The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1920-04-29

NuuSc IL you lONeu IRENE week dSO
you love her tonight"
Edith" he said, "there is no way
Of explaining this. You can't under
stand. l know you have given your
self up to a life of service, and i
honor you very much, and all that, but
there are some things you won't be
able TO understand. You can't under
stand just how much l loved Irene.
Have you never known Of love being
turned to hates"
mo. Other impulses may be, but
not love. Love can no more turn TO
hate than sunlight can turn to dark
ness. Believe me, Dave, if you hate
Irene now you never loved her. Lis
ten: Love beareth all things, believ-
eth all things, hopeth all things, en-
dureth all things !"
"Not all things, Edith; not all
things"
''It says all things"
Dave was silent for some time.
When he spoke again she caught diff
ferent sound in his voice-a tone as
though his soul in those few moments
had gone through lifetime Of expe-
rience.
Edith" he said, "when you repeat
ed those words knew you had some
thing that have not. / knew it, not
by words but by the way you said
them. You made me know that in
your own life, if you loved, you would
be ready to endure all things. Tell
me, Edith, how may this thing be
done?"
She trembled with delight at the
new tone in his voice, for she knew
that for him life would never again
be the empty, flippant, selfish, ire
sponsible thing which in the past he
had called life.
"In your case," she said, "the course
is simple. 1t is just a case of for
giving"
He gazed for a time into the street,
while thoughts Of bitterness and re-
venge fought for domination Of his
mind. Edith" he said, at length,
must I-forgiveT
81 do not say you must" she an
swered. 81 merely say if you are wise
you will. Nothing, it seems to me, is
so much misunderstood as forgiveness.
The one who is forgiven may merely
escape punishment, but the one who
forgives experiences a positive spir-
itual expansion"
as that Christianity" he ventured.
"It is one side of Christianity. The
other side is service. If you are will
ing to forgive and ready to serve /
don't think you need worry much over
the details Of your creed. Creeds,
after all, are not expressed in words
but In lives. When you know how a
man lives you know what he believes
always"
Suppose I forgive-what thenT
Service. You are needed right
now, Dave-forgive my frankness-
your country needs you right now. You
must dismiss this grievance from your
mind, at least dismiss your resent
ment over it, and then pace yourself
at the disposal of your country"
'That is what I had been thinking
Of" he said. "At least that part about
serving my country, although l don't
think my motives were as high as you
would make them. But the war can't
last. 1t is unbelievable"
"rm not so sure" she answered
gravely. "Of course I know nothing
about Germany. But I do know some
thing about our own people. know
how selfish and individualistic and
sordid and money-grabbing we have
been: how slothful and incompetent
and nlf-satisfied we have been; and
/ fedr 1t will take long war and sac
rifias, and tragedies altogether be-
yond our present imagination to make
us hnselfish and public-spirited and
clean and generous. / am not wor-
rysng about the defeat of Germany.
If our civilization is better than that
of Germany we shall win, ultimately,
and If our civilization is worse than
that of Germany we shall be defeated
we shall deserve to
be defeated.
"But I rather think that neither Of
the alternatives will be the result.
rather think that the test Of war will
show that there are elements in Ger
man civilization which are better than
ours, and elements in our civilization
which are better than theirs, and that
the good elements will survive and
form the basis Of a new civilization
hattar than aifhar1
"If that is So" Dave replied. "lf
this war is but the working of immu-
table law which proposes to put all the
elements of civilization to the supreme
test and retain only those which are
justihable by that test, why should
Tor anyone else-hghtP And" he
added, as on afterthought, ''what
about that principle of forgiveness?'
1--WE must fight" she answered. 'be-
cause II is the law that we must fight;
because IL Is only by fighting that we |
can justify the principles for which we |
fight. If we hold our principles as be- |
ing not worth fighting for the new civil |
lization will throw those principles in |
the discard. And that, too. covers the |