The Witness - Grace Livingston Hill Lutz (top 5 books to read txt) 📗
- Author: Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
Book online «The Witness - Grace Livingston Hill Lutz (top 5 books to read txt) 📗». Author Grace Livingston Hill Lutz
They Do Not Care To Fight Any Longer, That It Makes No Difference
To Them What Happens To The Whole World!
Here Is What Would Happen. Having Destroyed Our Allies In The
West, German Imperialism Would Rush In Upon Us With All The Force
Of Its Arms. Germany's Imperialists, Her Landowners And
Capitalists, Would Put An Iron Heel On Our Necks, Would Occupy Our
Cities, Our Villages, And Our Land, And Would Force Us To Pay
Tribute To Her. Was It To Bow Down At The Feet Of Wilhelm That We
Overthrew Nicholas?
Comrades--Soldiers! The Council Of Workmen's And Soldiers'
Deputies Leads You To Peace By Another Route. We Lead You To Peace
By Calling Upon The Workers And Peasants Of Serbia And Austria To
Rise And Revolt; We Lead You To Peace By Calling An International
Conference Of Socialists For A Universal And Determined Revolt
Against War. There Is A Great Necessity, Comrades--Soldiers, For
The Peoples Of The World To Awaken. Time Is Needed In Order That
They Should Rebel And With An Iron Hand Force Their Czars And
Capitalists To Peace. Time Is Needed So That The Toilers Of All
Lands Should Join With Us For A Merciless War Upon Violators And
Robbers.
_But Remember, Comrades--Soldiers, This Time Will Never Come If
You Do Not Stop The Advance Of The Enemy At The Front, If Your
Ranks Are Crushed And Under The Feet Of Wilhelm Falls The
Breathless Corpse Of The Russian Revolution_.
Remember, Comrades, That At The Front, In The Trenches, You Are
Now Standing In Defense Of Russia's Freedom. You Defend The
Revolution, You Defend Your Brothers, The Workers And Peasants.
Let This Defense Be Worthy Of The Great Cause And The Great
Sacrifices Already Made By You. _It Is Impossible To Defend The
Front If, As Has Been Decided, The Soldiers Are Not To Leave The
Trenches Under Any Circumstances_.[19] At Times Only An Attack Can
Repulse And Prevent The Advance Of The Enemy. At Times Awaiting An
Attack Means Patiently Waiting For Death. Again, Only The Change
To An Advance May Save You Or Your Brothers, On Other Sections Of
The Front, From Destruction.
Chapter 14 Pg 82
Remember This, Comrades--Soldiers! Having Sworn To Defend Russian
Freedom, Do Not Refuse To Start The Offensive The Military
Situation May Require. The Freedom And Happiness Of Russia Are In
Your Hands.
In Defending This Freedom Be On The Lookout For Betrayal And
Trickery. The Fraternization Which Is Developing On The Front Can
Easily Turn Into Such A Trap.
Revolutionary Armies May Fraternize, But With Whom? With An Army
Also Revolutionary, Which Has Decided To Die For Peace And
Freedom. At Present, However, Not Only In The German Army, But
Even In The Austro-Hungarian Army, In Spite Of The Number Of
Individuals Politically Conscious And Honest, There Is No
Revolution. In Those Countries The Armies Are Still Blindly
Following Wilhelm And Charles, The Landowners And Capitalists, And
Agree To Annexation Of Foreign Soil, To Robberies And Violence.
There The General Staff Will Make Use Not Only Of Your Credulity,
But Also Of The Blind Obedience Of Their Soldiers. You Go Out To
Fraternize With Open Hearts. And To Meet You An Officer Of The
General Staff Leaves The Enemies' Trenches, Disguised As A Common
Soldier. You Speak With The Enemy Without Any Trickery. At That
Very Time He Photographs The Surrounding Territory. You Stop The
Shooting To Fraternize, But Behind The Enemies' Trenches Artillery
Is Being Moved, New Positions Built And Troops Transferred.
Comrades--Soldiers, Not By Fraternization Will You Get Peace, Not
By Separate Agreements Made At The Front By Single Companies,
Battalions, Or Regiments. Not In Separate Peace Or In A Separate
Truce Lies The Salvation Of The Russian Revolution, The Triumph Of
Peace For The Whole World.
The People Who Assure You That Fraternizing Is The Road To Peace
Lead You To Destruction. Do Not Believe Them. The Road To Peace Is
A Different One. It Has Been Pointed Out To You Already By The
Council Of Workmen's And Soldiers' Deputies: Tread It. Sweep Aside
Everything That Weakens Your Fighting Power, That Brings Into The
Army Disorganization And Loss Of Spirit.
Your Fighting Power Serves The Cause Of Peace. The Council Of
Workmen's And Soldiers' Deputies Is Able To Continue Its
Revolutionary Work With All Its Might, To Develop Its Struggle For
Peace, Only By Depending On You, Knowing That You Will Not Allow
The Military Destruction Of Russia.
Comrades--Soldiers, The Workers And Peasants, Not Only Of Russia,
But Of The Whole World, Look To You With Confidence And Hope.
Soldiers Of The Revolution, You Will Prove Worthy Of This Faith,
For You Know That Your Military Tasks Serve The Cause Of Peace.
