Mary Siegrist.
BEYOND WARS
FOR THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Then will a quiet gather round the door,
And settle on those evening fields again,
Where women watch the slow, home-coming men
Across brown acres hoofed and hurt no more,
The sound of children's feet be on the floor,
When lamps are lit, and stillness deeper falls,
Unbroken, save where cattle in their stalls
Keep munching patiently upon their store.
Only a scar beside the pasture gate,
A torn and naked tree upon the hill,
What times remembered, will remind them still
Of long disastrous days they knew of late;
Till these, too, yield for sweet, accustomed things,—
And a man ploughs, a woman sews and sings.
David Morton.
It was a revival of the old idea of "splendid isolation" on the part of men whose gaze was backward and who had learned nothing from the war. To all others, however, it is evident that America must take her place with the other peoples of the earth at the council-table of the League of Nations, and do her part toward the establishment of peace and liberty throughout the world.
"WHEN THERE IS PEACE"
"When there is Peace, our land no more
Will be the land we knew of yore."
Thus do our facile seers foretell
The truth that none can buy or sell
And e'en the wisest must ignore.
When we have bled at every pore,
Shall we still strive for gear and store?
Will it be heaven? Will it be hell?
When there is Peace?