Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 229, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 September 1918 — Love and Uncle Sam [ARTICLE]

Love and Uncle Sam

By KATHARINE EGGLESTON

Of The

Dear mothers of soldier boys, wives of soldier men, sweethearts of soldier lovers, with the arms of our love round each other, let us reason together. From some of us, surely, love’s supreme sacrifice will be demanded. But it is not giving our best to death; it is seeing the soldier come home crippled or blind or deaf. Every heart among ours aches in the giant grasp of pain at the thought In the streets of London before this war began, there were crippled and blinded men, pitifully capitalizing their infirmity as they thrust their bit of green or bunch of lead pencils forward to cover the fact that they were beggars. In every other country where war has laid its devastating weight there are such men. Even here, where we have pensioned the veterans of the Civil- war, we have the tragic evidences consequent on men’s knowing that they are not helping in the world’s work. These were the sons of mothers like you, the husbands of wives like you, the lovers of sweethearts. For a month or a year, the glory of their .sacrifice burned brightly around them. They j were heroes In love’s eyes. They were petted and appreciated. Then, the routine of life swept on. The other men went back to business. Their wives and their mothers and their sweethearts went on with life accompanied by the agreeable support of their money-producing efforts. Perhaps the men tried to make places for the maimed companions.. But the dimming thoughts of the war were the mist that began to shut the maimed ones away from participation in the life where they could render no service. The women who loved and clung to them had to find work to support themselves and the heroes. And, even they grew less conscious of the heroism and more conscious of the strain of making ends meet. Worse, yet, a deterioration set in within the mind and heart of the hero. It was not his fault that he could be of so little use. He had given more for his country than some of the men who were blessed with the favor and comfort resulting from active service and the accumulation of a competency. Bitter or discouraged or else Just slipping without much resistance into the position of grocery-

store loafer ami'courthouse lOungrx the hero of a thne forgotten became t kind of tolerated zero in the life oi Jfia community—or an actual nulsaiu-e Dear mothers, wives, sweethearts, this is not a picture too highly colored. You know of men far-fallen from the heroic days when they came home bearing the signs of their great giving. Then, what would I whisper to the deeps of your heart so sacred to your soldier-men? By the strength of the love you bear them, save their glory untarnished! How? There is work that a man without a leg can do with his two hands. There Is work that a man bereft of sight can do by the sense of touch.'There is work, that a man whose arms are gone can do with his feet. Our blessed heroes can be taught work that will, in some instances, make .them, even more able to earn than they were before the war. The government is looking after this. Then what can we do, mothers, wives and sweethearts? We can—and we must- —give bur men to the government a bit longer, give them till they are equipped to take men’s places in the active world. It means holding our hearts, that yearn so terrifically to have them again, in the strong grip of our common sense. Duty of Our Women. When you ache to get them back, to have them right close to you, to make it all up to them, just remember that the mothers and wives and sweethearts of those men whom. you now regard as ciphers loved and yearned as you do. Just keep a tight hold on the thought that tte shiftless, uncontributing member of society, who dec- ‘ orates a dry gpods box or hunches up in a wooden at the courthouse, came home to hearts that blazed with fervor as yours is blazing now. And save your men from what your eyes convince you is their certain future. Six months or more, under the wise hand of the government have served, and they will be fitted for further service. Six months or more of loving waiting on your part will bring you home a hero whose glory never can be dimmed by the smudgy hand of circumstances. Six months or more of positive encouragement will keep him from falling a victim to the despair that will come when your loved one returns to the life he has left robbed of the arm or leg or eyes which have been so essential. It is really up jo us, the women whose love is the great rock of shelter and comfort for our men, to encourage—even to insist upon their taking advantage of the opportunities which the government will provide. Up to the women! We have not failed our men yet! We never will, not though the way we tread is red with our own heart’s blood!