St. Tammany farmer., 1922-02-25

Ww
Hs Came to the Longest Of All His
Pauses Here, and the Awful Gravity
Of the Audience Almost Suffocated
Him.
the audience almost suffocated him.
WELL" he concluded, ut don't look
right to me-"
"Four minutes!" the chairman an
nounced, for Ramsey's pauses had
worn away great deal more of this
terrible interval than had his elo-
Quence. Opening statement for the
negative: Miss D. Yocum. Four min
utes."
AS Dora began to speak, Ramsey
experienced a little relief, but only
little-about the same amount of relief
as that felt by bridegroom when it
Is the brides turn to respond" not
really relief at all, but merely the
slight relaxation of continuing
strain. The audience now looked at
Ramsey no more than people look at
bridegroom, but he failed to perceive.
any substantial mitigation Of his
frightful conspicuousness He had not
the remotest idea Of what he had said
in setting forth his case for Germany,
and he knew that 1t was his duty to
listen closely to Dora, in order to be
able to refute her argument when his
two-minute closing speech fell due;
but he was conscious of little more
than his own condition.. His legs had
now gone wild beyond all deyilry, and
he had to keep shifting his weight from
one to the other in order even to hope
that their frenzy might escape gen.
eral attention.
He realized that Dora was speaking
rapidly and confidently, and that some
where in his tll-assembled parts lurked
familiar bit Of him that objected to
her even more than usual but she had
used half of her time, at least, before
he was able to gather any coherent
meaning from what she was saying.
Even then he caught only fragment,
here and there, and for the rest-so
far as Ramsey was concerned-she
might as well have been reciting the
Swedish alphabet.
In spite of the rather startling fee
bleness Of her opponents statement,
Dora went at her task as earnestly as
II it were to confute some monster of
casuistry. "Thus, having demonstrat-
ed that all war Is wrong" she said, ap-
preaching her conclusion, ut is scarce
" necessary to point out that what
ever the actual circumstances Of the
invasion, and whatever the status Of
the case in international law, or by
reason of treaty, or the German oath
to respect the neutrality Of Belgium,
which of course was grossly and dis
honorably violated-all this, I say, la
dies and gentlemen of the Lumen So ,
ciety, all this is beside the point Of |
morals. Since, as I have shown, all |
war is wrong, the case may be simpli- ]
fed as follows: All war Is morally
wrong. Quod erat demonstrandum /
Germany invaded Belgium. Invasion I
is war. Germany, therefore, did moral 4
wrong. Upon the legal side, as began
by pointing out, Germany confessed In
the reichstag the violation of law.
Therefore, Germany was justified in
the invasion neither morally nor legal
ly; but was both morally and legally
wrong and evil. Ladies' and gentlemen
OF the Lumen society, l await the
refutation Of my opponents"
Her opponent appeared to be having
enough trouble with his legs, without
taking any added cares upon himself
in the way of refutations. But the
marvellous Dora had calculated the
length Of her statement with such
nicely that the chairman announced
-Four minutes" almost upon the in
stant Of her final syllable; and all
faces turned once more to the uphold
er of the affirmative. "Refutation and
conclusion by the affirmative" said the
chairman. 'Mr. R. Milholland. Two
minutes"
Herewith, Ramsey coughed as long
as he could cough, and when he felt
that no more should be done in this
way, he wiped his face-again an act
OF necessity-and quaverlngly began:
Gentlemen and ladies, or ladies and
gentlemen, in making the refutatlon
of my opponent, feel that feel that
hardly anything more ought to be
said"
He paused, looked help1essly at his
legs, and resumed: II
am supposed to make the reputable
refutation Of my opponent, and I feel
that ought to say quite deal more.
In the first place, feel that the inya-
sion has taken place. I am supposed
l got postal card that I
am supposed to be here tonight. Well,
In talking over this matter with cou-
pie Of seniors, they told me l was sup
posed to claim this invasion was mor'ly
and legally all right. Well" Here
by some chance, the recollection of a
word of Dora's flickered into his cha
otic mind and he had brighter mo-
ment. my opponent said she proved
all war is wrong-or something like
that, anyhow. She said she proved 1t
was wrong to fight, NO matter what.
Well, If she wasn't girl, anybody
that wanted to get her to fight could
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