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 Book P4-4-5ST3 
 
 GojpglitW 
 
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 COIVRIGHT DEPOSm 
 
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THE JAZZ 
 
 PATRIOTDSM 
 
 ijJn ylnWwar "Play) 
 
 by 
 FANNY BIXBY SPENCER 
 
 Vr 
 
 GEO. W. MOYLE PUB. CO. 
 
 337 EAST THIRD ST. 
 
 LONG BEACH. CALIFORNIA 
 
pre 55 -25 
 
 
 NOV17'25 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 During the years 1917-1918 while the country in which 
 I happened to have been born was weltering in the de- 
 bauchery of nations called the Great War, certain things 
 took place at home which are not being shown up in their 
 true light in the history books which the public is now 
 receiving. We find them mentioned sometimes as base 
 digressions of conduct on the part of a few stubborn, 
 radicals or referred to as crimes of terrorist reds, but 
 most frequently we notice the reactionary press ignoring 
 them with great care and shrewdness. The military party 
 today would like to have the people forget that Pacifists 
 and non-conformists existed during the war. Gladly would 
 they bury their memory in a grave of oblivion so deep 
 that no inquiring posterity might unearth it, but this is 
 not possible. The war heretics v/ho endured the defama- 
 tions and persecutions of their nationalistic and belligerent 
 contemporaries have shown themselves of such stuff that 
 the future will have to reckon with them, and the sooner 
 they are recognized at their full social value the sooner 
 will the world's progress be assured. 
 
 In writing and publishing this play which deals with 
 actual facts and circumstances of the war period, I have 
 had a two-fold intent — to draw a picture of life among 
 the stay-at-homes and to bring to light the elements of a 
 profound and misunderstood philosophy. As a picture 
 my work may be too literal for estheticism. Art, we are 
 told, has no purpose behind it, but on the other hand, we 
 are privileged to use any m.eans we m.ay fancy to express 
 what is burning within us, leaving the result to the tender 
 mercies of our critics. As an exposition of the doctrine 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 of non-resistance the play is necessarily inadequate. Only 
 a bare suggestion can be given of the theory and practice 
 of pacifism, but if it offers even a rudimentary answer to 
 the question, "What must we do to be saved from future 
 wars?" it is fulfilling its mission. 
 
 A dissenter from the religion of patriotism must be 
 willing to endure public censure and must be able to keep 
 his eyes fixed on an iridescent future beyond the gray 
 mists of the present. Otherwise his is an unhappy lot. I 
 make no apologies for certain unpopular sentiments ex- 
 pressed by some of m.y characters, for it is my sincere 
 conviction that war is wholly dishonorable, that national 
 patriotism is essentially an attribute of war, and that the 
 only way in which this super-curse of the ages can be 
 thwarted and in time universally discredited as a means 
 of settling world affairs is by carrying on the strike of the 
 Conscientious Objectors, which as a coherent moral force 
 had its inception in this war. 
 
 That I may forestall certain expected accusations, I 
 wish to make a few explanations. In the interim of peace 
 war-hysteria is quickly forgotten and it may be said by 
 som.e of my readers that I have overdrawn instances of 
 this hysteria, but my own experience and the experience 
 of many of my friends and acquaintances during the war 
 form the groundwork upon which all incidents of the play 
 are constructed. The difficulty has been to color suffici- 
 ently, for the most astonishing things of war are the real 
 happenings, whether one's viewpoint is the front or the 
 extreme rear. To guard against extravagance in descrip- 
 tion, I have in some cases subjected fiction entirely to 
 actual fact and have repeated words exactly as I heard 
 them. It must not be inferred that the play is intended as 
 
 iv 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 an attack upon American patriotism exclusively. I found 
 it necessary to give the action an American setting because 
 I am more familiar with the local color of my native 
 country than of other countries, but in spirit the play Is 
 equally applicable to any country and to any war. 
 
 FANNY BIXBY SPENCER. 
 
 Costa Mesa, Calif., 
 December, 1920. 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY: 
 
 Mrs. Holden, a Pacifist. 
 Helen^ her daughter, a teacher. 
 Mrs. McConnell, an erst-while Wilsontan. 
 JOSEPH; her son, a Conscientious Objector. 
 Henry Schweitzer, a German-American. 
 Mrs. Schweitzer, his wife. 
 Grossmutter Schweitzer, his another. 
 Mrs. Calkins (Katherine), a feather-weight pat- 
 riot. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim, a heavy-weight patriot. 
 Mrs. Smith, a frenzied patriot. 
 
 Mrs. Davis, 1 ,^,,.,,,,^i^,,^/ patriots. 
 Mrs. Baker, j ^ 
 
 President, Secretary and Members of the Ladies* 
 Aid Society. 
 
 Mr. Thorp, the minister. 
 
 Sergeant Murry, ) r ^j^^ ^^-^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^^ 
 
 Officer Green, j 
 
 A Liberty Bond Solicitor. 
 
 Time: During the war. 
 
 Place: Somewhere in the United States. 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 ACT I. 
 
 Summer of 1917. 
 
 The Sunday school room of a church. At the right is 
 a small low platform upon which a table and two or three 
 chairs are placed. Near by is a piano. Facing the plat- 
 form chairs are arranged in rows nearly filling the room. 
 On the wall directly back of the platform a large Amer- 
 ican flag is draped, and on the rear wall a service flag of 
 broad dimensions hangs conspicuously. The center of the 
 service flag is only partly covered with stars, a blank 
 space at the bottom indicating that the poll is not com- 
 plete. Four or five pictures of young men in uniform are 
 hanging on each side of the service flag. Sunday school 
 charts, texts, etc., also adorn the walls. 
 
 A meeting of the Ladies' Aid Society is about to con- 
 vene. The Secretary sits at the farther end of the table 
 writing and looking over papers. Through an open door 
 leading from a hallway on the left, women are entering. 
 Most of them carry large creton knitting bags. Some seat 
 themselves and take out their knitting, which consists of 
 socks, sweaters, etc., of khaki yarn. Others stand or move 
 about the room greeting each other. Mrs. Holden and 
 Mrs. Schweitzer, who do not carry knitting bags, enter 
 together, conversing. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {who speaks with a German ac- 
 'cent) . I do not know how to do. I do not know how to 
 think. I cannot at all think, for so my throat catches me 
 If I think (puts her hand to her throat convulsively), I 
 cry all of the night through again every night. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. How soon does your son go to the 
 war? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. He goes to the soldier camp al- 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 ready next week. They take him to France across how 
 soon I do not know. They tell us nothing. Every day 
 the black terribleness grows more. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, the times are closing in on us 
 like a vise 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. They take from me all what I 
 have left. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Have you no other children? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Already in the old country I 
 have buried them. The last one Carl, my big boy — they 
 took him to the army. A bad year that was. So many 
 with the fever died by the barracks. They sent his body 
 home. After that I said always to my husband, "Let us 
 go to America. In America it is not so that they take 
 our sons to the army." William he was a little boy still. 
 I thought to save him from the army. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. America, the world's refuge from 
 militarism ! 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. And now yet here in America 
 they take him to the army. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. The democracy of the selective draft, 
 as our law makers are pleased to call it. Does William 
 w^ant to go to war? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. He says nothing. He dassent. 
 They would call him '^slacker". 
 
 Mrs. Holden. "Slacker" — that Is the catch-word, 
 the psychological goad with which they drive them as cattle 
 to the slaughter. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. To fight against my own brud- 
 ders' boys he must go. Oh mine God, where Is the Chris- 
 tian of it? Where is the Christian of It? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. It Is the acme of Christian hypo- 
 crisy. 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. They take from us with the 
 draft our sons away and are not satisfied to do so yet 
 enough. They tell us we must also like to give our sons 
 to the war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. That Is a part of the He of war. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. They say to us who are born 
 German — although how can we change It that we are so 
 born and our mouths cannot so speak the language that 
 we hide It what we are — they say to us, "We let you be 
 citizens, we give you the vote, the school for your chil- 
 dren to learn, so be glad; be glad even If your sons must 
 die." Oh, I cannot bear It through. If It so goes on I 
 also must die too. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Patriotism, which In peace Is pro- 
 vincialism, In war becomes stark madness. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. When we with heart-broke can- 
 not shout so loud to say, "Kill the kaiser; crush the Ger- 
 man people through," they tell us, "You are for the 
 Kaiser. You want to see the Germans come over here 
 and kill us all." 
 
 Mrs. Holden. "Pro-German" — that is the bellow 
 of the bull herd against all of us who are not with the 
 stampede. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Also, do they call you so? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, they do. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I thought it was only Germans 
 that made them so angry against us. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. A Pacifist is even worse than a Ger- 
 man. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Our neighbors, many of them, 
 who talk with us kindly always before, they turn from us 
 now away like we was of poison. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. They do the same to me. Some of 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 my old friends will not speak to me when I meet them 
 on the street. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. They say always for liberty we 
 fight. All say the same words. My brudder long ago 
 writes from Germany, "The German people fight for 
 liberty. England would destroy the German nation. 
 France and Russia attacked first against us. We fight 
 only for defense of the fatherland." 
 
 Mrs. Holden. It is the same with all nations in 
 war. All are fighting for defense, as a consequence of 
 the fact that the destruction of the other side is the first 
 object of each side. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. And when it is all over — what 
 then comes? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Victory knows no remorse. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. So you do not think it makes the 
 world more free if America and the Allies crush the Ger- 
 mans out? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Peace without victory is the world's 
 only chance for freedom. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. But the nation says, "Win the 
 war," and we are forced to obey the nation, what it tells 
 us. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I refuse to obey the nation when it 
 is wrong. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. What can you else do? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Not fall in line. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. They will make you. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Who are these invisible, menacing 
 "they"? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I don't know. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Neither do I, but whether they are 
 the civil government or the war department or the steel 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 trust or the National Security League or even the people, 
 I cannot be a party to their crime. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Sch! Someone might hear you. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. My ancestors gave me the right 
 under the constitution to speak my mind freely. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Now it is no such right, is it? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. My thoughts at least can't be inter- 
 fered with. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Do you not have to think like 
 they say? I dassent think unlike they say. But to feel, 
 that is different. I cannot help it how I feel. It is not 
 possible to feel the happiness that they talk always to me 
 about to give my son to the war. But you have no son 
 to be taken off. So are you spared the greatest of the 
 suffering. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. If I had a son — but what is the use 
 of imagining? If I had a son he might not agree with 
 me any more than my daughter does. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. We are all so helpless as babies 
 before the war. It makes no matter if we agree or do 
 not agree, our sons are taken off to fight. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Unless they refuse to fight. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Refuse to fight? How do you 
 mean refuse to fight? It is the law. They draft them. 
 Nobody can so refuse. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I know a young man who has re- 
 fused the draft. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I do not know how you mean. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. He declines to be a conscript slave. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. What he does? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. He will not take any part in the war, 
 combative or non-combative, although he has been 
 drafted. 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Not to go when they draft him? 
 They force him to go. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Their force will run up against a 
 snag in his case. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. What then becomes of him? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I don't know. He may be shot by 
 the wall. At best he will be court-martialed and im- 
 prisoned. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. How dares he so to act against 
 them? 
 
