have vied with each other in generosity for our relief. It is a spectacle at once most mournful and most noble. Here again is a revelation of the Providential Wisdom which draws good from evil. In your name, my Brethren, and in my own, I offer to the governments and the nations that have succored us the assurance of our admiration and our gratitude. I OZYMANDIAS MET a traveler from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings : PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. 66 "I AND THE COCK CREW HATE them all!" said old Gaspard, And in his weather-beaten face The lines of bitterness grew hard, From which no wine, but gall, had sprung And not his heart alone was sore, For in his frail old limbs he bore The boy who pleaded night and day: I shall live out that day, and then I'm not afraid - till dark - but oh, How soon the night comes round again! Don't let me die! don't let me die!" COPYRIGHT BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY The old man muttered at each low, "They should die, had I the say, "You're safe the east is light," she lied. Once, twice and thrice, chanticleer crew. ON A BELGIAN LAWYER'S APPEAL NE of the great lawyers of Belgium in behalf of the members of the bar of Brussels, Liége, Ghent, Charleroi, Mons, Louvain, and Antwerp, appeared twice before the German Court of Justice at Brussels and appealed for more just treatment of the Belgian people. In his first appeal, he protested against the illegal manner in which the Belgians were accused of crime, tried, and convicted at the pleasure of German officials. He concluded with the following eloquent words : I can understand martial law for armies in the field. It is the immediate reply to an aggression against the troops, the quick justice of the commander of the army responsible for his soldiers. But our armies are far away; we are no longer in the zone of military operations. Nothing here threatens your troops, the inhabitants are calm. The people have taken up work again. You have bidden them do it. Each one attends to his business magistrates, judges, officials of the provinces and cities, the clergy, all are at their posts, united in one outburst of national interest and brotherhood. However, this does not mean that they have forgotten. The Belgian people lived happily in their corner of the earth, confident in their dream of independence. They saw this dream dispelled; they saw their country ruined and devastated; its ancient hospitable soil has been sown with thousands of tombs where our own sleep; the war has made tears flow which no hand can dry. No, the murdered soul of Belgium will never forget. His second appeal will be spoken by school children in Belgium, and perhaps in America, when the names of the German judges to whom he spoke are forgotten even in Germany. We are not annexed. We are not conquered. We are not even vanquished. Our army is fighting. Our colors float alongside those of France, England, and Russia. The country subsists. She is simply unfortunate. More than ever, then, we now owe ourselves to her, body and soul. To defend her rights is also to fight for her. We are living hours now as tragic as any country has ever known. All is destruction and ruin around us. Everywhere we see mourning. Our army has lost half of its effective forces. Its percentage in dead and wounded will never be reached by any of the belligerents. There remains to us only a corner of ground over there by the sea. The waters of the Yser flow through an immense plain peopled by the dead. It is called the Belgian Cemetery. There sleep our children by the thousands. There they are sleeping their last sleep. The struggle goes on bitterly and without mercy. Your sons, Mr. President, are at the front; mine as well. For months we have been living in anxiety regarding the morrow. Why these sacrifices, why this sorrow? Belgium could have avoided these disasters, saved her existence, her treasures, and the lives of her children, but she preferred her honor. |