XV Waterloo.-Shall America Lead the W Nations? ATERLOO. American tourists have ever found this, the field of the world's greatest battle, to be an objective point. Of how much greater interest is Waterloo to-day! If not upon its rolling surface the actual fighting is going on, it has played nevertheless a conspicuous part in the history of the present world war. The invading and retreating armies have crossed and recrossed here where the Little Corporal made his last stand one hundred years ago. To this field the Yankee Major had planned a visit. The museums and monuments are still open for visitors although the tourists are few and far between. For Major Winchell this was to be a day not only of sightseeing but one remarkable for meditation and inspiration, pondering upon the past, the present and the future. On the first day of February, Staff-Captain Blanchard and the Major took the tram to Waterloo. The historic battle-field is located about fourteen miles south of Brussels. Byron wrote: There was a sound of revelry by night Soft eyes looked love to eyes that spoke again But hush! Hark! A deep sound strikes like a rising knell. Ah! then and there was a hurrying to and fro, Last noon beheld them full of lusty life, The midnight brought the signal sound of strife, The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when rent The earth is covered thick with other clay and pent, Rider and horse, friend, foe, in one red burial blent. The Major here tells of his meditations on that memorable day: "We passed through some of those quaint old Belgian towns and I pictured in my mind the mobilization of troops on that eventful June day in 1815. We could see them sweeping along the very same roads. The Staff-Captain pointed out this spot or that spot of historic interest. One place especially interested me. It was the house in which Victor Hugo wrote his immortal 'Les Miserables.' I pondered upon the conditions to-day. Yes, there is still the same-the poor, the unhappy, the outcast of the type of Jean Valjean, living to-day. Will Society ever be organized so that Man, the supreme handiwork of God, may be redeemed from his broken condition? Can he never rise higher than the dollar or the machine gun? Has our boasted civilization failed? "Not many miles in every direction from where we were riding are the greatest centres of learning. Millions upon millions have been spent to equip the minds of the young men of all countries with higher education. Why should a barbarous war be carried on in the light of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries? These were the questions I asked myself; questions that thousands ask. Is there no way by which such wholesale destruction of life and property can be overcome? Cannot the genius of our civilization discover that panacea whereby man may redeem his race from deliberate, organized machine murder and self-destruction? "My answer is 'Yes,' when the right foundation is laid, when the ground is prepared for a better crop, when the right seed is selected and sown. There is no harvest without seed time. We see now there must have been the wrong seed sowing to the wind and the reaping of the whirlwind. "What were the contributing causes that led to the war? My answer is, more than kings, kaisers, czars, or Militarism. In this day of enlightenment, in this age of the power of franchise, Imperialism and Militarism exist only by the consent of all the people. What, then, is the cause of war? Who starts war? It is the same Author of Error who initiated trouble in the Garden of Eden. What the Devil did in deceiving our first ancestors, he is doing to-day in deceiving the nations. What were the seeds of original sin? Let us begin with 'Ingratitude.' Our first parents were unthankful. How little thought is given to the real worship of God to-day! The cities of Europe and America apparently want the thought of divinity closed out of mind in their pursuit of pleasure and the acquisition of wealth. Café and cabaret life has supplanted the worship of God. The tango is preferred to the prayer. The religious sentiment of the pure and aggressive is at low ebb especially in city life. The public mind is for evil. "The second, Lust. Our first parents wanted what did not belong to them. If anything started the European conflagration, it was the greed for what others had. One nation said, 'We want to be supreme on land and sea,' and the others disputed the claim. All the common people drank to the health of their army and navy. The lust of power ever supplants the love for God and kindness to man. "The third, Idolatry. Our first parents listened to the serpent's whisper, 'Ye shall become as gods.' The nations of the earth have established another form of idolatry to-day, Militarism and Navalism. They idolize the very things that will bring about their destruction. "The fourth, Pride. Our first parents vaunted themselves above the teachings of their Maker and the One who loved them. Our educational systems must be so adjusted that Man may think less of his own attainments and of his own greatness. He must learn of that Divine love which seeks the good of his neighbor. 'The Son of Man came to seek that which was lost.' This means the path of humility. "To use our public schools for military training, preparedness? 'Yes!' There is something about physical training, discipline and uniform that develops manhood. But let the training have as its objective the moral as well as the physical wellbeing of the race. Let righteousness be the glory of the coming armies of the world. Let them march to the sweetest music ever played. Let conquests be made that will convert society into its highest ideal-where greed, impurity, and unkindness will no longer exist, where poverty, ignorance and disease will be overcome. Such an army of preparedness inspired to deeds of goodness would trans |