"Now look here, Mr. Union Soldier, the need was greater when you joined
the colors. The Union was threatened; the very existence of the nation
was at hazard. I too will answer the call if worse comes to worst in
this war."
"Young man," replied the soldier, his eyes fixed on mine and his voice
deep and calm, "young man, your country's call is your country's call.
This time it is no question of union; thank God, the states stand
indivisible forever. But this time the crisis is even greater, the need
of vision and sacrifice even more vital. This time the liberty, not of
the black man alone, but of the world, is in the balance. Are you deaf
to the call?"
"But listen," I answered. "This is not our war. Nobody has crossed the
sea to strike us."
"Have they not?" he countered. "By spies, by intrigue, by a treacherous
diplomacy, by an unscrupulous policy of world subjugation, the enemy
has invaded our shores. Yet it is not that alone. As I have stood here,
I have heard the cries of the people of ravished Belgium; I have heard
the despairing screams of men and women sinking in watery graves; the
wails of perishing Armenia assail my ears. Do you say it is not our
war? It is! Just as the fate of the black man touched the hearts of us
Northerners, just as the misfortune of the traveler to Jericho touched
the heart of the Samaritan, just as the suffering Christ on the cross
has touched the heart of the world--just so must the woeful cry of a
world perishing to-day touch the heart of America.... And yet I look
about me here! These men drowsing in the sunshine! Are these Americans?
From the field I rushed when Lincoln called, scarcely pausing to bid my
mother good-bye; and I braved cold, and heat, and sickness, and
privation, and terrors by day and night, and rain of shot and shell,
and wounds and suffering and death--all because my country called!"
As he spoke his voice rose to a commanding resonance. He raised his
right arm from the muzzle of the gun where it had rested--raised it
high in impassioned appeal. At last I was moved; tears ran down my
cheeks.
I started--awoke. I had been asleep, and the water from the fountain
was blowing in my face. But was it the spray from the fountain alone
that made my cheeks wet?
I looked up at the bronze figure surmounting the fountain. There the
soldier stood at rest, left foot advanced, arm resting on his gun. His
eyes looked steadfastly toward the corner of the park. But did I not
see a glow of passion on that bronze face--a passion for the Liberty of
the World?
I turned to my neighbor on the bench at my left. His eyes were half
shut, drowsily.
"Pardon me, brother," I said. "Can you tell me where the nearest
recruiting station is located?"