And that is hell—for which your children are prepared.
This phase of war is shrewdly kept from the children. No child’s mind could be poisoned, no child’s imagination could be set on fire for war, no child’s heart could be made to lust for the “glory” of the battlefield of carnage—if he were shown _this_ side of war.
But the child is an easy victim. Even some cheap jingo jingle called patriotic poetry renders the working class the easy, fooled tool of despots. The victimizing of the helpless child is rendered especially easy when the mother, blindfold with flattery, gullibly lends assistance in strangling the child’s sociability. (See Chapter Seven, Section 30.)
(=5=) Here is a specimen of the poison craftily used in the public schools under the control of the capitalist class:
“A soldier is the grandest man That ever yet was made. He’s valiant on the battlefield And handsome on parade. By strict attention to my drill It should not take me long For me to be an officer When I am big and strong. Then, when my country needs me, In case of war’s alarms, I’d run and get my uniform[247] And call the boys to arms! With sword in hand I’d lead the charg My orders I would yell Above the noise of cannon’s roar And storms of shot and shell. We’d dash upon the foreign foe, As Teddy did of yore, Who took the hill while covered with Dust, victory and gore! With banners gay, while bugles play, We’d seek our native land. Upon a horse I’d ride that day, The General in Command!”[248]
Will the mothers protect their children’s nature against the unsocial small souls who are always ignorantly or maliciously ready to thrust fangs and venom into the generous natures of frank and social children by having them recite stupid praise of distinguished human butchers and “famous victories”?
An American literary man of great eminence, Dr. Edward Everett Hale, thus rebuked the poisoners of school children:
“But even now, think how much more care you give to the study of the histories of war than to the histories of peace. There are ten times as many people who know who commanded at the Battle of New Orleans as there are who could tell me the name of the great apostle who made freedom the law for Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Michigan. This man died leaving no memorial.”[249]