
them. Geographically Japan is in
sular and the physical features of the
height or boldness compared with
some other countries. The climate is
mild and the landscape generally
monotonous. japanese mountains and
lures. Consequently the mind of the
nation has been accordingly impressed,
and in Japanese tradition and litera-
ture there are no great apparitions, no
imposing ghosts.
"An examination of the most ancient
literature referring to ghosts reveals
the prevalence of very primitive ideas,
if ideas about ghosts can ever be re-
garded as mature. In the earliest
records it Is very difficult to trace any
definite ideas as to ghostly apparitions.
These early records are for the most
part mythical, and perhaps some might
be disposed to regard the subjects or
heroes Of the myths as mere ghosts,
but more likely they are based on
actual warriors or other characters
The tale of a long -nosed hero named
Lord Sarutahiko and Of Lord Amenou-
zume with the comic face gives all
New-York tribune., 1919-05-11
The Fighting Animal

"If the theory that man is fight
ing animal continues to be used in its
perverted sense and scientists teach
unscientifc statements about it, the
blood Of millions again may drench the
earth. 1s it not high time to teach in
every grammar SCHOOL that fighting
In this borrowed sense does not mean
that man instinctively engages in COL
lective homicide, but that he instinc-
tivoly struggles7 Tho double use Of
the word 'fght' has done untold harm.
1t has been applied equally to tho work
Of Hindcnburg and the work of PeAry
fighting his way over Arctic WASTES, Of
yellow fover exporimenters fighting
dsense, Of Wright fighting to master
the air, Of laborcrs fighting poverty,
hunger, disease, death; of the work Of