Evening star., 1921-12-11
Prayer and Christ's Spirit
At the Armament Conference

fore Him and have beaten their
puny hands against a brassy sky,
demanding that their will be His.
X X 4 X
Whether any one else shall deem
fit SO to record it or not, record
the opening prayer at the Wash
ington conference as an epoch in
human history. For the first time
when men were considering war
and its horrors, nations and their
rights, peoples and their aspira-
tions, divine guidance was sought
in opening up highway to hu-
man peace and the binding Of the
nations together in faith and not
in distrust. 1t was worthy Of our
President and our commissioners
and the conference. The reflex
action upon the peoples OF Europe
cannot be otherwise than helpful
and hopeful.
turn to American soil in the ma
tional cemetery at Arlington OF
the ashes of the unknown Ameri-
can soldier who fell in the great
war. While the burial ceremonies
were going on l CHANGED to be
reading in my Wordsworth. My
eye fell upon his translation Of the
inscription upon the tomb where
rested the body of an unknown
Greek soldier. 1t is so worthy of
newspaper record that l repeat 1t:
MY name, my country, what are they
to theei
What. whether prord or bare my pedigree?
Perhaps l far surpass all other men;
Perhaps, ] fell below them ALL What
sufice it, stranger. that thou seest tomb.
Thou knowest it's use. 1t hides-no mat
ter whom"
AS l re-read these lines another
scene in the history of this people.
which for art, literature and law
has never been surpassed. rose be-
fore me. i saw hump-backed
Jew standing upon Mors Hill and
which had been erected to the
gods and goddesses of a people
who, however learned they were.
felt that there were mysterious
powers they could not see and over
which they had no influence save
through prayer and sacrifice. l
saw his eye fall upon the one
erected to the unknown God. and
heard him say to the assembled
group whom We ignorantly wor-
ship, him declare ] unto you" And
then my mind came back across
the long centuries. ! saw them as
they passed in swift review. l
saw the never-ending conflict be-
tween right and wrong. 1 gazed
upon the ever-increasing horror
and fearscmeness of war.
i: i: = x
The same day l picked up the
Chicago Daily News and studied its
cartoon, why Not Scrap the Pi-
lots, Too?" and there 1 saw in an
cry seas the vessel which held the
worlds destiny being piioted by
Hate and Fear and Greed and
Race Prejudice. And back it took
me once again to Arlington, and in
my minds eye ! stood with uncov-
cred head and reverent mien be-
fore the tomb of Americas un-
known hero. In spirit / was lifted
up and heard a voice saying unto
me:
THE inscription upon the tomb
Of the unknown Greek soldier is
not the one for me ] am the
spirit of the man whose ashes are
here entombed It does not mat
ter what my name has been. 1t
little counts whether l came from
the highest or the lowliest in the
land Whether 1 was wise or
ignorant is of no moment. What
needs to be remembered is that I
am the spirit of the great war /
paid the last full measure of my
devotion to an ideal upon the
affairs of constitutional liberty.
From out the vast spaces where
now my, unfsttered spirit scars l
call to America and to the world.
Hate no man. Fear no people.
Envy nobody's prosperity, ana re-
member that in the genealo6y of
good there is no such thing as
superior and inferior races. There
are nineteen millions and more of
us. named and unnamed. upon this
war-stressed world who plead
with the men assembled in Wash
ington that as they revere our
memory, love the living and hope
for the unborn. they will sink
personal and national selfishneSs
in the larger work of saving hu-
mankind, of making mankind DEM
ocratic. of blending into the gov
ernments Of the future both Gris-
tocracy and democracy by the
adoption of those principles which
fell from the lips of the greatest
aristocrat and the greatest dem
ocrat the world has ever known,
Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and
Son of Man"
(copyrieht. 1921, By The Washington starD