The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-04-16
Article XII
BY FRANK coMEREoRp.


the United States entered the war he
was one of the many impatient at our
delay. He believed that 1t was our
duty to join the fight when the ruth
less submarine campaign torpedoed
the Lustanla, sending to cold, wet
graves American women and children.
distinctly remember his face as he
read the headlines in the papers tell
ing of the murderous slaughter Of
Americans on the high seas. Now
when he greeted me he startled me
with his first words, 1.-THE war is over.
I'm a bolshevik" I did not know what
the word meant, yet it carried to my
mind an impression, and while the i'm
preston was hazy. it was clear at
least in one particular. It sounded
like the confession of crime.
He had always been of quiet, con-
sentative type. Before the war one
would have judged him to be pacifist;
he was even-tempered. mild of manner,
and | still think that before August.
1914, he was a pacifst in head and
heart. 1t was only the call of just
cause, the fight for an ideal in which
he believed, that had made him SOL
der. In this respect he was typical
of 90 per cent of his countrymen.
I had spoken TO him the day he en-
listed, for he was one Of those who
volunteered, who might have waited
for CONSUMPTION and claimed just
exemption. He was in the beginning
of his married life, with two very
young children. BY profession he was
an engineer. Going to war meant
lenvtng a wife and two babies. leaving
L Job that promised advancement. I
wall his enthusiasm. the intensity of
h. patriotism. his quiet disregard of
lha danger to himself. I am sure
tht there was little hate in his mo-
rcie. He saw danger to the world.
Tie honor Of his country had been
offended against. He was an Ameri-
can, one of those upon whom the duty
fell so he went.
He bolshevik! Why? I was con-
founded. confused. The only meaning
| gave to his remark was that he was
an anarchist. The word "bolshevik"
sounded red to me. It flared OF the
torch, photographed disorder, lawless-
nesS-it registered blood, violence, as
sassination, force, hate. insanity. I
wondered how this nine-lettered word
had become the vehicle for so many
sensations that disturbed peace Of
mind and sounded alarm.
Where had the word come from and
what company had it kept that so
fouled its soul? What did 1t really
mean-had it definite meaning?
Was it bug like the "fiu" GERM Had
it come among nations TO destroy them
and to the hearts of men to silence the
heavenly message, Peace. on earth,
good will to men," Would It run
around the world MS scourge? Was
II u postscript to the bloody war les
son prophesying more anguish and
tears than four years fighting had
brought? Would the world, coming
out Of the war bent, now be broken?
Or was it meaningless myth? Was
the word boyle, bad joke, night
mnre pressing heavily on tired nerv-
Gus worlds head?
Seeking Words Real Meaning.
Or was the meaning that men had
read into the word lie? Was boil
shevism the message of new Mes
siah being cried down by the money
changers of our time in the same way
their ancestors had silenced the word
from the Mount and destroyed the
Message Bearer with the lash and the
cross?
In every mind was the thought and
from every tongue fell the word. Rus
STA had given the world word. It
had encircled the globe. Everywhere
people were speaking the word-it
found Judgment In every brain. q liv-
inE place in every language. It's use
Ind become universal. The old, the
young, rich and poor. the learned, the
uncducated, the serious, the simple,
the toiler, the artist. the poet, and the
pedder, the tinker and the thinker.
held the thought and spoke the word.
Men, women and children spoke the
word. read the word, and felt the
thought 1t carried.
To the nine hundred and ninety.nine
1t was a word of iil-omen. a word Of
terror and fear. To the one in thou
sand 1t was word of hope, light
for the feet of a stumbling world, and
the nine hundred and ninety-nine said
that some of these people called boil
sheviks were dreaners Of a strange
dream, that twisted ideaIism had made
them mad, that the majority of those
who profess faith in bolshevism were
sick with strange, social fever. that
they We're Observation-Disclosures. ne'er-do-
wells, criminals. that they sought to
burn the world.
made up my mind that | would
learn the real meaning Of the word.
The dictionary definition threw no
Nobt ON its meaning I cnmo IN thu