Defenders of Democracy Part 28

Woe! you will reach your home where the mother, who died of sorrow, Does not wait for her son any more.

M. Boich

Note: M. Boich is a young Serbian poet, now about twenty-six years old, who already has a recognized place in modern Serbian Literature. The poem "Without a Country" was written after the well-known Serbian tragedy of 1915, and was published last year (March 28) in the official Serbian journal "Srpske Novine," which now appears at Corfu.

Indian Prayer to the Mountain Spirit

Lord of the Mountain, Reared within the Mountain Young Man, Chieftain, Hear a young man's prayer!

Hear a prayer for cleanness.

Keeper of the strong rain, Drumming on the mountain; Lord of the small rain That restores the earth in newness; Keeper of the clean rain, Hear a prayer for wholeness.

Young Man, Chieftain.

Hear a prayer for fleetness.

Keeper of the deer's way, Reared among the eagles, Clear my feet of slothness.

Keeper of the paths of men, Hear a prayer for straightness.

Hear a prayer for braveness.

Lord of the thin peaks, Reared amid the thunders; Keeper of the headlands Holding up the harvest, Keeper of the strong rocks Hear a prayer for staunchness.

Young Man, Chieftain, Spirit of the Mountain!

Interpreted by [signed] Mary Austin

To America--4 July, 1776

When England's king put English to the horn[1], To England thus spake England over sea, "In peace be friend, in war my enemy"; Then countering pride with pride, and lies with scorn, Broke with the man[2] whose ancestor had borne A sharper pain for no more injury.

How otherwise should free men deal and be, With patience frayed and loyalty outworn?

No act of England's shone more generous gules Than that which sever'd once for all the strands Which bound you English. You may search the lands In vain, and vainly rummage in the schools, To find a deed more English, or a shame On England with more honor to her name.

[written] Respectfully submitted to the Defenders of Democracy

[signed] M. Hewlett

(Westluilaruig[illegible, this is a guess], Chichester, England)

[1] To "put to the horn" was to declare an outlawry.

[2] The "man" is George III, his "ancestor," Charles I.

The Need of Force to Win and Maintain Peace

Must, then, gentle and reasonable men and women give over their sons to the National Government to be trained for the devilish work of war? Must civilized society continue to fight war with war? Is not the process a complete failure? Shall we not henceforth contend against evil-doing by good-doing, against brutality by gentleness, against vice in others solely by virtue in ourselves?

There are many sound answers to these insistent queries. One is the policeman, usually a protective and adjusting force, but armed and trained to hurt and kill in defense of society against criminals and lunatics. Another is the mother who blazes into violence, with all her might, in defense of her child. Even the little birds do that. Another is the instinctive forcible resistance of any natural man to insult or injury committed or threatened against his mother, wife, or daughter. The lions and tigers do as much. A moving answer of a different sort is found in words written by Mme. le Verrier to the parents of Victor Chapman on her return from his funeral in the American Church in Paris--"It...has brought home to me the beauty of heroic death and the meaning of life."

The answer from history is that primitive Governments were despotic, and in barbarous societies might makes right; but that liberty under law has been wrung from authority and might by strenuous resistance, physical as well as moral, and not by yielding to injustice and practising non-resistance. The Dutch Republic, the British Commonwealth, the French Republic, the Italian and Scandinavian const.i.tutional monarchies, and the American republics have all been developed by generations of men ready to fight and fighting.

So long as there are wolves, sheep cannot form a safe community.

The precious liberties which a few more fortunate or more vigorous nations have won by fighting for them generation after generation, those nations will have to preserve by keeping ready to fight in their defense.

The only complete answer to these arguments in favor of using force in defense of liberty is that liberty is not worth the cost. In free countries to-day very few persons hold that opinion.

[signed] Charles W. Eliot

Woman and Mercy

Woman and Mercy--to think of one is to think of the other, and yet the suggestion of ideas is purely Christian. The ancient world knew of a few great women who transcended the conditions of society in those days and helped, each one her country, in some extraordinary way. Thus Deborah helped the people of G.o.d in a time of terrible difficulty. And even the Pagan world was not without its Semiramis and its Portia. When mercy came into the world with Christianity the dispensation of it was largely committed to the gentle hands of women, for since men have believed that G.o.d has taken a woman to be His human mother, the position of every woman has been that of a mother and of a queen. The wife has become the guardian of the internal affairs of the home as the husband is of its external affairs.

Whenever women have acted up to the n.o.ble ideals of womanhood preached by the Christian religion, they have received honor, respect, deference and almost wors.h.i.+p from the ruder s.e.x.

It gives me great pleasure to think that in our own country so many women have banded themselves together for such a n.o.ble ideal as that embodied in the very name of "The Militia of Mercy." Here in her true sphere, as nurse, woman will shed the gentle light of mercy over the gory battle field and amid the pain and wounds of the hospital wards; or, if she is not called to such active partic.i.p.ation she will find means to hold up the hands of those more actively engaged, and in countless ways will she be able to mitigate the evils of this most terrible of all wars, and not least of all because of the gift of piety with which Almighty G.o.d has so generously endowed her. Her unceasing prayers will ascend to the throne of G.o.d for those engaged in this terrible struggle, and mercies and blessings will be drawn down upon mult.i.tudes of people whom she has never seen.

I bid G.o.dspeed to The Militia of Mercy, and I hope that every American woman who can will take part in this most womanly and most patriotic work.

[signed] J. Cardinal Gibbons

Joan of Arc--Her Heritage