Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1922-11-03
From The Study Desk

1t was the Students privilege, the
other morning to breakfast with two
men who had seen active service in
some of the really dangerous zones of
the great war. Stirring indeed were
the experiences to be read between the
lines as one listened to the good
natured badinage of these friends,
reminiscent of voyage, camp, and bat
tleheld. All over the country these
DAYS such reunions are of common &C
currence At the dinner-tablc, on the
train, in the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
young men get together one catches
bits of aneCdote and adventure which
increases ones pride in American citi-
zenShip. We are proud Of these men
who fought for us, and we rejoice in
the record which they made. Great
responsibilities were theirs, and they
accepted them, and measured up to
them in a fashion which won the en-
thusiastic commentator Of the entire
nation.
1t is more difficult to appreciate the
responsibilities of peace yet these re
sponsibilities are no less real and pos
sblv even more fraught with vital i'm
port to our own nation and the world.
The sword and the musket are more
spectacular but after all the peculiar
weapon of Democracy is the ballot.
As a pcope we are slow to appreciate
the power which resides in its influence
over public affairs As a result our
American communities suffer from
misgovernment often simply because
the people are too busy with their own
personal interests to give time to
thoughtful consideration of public al
fairs Hence it has been easy for men
ill-htted for such responsibilities to OBJ
tain public Office,
All this apropos of the coming cleo
ton. 1t is a time when the political
field is unusually free from unfortunate
animosities; the character Of candi-
dates for office has had little or no
mention in public debates, and the is
sues before the people are not of a
type to excite great enthusiasm, or to
inspire any intense feeling All this
will tend to make people feel that it
really does not matter whether they go
to the polls or not, and so if there are
| insistent demands of business or pleas
ure the average voter is quite likely to
respond to those demands instead OF
to the clear call of duty which sounds
| to every LOYAL American citizen on
each election day. The responsibility
is still there. however, and every citi-
zen apprecative Of the meaning Of
Democracy will be on hand to vote if
possible No ordinary business, no
personal pleasure will be allowed to in
terfere with this paramount duty of
the dav.
There is town in Massachusetts
which consists of somewhat widely sep
arated villages with little in common
between them The town business is
carried on in the larger of these vii
lagos. and there all citizens Of the town
are supposed to gather on election day.
Some wears ago a meeting was held
which in no way concerned the inter
ests of the smaller village, and to
which. therefore the citizens of that
community were hardly expected to
care to be present When the meeting
began, however, it was discovered that
one well known character from the
South Village was occupying front
seat Curious to know why he should
take the trouble to be there a citizen
OF the larger village enquired
"Mr L, what did YOU come up here
L., - f,l slNv T.