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NEW YORK EVENING JOURNAL,
[er to meet
in doi-
aver-
ialffs taxed
request of
tieneral has
ie situation
FEBRUARY 1 1 , 1915.
"I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a
Soldier" Greatest Peace Song
By ANN LISLE.
"Tuere'd be no war to-day
If mothers all wo aid say:
•I didn't raise my boy to ibe a eoldlerV "
Every generation produces a great
soiug. A great s<«ig immortalizes a
iard loaf noble sentiment and tells the beauty
of fiLne feelintg better than any sermon
k
article or crusade can express It.
City of of The
sound of a stirring melody with
jce.
splendid worda set to 4t reaches the
' as- chamb&rs of heart and imind at the
and^cono- same moment. Every poul is •tianu-
(by song and stirs In response.
more lated
Even as "Home, Sweet Home"
their stands for family life, and "Annie
Laurie" for true love, and "The Wear-
of the Green'' for loyalty, and
ids to ing
"My Country 'tis of Thee" for patriot-
iver it ism, so the needs of to-day have pro-
duced a song that takes its place with
the immortals in the world of nvueia
It ds the song that stands for peaca—•
"I Didn't Raise (My Boy to Be a Sol-
dier."
All over the war-ridden world th«
strains of this gfong ought to float.
Everywhere it ought to be played and
sung. Little, lisping children ought
to be taught its words and melody,
so that the sentiment of peace would
grow in their hearts.
Id other city Every heart in our country is tor-
tured and torn at the thought of the
honible conflict raging across the
ocean. Every one longs and prays
for the cessation of a war that takes
its. toll of human lives in millions.
And yet our powerful country is help-
less to stop the carnage—-the whole-
sale breaking of the commandment,
"Thou shalt not kilL"
There have been Hague confer-
ences, and peace societies, and boards
of arbitration for years—and in spite
of them all the lands across the eea
are suddenly plunged into the most
horrible war the world has ever
known. All the fighting nations feel
a certain shame, but none of them is
willing to acknowledge i-esponsibil-
lty.
Each nation strives to prove
that she was forced by some other to
jnter the death struggle.
And yet here is the war, and cynical
people eay:
"It had better be fought to a finish.
If it ends too soon and things are not
settled, another conflict will come
Is con- soon."
Another conflict! That is what we
that
ild be must stop! If we cannot end this
lour at war we must create a sentiment that
loaf will make another impossible.. The
Iving- a way to create a feeling against war
Vhis profit is to teach every one to feel the hor-
Yr cent, he ror and the utter inexcusablllty of it.
And the way to begin is to take as
expense
[etc., at .'12 per the slogan of civilization, the Song
that
wells from every mother's heart.
of 8 per cent
Every one, everywhere, should work
'Bakers' Asso- for universal peace by signing the
frship includes lovely, haunting melody that ex-
ill bakers, to- presses all a mother's horror for the
to relieve the brutality of war—and her longing to
having to pay keep the life and beauty and strength
t'ead. William and nnmaimed manhood of the son she
street, chair- has borne in sore travail.
"I didn't raise my poy to be a
had agreed
g
iber of loaves soldier!" How naturally the thought
springs
into being in a mother's soul
old price,
and
slips
Into
words
that
express
her
juted by the
to chil- sorrow at what she visions when she
from de- sits with breaking heart and sees her
they car lad "place a musket on his shoulder"
" L the and march away to kill—some other
mother's boy (or make a cripple of
him), unless chance and a bullet des-
\ut
tine that he himself be the victim.
"I didn't raise my boy to be a
soldier," eighs the mother visionlng
fe bakers' the battlefield red with the blood of
ive to seti human life under the angry red of
a day, or the setting sun.
"I didn't raise my boy to be a
members
felt they,
res«-
on thj
jepy He
soldier," and yet mothers how have
you brought them up? To chant the
soft sweet songs of peace or to play
with little top soldiers and cannons
and sabres and guns that shall make
a savage with a aavage's »iastlnct to
kill of your child?
Savages kill to mak» room for them-
selves and to find food and shelter
and place in the world—or frtr more
brute lust of hgood. If civilization
counts for anything this "lust to kill'
must be an outworn ipetlnct In man.
And none of tne soldiers standing
ready to ibe mowed down by the fire
of muskets or great guns are fighting
for ft place in the world. They give
up their place in the world to fight
for a cause they do not understand.
Suppose they refused to fight? Sup-
pose they all refused to flgrht? If
there were a world-wide sentiment
against war, and the "comnfSn peo-
ple"—my brother, your sweetheart,
another woman's son—dimply would
not make war against Innocent men
for whom they had no hatred, how
could kings and emperors wage/war?
W« women pay the heaviest debt to
war. We lose all wej love and give up
those for whom we have suffered and
to whom we have given being.
Mothers! Will you bring little
babies into the world and nurse them
and love them and raise them to fine
young manhood In order that they
may be targets for cannon—the meat
of bullets—the prey of pestilence—
torn and mutilated flesh in battles
they wage at some one elae's bidding?
Mothers! Won't you do your frart to
stop all future carnage and all blood-
shed on the wholesale?
Don't buy your boys toy Imple-
ments of warfare. Don't teach them
war flongs. Instead, plant th$ lovely
sentiments of peace in their hearts.
Teach them that you have not given
them life to let them throw it away
in battle.
In every vaudevile house when "I
Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier"
is sung, the audience throbs with the
most beautiful sentiment in the world
—mother love is In the air—and in
surging blood every one who hears
pledges the cause of peace.
War robs women of everything—
and does not give her even glory x or
a place Jn history In return. And
shall women sit Idly by and do noth-
ing to hasten the glorious day of
universal peace?
No! Woman must sing to her chil-
dren and teach them to sing to the
generation yet to come the songs of
peace. In the melody of song, there
is a woman's way to peace. All you
mothers whose boys are aafe at ihome
make sure that they will be allowed
to stay there. Teach them to sing,
"I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a
Soldier"—teach them to understand it
and to feel it's fine sentiment. Teach
them what it means to you.
The melody will enchant you and
the splendid thought will Inspire you.
Sing the song of peace and progress—
the song of civilisation.
Let song
bring in the rise or a new dawn that
shall mean perpetual peace.
In the words of Victor Hugo: "Let
us dishonor war * • • It Is not
good to make corpses/' Let us sing
for peace—and lift our voices to pro-
claim "I didn't ralso rny boy to be a
soldier/
"Birth of a Nation"
Opening Is Set for
March 3, at Liberty
Griffith's Production Founded on
Thomas Dixon's "Clansmaj
Mrs. Norm^ isnnis,
years (xU^mfji^iL has.
iweu
lw
frery
|
alivS decr|
loa
irke a drof
compared
the cost of !
"The whe
held on as
their very
upon the adv;
of the bakers
wanted to at
They have helt
many of them
straits."—Hugo
ident of the
Association.
Mrs.
commei
the
price PI
unnecesl
"When
tember
enormous
Nebraska
bumper
them to
luxuries.
"The
and T
avenue
cents, a
been ta
yet, if tl
hibitive
tion wil
at reason
Mrs. Austin
advance in the
at a tme when
erty seems,'an
to be a-dded to
of troubles the
tend with this
be taken to in
dearth of flour
beiievabj* that
prosper!™
thr
crop
o l whe
price ofWIour E
the poor again
high prices. Cer
that hav4 gone
have be
cut fre
of the p r, but
article
situation
measures
staple art
sible."
Revolve
Luigi Carej
Hundred
fought a
Hundred
day wit