Show Q I j. j We Are All Deathless I ITHE 4 design f for r the tomb of the Unknown THE t 4 Soldier In n Arlington cemetery has finally been selected It will be a beautiful building an affair of white marble with tall pillars across the facade wearing an attitude of p peace ace simplicity and dignity Within there will be a bier of sculptured marble with bas- bas reli relief figures of Victory Peace and the Soldier revealed at one end In it will lie the body that has become a national symbol symbol symbol-a a symbol sym of sorrow conflict conflict con con- and exaltation De Deathless life everlasting everlasting everlasting ing victory final triumph over the world and its myriad cross currents these currents these are the things that our shrine of the Unknown Soldier means to tous us Yet when you stop to think a about out it weare we are are a strange people W Why y do we have t to tb select one dead boy out of to bring I these things to our pur attention Why can an nothing but a death on the field of battle battIe and anda a national monument conceived in all the reverence and arid beauty of f which we are c capable capa capable pa ble mean these things to us When can we realize that the humblest man on earth born bornt t to be for forgotten otten and defeated at at- every turn i is isas isas as much nuch a divine mira miracle le and a l living livin ing t testimonial test test- sti- sti to the immortality and nobility of the I human soul as any heroic victim of shell fire that we could find in all our battlefields I Perhaps ps because we have grown so skilful skit ski f ful l at making and using machines we have hav lost a little of our old appreciation of the of each human individual A m man n by him himself elf does not mean quite as much in Q our r eyes now He can be replaced too easily b. b by byan an automatic whirligig of metal or blown to bits too easily by a shell It may be that when the newness of our machine age wears off a little we shall be wiser We Ve may be able to see th then n that t the e ordinary unsung individual whom wem we we- m miscall the co common c n man man fights great bat battles bat bat- fles wins wms magnificent victories goes down bavely t to bitter defeats We may be able 1 to p realize that the hope of the race the meaning of life and the secret of a sout soul that thatis thatis' thatis' thatis is is' deathless because it wills to be deathless at are all ll locked up in his plain undistinguished life story Each Each individual on earth if-he if had hadt his deserts could b be hp s pin l in a ment of white marble The Unknown Soldier Sol Sol- dier fier justly enough has become an inspiration inspiration tion fion for us us-an us an eternal symbol of mans man's s But if bit clearer clear clear- greatness our eyes were a ar er we would not need to go to Arlington for stich such symbols They are all about bout us every everY day y of our lives |