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Show Tells Deep Significance j of the Red Cross Appeal I Subscription to Fund Needed for This State Should Be Held a Secred Privilege. By C. C. GOODWIN. "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and his servants, and all the i Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house i in Egypt where there was not one dead." IT seems that in the three thousand thou-sand years since that cry was raised the hearts of men have not much changed. Our country Is at war with an enemy that has t lirown off the mercies mer-cies that had begun to attach to the conduct of war, and has returned to the' old Avlld beast fury that spares neither sex nor age. A cry as lamentable, as that winch was awakened in Kgpt on that night of horrors is sounding through all the civilized world. Indeed, in the old world civilization Itself seems ready to collapse under the mighty strain. The- Cross of Calvary Is almost obscured ob-scured by tho clouds that till tho world, but out from under the battle canopv the Red Cross Is shining. Its mission is of mercy; it is almost the only evidence that mercy st II! remains re-mains on earth. It binds up wounds; it soothes the sick; it feeds the hungry; hun-gry; it comforts the broken-hearted .it is, as nearly as can be devised by man, the living Presence on earth of the d I vino Influence that rules in bea ven. But just now It has a deeper significance sig-nificance to the men and women of Utah. The full quota of their sons are about to take a direct part in this great world -war that is shaking and saddening the whole earth, and this call is to secure the means to have this divine Presence of Mercy surround sur-round them from the beginning. To transmit them the mother's love, the sister's love, the wife's love ana maw them bravely face whatever cmes to them, this love surrounding them. Other calls appeal to men's sense of justice, right and generosity; this call is for men and women to giv expression to the love that is in our hearts for our own. It Is that the soldier boys who go away may go with the thought that the love and protection of their fathers, fa-thers, their mothers and wives are to be always around them ; that they are never to be forgotten, even for t lie moment ; that their w ork is appreciated ap-preciated and that behind their work there shall always be such protection and love as can be extended to them. The call has been ringing for three days and still the full sum required is not raised. This is airnost a reproach. re-proach. Think of It' It is for Utah's own sons! That when far away and possibly in need they will be helped. It is more than that. It is to keep the thought warm in their hearts that they are not forgotten, never will he forgotten; that the merciful Presence is ever around them, keeping keep-ing watch over them; and that what is given them when In need Is not from tiie cold hands of strangers, but from those whom they love and who love them. AVhat a balm for a wound! "What a solace for a fever vision! What an antidote for suffering in any form! And the sum is not quite raised. Tell !t not to the school chilaren, lest they bring their little banks and make it up in 10-cent pieces! Tell it not to the sisters and sweethearts sweet-hearts of the boys, lest they cast their rings and bangles Into a crucible cruci-ble and make up the amount! ' Tell it not to the boys who are going go-ing away, lest the belief that Utah appreciates them and glories in the so crtfice they are making will grow cold ! To buy a Liberty bond was a patriotic patri-otic duty ; to subscribe to this fund for the Red Cross should be held as a privilege. It is to cause to materialize Into material mercies the holiest thought of the century; beyond that to cause to shine before the soldier's eyes the divine Presence of Mercy in celestial robes. The cry In Egvpt was for the newly dead; tills call is for the living and for Utah's own children. Though a purely material call, there Is mingled min-gled with it all the lofty attributes of patriotism, of justice, of mercv, of duty and all that there is in both divine and human love. It gives to men and women a new dignity; it exalts ex-alts the nation and gives to the flag above us a new sacredness and majesty. |