_BY MR. DEMOSTHENES._
[_The brilliant Editor of "Pal Athene," who has been aptly
styled "the leading light of the democracy," contributes what
is perhaps the most wonderful and powerful article which we
have had the pleasure of publishing from his trenchant pen._]
Words won't do it, my friends. We don't want speeches. We want
_action_. I ask you to give the Buskers socks. Kick this Chorus of
Five Hundred out of the orchestra. Ostrichise the Government! Give
them the bird!
If I read my countrymen aright (and who does if I don't?), what they
are saying now is, "We must have a definite plan of strong action.
We are not going to fight any longer with speeches and despatches."
That's the way, Athenians! Good luck to you! Zeus bless you. And the
same to you, Tommy Hoplites and Jack Nautes, and many of them! _You_
don't mean PHILIP to be Tyrant of Athens, do you? _You_'re not going
to have him turning our beautiful Parthenon into a cavalry stable?
_You_'re not going to see the Barbarians hanging up their shields
on the dear old statue of Athene. Of course you're not. When I walk
through the city and see, as I pass the houses of my humbler brethren,
the neat respectable little altars and the good old well-used
wine-presses (which I never do without breathing a little prayer,
uncantingly, straight from the heart), I say, "It's a foul calumny to
pretend that the people are not all right. They are, Zeus bless 'em!
All they are waiting for is a lead. And action!"
We've got to have a strong policy, my friends, and my tip to you
is--"Trust the Army! Curse the politicians!" It's no use sitting
still while ÆSCHINES AND Co. are spouting. You and I, my brothers and
sisters, as I'm proud to call you, _we_ don't spout, do we? We mean
business! _And PHILIP means business too_! At any moment he may come
down on us and devastate our quiet picturesque little demes which we
all love so well and get disgustingly drunk on _our_ wine. So give
us the word, ÆSCHINES AND Co.--not many words, please, but just _one_
word--and we'll tackle him as he ought to be tackled and put a pinch
of Attic salt on his tail. We don't want _this_ PHILIP, but we _do_
want a fillip of our own. Meanwhile, are we downhearted? I _don't_
think.
(_Another powerful philippic by Mr. Demosthenes next week._)
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