The New York herald., 1921-11-11


the National Cemetery in Arlington
Is symbol, a mystery and tribute.
lit Is an entombment only in the
physical sense. 1t is rather the
! enforcement of Duty and Honor.
This man who died for his coun-
4, try is the symbol Of these quail
ties; far more perfect symbol than
= any man could be whose name and
deeds we knew. He represents more,
really, than the unidentified dead, for
we cannot separate them spiritually
from the war heroes whose names
are written on their gravestones. He
this spirit whom we honor-stands
for the uuselfshness Of all.
This, of all monuments to the dead,
=, is lasting and immutable. So long
as men revere the finer things OF
life the tomb Of the nameless hero
will remain a shrine. Nor, with the
s7shifts of time and mind, can there
be changing of values. No histo-
iian shall rise to modify the virtues
COR the faults of the Soldier. He has
,pn immunity for which kings might
pray. The years may bring erosion
20 the granite but not to the mem
ory of the Unknown.
1t is a common weakness OF hui
manity to ask the questions that can
never be answered in this life. Prob
ably none to whom the drama of the
Unknown Soldier has appealed has
not wondered who, in the sunshine
of earth, was the protagonist of to-
days ceremony. A logger from the
ePenobscot? An orchardist from the
Pacific coast? A well driller from
Texas? A machinist from Connect
cut? A lad who left his hoe to rust
among the Missouri corn? A long
shoreman from Hell's Kitchen? Per-
Laps some youth from the tobacco
fields, resting again in his own Vir-
ginia. All that the army tells us of
him is that he died in battle. All that
efhe heart tells is that some woman
loved him. More than that no man
shall learn. In this mystery, as in
the riddle of the universe, the wise
wonder; but they would not know.
What were his dreams, his ambi-
tions? Likely he shared those COM
mon to the millions: life Of peace
and honest struggle, with such small
success as comes to most who try;
and at the end the place on the hill
side among his fathers. To-day to
do honor at his last resting place
come the greatest soldier OF the age,
nents, the President. the high judges
and the legislators of his own coun-
try, and many men who, like HIM
self, fought for the flag. At his bier
group that America has seen. And
the tomb which Fate reserved for
him is, instead of the narrow cell
on the village hillside, one as last
spring as NAPoLEoN's.
1t is great religious ceremony.
this burial to-day. The exaltation of
The nameless bones would not be pos
sible except for Belief. Where were
Duty and Honor, the wellsprings OF
Victory, IL mankind feared that death
drew a black curtain behind which
Jay nothing but the dark? So all in
whom the spark OF hope has not died
can well believe that we, to whom
the Soldier is mystery, are not a
mystery to him. They can believe
that the watchers at Arlington to
day are not merely few thousands
Of the living but the countless bat
talions Of the departed. Though he
were dead, yet shall he live"-there
is the promise to which men hold
when everything of this earth has
slipped away.
All the impressive ritual OF to-day
would be mockery IL we did not be-
1ieye that, out in an infnity which
astronomers cannot chart or mathe-
.maticlans bound, the Unknown Sol
dier and all the glorious dead whom
we honor in his dust are looking
down upon this little spinning ball,
conscious OF our reverence. And
when noon strikes. signal for the mo-
.,inent of silent prayer. few of those
who stand with barred head will lack
conviction that the rites at Arlington
are viewed by other than mortal eyes.
only in that spirit may we honor the
s=1Jnknown Soldier and those who, like
him. died for this Republic.
Unknown. but not unknowing.