 Mrs Holden. He must be braver than the bravest 
 soldier ever was. To run counter to current opinion and 
 the traditional standards of honor takes more pluck than 
 to go to war under the plaudits of the crowd. There's 
 no heroism like it. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. He puts himself by yet more 
 danger than to go to war. That Is not of what they say 
 — common sense. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Maybe so, but he has a moral con- 
 viction that the war is wrong so he can't take part in it. 
 He's a Conscientious Objector. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I thought they called them slack- 
 ers. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. They do. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. And he does not fear to be so 
 called? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Not when he draws the cord so 
 taut on his side that their epithet is belled. He's an 
 absolutist, who not only will not kill his fellowmen with 
 his own hands but will not by helping behind the lines 
 push others on to kill and be killed. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I have not before heard any one 
 so speak as you do. It is of great courage surely. But 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 William how could he say he would not go to war or I 
 say I would not give him up? Would they not kill us 
 both, being German? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. They might. The course of the 
 Conscientious Objector Is hazardous. As a venture, I don't 
 advise any one to try It. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. And yet this young man you 
 speak of, you do not so tell him? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. He knows the risks better than I. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Do you not think he does wrong? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. If he Is wrong so was Jesus Christ. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. You speak so strange. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, it's a new Idea to most people. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. If everybody thought and did 
 like him all right, but one — 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {who has been standing near, coming 
 forward and speaking with gushing cordiality). Why, 
 how do you do, Mrs. Schweitzer. I'm so glad to see you. 
 {Shakes hands with her.) We've missed you at the meet- 
 ings lately. {Turns to Mrs. Holden and shakes hands.) 
 I'm glad to see you, too, Mrs. Holden, but you're not 
 such a stranger. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, I'm usually on hand In case I'm 
 needed In my official capacity. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. That's what I've always said about 
 you, Mrs. Holden, and it does seem too bad after all 
 you've done for the Ladies' Aid Society that you should 
 be asked to — oh, I didn't mean to speak of it, but you see 
 I'm on the loyalty committee and can't help knowing all 
 about it. {Softly and confidentially.) And I want to tell 
 you just between ourselves that you'd better use the soft 
 pedal a little for they're awfully worked up. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. They shall have my resignation to- 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 day. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Now, for myself I hate to see you 
 put out even if you are against the war, but I can't say a 
 word or they might think me disloyal, too, and that would 
 be awful for there isn't a man or woman in the whole 
 country more strong for the war than I am. That's why 
 I haven't been able to stand up for you to the committee 
 though I am your friend. You see how it is, don't you? 
 
 Mrs, Holden. Perfectly. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I'm so deeply patriotic that the war 
 is getting to be my very life, but I don't believe in taking 
 it the way some of the committee do. My way would 
 be to get all the good out of it and not make so much 
 trouble about it. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. War is all trouble, my dear. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. But why shouldn't we look on the 
 bright side of it like anything else? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Where is the bright side of it? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {pressing her hands together raptur- 
 ously). It's so inspiring and unlifting! You feel the thrill 
 of it, don't you, Mrs. Schweitzer, with your son so soon 
 to be a soldier? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. It is all to me terrible and 
 strange. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. And your William so husky and 
 handsome ! You don't know how my husband envies him 
 the splendid physical examination he passed. My hus- 
 band has weak lungs and can't pass at all. It's too bad, 
 for he's just crazy to enlist. I tell him that it wouldn't 
 really be right for him with a family to risk his life so 
 long as there are unmarried men left, but I wouldn't be 
 a slacker and hold him back. It's only his weak lungs 
 that keeps him out. 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. It Is to me more to envy you, 
 even that your husband has weak lungs. To mothers it 
 is not so much pleasure what you think. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Ah, but the honor of it. Every- 
 body adores the boys in khaki. They're the whole thing 
 now. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. When your husband is so safe 
 not to pass you cannot know the pain. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, I can see your point of view 
 because I'm a mother, too, you know. But when the 
 country needs our sons we should give them freely and 
 cheerfully. If my son were called to the colors I'd be 
 the proudest wom.an on earth. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. How old is your son? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. He's just had his third birthday, 
 and we got him a little soldier cap for his birthday and 
 a little gun, and he says, "To hell wif Kaiser Bill. I'll 
 soot him full o' holes." It's the cutest thing the way he 
 says it and points his little gun — just like a real soldier 
 boy. His daddy taught him. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh, Katherlne, shame on you using 
 your innocent baby that way. I won't listen to your chat- 
 ter. ( Turns away.) 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {testily). Now, Mrs. Holden, just 
 because you used to be miy Sunday school teacher when I 
 v/as a little girl maybe you think you can say anything 
 you please to me, but you can't. I won't take it from you 
 any more. You're the one now that needs to be taught 
 what's right. We're dedicating our baby to his country 
 in his Infancy and if you don't approve of It we don't 
 care. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. If It had been his twenty-first birth- 
 day and the soldier cap and the gun were of a different 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 size and calibre your tone might be different. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. It's only because you're so disloyal 
 that it's almost a disgrace for anybody to be seen speak- 
 ing to you that you can't understand the feelings of a 
 patriotic mother. Of course I am a little out of it with 
 my son too sm.all to give to active service, but that doesn't 
 make me any less willing. I'm heart and soul with all 
 the soldiers. My heart just pounds against my side when 
 I watch them march away under the flag. What would 
 I do if my own son, the offspring of my own life, were 
 in the line? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. You'd cry like any other mother. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. It's weak and cowardly to cry. Only 
 the disloyal shed tears. The true, brave mothers smile 
 and cheer when their sons go by. I've seen them and 
 longed to be one of them, I tell you, you older mothers 
 have the advantage of us young ones. You're furnishing 
 the nation's man-power. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I hope when your son grows up 
 you do not have such advantage what you speak of. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. What you need, Mrs. Schweitzer, is 
 a little more Americanism in your heart. You should get 
 out more among people who would stimulate your loyalty 
 and patriotism. Then you'd become unselfish and be 
 glad, although you are German, to give your son even to 
 die if necessary for the glorious country that succors and 
 befriends you. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer (in a distressed voice). So all the 
 time I hear glad, glad. I will have my mind all gone if 
 they do not stop this glad, glad. It is a lie. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {apologetically) . Oh, I didn't mean 
 to hurt your feelings. I'm sorry, but, well — I know it's 
 true or everybody wouldn't be saying so. 
 
 10 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You've been reading the magazines, 
 I see. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I read all I have time to. We have 
 to read to keep up with things when there's so much 
 going on. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And you've been going to the pic- 
 ture shows. That's where you've seen the glad mothers 
 waving to their departing sons. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {a little irritated). Yes, and if you'd 
 go to them and if you'd come to church and if you'd 
 read some of the splendid articles in the Woman's Home 
 Bulletin you'd learn a lot of things that you're very much 
 in need of knowing, Mrs. Holden. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You know, Katherine, I never could 
 keep up with the fashions. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {ignoring Mrs. Holden's remark and 
 speaking benignly to Mrs. Schweitzer). Wait till 
 William actually gets started, Mrs. Schweitzer. When 
 you're wearing your service pin you'll feel a lot better. I 
 just know you will. The service pins are sort of a fra- 
 ternity badge among us. They keep us buoyed up and 
 the new ones are so pretty. See. {She shows her a 
 small service pin on her breast.) I'm wearing mine for 
 my brother-in-law. He's in France in the Y. M. C. A. 
 service. He wears a uniform. They say it's perfectly 
 wonderful what the Y. M. C. A. is doing to safeguard 
 the morals of our boys over there. Mrs. Briggs told us 
 all about it at our last meeting. You should have heard 
 her. It would have been such a comfort to you. You 
 heard her, didn't you, Mrs. Holden? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, I heard her. I'd like to say 
 some sharp things, but I won't. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. About Mrs. Briggs? Why, you 
 
 11 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 ought to be ashamed. Isn't she giving up everything and 
 even paying her own expenses across just to help the 
 boys? — a woman in the best society, too. We can't esti- 
 mate the good she'll do. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. What will she do? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Her work will be to make it home- 
 like for them in the huts and keep them cheerful. That's 
 what they call strengthening the morale — I think that's 
 the w^ord. Morale — it's such a w^onderful thing. It's 
 what keeps them going on and on to victory. Sometimes 
 a little pleasure just before a battle w^ill lift them out of 
 discouragement and make them fight better. There's so 
 much Mrs. Briggs can do in that line, she's so talented. 
 She can sing and play and she knows all the new dances. 
 
 Mrs. Holden {putting her arm through Mrs. Cal- 
 KIN^S arm). Perhaps another year will make you take 
 the war more seriously, Katherine. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Take it more seriously; what do 
 you mean? It's the most serious thing in my life. Why, 
 I Vv^ould give my all to make the world safe for dem- 
 ocracy. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. The new phrases, like the new ser- 
 vice pins, are very pretty, aren't they? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins, {turning her hack to Mrs. Holden 
 and speaking with frivolous enthusiasm) . Mrs. Schweit- 
 zer, as soon as you get William's picture in uniform you 
 must give me one for the Ladies' Aid war gallery. Did 
 you hear about our plan? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. William spoke already yesterday 
 that he would get his picture taken. So they all have 
 pictures, and then sometime we have only the picture in 
 our hands. They even do not know what it means. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. We're going to frame all the pic- 
 
 12 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 tures of our honor roll boys and hang them around the 
 service flag. We've already got Ernest McConnell and 
 the Smith boys and a few others. {Points to the service 
 flag.) See? Although it looks a little bare now, there'll 
 be a lot of stars in it by the time we have the bazaar. 
 We must make a good showing for our church then. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Are the churches in a race for stars 
 in the service flag? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. No, not exactly that, but we can't 
 afford to be behind the other churches in patriotism, {sig- 
 nijicantly) especially since certain people have caused us 
 to be suspected of disloyalty. 
 
