Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1941-08-28

only by the eternal vigilance OF
fearless men and women. They are
SO organized as to put out the blazes
of the destructive element, as fast
as fire appears anywhere. Is Lon
don doomed? She lost half her pop
ulation in the Great Plague Of 1865.
A year later, 1866, she was almost
burned to the ground in the Great
Fire. 1t was great gain, for the
fire destroyed the last germs of the
plague. Will the English people
succumb now to the Great Fear?
Who can ever forget Westminster
Abbey? 1t has stood 900 years. Ed
ward the Conqueror built it in
1850. Kings and queens have been
crowned on the stone of Scone.
Stately weddings and funerals have
been celebrated here; thousands OF
noble and some ignoble royalty, and
deathless servants Of humanity lie
here side by side. This temple rep
resents the passion of people for
God, religion, the debt to fineness
in personality. The Abbey may go,
the spirit will remain. 1t is i'm
perishable.
Daphne DuMaurier, wife of Gen.
Fred Browning, writer and speaker,
tells us that God is coming to Eng
land, giving endurance, patience
and grace. God descends into bomb
shelters, and is near when all else
is gone. st. PauPs Church, also
bombed, is a symbol of everlasting
faith, for Paul wrote Cast down
but not destroyed" All that st.
Paul's and the Abbey stand for is
secure in history, literature and the
human heart.
The same writer and speaker,
Mrs. Browning, in a recent broad
cast said: "The extraordinary thing
is that we do not regret the past
We do not banker after the things
that are gone. In spite OF suffer-
ing, sorrow, separation, and break
ing up of homes, I believe this is
the spirit of all here in Britain.
Food may be scarce, but we enjoy 1t
more. We are neighborly now
when once we were snobbish and
cold. We live in one another's
houses. share each others lives. We
are learning to give, instead of &c
get. War is becoming more and
more a personal challenge to us
ALL
Walking down Kingsway in 1885
I faced the Mayor of London's home
Guild Hall From it the mayor is.
sues to stop the passage of the
king, at Temple Bar, an old, ole
custom. Satisfied that it is the
king, he gives him the keys of the
city, and the king goes on. The
mayor, elected every year, is usher
ed into office with a great anc
pompous procession, from which
even the animals are not barred
horses, cattle, sheep and hogs, NOV
ing in stately dignity with the rest
of the folk. l wonder if all these
foolish yet ancient customs, like
children's play, will be repeated?
Guild Hall is no more. Bombs sci
it afire. 1t was only wretched
"hotch-potch" anyway the people
say. A modern home will be built
for the mayor, and the war over, the
same old fealty will be observed
no doubt.
East London, home of the work
ing men, and of the wretched poor
is in ruins. The White Chapel dis
trict, the historic slums of the city
has been bombed again and again
1t is completely olished, and
will result in a general effort tC
house respectfully London's lowly
poor. 1t means a final death to in
Vulnerable rats, and terribly crowd.
ed living CD quarters. The social
needs of a better London compel
much more slum displacement, and
to this extent the war has been ad-
vantageous. Real estate values will
have to be revised.
Then there is the House of Com
mons. 1t came as very definite
shock the world over to know that
it is completely ruined. 1t was the
Mother of Parliaments." 1t was
long regarded as the balance whee
of law, order and tolerance, the
symbol of the democratic ideal. Ear,
ly history tells us Of the Saxor
Witenagemote (Witena, wise, ant
gemote, counciD, the council of the
wisemen, where all voices of free
men might be heard. Then later
came the signing of Magma Charts
at Runnymede. Parliament dates
from 1865, the days of Simon de
Montfort. By slow degrees the spir
it of freedom in government has
been developed. 1t will never die
There is England and the United
States, Canada and Australia, South
Africa and the South American re-
publics, Mexico and China. They
are all pledged to liberty or death
Freedom must prevail in the end.
In 1901 Wilberforce said: II dare
not marry-the future is so unset
tied"
In 1906, VIM. Pitt: "There Is
scarcely anything around us bu1
ruin and despair"
In 184S, Salisbury: "Nothins
can save the British Empire from
shipwreck."
In 1S49, Disraeli: "In industry
commerce, agriculture there is nj
hope"
In 1852, the dying wellington, g.
thank God I shall be spared from
seeing the consummation of ruiz
that is gathering around u.s."
And yet stricken England marche!
on.