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Show WE FEAR WE HAVE LOS'lpA FRIEND -., ,.,-?.,,.. -, . t i 4 ft sC l We fefcr that? we dost a friend yesterday. ..We -.need all pUr friertds mii'd are therefore very sorry. But if we must lose friends we do not know of a more worthy cause in which to lose them. It happened thisway. We haver had more or less to do in the "Liberty Bond! War Chest, and War Savings Stamps campaigns. We have as a rule found the people waiting, and when called upon they have been ready. , But as is usually the.case, it is the poorer people that ' have done their full duty, that have come through without any flourish of trumpets. As in the days of the Savior the common people "heard him gladly," so in the days of the, nation's dire distress the common com-mon people listen to the call of the nation's chief, and answer with their sons and their money. In scores of cases the widow's might has towered mountains high rjver the much debated, long considered, hard pinch-ed pinch-ed contribution of the well-to-do tight wad. But to our subject, we fear we have lost a friend. We met a man, a well-to-do citizen who started out with nothing but perfect physical manhood, good intentions and dogged determination. Through his untiring industry and practical thrift he has made a competence. He was irt fine fettle ,happy that he did not owe a single dollar, and the fact that he had purchased pur-chased two fifty-dollar .liberty bonds made him feel that his patriotism was of such a high order that it -ought to be commended to his fellow men. His large farm was in the highstate of cultivation, his crop never looked better, anijl the price for his growing products pro-ducts made him very much elated. We congratulated him on his independent condition, but before congratulating congrat-ulating him oh his patriotism, we asked him how much he had given to jthe War Chest, and what he was going to do hvthe war stamp drive. He swelled up and said he had given fifty, dollars to the War Chest, and this, with his bonds he thought was his share."" We stood motionless,, speechless, looking into his eyes as we neyer looked before. Quickly he said "What are you thinking about?" We quietly replied "We are seriously thjking that your government should return your monJ)Br:;jour bondavypur ward shouldVreturn your.' contribution to -the War$hest;-ahd War$hest;-ahd your Uncle Sam should intern you for the' period of the war." 'Although it was a hot day, the air suddenly sud-denly got hotter, and if we had been inclined to get frightened we would soon have been hot footing it in another direction. Had we have shown weakness or started away we no doubt would have been vigorously vigorous-ly shaken up, or pursued, but as we stood our ground nothing desperate happened, as is usually the case. Our friend then very feelingly told us how we had wounded his feelings, and how the good impressions of a life time in our behalf were slowly passing away. When he got through we asked him to sit; down on an old tree. He demurred, but we insisted, and we then said, listen: You settled in. this valley over fifty years ago. You got a good piece of land at a nominal cost. You cultivated it, while your Uncle Sam was watching and guarding its title. When its title was attacked your Uncle Sam called for volunteers, .and he got them, and the ground on many a battlefield was stained with the blood of your fellow citizens in its defense. Just as often as its title has been attacked just as often has its title been preserved. You caine from a land of oppression, of unequal rights, to a land of freedom, liberty, and equal rights to all men. You have at times whined and prated about your rights and privileges, while as a matter of fact you cannot point to a single instance wherein the duty that you oye to xour government, and the brave men that have given their lives for its existence and perpetuity, square with the rights that have been yours and the privileges you have enjoyed. We then cited him a widow, well nigh eighty years old, a wife of an old friend of his youth that had knitted over fifty pairs of socks, purchased a fifty dollar bond, and made a handsome contribution to the Red Cross. We cited him to a young lady, the sole support of a family, a mother and an almost blind fatherwho had purchased purch-ased a fifty dollar bond, contributed to the War Chest, and already had purchased sixty dollars in War Savings Stamps. We cited young men working work-ing for salaries, whose record was of the same high order, a patriotism of the mountain type as compared com-pared to his mole hill patriotism. We then said: "Your farm is worth $200,000. This widows en-' en-' tire belongings, little home and all ,is worth perhaps $5,000. This young woman, and these young men can count their wealth with the use of a few small figures, fig-ures, yet their patriotism, their love of country, their devotion to their brothers and sweethearts, who are facing the German menace impels them to do one hundred hun-dred times more than you are doing. 'They are poor in land and worldly wealth, but rich in patriotism. In. a word they are doing one hundred times more than . ' ..- . - t 1 m m you to preserve the title to your $200,000 farm, and : R unless you change your ways and get on to a platform , . M where duty will more fully square with your rights -P and privileges, you should be interned for the period k - of the war. Your farm should be turned over to ', m these young men and these young women who are T p striving and struggling to preserve and protect it." ''-'m He had listened, and with bowed head, as did " W the young man whom Jesus told to "Go and sell that ' K thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasures in heaven, and come and follow me," he .'wenf away sorrowful for he had great possessions." I I Thus we fear we have lost a friend, but we hope I in thus losing one we have made many. J- I |