 Mrs. Holden {meditatively) . I wonder if there 
 will be a race, too, for gold stars in the service flag. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {sharply). Of course we don't want 
 to have anybody killed, and that's just why we must en- 
 courage them to be heroes and win the war and not get 
 killed. That's woman's part. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And woman seems to be doing her 
 part most assiduously. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Well, I love to feel that I — 
 
 The President of the Ladies^ Aid Society, who has 
 taken her place at the table, raps with her gavel. Mrs. 
 Holden and Mrs. Schweitzer take seats in the last 
 row of chairs. Mrs. Calkins joins a group farther for- 
 ward. 
 
 President. The meeting will please come to order. 
 {Pauses a few moments while the last stragglers settle 
 down.) The Secretary will read the minutes of the last 
 meeting. 
 
 Secretary {rising and reading from the minute 
 book). The regular meeting of the Ladies' Aid Society 
 was called to order by the President in the Sunday school 
 
 13 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 room of the church at three o'clock on Friday afternoon 
 as usual. The minutes of the previous meeting were read 
 and approved. After the reading of the minutes the 
 President called for reports of committees. Mrs. Davis, 
 chairman of the committee on arrangements for the fall 
 bazaar, reported that their work was progressing nicely. 
 A detailed statement of plans was submitted and freely 
 discussed, after which it was moved, seconded and car- 
 ried that the report of the committee be accepted. Pro- 
 ceeding to new business, it was moved and seconded that 
 a commiittee of five be appointed to investigate certain 
 rumors of disloyalty among our members and to co-oper- 
 ate with the local Council of Defense in enforcing loyalty 
 in the community. Motion carried. There being no 
 further business, by unanimous vote the meeting was 
 turned over to our former president, Mrs. Martin Briggs, 
 who is soon leaving her home for a greater field of lov- 
 ing service in the overseas work of the Y. M. C. A. 
 After a most inspiring address from Mrs. Briggs the 
 meeting adjourned. 
 
 President. If there are no additions or corrections 
 the minutes stand approved as read. {Pauses a moment.) 
 What is the first business to come before the meeting? 
 Madam Secretary, are there any communications to be 
 read? 
 
 Secretary. Nothing today. 
 
 President. Then we will proceed with the reports 
 of committees. Mrs. Davis, will you report the prog- 
 ress of the committee on arrangements for the bazaar. 
 
 Mrs. Davis {rising). Madam President, I think 
 there is nothing nev/ since our last meeting. We are still 
 busy soliciting salable articles and are quite encouraged 
 with the response we are receiving. I have no formal 
 
 14 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 report to make, but I would like to suggest that since the 
 proceeds of this year's bazaar are to be used for the most 
 part In war work that we accentuate the note of patriot- 
 ism all through. In making articles for sale use the na- 
 tional colors wherever possible. Also, remember the spe- 
 cial little comforts that mothers and sweethearts would 
 like to send to their dear ones overseas or In camp, and 
 the soldier emblems that can be so daintily worked In on 
 banners, bags, soft pillows and other things. Patriotism 
 lends Itself so well to artistic decoration, and the war 
 theme should be carried out In everything. In this way 
 our bazaar will not only bring In greater returns finan- 
 cially, but we will also be rendering aid to our soldiers 
 and sailors at the front In a sort of Intimate and personal 
 way as only womien can. 
 
 President. This Is an excellent and timely sugges- 
 tion which I am sure you will all bear In mind. Since 
 It Is not presented as a motion or a formal report I think 
 no action need be taken. Has the committee on Red 
 Cross organization anything to report? 
 
 Mrs. Baker (rising). Madam President, I am 
 happy to report that we have completed the organization 
 of our Red Cross auxiliary and are now working under 
 the direction of the central office. There Is to be an all 
 day knitting circle In this room on Tuesday. All the 
 ladies of the church are urged to be present, as we will 
 have with us a knitting Instructor from headquarters to 
 help those not yet proficient In the art of knitting. Knit- 
 ting is new to many of us. I know it Is to me. America 
 has never before been a nation of knitting women, but 
 we all know that American women are capable of any- 
 thing required of them in an emergency. I am sure that 
 none of us wants to be slipshod or lax In fulfilling this 
 
 15 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 duty of women in war time. The war, at least our coun- 
 try's part In the war, Is only In Its beginning. We do not 
 know how long we shall be asked to knit for our soldiers, 
 but whether It Is a long period or a short period we want 
 to do our work well. I have nothing more to report ex- 
 cept that the ladles are taking hold of the Red Cross 
 work with earnestness and enthusiasm, and I think we 
 will not fall to turn out our quota of bandages, socks, 
 sweaters and everything else that we are Instructed to 
 make from week to week. 
 
 President. What Is the pleasure of the meeting In 
 regard to this report? 
 
 A Woman. I move that. It be accepted. 
 
 Another Woman. I second the motion. 
 
 President. It has been moved and seconded that 
 the report of the Red Cross organization committee be 
 accepted. Are there any remarks? {Waits a minute.) 
 All In favor of the motion signify by saying "Aye." 
 
 Voices. Aye ! Aye ! 
 
 President. Contrary, "No." {Silence.) The mo- 
 tion Is carried. The next to be heard from Is, I believe, 
 the loyalty committee. Mrs. WIckershelm, I know that 
 you have matters of vital Importance to bring before us 
 this afternoon, so I will ask you to step forward and 
 come upon the platform that all may hear and under- 
 stand. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersham {comes to platform and stands at 
 left of President) . Madam President, fellow-members 
 of the Ladles' Aid Society, yes It Is true that I have vital 
 matters — most vital matters — to lay before you this after- 
 noon. It Is a hard task that has been put upon my 
 shoulders, a task that has caused me nights without sleep 
 and days of mental anguish, a task which we of the 
 
 16 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 loyalty committee have begun, but which you, all of you, 
 will have to carry forward with unceasing vigilance. 
 When I accepted the office of chairman of this committee 
 I did not realize the seriousness of the situation that was 
 to confront me. I rather scoffed at the idea of even a 
 shadow of disloyalty existing among women acknowledg- 
 ing Christ as their savior and banded together to serve 
 God and country. That a body of women within the 
 told of a great Christian church could in any part be 
 infected with the proud flesh and stenching decay of trea- 
 son against the government which God in his gracious 
 mercy has vouchsafed to us and established over us by 
 his divine will seemed to me impossible. And yet such 
 is the case, ladies, such is the condition right here in this 
 church, in this Ladies' Aid Society, (with increasing 
 vehe^nence) yea, in this very room where we are gathered 
 together today. We are nursing in our bosom the poison- 
 ous viper of sedition which if we do not trample under 
 foot before another sun goes down may spread its filthy 
 slim^e over us and render us powerless in our country's 
 hour of need. {Pause's for emphasis and breath.) But 
 I am speaking too much in figures. I must present naked 
 facts to you. One or more of our committee has visited 
 the home of every member of this society and as a result 
 of our investigation we have compiled a list of members 
 classifying them as loyal, doubtful and proved disloyal. 
 I am glad to say that our loyal column is a long one, our 
 doubtful column fairly short and our proved disloyal col- 
 umn contains but one name at present. It would seem 
 from such a report that no grave danger threatened us 
 and I would not feel apprehensive for our safety if It 
 were not for the fact that this name Is one which in the 
 past has carried influence in the church, a name which 
 
 17 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 even now Is conspicuous on our official letterheads, 
 (speaking louder) the name of an officer in our Ladies' 
 Aid Society. For this reason shame and ignominy are 
 cast upon us all. When we called upon this woman at 
 her home we did not find the hallowed flag of our coun- 
 try anywhere in evidence. The remarks she made when 
 questioned on the subject of the war reeked with sedition 
 amounting to anarchy. She had the boldness to say that 
 she was a Pacifist, an internationalist to whom one coun- 
 try was the same as another; that she swore allegiance 
 to no flag; that Germans, Russians, Belgians, English, 
 French, Austrians, Irish, Hindus, Chinese, Mexicans, Jap- 
 anese — oh, I don't remember all she named — were just 
 as much her countrymen as Americans were. She didn't 
 stop with our Allies whom she might have the right to 
 include to a certain extent. She even began with the Ger- 
 mans and said defiantly that they were no more to 
 blame for the war than other nations were. She feels 
 no sense of duty to her country in distress. Ladles, can 
 we afford to jeopardize our good name by allowing this 
 insidious enemy to remain among us? Can we who have 
 so devotedly taken up the service of our beloved country 
 risk the danger of sheltering a Pacifist in our midst? 
 Ladies, I tell you that until we purge our organization 
 of every suspicion of disloyalty no one of us Is safe. Our 
 boys are even now on their way to the trenches. Shall 
 we further endanger their safety by slackness in vigilance 
 at home? Remember, ladles, the lives of our own sons 
 are at stake, our homes and our firesides are at stake, the 
 honor of our women is at stake, our national existence is 
 at stake. If the Germans win In France next they will 
 conquer England and then they will come over here. We 
 know how the Beast of Berlin has planned the conquest 
 
 18 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 of the world. It has all been exposed by our wide-awake 
 press. We are asleep if we do not know the danger. It 
 is only a short distance from England to our shores. 
 Shall we submit to the violation of our sacred soil, to 
 the destruction of our property, to the mutilation of our 
 children, to the raping of our women? No. {Pounds 
 on the table excitedly.) It is our Christian duty to ex- 
 terminate the diabolical race of Huns from the face of 
 God's earth. Christianity and civilization must triumph 
 over heathenism and barbarism. There is only one thing 
 in the world that matters today, and that is for the Allies 
 to win the war. My husband has just been to Can- 
 ada. There he met a man who knew a woman who sent 
 for two Belgian children to adopt and when they were 
 brought to her she found that they were without hands. 
 {Melodramatically.) Oh, mothers, can you bear to 
 think of it — their little, tender hands had been cut off 
 by the German soldiers! I cannot look upon a baby's 
 hands without calling for the vengeance of God upon 
 these fiends of hell in the guise of men. Also, a friend 
 of mine has a friend in England whose son was taken 
 prisoner by the Germans. In some way he succeeded in 
 sending his watch to his mother. She took it to the 
 jeweler and when he opened it he found a tiny folded 
 paper hidden in the works, which he extricated and gave 
 to the mother. She unfolded it very carefully and found 
 this message written in blood, "Dear Mother, I can never 
 speak to you again even if I am spared to come home. 
 They have cut out my tongue." Oh, I cannot repeat all 
 that I know of the atrocities committed by these creatures 
 lower than the beasts of the jungle. There are things 
 too shameful to be spoken of in public. And yet skulking 
 Pacifists walk among us harping on the commandment, 
 
 19 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 "Thou shalt not kill." We all know that this command- 
 ment applies only to men, and that the Germans have 
 ceased to be men. The scriptures do not forbid us to 
 kill the poisonous rattlesnake or to destroy the wolf that 
 is devouring the lamb. Oh that I were a man and young 
 that I might take a gun in my own hands! Waste no 
 pity on these bloodthirsty beasts, the Huns. Give them 
 some of their own medicine. God is on our side. God 
 has given us our red blooded fighting men and God com- 
 mands us who cannot bear arms ourselves to get behind 
 them. I cannot say more. My emotions are beginning 
 to overpower me. I have made my report that there are 
 doubtful and disloyal members in our Ladies' Aid Society, 
 that one of our very officers is seeking to betray us. I 
 have warned you of the dangers involved. It is for you 
 to act — firmxly, fearlessly and at once. (Steps from the 
 platform and sits down panting in a chair in the front 
 row.) 
 
