If some of these patriotic mothers only knew some of the
things that go on when they are away, I believe their hair
would stand on end in horror. But they do not know. And
even if they did, their eyes would be blinded to the fact that
their children could be a part of it.
I could tell you of little five-year-old Patsy whose profane
and dirty language will equal that of many men; and of Julia
Two Builders
By Zita HARRIS
Who seeks to build a house
Of love and laughter,
Must first have faith and hope
In every rafter.
The walls must never speak
Of loud dissensions,
But silently will mold
Freedom’s dimensions.
So build that friends may know
Your joy together,
Within a two by four
Breasting dark weather.
With faith and hope engrained
In every rafter,
Your house will harbor dreams
Of love and laughter.
just 14, who regularly visits a man’s apartment night after
night. I could tell you of—but what is the use? Stories
alone do not awaken mothers to a sense of their responsi-
bility to their children; it may take the sight of a cold little
form lying in a white casket, or the knowledge of a young girl
ruined for life, to do it; but what a dreadful price to pay for
thinking it is a mother’s duty to help win this war at the
expense of losing her children!
In last night’s paper, J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, deplores the increase of crime,
which threatens a “breakdown of our home front.”
He says, “Something has happened to our moral fibers
when the nation’s youth under voting age accounted for 159,
of all murders, 359, of all robberies, 589, of all car thefts
and 509, of all burglaries.”
He also states that “arrests of girls under 21, for offenses
against common decency’ increased 769,. And then he
added that “now is the time to start a counter-offensive to
keep the home front clean, wholesome, and strong.”
Yes, dear mothers, “now is the time” when you can serve
your country best by watching over your children and steer-
ing their stumbling feet into the right road. I hope you will
agree with me.
Sacred Skywtriting
(Continued from page 15)
the branch; and when it does break its hold, flies swiftly,
straight off, descending; and in the multitude falling, some
cross the track of others, as they are thrown with more or
less force."—" “New York Journal of Commerce,” Nov. 16,
1833.
SEPTEMBER — 1943
It is truly marvelous how these great phenomena of nature
came marching along to the divine schedule, and in the exact
manner outlined in the Inspired Word. Had there been a
succession of two, or even three, outstanding episodes in
prophetic fulfilment, it might be charged to chance, or the
caprice of nature. But when four notable events of the first
magnitude occurred at the precise time foretold, and fol
lowed one another in the exact sequence outlined by proph-
~ ecy, honest hearts must feel that “this is the finger of God.”
According to the New Testament timetable, the second
coming of Jesus is the next great event to occur, for imme-
diately after enumerating these signs, our Lord declared:
“Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see
the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect
from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Matthew 24: 30, 31.
ANSWERED
The timely and helpful suggestions
given to readers of THE WATCHMAN
MAGAZINE in this department are sup-
plied by Arthur W. Spalding, director
of Social Education, Madison College,
Tennessee. Address your questions to
Mr. Spalding in care of this magazine.
Tou do not approve of long engagements. Neither do 1. But
now I have been engaged for a year to a young man whom I
have known all my life. He is in the army, of course, and he
wants me to marry him before he goes overseas. But I have
heard a good deal said against war marriages, and I fear it
would mot be satisfactory. Should we break our engagement?
Sister, you just don’t seem to be the marrying kind. If you
had known the young man for only one week, and had been
engaged for no more than six days and a half, and he was
going overseas the next minute, I would say, Yes, break the
engagement. But when you have known the young man all
your life, and have been engaged to him for a year, and he is
about to sail away into battle, if you aren't wildly enough in
love to embrace him at the altar, well, perhaps he would
better break the engagement, but I don’t know that it mat-
ters much about you. You would be just as placidly appre-
hensive whether you were a war widow, or the girl back
home, or free, white, and twenty-odd. It's a precarious
business advising young people sight unseen to marry.
Without doubt there are thousands and tens of thousands of
hasty and unwise marriages started off by the guns, and there
are going to be perhaps millions of tragedies. But we may as
well face the fact that it is futile to spend time weighing two
pennyweight of sugar on a Troy scale while the ammunition
is being passed. Life will not pause for our niceties. Either
we live tremendously in these tremendous times or we help
swell the casualties. Marriage is, always was, and while
time lasts will ever be, the most significant and potential act
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