In The Name Of The Hoping, Perhaps, For No Kindlier Hands To Greet Her
Chapter 14 Pg 83Than Those That Had Been Withheld From Her In This World! What Would The
Resurrection Mean To A Poor Little Soul Like That? What Could It Mean?
Ah! Perhaps It Had Not All Been Her Fault! Perhaps There Were Others Who
Had Helped Push Her Down, Smug In Self-Righteousness, To Whom The
Resurrection Would Be More Of A Horror Than To The Pretty, Ignorant
Child Whose Untaught Feet Had Strayed Into Forbidden Paths! Who Knew? He
Was Glad To Look Up And Feel The Presence There! Who Knew What Might
Have Passed Between The Soul And God? It Was Safe To Leave That Little
Sinful Soul With Him Who Had Died To Save. It Was Good To Go Out From
There Knowing That The Pretty, Sinful Girl, The Hardened, Grizzled Sot,
The Poor Old Toothless Crone, The Little Hunchback Newsboy Who Lay In
The Same Row, Were Guarded Alike And Beloved By The Same Presence That
Would Go With Him.
Around The Little Newsboy Huddled A Group Of Street Gamins, Counting Out
Their Few Pennies, And Talking Excitedly Of How They Would Buy Him Some
Flowers. There Were Tear-Stains Down Their Grimy Cheeks And It Was Plain
They Were Pitying Him, They Who Had Perhaps Yet To Tread The Paths Of
Sin And Deprivation And Sorrow For Many Long Years. And The Presence
There! So Near Them, With The Pitying Eyes! The Young Man Knew The Eyes
Were Pitying! If The Children Could Only See! He Felt An Impulse To Turn
Back And Tell Them As He Passed Out Into The Street, Yet How Could He
Make Them Understand--He Who Understood So Feebly And Intermittently
Himself? He Felt A Great Ache In Himself To Go Out And Shout To All The
World To Look Up And See The Presence That Was In Their Midst, And They
Saw Him Not!
He Was Entirely Aware That His Present Mental State Would Have Seemed To
Him Little Short Of Insanity Twenty-Four Hours Before; That It Might
Pass Again As It Had Done Before; And A Kind Of Mental Frenzy Seized Him
Lest It Would. He Did Not Want To Lose This Assurance Of One Guiding
Through A World That Was So Full Of Sorrow As This One Had Recently
Revealed Itself To Him To Be. And With The World-Old Anguished "Give Me
A Sign!" The Cry Of The Soul Reaching Out To The Unknown, He Spoke Aloud
Once More: "God, If You Are Really There, Let Me Find Her!"
And Yet If Any Had Asked Him Just Then If He Ever Prayed He Would Have
Told Them No. Prayer Was To Him A Thing Utterly Apart From This Cry Of
His Soul, This Longing For An Understanding With God.
He Walked On Through Streets He Did Not Know, Passing Men And Women With
Worn And Haggard Faces, Tattered Garments, And Discouraged Mien; And
Always That Cry Came In His Soul, "Oh, If They Only Knew!" There Was The
Presence By His Side, And Men Passed By And Saw Him Not!
He Was Walking In The General Direction Of The Good Samaritan Hospital,
Just As Any One Would Walk With A Friend Through A Strange Place And
Accommodate His Going To The Man Who Was Guiding Him. All The Way There
Seemed To Be A Sort Of Intercourse Between Himself And His Companion.
His Soul Was Putting Forth Great Questions That He Would Some Day Take
Up In Detail And Go Over Little By Little, As One Will Verify A Problem
That One Has Worked Out. But Now He Was Working It Out, Becoming
Satisfied In His Soul That This Was The Only Way To Solve The Great
Otherwise Unanswerable Problems Of The Universe.
Chapter 14 Pg 84
They Had Gone For Perhaps Three Miles Or More From The Morgue, Traveling
For The Most Part Through Narrow Streets Crowded Full Of Small
Dwelling-Houses Interspersed By Cheap Stores And Saloons. The Night
Lowered! The Stars Were Not On Duty. A Cold Wind From The River Swept
Around Corners, Reminding Him Of The Dripping Yellow Hair Of The Girl In
The Morgue. It Cut Like A Knife Through Courtland's Heavy Overcoat And
Made Him Wish He Had Brought His Muffler. He Stuffed His Gloved Hands
Into His Pockets. Even In Their Fur Linings They Were Stiff And Cold. He
Thought Of The Girl's Little Light Serge Jacket And Shivered Visibly As
They Turned Into Another Street Where Vacant Lots On One Side Left A
Wide Sweep For The Wind And Sent It Tempesting Along Freighted With Dust
And Stinging Bits Of Sand. The Clouds Were Heavy As With Snow, Only That
It Was Too Cold To Snow. One Fancied Only Biting Steel Could Fall From
Clouds Like That On A Night So Bitter. And Any Moment He Might Have
Turned Back, Gone A Block To One Side, And Caught The Trolley Across To
The University, Where Light And Warmth And Friends Were Waiting. And
What Was This One Little Lost Girl To Him? A Stranger? No, She Was No
Longer A Stranger! She Had Become Something Infinitely Precious To The
Whole Universe. God Cared, And That Was Enough! He Could Not Be A Friend
Of God Unless He Cared As God Cared! He Was Demonstrating Facts That He
Had Never Apprehended
Comments (0)