 President. You have heard this most startling re- 
 port. What will you do about it? 
 
 Mrs. Smith {rising quickly). I should think every- 
 body in this church would know what to do with Pacifists. 
 What does Billy Sunday say? "Hang them to the lamp 
 posts." That's what I say, too. 
 
 Mrs. Baker {rising and speaking with dignity). 
 Madam President, in order to bring the question before 
 the meeting for quiet and orderly discussion, I move that 
 the report of the loyalty committee be accepted and that 
 any member of our society who is proved disloyal be 
 dropped from the membership roll. 
 
 A Woman. I second the motion. 
 
 President. You have heard the motion. Are there 
 any remarks? 
 
 20 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. McConnell (rising). Madam President, I 
 think that the chairman of the loyalty committee Is un- 
 necessarily alarmed about this matter of disloyalty. Is It 
 not a part of our duty as material and moral supporters 
 of the war to be forebearing In our dealings with those 
 who do not see things as we do? Will the dropping of 
 members from an organization of this kind engender 
 loyalty In the hearts of those so dealt with or aid the 
 cause of democracy In any way? Free speech Is the 
 foundation stone of our government; tolerance has al- 
 ways been the pride of our republic. To curtail In any 
 way the expression of honest opinion Is un-American. I 
 was opposed to the entrance of our country Into the war, 
 but I have been convinced by President Wilson's wonder- 
 ful words that it has become necessary for us to take part 
 In International affairs even to the extent of fighting In 
 the most fearful war that has ever been waged in the 
 history of mankind. (Speaking very earnestly.) The 
 Ideal of a united world makes It impossible for us to 
 stay out of the actual conflict any longer. We are taking 
 up arms In defense of justice and truth. We are fighting 
 not for any selfish national ends but for the whole of 
 humanity. We have undertaken a war to end war for 
 all time. Let us prove to the world that our motives 
 are pure; that we hate no people; that we accept the 
 method of the sword only because under the circum- 
 stances It Is not given us to choose our method. The 
 world is In arms and we have no alternative but to fight 
 on the side which v/e believe to be right. Let us not 
 talk about crushing the Germans. It cannot be our desire 
 to crush any people. We are In a life and death struggle 
 for the sole purpose of establishing peace, the peace of 
 justice, hope and love, the peace that passeth understand- 
 
 21 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 ing, which may not come in our time, but which if we 
 fight the battle rightly will be the heritage of our chil- 
 dren. Let us not fire our hearts and the hearts of our 
 neighbors with stories of atrocities. Atrocities are the 
 hideous part of all wars, committed on all sides by the 
 ignorant and brutal. These stories which have been told 
 here today are the same stories which are always current 
 during war. Each nation tells them about the enemy 
 nation In every war. In every language from generation 
 to generation. They are established traditions, perhaps 
 established practices of all wars, by no means exclusively 
 German. The war is frightful, horrible, incomprehensi- 
 ble. President Wilson's ideals alone redeem it. Let us 
 not swerve one moment from these ideals. We will fail 
 even In victory if we do not hold always before us the 
 lighted torch of the brotherhood of man. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {jumps to her feet and speaks 
 angrily). Ladles, I have told you that we have on our 
 list members marked doubtful. Are you aware that it 
 has just been Intimated that American soldiers are capa- 
 ble of committing atrocities? Will you accept this insult 
 to our brave boys who are making the supreme 
 sacrifice that we may be spared? 
 
 Mrs. Smith {hissing). Any one who says such 
 things ought to be strung up. That's what I say. 
 
 Mrs. Baker. I call for the question. 
 
 President. All those in favor of the motion please 
 signify by saying "Aye." 
 
 Several Voices. Aye. {Many do not vote.) 
 
 President. Contrary, "No." 
 
 Mrs. McConnell {alone). No. 
 
 President. The motion is carried. What is the next 
 business to come before the meeting. 
 
 22 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Holden {comes forward and hands an envelope 
 to the President). Madam President, I hereby hand 
 in my resignation as vice-president of the Ladies' Aid 
 Society. If it is in order, I move that it be accepted. 
 {Returns to her seat.) 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {again jumping up). Ladies, 
 this is a trick. Can't you see through it? This 
 woman is trying to resign her official position and with- 
 draw from the society without being noticed. But she 
 knows that she's the very one that I've been telling you 
 about and that she can't resign because she's already been 
 dismissed. In trying to spare her feelings by refraining 
 from mentioning her name I have only given her a 
 chance to hoodwink you. Will you permit it? This 
 woman should be driven out with open rebuke. I should 
 not have been so easy and simple as to try to shield her. 
 She must be taught a lesson at our hands and the public 
 m.ust know that we have purged our organization. I tell 
 you, ladies, we must act without delay for she and her 
 questionable friends are trying to foist upon an unsuspect- 
 ing — {Her remarks are cut short by the blowing of a 
 loud whistle without. She sits down.) 
 
 President {speaking in a loud voice to be heard 
 above the noise). The Times whistle! You know it was 
 to blow at four o'clock this afternoon as a call to prayer 
 for victory. Let us bow our heads in silent prayer. 
 {Whistle blows for a few minutes while all are silent.) 
 And now before our minds are turned again to secular 
 matters let us rise and salute the flag of our precious 
 country. 
 
 {Several women are on their feet at once, particularly 
 Mrs. Wickersheim and Mrs. Smith. Others follow, 
 some hesitate, but finally all have risen except Mrs. 
 
 23 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 HoLDEN and Mrs. Schweitzer in the rear seats.) 
 
 Women {standing at *' attention,'' right hand at 
 brow). "I pledge allegiance to the flag and to the re- 
 public for which It stands, one nation indivisible with 
 liberty and justice for all." {All sit down except 
 Mrs. Wickersheim^ who stands holding out both arms 
 toward the flag.) 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {in sentimental tones). My 
 flag, your flag, our flag! 
 
 {Confusion is beginning to arise. Women whisper 
 and turn to look at Mrs. Holden and Mrs. Schweit- 
 zer. ) 
 
 President {greatly disturbed) . Let us sing a hymn. 
 Music will perhaps calm us. Mrs. McConnell, will you 
 go to the piano and start us on a hymn? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell {goes to the piano). Shall we 
 sing number 458? I think that is an appropriate hymn 
 at this tim.e. {Begins to play ''Jesus, I My Cross Have 
 Taken.'' Women rise with hymn books in hand.) 
 
 Women {singing). ^']esus, I my cross have taken, 
 All to leave and follow thee. 
 Destitute, despised, forsaken. 
 Thou from hence my all shalt be." 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {shouting passionately as Mrs. 
 McConnell plays the interlude). I can't let this go on 
 any longer. This Is too much. (Mrs. McConnell 
 stops playing and turns around in astonishment.) This 
 is the last straw. My heart is on fire. In this room, in 
 this Sunday school room where our boys have met to say 
 their last prayers before going forth to lay their young 
 lives upon the altar of freedom; in this room where our 
 children are taught the sacred hymns of patriotism, a 
 traitor, a German spy comes forward and brazenly plays 
 
 24 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 on our piano, "Deutschland uber Alles." 
 
 Mrs. Smith (shouting). The room is full of spies 
 and traitors. I say kick them out. 
 
 (Excitement is evident in the audience. Women are 
 whispering audibly and some nod approval at Mrs. 
 Smith's words.) 
 
 President (very much agitated). I don't understand 
 you, Mrs Wickersheim. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim. Don't you know the tune of 
 "Deutschland uber Alles" when you hear it played right 
 in front of you? I do. We used to have it on the 
 phonograph before the war. 
 
 President. Mrs. McConnell, did you know that 
 was "Deutschland uber Alles" when you chose it? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell (calmly). Mrs. Wickersheim is 
 mistaken. This is not the melody of "Deutschland uber 
 Alles.' "'"'t is a Haydn melody. This is from Mozart. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim. Well, isn't it German, just 
 the same? 
 
 Mrs. Smith. Haven't we got any American tunes in 
 the book, I'd like to know? 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim. It's time for Christian Amer- 
 icans to purge their hymn books. 
 
 Mrs. Smith. Yes, if we can't find any American 
 tunes in the book we'd better quit singing, I should say. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim. There is no more subtle means 
 of German propaganda than German music. Our school 
 board has ordered that all songs with German tunes be 
 torn from the song books of the public schools. Loyal 
 citizens everywhere are taking a stand against German 
 music. I read in the Times only yesterday how two 
 business men left the dining room of one of our largest 
 hotels because the orchestra played a German piece. 
 
 25 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 That's the only way to act. How can anybody with any 
 feeling at all endure anything that comes from those 
 bloody Huns? In our house we have smashed every 
 German phonograph record we had. 
 
 Mrs. Smith. I say put her out — that German spy 
 there! (Points her finger menacingly at Mrs. McCon- 
 
 NELL.) 
 
 Mrs. McConnell {amazed). Why am I so at- 
 tacked? I have a son in the service, a volunteer, already 
 in France. You all know that I am supporting the war 
 with all my heart. Mrs. Calkins, wasn't my son's star 
 the first one in the service flag? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins (Wj/;?^). Yes, Ernest McConnell was 
 the first hero whose picture we framed for our war gal- 
 lery. I don't see hov/ his mother could be a German spy. 
 
