Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1922-09-01
CHAPTER XVI.
-1e-

q -..t fhgnder in the son, at nrSI 100
-r,tbln it to be audible, had come
~ surface now ard gradually be-
! heard as the thunder of a million
!, mon the training grounds. The
. 80 mng sharper; the drums and
~ town and village and country
we're the drums and flies of
thst came closer and closer to
- hearth between the two creams.
N the old symbols became symbols
mi and new, as if no one had ever
!. them before. America" was like
word. and the song America"
Uke a new song. All the dusty
! ...pcies Of Grating candidates, seek
d rouse bored auditors with ''the
sag"; all the mechanical patriotics
,cbod and church and club; all
q tlme-worn, fiaccid things leaped
denly into living color. The flag
,sme brilliant and strange to see
-ange with meaning that seemed
Il a rIeaning long known, yet never
Own till now.
And 81 hearts that thought they
lew themselves came upon ambushes
emotion and hidden indwelllngs of
,rIt not guessed before. Dora Yo-
n listening to the "Star-Spangled
unsr,s sung by children Of immi-
ants TO an out-of-tune old piano In
mission clubroom, in Chicago, found
rsalt crying with a soul-shaking
srtIness in a way different from 9TH
WAYS that she had cried. Among
II many things she thought of then
i this: That the banner the chill
sen we're singing about was in dam
The great country, almost a con-
lent, had always seemed so untouch-
he 50 safe and sure; she had never
en able to conceive Of a hostile
Esr mighty enough to shake or even
Il. And since so great and funda-
sntal thing could not be injured, a
1 for its defense had appeared to
In her eyes, not only wicked but
IUlOus. At last, less and less
guely, she had come to comprehend
nethlng of the colossal German
sst, and the shadow that touched
bright banner Of which the immi-
uts children piped so brislzly in the
hon clubroom.
n began to understand, though
ould not have told just why, or
or at what moment understand
reached her. She began to under
And that her country, threatened to
No life, had flung its line those thou
ands of miles across the sea to stand
"a hold Hindenburg and Ludendorff
~ all their kaisers, kings, dukes and
pwh princes, their Krupp and Skoda
Fnstrous engines, and their mons
Pus other engines Of men made into
mics. Through the long haze of
Hsted sea-mIles and the smoke Of
Rd-miles she perceived that brown
e Of ours, and knew it stood there
et Freedom, and the Nation itself,
ght not perish from the earth.
And SO, week later, she went home
came nervously to Ramsey's moth
and found how to direct the letter
wanted to write. He was in France.
As the old phrase went, she poured
her heart. 1t seems to apply to her
ter.
Ehe wrote:
Don't misunderstood me. / felt that
bitter speech to you had driven you
II tske the step you did / felt that 1
sent you to be killed, and that /
ght to be killed for doing it, but /
CIV mat you had other motives, too.
new Of course, thsE you thought Of
country more than you did of me,
u any mad thing l could say-but
uOugnt that what said might have
! tne prompting thing, the word
tnrew you into it SO hastily and
Ore you were ready, perhaps. 1
aued to bear that terrible response
y hope you understand.
a! great mistake has been-I
'asnt was so 1ogical'-it's been
uy starting everything with a
usnt Ia never proven: that war is
worst thing, and all other evils
Y lesser. was wrong. / was
~, because war isn't the worst
! slavery Is a worse evil, and now
~ 70 tell you / have come to see
5Ou are making war on those that
: slavery. Yes, you are fighting
'nat make both war and slavery.
you are right, and / humbly rev.
~, y. and honor all Of you who are
- - iisnt war. / have come home
!. oS'E 4, N the Red Cross here; 1 work
an DAY, and all day keep say
y sself-but really mean to you
= "nat pray, and oh, how | cray
~ De with you and grant you
win win. W van anu
. sl1s me, oh, please-and If you
h .oliu you write to me? / know
ullngs TO do more important
go, sslis-but oh, couldn't YOU.
\ i, letter, which she had taken
,, ~, = dampen. as she wrote, went
- afse to the American Ex-
sBv ~ Forces in France" and
al Nv Sunu him whom it patiently
NJ delayed NOT long IN anuua,