OCR Text |
Show AN AMERICAN LETTER. j As proof of the kind of spirit which '. talented young American men are put- j ting into the war, one needs only to read a letter from Lieut. Howard V. O'Brien, written from the front, and addressed to a member of a western Vigilance committee of the American Defense Society. Reading it increas- es our conviction that there is stuff in America which can "hold the line" against any advance, and we print it because we believe it will increase the ; patriotism of our readers. Mr. O'Brien ; who has already won some distinction ; in the field of letters, says: "I leave this week, 'going east' with a destination I know merely to be France. What I shall do there has not been imparted to me, but I rather fancy : advanced work at one of the artillery : schools of fire. None knows so well as we, how much there is to be learned in -this game, and there are months of hard work ahead of us before we are fit to fight. I "I hate leaving those who pay such j an infinitely greater price than I, and j I hate leaving my work. But if I come j through the regard of my children will be deeper, and if I do not well, for j them it will be 'turn down an empty j glass' and a fragrant memory per- ; t haps, after all, a better legacy than 5n everlasting explanation of 'why daddy J didn't.' ; "If I come, back it will be to write : j better books.. If I don't well, there 1 are too many books written anyway, j So it's all to the good either way. j "Hooray for free speech and anti- I war, but while we're 'over there' it's up to you good fellows to keep the j home fires burning, and the damned j pacifists' mouths closed! I'm a paci- fist myself, but I don't want the Ger- f mans to know it until they're on their j knees! , t "Again, dear doctor, my thanks for vour kindness. It helps, believe me, to j know that there are people behind who f care." |