 Mrs. ?v1cConnell {distressed). I have given my 
 son — that Is so far as another life is mine to give — to 
 fight for the Ideals which he and I believe in. What 
 more could I do to prove my loyalty? 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {spitefully). What about your 
 other son, the Socialist? 
 
 Mrs. Smith. Yes, I should say. What about him, 
 the skunk? 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim. You may have a son In the 
 war, but aren't you the mother of a slacker, too, a spine- 
 less jellyfish who has publicly refused to defend his coun- 
 try's flag, a coward who's afraid to fight, who's willing 
 to endanger the whole nation to save his own skin? What 
 have you to say for yourself about him? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell {deeply stung). I am not his 
 keeper. He is a grown man. I can't dictate to him as 
 if he were a child. If he Is a Conscientious Objector, it 
 is his conscience not mine that guides him. But you have 
 
 26 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISxM 
 
 no right to call him a coward. He opposes the war on 
 moral grounds, as his brother and I support it on moral 
 grounds, and in taking his stand he is risking his life as 
 much as his brother is in going to war. Don't you think 
 that I am torn as no other mother here is torn with 
 anguish over the demands of the war and the conflict of 
 ideas within my own family? 
 
 Mrs. Baker {rising and speaking quietly). Madam 
 President, I have remained silent for fear of adding more 
 fuel to the flames, but now I feel that I must rise to a 
 point of justice as well as order. How can any one doubt 
 the loyalty of Mrs. McConnell after the statements she 
 has made and the sentiments she has expressed? Have 
 the women forgotten that we are in the house of God? 
 Personal abuse must cease. We are meeting today to 
 discuss important matters of business. A motion is be- 
 fore the house — that is a motion has been made by Mrs. 
 Holden that her resignation as vice-president be accepted. 
 I second that motion and call for a discussion of the 
 question. 
 
 Mrs. Davis {rising). Madam President, I thought 
 it was understood that her resignation was superfluous as 
 the previous motion dropped her from membership. I 
 call for a ruling by the chair. 
 
 President {noticeably confused). I really don't know. 
 Mrs. Baker, you are our parliamentarian, can't you put 
 us right on this point? 
 
 Mrs. Baker {rising). Madam President, since Mrs. 
 Holden's name was not mentioned in the report of the 
 chairman of the loyalty committee, it was not necessarily 
 understood at the time the motion referred to was carried 
 nor at the time Mrs. Holden handed in her resignation 
 that the motion applied to her. In fact at no time has 
 
 27 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 her name been formally presented as one to be dropped 
 from the membership roll. Therefore it seems to me 
 quite in order to vote on her resignation as vice-president. 
 Some definite action in regard to her should go on record 
 in the minutes of this meeting, since she has proved by 
 her refusal to salute the flag that she is not a loyal citizen 
 of the country that gave her birth, as her companion is 
 not a loyal citizen of the country that has adopted her. 
 But this must be carried through quietly and in order 
 without any more excitement and sensationalism. We 
 are Christian women, American mothers, and as such we 
 are surely capable of governing our own minds and curb- 
 ing our speech even though things have happened in this 
 meeting which are a direct insult to all that we hold most 
 sacred. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {turning to Mrs. Baker). Do 
 you mean to say that there are people in this room who 
 did not salute the flag? 
 
 Mrs. Smith. Yes, didn't you see them? I saw them. 
 There they are. {Points to Mrs. Holden and Mrs. 
 Schweitzer.) I saw them. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim. Do you suppose that as chair- 
 man of the loyalty committee I would have overlooked 
 such an act of treason if I had seen it? Why didn't the 
 President order them from the room? 
 
 President. I didn't know what action to — 
 
 Voices. Pro-Germans ! Pacifists ! 
 
 Mrs. Smith. Kick them out. {Shouting abandon- 
 edly) I say kick them out! 
 
 A Woman. I say so, too! 
 
 {Women are rising in different parts of the room, mut- 
 tering and looking threateningly at Mrs. Holden and 
 Mrs. Schweitzer.) 
 
 28 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 President {rapping nervously with her gavel). Arc 
 you ready for the question? 
 
 Mrs. Baker. Question. {Most of the women pay 
 no attention.) Friends, sisters, be seated. The meeting 
 has not adjourned. 
 
 {Women begin moving about the room, talking indis' 
 criminately.) 
 
 Voices {in a jangled chorus). Pro-Germans! Trait- 
 ors ! They're anarchists ! That's what they are ! We've 
 had enough of Pacifists ! We're in war now ! Our coun- 
 try's flag! They insulted it! Insulted the flag! Yes, 
 it's an outrage ! German spies ! Report them to the 
 police ! Socialists ! Traitors ! It's sedition ! Treason, 
 treason ! 
 
 {Women surround Mrs. Holden and Mrs. Schweit- 
 zer, who rise quietly and start to leave the room.) 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {goes to Mrs. McConnell 
 and takes her roughly by the arm). You, too. Come 
 along. This is no place for you, either. {Lets go her 
 arm as Mrs. McConnell voluntarily follows Mrs. 
 Holden and Mrs. Schweitzer.) 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {near the door attempting to 
 speak). I would like just one word to speak. Madam 
 President, may not I have one word to speak? 
 
 President {rapping loudly with the gavel). Silence, 
 order ! Mrs. Schweitzer has the floor. Let Mrs. Schweit- 
 zer speak. Let Mrs. Schweit — 
 
 Voices {at random). Traitors! German spies! 
 Right here! At this meeting! Drive them out! Drive 
 them out! Traitors! 
 
 Mrs. Baker. Order, order! Women, attention! 
 The President is speaking. 
 
 President {in a frightened voice). Order! I call for 
 
 29 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 order. Let Mrs. Schweitzer speak. {Raps repeatedly 
 with the gavel which only adds to the tumult and con- 
 fusion.) Take your seats, ladles! {Almost crying.) Oh, 
 please take your seats, ladies! She has a right to speak. 
 
 Mrs. Smith {throwing a hymn hook at Mrs. 
 Schweitzer). Get out of here, you stinking German! 
 
 (Mrs. Holden, Mrs. Schweitzer and Mrs. Mc- 
 CONNELL leave the roojji.) 
 
 Mrs. Baker. I move we adjourn. 
 
 President. Is there a second to this motion? {No 
 one answers. All are moving about the room and talk- 
 ing. ) 
 
 Voices {at random). They're gone! German spies! 
 They're everywhere. We can't be too careful. 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim {throwing her arms above her 
 head and screaming hysterically) . We have purged our 
 meeting, but this is not the end. Traitors, three traitors ! 
 God will punish them. Speedily he will punish them. 
 This is not the end. Oh! Oh! — {wails and falls 
 panting into a chair). 
 
 Mrs. Smith {in a frenzy, running about the room 
 and shouting). He will. He will. Traitors! Punish 
 them. Traitors ! He will. God will, yes. He will. I 
 
 say traitors punish God will, yes, 
 
 trai ! 
 
 Mrs. Wickersheim. They have sought to desecrate 
 this house of worship but we have — oh, we have cast 
 them {breathing convulsively) like vipers — like vipers 
 from our midst! 
 
 Mrs. Smith {still running about). Vipers, yes, cast 
 
 them traitors, pro-Ger cast them, yes — trai — 
 
 ai — tors! I say traitors {shrieks wildly) Oh! 
 
 punish God will punish ! 
 
 30 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Davis (touches her arm gently). Sister, sister, 
 compose yourself. 
 
 Mrs. Smith. God will vipers trait 
 
 punish oh! oh ! (Jerks her arm away from 
 
 Mrs. Davis.) 
 
 Mrs. Davis. Yes, sister, yes; It's in God's hands. 
 
 Mrs. Smith. Punish them God vipers 
 
 traitors pun — ! (Mrs. Davis puts her arm 
 
 around Mrs. Smith's body trying vainly to calm her. 
 Mrs. Smith raises her hand as if to strike Mrs. Davis.) 
 
 Let me go! (Mrs. T> avis steps hack.) Punish 
 
 God ! (Mrs. Smith rushes from the room.) 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 Fall of 1917. 
 
 Living Room of Mrs. Holden's ho7ne. At the rear 
 is a large window and a door leading to the street. At 
 the right is a door leading to another room and at the left 
 a fire place. The furnishings of the room are simple hut 
 show refinement. There is a table in the center of the 
 room and near the right door a small writing desk. Near 
 the fire place two or three easy chairs are placed. Mrs. 
 HoLDEN sits by the fire mending. 
 
 Mrs. Holden (sings softly). 
 "Jesus, I my cross have taken. 
 All to leave and follow Thee." 
 
 (After a pause speaking to herself.) Now I'm begin- 
 ning to understand It. It isn't an emotional conversion 
 after all. To be a Christian Is just to be calm and ra- 
 tional; to follow quietly after the Christ ideal in spite of 
 the shouting crowd rushing in the other direction. (Con- 
 tinues singing.) 
 
 31 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 '^Destitute, despised, forsaken, 
 Thou from hence my all shalt be." 
 
 Helen {entering from the right). So youVe still 
 singing your pro-German hymn. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. My avowal of loyalty. 
 
 Helen {goes to the table where she lays down a bun- 
 die of books and papers). And now my all-trusting 
 mother, can you bear a little more weight to your cross? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I think so. I haven't lost my faith. 
 
 Helen. But I've lost my job. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Helen! Do you really mean it? Is 
 that why you're home so early? 
 
 Helen. It is. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. But I thought the school board de- 
 cided that you couldn't be held responsible for the beliefs 
 and acts of your mother. 
 
 Helen. They did, but they only passed me tenta- 
 tively. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And have I made you trouble after 
 all, dear? I haven't meant to put anything in your way, 
 for I know you don't believe as I do. 
 
 Helen {takes of her hat and coat and lays them on a 
 clc.ir near the writing desk). No, I made my own 
 trouble this time. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You have been so unwilling to talk 
 to me about school matters that I haven't known what 
 was going on. Do explain it to me. Have you been 
 dismissed by the school board? 
 
 Helen. I most certainly have. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Well, I don't care if you have since 
 the schools have become so war-mad. You've stayed 
 with them too long already. 
 
 Helen. Yes, but when one has a faith-consumed 
 
 32 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 mother, It's necessary for that mother to have a somewhat 
 practical daughter. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh, I have misjudged you, Helen. 
 Then it was only pretense that you believed in the war? 
 
