Evening star., 1943-07-04

How dark It Isl One by one, lights
have been going out around the world.
On recent Sunday night in Mount YER
non Place Church we listened to DR..
Gather Warfield who was In Poland
when that country was invaded, and 1t
was hard, even though we knew him, to
believe that such atrocities as have been
taking place in Poland actually could
take place In civilized world. How
hard it is to realize that 1000 people die
every day from starvation In Greece.
We have seen the terror-stricken eyes
Of little children from those occupied
countries Of Europe staring from the
pages Of our newspapers and magazines,
and with fresh horror We have read In
recent weeks Of the execution Of those
brave American flyers captured by the
Japanese. Even though We have Just
won . great victory in Africa, We are
wondering at what cost. In the midst
Of 30 much horror, how can We believe
that tomorrow can bring the dawn7
Perhaps 1t would be well to recall that
1t has been dark before. Read the his
tory Of our country. Remember those
hrst days in this wilderness when half
of that little band there at Plymouth
Rock died during that first winter. Read
the story. not for the glory that is there,
but to remember how dark those days
were and how those early settlers buried
their dead at night by candlelight and
planted their crops over the graves In
that first spring so that the Indians
would not know how many died during
that bleak winter.
How dark 1t was at Valley Forge
Joseph Fort Newton has expressed 1t
well when he says: MY home is not
far from Valley Forge. where In the
shastly winter Of 1777-s, Washington
and his little army-hardly more than .
'rabble in arms-endured unbelievable
things, and waited.
"Never do I enter the park without
thinking Of the words Of God to Moses
ut the burning bush: Take of they
shoes from OH thy feet, for the place
whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Maxwell Anderson, In his poetic
drama Valley Forge, has 4 scene when
hope was at . low ebb. and some Of
Washington's men came to him and said
they could not 60 on, without food At to
eat, and must leave.
Others had left, deserting desperate
cause; almost half the army was sick.
and the outlook was black. The writer
puts such words as these into the mouth
of Washington. in reply to his disheart-
ened men: What fight for now Is q
dream, . mirage, perhaps, something
that's never been on this earth since
man first worked it with his hands,
something that's never existed and never
will exist unless we can make it and put
it here-the right of free-born men to
govern themselves in their own way.
"'1f you've lost interest In this cause
Of yours, we've lost our war, lost 1t COM
pletely. and the men we've left lying on
our battlefields died for nothing what
ever-for 4 dream that came too early,
and may never come true.
1--WE mark time here, gentlemen, and
there's much TO do"
Read again Of those tragic days Of
1s6l-1s65 when our own country was
locked in the bloody throes Of civil war
brother fighting against brother, father
against son, neighbor against neighbor
Could there ever be 4 greater darkness
than that?
But for the democracies, perhaps the
darkest day in history came on June !
in 1910 when France fell-France with
her mighty army Of brave soldiers
France behind her Maginot line. France
one Of our greatest democracies. We