The Washington times., 1921-11-15
WORLD ISNOT ! /.
/. YET DONE WITH
| NAR,.|SbEL|EF
Mary Roberts Rinehart Sees
Finish of Militant Pageant
Inevitable, However.
THE END OF THE PAGEANT
By MARY ROBERTS RINEHART,
Noted Authoress.

Written Exclusively for Universal Service.
Copyright, 1921, by Universal Service. Inc.
Whatever the extreme pacifists
may believe, we have not yet entirely
done with war. But eventually we
shall have done with it. Call it eco
nomically too expensive, call it a
growth of the humane instinct, call
it increasing religious conviction,
call it world determination if it con-
tinues, the fact remains that war, is
gradually folding up its banners and
preparing to depart.
Ifs Now Part 'of Life's Pageant.
And with war will go something
that Is a part OF the great pageant
of life as we see it-something ter
rible but spectacularly majestic, hid
eous but dramatic, ugly but impress
sivc. Unthinkable as .it is i'm this
era of civilization, it has yet been
the ladder by which men have risen
to heights Of sacrifice and heroism
they would not otherwise have dared
will vanish from our seas, and the
soldier Fl oni the lard. The vast i'm.
pedimenta of war, the guns and
swords, the rattle of artillery, the
thud of cavalry, the line on line OF
marching men will go. The crowds
on the pavements, stricken AMI yet
uplifted. will go about their peaceful
business. And there will be 10 more
war.
worry
long time. But war is dying, anq
let us deal generously with it, now
that we may. 1t has taken more
than ii could ever give, and 1t goes
to a dishonored grave. But some
things II did give.
Even Christianity Is Militant.
Not only color and drama. although
II gave us those. The appeal of the
fighting man is imbedded In us from
the beginning of the race. Our very
Old Testament Christianity is mill
tant. Long before law came grad
ually to disestablish him, the fighting
man stood for human rights. But
for right by might. And because
his was sordid business at best,
from the beginning he has disguised
il in a picturesque magnificence.
His lance has CLEANED, his coat of
mail has shone. And thus accoutered,
ho did his ugly BUSINESS behind
high-sounding words. colorful as him
self. lie built up code which was
immoral yet somehow appealing, and
called it chivalry. and he exalted
physical courage to romantic heights.
His ideals we're often right, but
his methods were wrong. So he
must go. but let us acknowledge that
he has served a not unworthy pur-
pose. He gave misery, but he was
a part of the great pageant of the
world, colorful and heroic, and very
often great.
War Has Revealed Mans Strength.
War is hateful: it's origins have
too often lain in selfishness and
greed. But we can now afford to
bow our heads as 1t passes on, and
acknowledge that If it has killed. it
has also given men chance to rise
superior to il. Out of its very hor-
rors have come patriotism, sacrifice.
and courage. Through it men have
died for an ideal, and thus have
made that ideal imperishablc.
1t is only by war that we have
now come TO peace. ....
The whole question OF nationalism
revolves around this matter of war.
Men have united, formed arbitrary
boundaries. and have called the land
a nation. They have united for pro-
lection against an inimical world, and
when threatened they have risen as
one man. to defend that nation. This
impulse is patriotism.
1t is unthinkable that patriotism
should die, yet it is perfectly. true
that we are only driven out OF our
selves nationally by some great dan
ger, such as war. We do not know
how much we love our country until il
is threatened. 1t is a tragic fact that
war unites q nation as does nothing
else. For Har. then. which we can
no longer endure, we must find some.
thing else. And what shall that thing
be?
A vast internationalism perhaps, in
time. An ethical instead of n bloody
responsibility to our fellows.
BattIeships Were Our Symbols.
But war, or not so much war as the
visible evidence of il, the navy, the
army, even the flag which we have
made a military emblem, have up to
this time symbolized us to ourselves.
In the absence of other tangible evil
dences of our nationality our battle
ships and soldiers are symbols of our
country. That vast, intangible thing
which otherwise we cannot visualize,
the nation, becomes tangible, sails the
sea as battleships, marches the streets
in our uniforms, becomes to us the
concrete evidence, not so much of war
as OF nationality.
To put the world on peace-think.
ing basis Is not easy. We have
thought too long in terms Of force.
Perhaps when the magnificent