 Helen. I believed in sticking to my job regardless 
 of everything else. (Sits down as if tired.) I've tried 
 to follow that one duty without looking to the right or to 
 the left, war or no war, but I've failed. One foolish, 
 soft impulse knocked over my cold, hard judgment. 
 
 Mrs. Holden (smiling). You've done right, my 
 girl. I'm proud of you. 
 
 Helen. But I didn't mean to. It was an accident. 
 You don't need to think that I've come over to your 
 reckless way of looking at things; not at all. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. How did it happen? Tell me. 
 
 Helen. It happened so suddenly and I'm still so 
 dazed that I'm not yet clear in my own mind as to how 
 it did happen. But it happened, and the next question is, 
 what are we going to do? How are we going to live? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Don't worry about that. We can 
 find some way to live. I can do something. I've let you 
 bear the burden too long. 
 
 Helen. You know I never wanted you to work away 
 from home. You do enough right here. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I could be a housekeeper somewhere. 
 I'm a good cook. 
 
 Helen. Oh, you ridiculous baby. Who do you think 
 would hire a notorious Pacifist like you to cook for them ? 
 Why, any loyal, patriotic family would know that you 
 would poison their food. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. We can take In sewing. We both 
 know how to sew. We have our home anyway. 
 
 Helen. Yes, it's a good thing we own our own home. 
 
 33 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 We may be needing it to go ball for one or the other of 
 us before this jazz patriotism has played itself out. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You haven't told me yet what hap- 
 pened at school. How could they dismiss you so sud- 
 denly? Did you have a hearing before the board? 
 
 Helen. The hearing two months ago was sufficient 
 for them. They put me on probation then for being my 
 mother's daughter and I've been under surveillance and 
 over a powder keg ever since. Today the powder keg 
 exploded and blew me through the roof. But you didn't 
 have anything to do with it. I lit the match with my own 
 hand, and came to grief on my own account. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh I'm so glad; and how happy 
 Joseph will be. 
 
 Helen. Now you make me angry. There's no such 
 thing as happiness any more. There's only misery and 
 cruelty and slavery. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Don't be bitter, dear. I didn't mean 
 to taunt you. But tell me, did you really take a stand 
 against the war? 
 
 Helen. I don't know what I did. I guess I just lost 
 my nerve. I got out of breath and couldn't keep up with 
 my end of the murder game. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Your real self broke through after 
 all. I always had faith in you, Helen. 
 
 Helen. I tell you it was only an impulse. You and 
 Joseph may sacrifice yourselves and everybody else for 
 principles, ideals, visions, but I'm not made that way. 
 Ideals don't pay the grocery bills {getting up mid walk- 
 ing about the room nervously) ^ but I'd better tell you the 
 story while It's warm. A woman from the Red Cross 
 came to my room the first period this morning to teach 
 the children to make gun wipers. Yes, don't look so 
 
 34 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 horrified; these amalgamated angels of mercy are right 
 on the job. The children are sitting at their desks, each 
 one provided with a few old stockings from the family 
 rag bag and a needle laboriously threaded. Our benign 
 lady in her airy Red Cross bonnet and veil and her jaunty 
 French slippers flits among them and soon the old stock- 
 ings are going through a transformation. She charms 
 the children so that they really work. "Children, do you 
 know what you are making?" Her voice is as sweet and 
 soft as a marshmallow. "Gun-wipers," they all answer. 
 "But I mean do you know what they are to be used 
 for?" "To wipe the big guns on the ships," someone 
 suggests. "No, something better than that," she purrs. 
 "These are for the men in action. Every soldier in the 
 field must have one hanging to his belt to wipe the blood 
 off his bayonet when he gets one of those Huns." Oh, it 
 makes me sick to think of it. I saw a little girl near me 
 turn white and I couldn't keep still. "That's no way to 
 speak to children," I said. She turned on me with a 
 bayonet of a look and retorted, "Somebody has to teach 
 the children patriotism when their teacher doesn't." 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Why didn't you report her to Mr. 
 Curtis? 
 
 Helen. She reported me to Mr. Curtis. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Didn't he take your part? 
 
 Helen. No. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I always thought he was a tender- 
 hearted man. 
 
 Helen. So he was before the war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. How can he change so? 
 
 Helen. He wants to be county superintendent. He's 
 campaigning on 100% Americanism. He's the one that 
 started this business of taking the children into the streets 
 
 35 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 to make speeches for the liberty loan. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. He couldn't dismiss you, could he? 
 
 Helen. He could recommend my dismissal to the 
 school board. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Did they make a formal charge 
 against you? How could they act so quickly? 
 
 Helen. I don't know. I can only surmise. I have 
 some Boy Scouts in my room. The Boy Scouts are told 
 to spy on their teachers. Soon after the Red Cross 
 woman had gone, one of the boys asked permission to 
 leave the room. I suppose he didn't have any trouble 
 getting the use of the telephone in the office to telephone 
 to his father, as his father is one of the committee that's 
 arranging for tank day and is "hand and glove" with 
 the school board just now. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. What is tank day? 
 
 Helen. The day when a real war tank is to be ex- 
 hibited on the school grounds. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh horrible! 
 
 Helen. But tank day is to be most delightful. Be- 
 sides the Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants' & 
 Manufacturers' Association, the old soldiers will be there 
 and all the young army and navy men who are within 
 reach. The children will go through the flag drill and 
 sing patriotic songs. My room is to sing the modern 
 classic, "Over There," or "The Yanks Are Coming." 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh Helen, I'm so glad you're out 
 of it. 
 
 Helen. But it will ring in my ears. I trained them. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. How could you? 
 
 Helen. To hold my job. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Thank God, you've failed at last. 
 When did you get the word that you'd been dismissed? 
 
 36 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Helen. By one o'clock my walking papers and the 
 substitute teacher had arrived. The school board hap- 
 pened to be in session this morning which made it quite 
 convenient. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You're my own, own girl. (Goes to 
 her and kisses her.) 
 
 Helen. And I had made up my mind to hold on 
 till the end. I was expecting to take the pledge with 
 the rest of them next Monday. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. What do you mean by taking the 
 pledge ? 
 
 Helen. The loyalty pledge. Don't you know about 
 the loyalty pledge? They're forcing the teachers to sign 
 it all over the country. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. This is the first I've heard of it. 
 What is it? 
 
 Helen. That we declare our absolute loyalty to the 
 existing government; that we recognize the laws and tra- 
 ditions of the United States as superior to all others ; that 
 we feel the necessity that devolves upon us of winning the 
 war at any cost and that to this end we pledge our lives, 
 our money and our sacred honor. To complete the bondage 
 we must swear that we sign this pledge without any 
 mental reservations whatsoever. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. The teachers have to sign that? 
 
 Helen. Yes. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And you would have signed it? 
 
 Helen. We have to lie to live these days. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall 
 not want." 
 
 Helen. So you have always taught me, but how can 
 the Lord raise his head in this hell? The Lord is out- 
 lawed now with the Pacificists. ( The door bell rings. 
 
 37 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Helen goes to the door.) 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {rushing in breathlessly) . Oh Helen! 
 I'm frightened nearly to death. {To Mrs. H olden.) I 
 didn't know anybody to come to but you, Mrs. Holden. 
 [Drops into a chair.) Oh dear, oh dear! 
 
 Helen and Mrs. Holden {together). Why, what's 
 the matter? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. They've drafted him. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Who? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Dick, my husband. 
 
 Helen. How proud you must be. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I thought you said he couldn't pass 
 the physical examination. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. They examined him again and {he- 
 gins to cry) — he passed. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. But you said he wanted to go to the 
 war. I think you said he was crazy to go or something 
 like that. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {through her tears). He's changed 
 his mind. 
 
 Helen. Glorious! Now you can pretend you're a 
 war bride. You told me the other day how you envied 
 the war brides. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I've changed my mind too. {Wipes 
 her eyes.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Poor child! I'm very sorry for you. 
 
 Helen. But the honor of it. Don't you believe In 
 this war for liberty and democracy? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Of course I believe In the war; 
 everybody has to believe In the war, but I never thought 
 of their taking Dick. I depended on his weak lungs. 
 
 Helen. Your dependence proved weaker than his 
 lungs it seems. 
 
 38 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Why did you come to me? I don't 
 believe in the war. I can't say any of the nice things to 
 you about being glad and giving him up with a smile. 
 But indeed I pity anyone whose husband or son is taken. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I thought you could help me. 
 
 Helen. How in the world did you think Mother 
 could help you, though she is a saint and natural guard- 
 ian angel? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Can't you intercede with the draft 
 board? Mr. Woodhill's on the board in our district. 
 He thinks you're such a good woman. He's always 
 praised your work in the church so much. You go to 
 him and tell him you think Dick ought to be let off for 
 my sake and the baby's. {Takes Mrs. Holden's hand 
 imploringly.) You will now, won't you? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Poor, foolish, little girl, don't you 
 know that I was put out of the church after the trouble 
 at the Ladies' Aid meeting? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, but Mr. Woodhill told Father 
 that he still respects you as a woman. 
 
 Helen. What a great concession. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. No, Katherine, I couldn't go to Mr. 
 Woodhill. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Oh, what shall I do? I'm almost 
 crazy. What if he should get killed? I've been imag- 
 ining myself a widow all the way down here. 
 
 Helen. A war widow! That ought to thrill you. 
 Could anything be more romanitcally patriotic than that? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Don't, Helen. It's too serious. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Of course I'm patriotic, absolutely 
 patriotic, and I do appreciate the noble sacrifice for coun- 
 try and all that, but, oh dear, if — he — shouldn't come 
 back. Oh, I'm so frightened, maybe oh, dear! Well, 
 
 39 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 I've thought of another plan. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Another plan? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. What's this new idea about being a 
 — what do you call it? — a Conscience ? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Conscientious Objector? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes. Helen, isn't your fiancee one 
 of those? 
 
 Helen. Yes, but unfortunately he's a real one. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Couldn't you persuade him to get 
 Dick in with them? Dick's willing to do any kind of 
 work. I know he is though Father does say he's lazy. 
 Helen, you plead with Mr. McConnell for my sake to 
 help Dick. I'd do it myself but I don't know Mr. Mc- 
 Connell. 
 
 Helen. I've been pleading with him to leave the 
 Conscientious Objectors. I don't want him shot at sun- 
 rise. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I wouldn't like that either. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You seem to have a peculiar idea 
 about the Conscientious Objectors, Katherine. Don't you 
 know that they are military outlaws? The absolutists 
 like Joseph McConnell won't obey any military orders. 
 They even refuse to wear the uniform. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Oh, Dick wouldn't be that way. He'd 
 be glad to wear the uniform. We both respect the uni- 
 form. 
 
