Show kathleen norris says dont be afraid to ask favors of god bell syndicate features feature N 2 aw 49 0 1 01 0 in wartime we stop our cars can and smilingly invite the unil uniformed ormed lads to jump into them B by y KATHLEEN NORRIS THE HE longer I 1 live the T more firmly do I 1 believe in the nearness of god and the power of prayer the rule that was given us by an obscure c carpenter ar penter who never wrote a line or had an influential friend and who died the death of a common crim criminal is still the only true rule by which we humans may live in security and peace when anyone says to me that he would like to have seen a miracle I 1 think of THIS miracle that we hold no name in all our history worthy to be mentioned in the same breath with that of christ P poor and unknown yet his words still ring about the world and his law so utterly opposed to all natural human law Is the one thing that can save us yet when this war is over and the monstrous evil that darkens the world Is suppressed let us hope that those in power will remember that unless the law of christ influences their councils there will be no peace and that before babies are out of high school the whole horror will begin all over again no matter how they dress their treaties in magnificent phrases no matter how many willing and unwilling signatories signa tories they obtain for them unless forgiveness and brotherhood become the universal law there will be no peace the secret lies there in the sermon on the mount and it lies hes nowhere else when peace comes lets try to feed our workers as well as they are being fed to in war lets not forget and slip back into the selfish old ways lets 1 ets not ever tolerate poverty and idleness bleness dl eness slums and squalor again levs lets hold fast in peace to the generosity ero sity the intelligence the self sac and operation cooperation co that we exhibit so eagerly in war constant international visits we shall have to keep up an immense army tor for a long long time sven even a peace loving woman like myself who has suffered a great deal for or her championship of the non noni i intervention cause can see that we shall have to have half a million men ready to take to the air why not have lave them visit foreign countries to bring friendship and help steadily as a regular thing so that the flag that hat these countries have come to know mow through war shall become to them hem a symbol of ct everything that Is s forgiving and helpful in war there is a demand for limit less ess labor to rush the work of de bense ense and destruction we pay for it t gladly readily and what we buy is s blown to bits and sunk into the oceans by the hundreds of millions why cant we keep up this magnificent ent plentitude of employment in n peace times paying for roads schools bridges libraries until there Is s no hamlet in all america where learning earning and usefulness cannot be found by the humblest comer in wartime we women knit thou bands mill millions ions of warm garments we gather little coats and boots we ship them to the tar far corners of the ie earth to comfort cold little crea tures ures who in wartime only seem so akin to our own why cant we keep that up in days of peace there Is no tiny shivering chinese child buttoning a generous wool lined coat about her who cannot be told that america has sent her that because america believes in a shining god who said that an all men are brothers in wartime we take to food restrictions strict ions joyfully and the markets are filled with philosophic women who are quite ready to face any arl privation if it Is demanded by the boys in wartime we stop our cars can and smilingly invite the PEACE I 1 LEAVE if you done so lately take out your family bible and turn to st john 1427 read those stirring words peace I 1 leave with you read on a little for the prince of this world cometh even in in the hour of his own sorrow christ prepared his disciples for the fact of his revelation just as we must now prepare to make the most of the peace for which we are so fiercely fighting and we must prepare for peace not no t in a militant spirit of spiteful revenge but with the calm knowledge that with the help of god we can make our world a little more inore like his kingdom f formed lads to jump into them clubs club a are formed for them so that their evenings shall be safe sandwiches are piled up by the thousand cards and games are collected the they y must be protected from dangerous amusements they must be fined filled with good beet beef and coffee warmly clad there must be music and girls with whom to dance but in peace times more shame to us hungry and idle and shabby lads roam the streets at night and fall fail into all the misch mischief t ef that idleness and poverty and cold and hunger and shabbiness encourage and we punish them tor for it love Is power behind good it is hard to see the light of gods law through our stupidity and the darkness of our vision but it lives on it inspires us in everi every bandage that we roll every cookie that we bake every sweater we knit love is the power behind them all and it Is to that love that we must trust nen a sense of helplessness and hopelessness overwhelms you then remember that stronger than all the leaders 1 2 ders put together is the miraculous aeu s force of prayer remember that no woman her heart sick with anxiety over the absent sons her brain bewildered and tired by the problems that loom vaster and vaster above us no woman ever interrupted inte arrup t her dishwashing or her ironing to kneel down and say the old prayer that begins our father without arising from her knees stronger in courage and refreshed in spirit every prayer that goes to god is a spark of light in the dark it finds some bitter need somewhere on the cold mountains of china in the crowded huts buts of india it eases ease some suffering it softens some blow blo w send your gift of prayer it if you y u like to most heartbroken mother send it if you like to the boy who is lying half conscious in some base hospital and have his nurses wonder why he be Is suddenly better why he has fallen at last into a healing sleep fantastic to think that we can send prayer abroad to spread peace and blessing among those whom w we e never will know and whose thanks never will reach us well there are many fantastic delusions in this world such as that money brings happiness or that a beautiful girl is always a happy girl we fool ourselves about half the things we know or think we know but not about prayer peace and infinite good are as plentiful as th the air we breathe as close as the air w we breathe in every spare moment enter into the empire of gods peace spread this union of prayer all over the world and perhaps when the war is won and the days of readjustment come we will find it stronger than we have ever dreamed we win will find ourselves worthy to formulate the plan that shall bring us a little nearer to the kingdom |