scorn of death is the rule, exceptions almost none."--_From Walt
Whitman_.

* * * * *

CHINESE CHRISTIANS ON THE WAR.

"The most remarkable attitude yet taken in regard to the war by any body
of people in the world is that of the native Christian Churches in
China. I was told a fortnight ago by a missionary just returned from
China that the Chinese Christians are holding daily prayer meetings to
pray for peace. They are also praying earnestly that the Christians in
Europe may be forgiven for killing each other, and, in particular, that
the British and German churches and ministers may be forgiven for the
blasphemy of praying to the Common Father for victory over one another,
_i.e._ for Divine assistance in smashing and maiming and murdering more
of their fellow Christians. I am also told that these Chinese Christians
appreciate perfectly that for the most part the people to be killed are
helpless, innocent workmen, who have had nothing to do with the cause of
all the trouble.

"That action of the Chinamen is of the essence of real Christianity. It
is the real spirit. It has been expressed in Europe only by the Pope, on
the one hand, and, on the other, by the Socialists of the neutral
countries and by the I.L.P. in England. It is the echo of the angel song
of the first Christmas two thousand years ago. It is the true note, the
eternal note. It is the note which will bring mankind back to its senses
when the hideous passions, the false idealisms, and the sordid greeds
behind this world tragedy are shown up for what they are."--_By Dr.
Alfred Salter in "The Labour Leader," December_ 31, 1914.

* * * * *

ESSENTIAL FRIENDLINESS OF PEOPLES.

"This essential friendliness, not between nations, but between people of
different nations, is one of the biggest facts of civilization. And yet
it has counted for so little that half the nations in Europe are
fighting one another. Are the causes, then, that have set us fighting
stronger still? Yes, when it is a question of national conscience. And
one must regretfully say yes, as long as it is possible for those who
rule nations and desire war to carry out their will.

"Is that wicked, mediaeval power--in the hands of the few, but still
strong enough to overrule the natural tendencies of peoples towards
peace and friendship and to turn their likings into hatreds--is it going
to continue when this war is over? W