 Helen. Why shouldn't you when the uniform is so 
 pre-eminently respectable? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. He'd do anything they told him to if 
 he only didn't have to fight. Couldn't he be that kind 
 of a Con — oh, dear, that name — Conscientious Objector? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. In that case he would have to belong 
 to some church that had an anti-war tenet in its creed. 
 
 40 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 His church has no such tenet. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I think he'd be willing to change. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I'm afraid It's too late. Those 
 churches aren't taking in any new members subject to 
 the draft. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. What church does Mr. McConnell 
 belong to? 
 
 Helen. None. He's a Socialist. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Does that exempt him? 
 
 Helen. It seems to keep him out. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Have you tried to get your husband 
 exempted on the ground of having dependents? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. They say he doesn't support us. Just 
 because Father's wealthy isn't any excuse for them tak- 
 ing him away from me and the baby as if we didn't 
 count. It's a mean shame. There're lots of men that 
 aren't married that they could take. He does support 
 us — some. He stays at the office all he has time to, but 
 lately he's been so rushed. You know he's trying to win 
 the golf championship cup for our club. 
 
 Helen. Sufficient grounds for exemption, surely. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. No, I didn't mean that, but he's so 
 upset he couldn't do anything today. He couldn't even 
 go out to the links, and he's afraid they'll lose without 
 him. 
 
 Helen. Maybe the draft board is afraid they'll lose 
 the war without him. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Then they ought to give him a good 
 place. He could be such a help somewhere — where it's 
 safe, of course. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Hasn't your father got a pull of 
 some kind that he could use in his behalf? Have you 
 seen a lawyer? 
 
 41 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Calkins, The trouble Is Father's so against 
 him. He says, "Let him go; maybe It will make a man 
 of him." Father's getting so hard hearted. Those were 
 exactly his words. But you've given me an Idea. I'll 
 see Father's lawyer. That's the very thing. Thank you 
 for giving me such a good suggestion. I'm ready to shout 
 {jumps up and hugs Mrs. Holden), I feel so happy 
 about It. Funny I didn't think of It myself. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. So I did help you after all. 
 
 Helen. It takes Mother to give aid and comfort to 
 the enemy. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Now, you won't tell anybody that I 
 came here, will you? You know It might reflect on my 
 patriotism and I'm thoroughly loyal. I truly am. No- 
 body worked harder than I did In the Liberty Bond drive. 
 Why, I got all tired out. But I want to do my bit, and 
 I'm willing to make great sacrifices. 
 
 Helen {looking out of the window). Here comes 
 the minister. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Oh mercy! I wouldn't have him 
 see m.e here for anything. It might get to Mrs. Wickers- 
 helm and I'm on her loyalty committee. I'm almost as 
 much afraid of her as I am of the draft board. Helen, 
 what can I do? {Looks about the room helplessly.) 
 
 Helen. Here, come out this way. I don't want to 
 see him, either. We'll leave him to Mother. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Oh, hurry up. I'm so scared. ( They 
 go out at the right.) 
 
 (Mrs. Holden lets in Mr. Thorp, the minister. He 
 is a fairly young man with an intelligent face. He wears 
 a well tailored business suit, quite without clerical distinc- 
 tiveness.) 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Hov/ do you do, Mrs. Holden? 
 
 42 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 (Shakes hands with her.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Thank you, I'm quite well. (Pushes 
 forward a chair for him.) 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Perhaps you have wondered why I 
 have not been to see you before this. 
 
 Mrs. Holden (sitting down). On the contrary, I 
 am wondering why you have come at all. But be seated. 
 I would like to have you tell me. 
 
 Mr. Thorp (sitting down). I want you to know 
 that I deeply regret your separation from the church. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Didn't you sanction my expulsion? 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I did not, and I came to tell you that 
 I did not. I opposed it, but I was forced to give in to 
 my trustees. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You used not to be subject to the 
 force of your trustees. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. The situation is different now. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Are you forced also to give in to the 
 local Council of Defense? I understand that you have 
 become a member of it. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I feel that I am called as a moderator 
 at this time when hysteria is taking hold of the people. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh, that is your function now, is it? 
 Moderator! I remember the time when you preached 
 that no man can serve two masters. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Why do you doubt me? I am serving 
 only one master — God. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. The war-god. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I am speaking only the truth from my 
 pulpit, but I cannot fly in the face of public opinion. I 
 am a true Pacifist, but — 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, but — a Pacifist but. I notice 
 that many of our old Pacifist pillars are now becoming 
 
 43 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Pacifist buts. Perhaps you are like another minister of 
 my acquaintance who says, yes, he's a Pacificist, with the 
 accent on the fist. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I am not flippant. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. But you are politic. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. How do you know what I am since you've 
 stopped coming to hear me? — you whom I have always 
 depended upon to back me up in all my endeavors. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Would you wish me to continue in 
 attendance when I've been excommunicated? 
 
 Mr. Thorp. The church is greater than its officials. 
 You will always be welcome in my congregation. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Mr. Thorp, you know that in the 
 past I have been a most sincere admirer of your preach- 
 ing. It has meant much to me, but as you say, the situa- 
 tion has changed. I am better satisfied now to spend my 
 Sunday mornings at home reading Tolstoy. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Didn't I teach you to love Tolstoy? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You did and you opened a great 
 new vision to me. I have been following that vision to 
 the best of my ability. Why have you deserted it? 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I have not deserted it. I am follow- 
 ing it In another way. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. There Is no other way. Before this 
 country entered the World War you declared yourself 
 uncompromisingly opposed to participation in it. It was 
 less than a year ago that you preached a sermon against 
 preparedness that brought down upon your head the 
 wrath of war mongers here and elsewhere. Even after 
 congress declared war you continued to criticise the pow- 
 ers of plutocracy in no uncertain terms. Then I thought 
 with joy, here is one m.an who will not topple over under 
 pressure. I can depend upon the pastor of my church to 
 
 44 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 stand against war as long as he has breath to speak. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Wherein have I failed? I am still 
 opposed to war as a principle, but this war has to be 
 fought out. We have put our hand to the plow and 
 there is no turning back. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Why did you put your hand to the 
 plow? 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I had no choice in the matter. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You mean you dared not refuse. 
 The penalty was too great. The price of a free con- 
 science was more than you could pay. So you sold your 
 soul for safe conduct across the years of war, thinking 
 perhaps that after it is all over you can make yourself 
 right by being a Pacifist again and preaching your old 
 doctrines in peace and security. But who will believe you 
 then? 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I am preaching the same doctrines that 
 I have always taught — love and brotherhood. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And war. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I cannot stop the war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You can refuse to acquiesce In It. 
 Although you may explain your preaching, how can you 
 justify your public activities? You are lending your name 
 and your voice to every enterprise of the war machine in 
 this locality — presiding at war work garden fetes, mak- 
 ing heroic farewell speeches to the conscript soldiers, 
 doing anything and everything that you are asked to do. 
 For what purpose are you on the Council of Defense? 
 
 Mr. Thorp. There are a lot of hot-headed young 
 business m.en and choleric old retired capitalists on the 
 Council and I consented to become a member because I 
 thought that by being on the Inside I could keep a certain 
 check on their actions and In this way render a great ser- 
 
 45 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 vice to the community. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And where are you keeping a check 
 on their actions? Haven't they lately sent resolutions to 
 Washington demanding the death penalty for all who 
 oppose the war? I tell you, Mr. Thorp, I would rather 
 be a victim of that law than to stand as sponsor for it. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I do not stand as sponsor for it. The 
 resolution was passed when I was not present. I have 
 expressed my disapproval of it. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You haven't expressed it loud enough 
 to be heard above the w^ar din. Your name is linked 
 with the resolution. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I know. I am very sorry that it hap- 
 pened so. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. They are using you. Can't you see 
 it? They are making your name stand for what they 
 wish. They are determined to punish you for once hav- 
 ing been a Pacifist. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. You are mistaken. I. am leading them. 
 I am subtly turning the public mind — that is the public 
 mind within my reach — from the more brutal conceptions 
 of war into an appreciation of idealism. I am doing a 
 greater work than I have ever done before. I am flow- 
 ing with the stream in order to cleanse it. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And the putrefaction of the stream 
 has taken away your virtue as a cleanser. What did you 
 say just now about being forced by your trustees? You 
 are the minister of a great wealthy church; bankers and 
 merchants and government officials are in your congrega- 
 tion and among your trustees. I have known you in the 
 past to say daring things from your pulpit. You have 
 hurled in the teeth of these men most radical, socialistic 
 doctrines. I remember when more than half of your 
 
 46 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 trustees resigned because you had gone too far for them. 
 You smiled and went serenely on preaching what they 
 called anarchy. At that time you felt no danger. If 
 some people left your church others would take their 
 places. You were a popular minister. If you were not 
 wanted at that church others were calling you. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Why do you think that I am doing 
 differently now? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Because if you did not now preach ac- 
 cording to the dictates of your trustees and the Council 
 of Defense you would not only be put out of your church 
 but no other church would have you and if you tried to 
 hire a hall and speak independently you would be put in 
 jail. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I could do no good in jail. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. John the Baptist went to jail; so did 
 Savonarola. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I do not live in the time of John the 
 Baptist, nor of Savonarola. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You live in a time of equal hypo- 
 crisy when the demands of conscience require the sam.e 
 sacrifices. You were put to the test. You yielded to 
 hypocrisy. Then the powers that you had attacked had 
 you in their clutch. "We will bring this man to time," 
 they said, "this Pacifist, this Socialist, this radical, this 
 disrupter of our sovereignty. He shall do our bidding; he 
 shall be our gilded mouthpiece. He shall whip into line 
 with his eloquence those whom this sam.e eloquence has 
 m.ade derelict." Such is your m.oderatorship. You are 
 their henchman, their flunky, their hired fiddler. 
 
 Mr. Thorp {standing up, in anger). How do you 
 dare say such things to me? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I don't know how I dare, but before 
 
 47 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 I cease to dare, I want to ask you one question. If you 
 believe In the war, Mr. Thorp, why don't you go? 
 
