The Timaru Herald MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1928. AFTER TEN YEARS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18112, 12 November 1928, Page 8

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1928. AFTER TEN YEARS.

In an oration which lias taken a permanent piaee as a classic m American literature, Abraham Lincoln, in dedicating' the battlefield of Gettysburg- as a soldiers’ cemetery, paid an eloquent tribute to"the heroic service the soldier rendered his country: “VVe have- come to dedicate a portion of this field as a final resting--pia.ee ior those who gave their lives that the nation might live; and it is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” That was sixty-five years ago. But as the peoples who were allied in the great struggle to save a world’s morality, con-

template Armistice Day, with all its poignant memories, they feel with Lincoln that “we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow” the sacrifice the young 1 manhood of the free and enlightened nations of the earth laid upon the altar of service to humanity. The men have done that- far more effectively than we could to-day. Ten years have elapsed since the fcattleflag's were fulled and the war drums were silenced, and the nations have marched forward 1o face, the newer problems that come with each succeeding’ generation. There was a day ten years ago when the Allied nations, emerging victorious from a great. I war, breathed a. sigh of relief that I the marshalled millions of demo- , craoy had broken the ponderous I sword of Prussian militarism, I and that ( further sacrifice of the flower of' the world’s manhood would not be demanded. It was a happy thought that bade the Empire keep silence for a brief space on Armistice Day. Never had royal proclamation better warrant; it came from, the eternal fitness of things, and in its ryli.Qiai*vn+.in.-n IQ crlAn.TlPrl fl.

little of the gain for which the war was won. In that brief' space, toil has rest, and business halts, noisy intercourse ceases, but eager hearts, met no demand for utterance. For a, moment or so, in yesterday’s memorable silence, the soul of the nation liad room to breathe. Only the heart knows its own bitterness—and balm. In the due that was paid to the dead in yesterday’s moments: of silence, the deeds that lustre the family name were particularly recalled. Central in the memory of sacrifice

some dear -remembered lace shone. The problems and the hopes of these '' rebuilding- day s took .'shape alike about thfe'fol'ms of the heart’s own beloved. A’ sacred solitude was entered in the silence, and in the secrecy—a result not really so strange as it may seem.—a larger' life grew. In the hubbub of our rushing days, only little things have a chance to live; but philosophers remind us that, life’s great thing’s are born in silence. Hence in an age when silence may be accorded too small a place and solitude be mistakenly accused of hostility to brotherhood, it is well to remember that great things grow best in tire quiet places!, but in moments of remembrance such as. Armistice Day, the plucking of those choice flowers in their seclusion is a veritable refreshing of the soul. When the survey-ship Galilee was in these waters some years ago she left her busy task for a while and cruised with apparent aimlessness off the Canterbury coast. There was wisdom in her release from service; for her magnetic

equipment had become injuriously affected by constant use, and was no longer true. The needful adjustment could be accomplished only away from the metallic company of the ports, in the aloofness of that seemingly idle cruise. So the gear.of life may be so' pressingly about us as to impede our truest living, and like release be our occasional necessity. George Herbert, quaintly musing upon the garb of the soul, urges secluded survey or its wardrobe:— By all means use sometimes to be alone; Salute thyself; see what thy soul doth wear; Dare to look in thy chest, for ’tis thine own, mid tumble up and down what thou find’st there. Ho man knew better how to bo occupied in strenuous toil than Robert Louis Stevenson; but he makes in “Walking Tours” an urgent protest against the tumult of business that drowns the quiet strength of life:—“We are all so busy, and have so many far-off projects to realise., that we can find no time for pleasure trips into the Land of Thought. We are in such haste to he doing, to he writing, to he gathering gear, to make our voice audible a moment in the derisive silence of eternity, that we forget that one thing of which these are hut the parts —namely, to live. To sit still and contemplate, to ho everything* and everywhere in sympathy, and yet content to remain where and what, you are—is not this to know both wisdom and virtue, and to dwell with happiness?” And so on Armistice Day, the Empire submits itself to the caressing, empowering touch of silence. It is felt, even ten yearsi after, that it is for us the living as Lincoln said at Gettysburg, rather to he dedicated to the unfinished -work' which they who fought so well have, thus far so nobly advanced: “It is rather for us. to he dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from, these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion.” Thus on Armistice. Day, if in the moments of silence the great democracies of the world renew their vows to outlaw war and suppress the passions

that inspire recourse to armed conflict, the men who gave their lives will not have died m vain, for the world will be many days' march nearer world peace, since manv nations are alieacly pledging themselves to a lenunciatioii (,£ win* as an msii ament ot national policy ; indeed, a lentilie of Arnusuce Day in Europe was the declaration by Germany that “the Allies by winning the war broke up lTuasianism . . . and gave the Oernians a. chance to discover the rottenness of military glory.”