The Washington herald., 1920-01-16
By FRANCES NEWBOLD MOVES

\ BY FRANCES nj
There are some who tell us that
we have done our task, that we must
draw aside-that the torch Is shin
ing for us alone, and not for all
mankind. I think that they are try
ing to cheat us Of the very fruits of
oSr victory-the glory of helping q
tired and broken world to its feet
There are some OF them and I
hold them q tribe lower than Bene-
diet Arnold--who wish to take the
laurels that you have brought them,
and twist and warp and strain them
into an ugly political weapon. They
say land It is strange hearing for
us. my A. e. F.). that America must
play safe.
Play safe! We had forgotten that
that was considered policy. With
US II meant shame and dishonor and
ing for the worid-what II it should
mean that for America? oh, tell
them, tell them. those blind ones, that
you. who have fought to give a
weary world peace. win hght to
keep It! You are a soldier. my
A. Z. F., and you dare not play
safe"
What OF those friends who fought
by our side-what account are you
going to give Of them? Let's take
the two that you knew best-Tommy
Atkins and jacques Poilu. Since I'm
talking to you and not to the Peace
Conference, I'm not going to pretend
that your face lights up at the men
ton OF these gentlemen, or that a
burst OF lyric enthusiasm wells from
your fervent heart to your fervent
lips. 1t doesn't. They have fallen
victim to some OF your most ami
mated and unwarranted catchwords.
You don't have to tell me what you
say about them=I know only too we'll.
What I want you TO tell the breath
less little group sitting on the back
porch or in the front parIor Is what
you think about them Only, most
dear and most needless. do a little
thinking FIRST. You can, when you
put your mind to It.
Tommy first. or course, you never
really did see much Of him. Your
principal grievance against him was
that you had a very disagreeable time
coming over in his ships, and that
when you got to Winchester Cor its
eauivalenO the only fatted calf that
he offered to the American prodIgal
was what you bitterly paraphrased
as Jam and tay." substituted for
breakfast. dinner and supper. Alas.
poor Tommy, he gave you the best
that he had-and he went short even
on that. so that you might come over
on those reviled ships OF his. The
real difficulty was that you thought
that you had met Tommy before, un-
1TnF a 49, II.
deed; and you pranced over to meet
MIN again with a mind that was
about as open as a safe with a for
gotten combination, and a travelling
equipment OF a chip on either shouI-
der. 1t was true that you had met
someone who was using his name be-
fore-a heavily disguised. clustering,
tyrannical individual, introduced 10
you as Mr.. Atkins by a smooth
spoken. ingratiating old party known
as 3erman Propaganda
The first time you met him YOU were
very small. freckle-faced. bored lit
Tie boy. sitting on a hard bench and
reading the letter Of introduction that
Gefman propaganda had written to
you, IN a little book called History
OF the u. S. A" He took great pains
TO state what a wicked and unprin-
cipled fellow Tommy has been, and
how he'd tried to steal from You
everything that you held dearest; and
while he professed faint homes that
the scalawag might have reformed.
he managed to stress the crime a
good deal more than the reformation.
But he didn't tell you that George
III. the old Prussian who started the
Revolutionary war, was so German
that he could hardly speak English;
that the war was SO unpopular in Eng
land that they had to hire Hessians
to fight 1t: that all her greatest men
rallied against it. in and out of sea-
son. He was very discreet about these
facts, wasn't he? And the next time
that he introduced his Mr.. Atkins
was only a few years ago. and he
was almost in tears over his dreadful
conduct. He gave us fair warning that
the INSCRIPTIONS wretch had sub
sidized our press and bribed the
casual observer and corrupted our
officials TO such an extent that it was
impossible to believe a word that they
said. and he assured us that the fairy
tales that they were indulging in
anent wicked Belgium and degenerate
France would make the blood OF an
honest German run old. And it was
this purely fictitious Tommy that you
went to meet-only he isn't the one
that the little group listening in the
twilight are waiting to hear about
They want to hear about the real one
the one who got up in the gray light
OF "a London dawn to give you so
passionate a welcome that It fairly
took your breath away-the one that
you found later with his back against
a ruined wall in France, fighting,
fighting, bloody and broken and white
to the lips but managing. somehow,
to throw you little. stiff, tortured
grin and managing, too. by his own
grit and the grace of God, to carry
on. II you ran into him in France.
that is how you saw him-and if you
didn't. don't pass on any picturesque
gossip that you will make a little
more picturesque in passing. Some
one might believe 1t! But you might
tell them about Tommy's younger