DEATH'S WINE-CUP

NZ Truth, Issue 539, 16 October 1915, Page 5

DEATH'S WINE-CUP

One of the most striking cartoons published that relate to the present Great War is that which is entitled "The Vintage." It appeared m "The Glasgow Herald" of August 4, of this year. Death is seen appearing to the Kaiser, uuder whose right hand is a document on which appear the words "World Power." The apparition of Death is seen holding In his bony hands a hemispherical portion of a shell on which is the word "Europe." The shell is' used as a kind of cup, and it overflows with a fluid which is no doubt intended by the artist to represent blood. Europe is, indeed, battered and broken and filled with the spilt blood of its peoples, and this is no doubt what is meant by the artist, who is Mr. Fred A. Farrell. A critic of the cartoon declares it to be a "bold picture" having a "weird imaginative appeal." Beneath th e picture, were the -words, said to be taken from the 25th chapter of Jeremiah: "Ye shall certainly drink. Ye shall not go unpunished." These words do occur m Jeremiah; but not In the order m which they appear under the picture, nor, indeed, are precisely the same words used m the second sentence. The passages occur m "The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah." The Prophet had reproved the Jews for their disobedience to the prophets; and he had predicted that they would have to endure a captivity of seventy years* duration, after which Babylon was to be overthrown. He then proceeds to prediot that all the other nations shall be made a "desolation." Jeremiah, speaking fliJruratively, says that the nations shall drink of "the wine cup of fury." He goes on to say, m the 28th verse, that "all the kingdoms of the world" shall drink from this wine cup, and after they have drunk of it the "king of Sheshac shall drink." The Prophet Jeremiah then goes on to say what ore his instructions from the Lord, as follows: — Therefore thou shall say unto them. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the Qo.d of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rls© no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. And It shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. For, 10, I begin to bringevil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword from all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of Hosts. This does seerii almost like a prophecy of the great outpouring of blood that is now afflicting Europe. "The nations" may be taken to mean Ger-, many, Turkey, and the other great medley of nations living under the fiag of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. All these nations may be typified by the Kaiser, as the man who had brought on the war for which the Prussian military clique had long plotted. Thus Death may be conceived as holding up to the Kaiser a blood-contalnhig fragment of an exploded shell and offering to the Kaiser the "wine of his iniquity" to drink, telling him at the same time that he must certainly drink, and shall not be unpunished. Let us hope that the prophecy contained m these words of Holy Writ, If they can rightly be applied to the Kaiser, will come true m good season, and with full measure of chastisement to the Arch-Criminal!

The Vintage now is red indeed, and Europe is m flood, Not with tho rains sent from the sKles— but gallant men's good blood, The cup, Indeed, Is brimming o'er, and death stalks through the field. But still the blood will stream and splash — for now, how can we yield? The tight is mad, and sad, and bad, and dead men are- knee-deep, "Whilst In the one-time happy homes, a million women weep; One man — Just one who craves for power, said: *'Oo ye, kill and rape!" And thus a million women now are wearing black and crepe. The man that lives m Germany has worked his ghastly will, His name is mentioned with a curse as Awful Kaiser Bill, Who plotted, planned and dreamt, and schemed for all that he was worth, And, quite regardless sacrifice, to boss most of the Earth. But now he's shaking m his shanks, and must be feeling blue. He MUST bo feeling: he's "bit off far moro than ho can chew." He's painted Europe ruddy red—the blood Is dripping o'or The Cup, so If he's human still, God knows he must feel sore. Fair fights oh fields men can forget, who through the Hell Storms live, The Lusitanla murder, though, none of us can forgive. King Death comes with the goblet here — the blood is spilling free, Bill sees It, and he's wonderlnj? what HIS own end will be; 'Tis long he's toasted to "Der Tag," well-named is he "a Hun," "The Vintage" which la shown above Is— Oh! a dreadful one.