Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-09-02
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
PaoiHst Aunt With a Sense Of Humor
Wrote Poem During the War
Which She Now Recalls With
Some Amusement and Pride
BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE

nURING the early months Of 1917 a
- woman that know received a letter
from her favorite niece, aged, should say,
about sixteen, rebuking her in very stern
tones for being pacitst! The ground Of
her complaint was that her aunt believed that
fighting was too barbarous a way of settling
quarrel to be used by men calling them
selves civilized or modern without an
apology. The aunt had laughed at the
dictum then prevalent thnt this war was a
there, was something not ignoble in the
phrase Too proud to fight !"
1t Eill be remembered, not without aston
ishmeht, that in 1910 be accused of being
a pacifst was little short of being thought
reasonable. and also by some curious twist
pro- -Germanism. Whereas one would think
that il a pacifst could hate, he would
hate Germany and all her ways just then !!
THE aunt In question informs me with
L reminiscent grin that what she was ad.
vocating. at the time her niece felt she was
head on for disgrace, Vas some plan for a
general disarmament, to take effect in the
near future, as being more civilized pre-
ventive OF war than war from every point
Of view, the Taxpayers up!
Her letter in reply to her youthful men
tors shocked censure struck me when I
read il just now, after four years, as hitting
the nail on the head rather neatly. think,
too, 1t illustrates how one can be an aunt
and yet more modern than n niece, and
grown-up without losing a pleasant sense
of what is the vernacular Of youth.
I II seemed to me a nice retort in more
ways than one. 1t reads as follows:
Your letter of rebuke is fondly cherished
in my pocket As for your mothers state
of shock She knows my views and holds
her tongue-as usual!
eff I had been pacifst 5000 years ago,
! grant you I'd have been unique and ready
for show. For in those good old bloody
days men really did in truth demand an eye
for lost eye, and for tooth tooth. So,
If by chance or accident you knocked your
neighbor down. you got right on the spot
whack that cracked your very crown. But
If IT CHANGED that twas slave your
chariot wheels had hit, your slave would
then had had to have his head or body split.
For in those cheerful times of gore men
kept their weapons handy, and the biggest
gladiator brute was thought the biggest
dandy! thousand years, ago, in truth,
the world had changed-in part; mems
fights were readjusted oft by learned words
in court. And If by chance or carelessness
your neighbor felt you'd soaked him, but
wasn't really sure that you had vciously
provoked him, he'd take the quarrel to
the King and there you'd state your cases.
and by his verdict you'd abide, you and
"A hundred years ago. in fact the world
had changed still more; families of the same
land and liege no longer went to war with
sword and musket, siege and drill, and,
though a man of honor might dare to
break that rule, he had to fly the country
II he fought mortal duel.
Now If by a chance your car should
Craze man in your own town. he'd sue you
in the courts Of law, but would not knock
you down. And If in coasting down hill
your sled should hit another's and spill
boy and break his leg, he would not break
your brothers..
And if while visiting friend you like
and much admire. she find her beau was fond
of you, she would not then conspire to make
you drink cold poison or perish by slow fire.
Compared to any hero of 2000 years ago,
you you Eso~ FssoTs:'f niece of "i"s' are " D"eist
"Compared to any lady of 1892. you're
far from militarist and full of notions too
COMPARED to any child Of grace of the
year $500, you are too peaceable for words,
by pity quite encumbercd.
''You cannot keep slave about for fear
it would be cruel
You would not chop neighbours trees,
although you need the fuel.
You cannot ask the law to hang the
thief that nips your purse. You dare not on
the street be heard to scold a child. or curse.
'IOu would not even let a cat 20 starving
in your stable. You would not have the
butler thrashed, although he's rude at table.
'lf any citizen of this or any other land
should kill q fellow citizen we all quite
understand, the laws provide the punish
ment and the Judges are at hand.
Now I've been watching how things
change and custom Is reversed. / always
like to be ahead, instead of last be first I
know that twenty years from now nations
won't go to war. I simply say If that's
the case. why spill today this gore?'
nra fly Eut
wholly so? If we discussed rows at home
1000 years ago, and have not shot our neigh
bors for century or so, and haven't killed
our countrymen for forty years or more.
why harbor any longer this dereict called
war;