 Mr. Thorp (hesitating). I — I have other work to 
 do. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. That Is a very poor excuse. To 
 get behind the man behind the gun In a safe and comfort- 
 able position, to push from the rear, what bravery Is there 
 In that? If you believe In the war, prove It. The recruit- 
 ing offices are open and you are within the age limit. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I did not come here to quarrel with you. 
 I came to tell you that I wished you still to consider me 
 your pastor. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. No, I cannot for you have repu- 
 diated In both words and deeds the things which you 
 taught me to speak and live. I am on strike against the 
 war. I know that only through the absolute refusal of 
 responsible people to have anything whatever to do with 
 war or military preparedness can war ever be eliminated 
 as an Institution among men. You have been my teacher 
 In these Ideas and for this reason I owe a debt to you 
 which I must not forget. Forgive me If I have spoken 
 passionately. My disappointment in you has been keen. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Change Is a law of nature. We must 
 change our opinions sometimes with the course of world 
 events. It Is narrow not to do so. The war has stirred 
 the people young and old, rich and poor, to an enthusiasm 
 they have never known before. It has aroused in the 
 masses a quickened consciousness of moral Imperative. It 
 is daily creating nev/ spiritual values which we have to 
 recognize. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. War is as old as history. This war 
 Is no different from any other war except in Intensity and 
 stupendousness. War cannot create new spiritual values 
 
 48 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 for it destorts all values. Moral imperative directed to 
 war runs into emotional debauchery as quicksilver coming 
 in contact with grosser metals absorbs them and becomes 
 contaminated. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Christ was a militant in some respects. 
 You cannot deny that. He threw the money changers out 
 of the temple. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Christ was a moral militant, not a 
 warrior. He was never a patriot nor a conqueror. He 
 threw the money changers out of the temple in protest 
 against the commercial domination of religion. He did 
 not enter the temple armed to kill and he did not kill. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. He hurled invective against the Scribes 
 and Pharisees. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, as a rebel like the Pacifists of 
 today. And when attacked he put up no defense. He 
 turned the other cheek and was crucified. So are the 
 Conscientious Objectors doing now. This is the moral 
 offensive of non-resistance. It is the cardinal principle 
 of Christianity which defies the pharisaical church of the 
 present as in the days of Christ. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. There is some truth in what you say. 
 I may have wandered a little from the Tolstoyan way of 
 thinking, but we cannot repudiate the church entirely. It 
 is the church which preserves to the world the teachings 
 of Jesus, without which we should indeed be adrift. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. It is through the church that the 
 teachings of Jesus are being lost and the name of Chris- 
 tianity discredited. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. We must purify the church. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. It has become too rancid for purifica- 
 tion. The spirit of Christ has to be rediscovered and the 
 path of the cross retrod in every crisis of the world. 
 
 49 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Otherwise love becomes a platitude. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I have cast my lot with the church. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I have cast mine with the publicans 
 and sinners. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. The masses need the moral bulwark of 
 the church. With all Its faults It Is a fundamental social 
 necessity. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. The m.asses need to think and act 
 for themselves. As a part of the masses myself I am 
 trying my prowess without the church. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. I cannot desert my post of spiritual 
 leadership In time of calamity. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Spiritual leadership Is not a profes- 
 sion; It Is a renunciation. 
 
 Mr. Thorp {looking at his watch). I cannot argue 
 with you longer. I have an engagement this afternoon. 
 It Is getting late. I see we have no common ground on 
 which to meet. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. So It seems. I will not detain you. 
 
 Mr. Thorp. Good-bye. I will not call again. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Good-bye. 
 
 (Mr. Thorp goes out while Mrs. Holden stands at 
 the mantlepiece, thinking.) 
 
 Helen {opening the door at the right). Mother, 
 Mother, what have you been doing. Joseph and I were 
 shocked. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You eaves droppers! 
 
 Joseph {coming in with Helen). We couldn't hear 
 anything but tones of voices, but we judged that you laid 
 him out. 
 
 Helen. And yet I don't doubt that she believes she 
 can still redeem him. She's afflicted v/Ith faith in God 
 and man. 
 
 50 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Joseph, this girl Is becoming a cynic. 
 
 Joseph. No, she's only boiling over a little. When 
 she finally gets the bubbles condensed she'll be as thor- 
 ough going a revolutionist as you and I are. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I'm not a revolutionist. I'm a Paci- 
 fist. 
 
 Joseph. It's all the same. You're a new revolu- 
 tionist. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. But I don't believe in any kind of 
 war. 
 
 Joseph. Neither do I. That's the new revolution. 
 It's out to destroy a double headed monster — the eco- 
 nomic system that creates the material causes of war and 
 the social ethics that makes honorable the method of war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Maybe I'm a revolutionist then, but 
 I thought revolution meant more fighting. 
 
 Joseph. So It does to those who see only half of it. 
 We are so used to expressing every move in terms of 
 bloodshed that pacifism seems too drastic an innovation. 
 
 Helen. Who ever heard of a revolution without 
 bloodshed? 
 
 Joseph. It's the coming phenomenon. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. What will be Its method of combat? 
 
 Joseph. The barrage fire of propaganda. 
 
 Helen. With free speech and free press cut off. 
 Ridiculous ! 
 
 Joseph. There's propaganda In the silent protest. 
 When we can't speak our principles we have to live them. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Or die for them. 
 
 Joseph. Dying for them is just the last act of living 
 for them. We don't die or even go to jail if we can 
 honorably do anything else. We aren't martyrs except as 
 a final challenge. 
 
 51 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Current history is repeating the 
 middle ages. Now patriotism is the world's religion and 
 the flag is the fetish of worship as the crucifix was then. 
 
 Joseph. Which makes the present war as ecstatic as 
 a crusade and condemns us Non-resistants as the vilest of 
 heretics. 
 
 Helen. And how can you and Mother stop this 
 modern idolatry with a few tender principles? 
 
 Joseph. By applying them at the base. 
 
 Helen. You're such a visionary, Joseph, and so is 
 Mother. Here you are defying the draft law and Mother 
 ignoring the espionage act as if you thought the salvation 
 of the world depended on your contrariness. 
 
 Joseph. It does. It depends on the contrariness of 
 the masses and we are a part of the masses. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Why, that's almost what I said to 
 Mr. Thorp. 
 
 Helen. Great minds, I suppose. You're both too 
 much for me. Why can't you be practical and accept the 
 public state of mind as it is? 
 
 Joseph. Why do you persist in setting your face 
 against us? Is it to try us, to satisfy yourself that we 
 can't be corrupted? 
 
 Helen. Maybe you're steel enough to go through 
 the fire of martyrdom, but I'm not of that mettle, and 
 when you go through you drag me through against my 
 will. If Mother continues to speak her mind and you 
 hold out as a Conscientious Objector there's no alterna- 
 tive but martyrdom for all of us. Why won't you be 
 reasonable and accept some kind of military service? 
 You've had plenty of good chances. 
 
 Joseph. I'm not looking for a safe berth. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Helen, Helen, how can you? Hasn't 
 
 52 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 he enough to undergo without your cruel jibes? 
 
 Joseph. Oh, don't mind her. She's only trying to 
 toughen me for the jolt. Wait till I'm a military con- 
 vict. She'll not turn a hair. And what's more surpris- 
 ing, I think I'm going to have my mother with me, too. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Your mother? Never. She's wor- 
 shipping at the shrine of Wilson's ideals. 
 
 Joseph. She's getting disillusioned. Magnificent 
 ideals, yes, but are they substantiated by deeds? Aren't 
 they a little exotic under the circumstances? Such ques- 
 tions as these are beginning to prick her skin. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Can she really be losing her faith in 
 the war? 
 
 Joseph. It's being jerked from her by what's actually 
 going on. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And she's too honest to deny what 
 she sees. I'm sure of that. 
 
 Joseph. Troubles are coming her way thick and fast. 
 The latest is that she's turned out of her apartment. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Why is she turned out of her apart- 
 ment? 
 
 Joseph. Well, ever since certain good church ladies 
 got themselves into ill repute on account of unpatriotic 
 actions at a locally famous Ladies' Aid meeting, Mother's 
 been under suspicion. Although she didn't get the glit- 
 tering newspaper headlines and the editorial roastings 
 that you did, still she got enough publicity to start things. 
 Then I arrived in town and began to frequent her apart- 
 ment. Yesterday the landlord told her that there had 
 been so much complaint from the other tenants that he 
 was obliged to give her notice to vacate on the first of 
 the month. Of course she thought she'd broken some 
 house rule — left her garbage can in the wrong place or 
 
 53 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 something of that kind — but no, there was some dark and 
 sinister cause which she couldn't dig out of him for quite 
 a while. 
 
 Helen. "Suspicion of disloyalty." The same parrot 
 words, I'll warrant. I can hear him saying them to her 
 just as Mr. Curtis said them to me this morning. 
 
 Joseph. That's the formula. Then she told him her 
 story as she told it to the women at the church. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Didn't it satisfy him to know of her 
 son in France? 
 
 Joseph. She has another son who fights on another 
 front. 
 
 Helen. So can't you see the trouble you're making? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. She shall come here. They haven't 
 taken our home away from us yet and she shall share it 
 with us. I'm going right away to get her. 
 
 Joseph. I don't believe she'll talk to you. The 
 revolution is making inroads on her consciousness and 
 she's up in the air trying to resist it. 
 
 Helen„ Trust Mother to bring her down. Look at 
 her. She's beaming all over with the prospect of getting 
 your mother solid for you. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. We'll all be together yet. Isn't it 
 splendid? And the world will come to our way of think- 
 ing, too — sometime. I have the faith. {Goes out at 
 right.) 
 
 Helen. Yes, she has the faith, but I want the reality. 
 
 Joseph. We have to make our own reality out of 
 sheer ideals these days. Otherwise we'll get only rank 
 realism. 
 
 Helen. Ideals, ideals, I hate them. They're noth- 
 ing but vapor, mist, smoke. 
 
 Joseph. They're the first draft of reality. 
 
 54 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Helen. Have them If you want to, but why not take 
 them ready made from the novelty stock on hand instead 
 of working up a rival lot of your own that only make for 
 the reality of prison? 
 
 Joseph. My own suit me best. 
 
 Helen. Yours are too futuristic. What can a hand- 
 ful of Conscientious Objectors do against a whole nation 
 singing psalms and waving palms, — I mean singing the 
 Star Spangled Banner and waving the flag — for a holy 
 war of allied salntllness against German deviltry? 
 
 Joseph. We can weaken the morale of nationalism 
 and form a nucleus for future world citizenship. 
 
 Helen. A nucleus which will be ground under the 
 military boot heel till no one will know that It ever ex- 
 isted. It's vanity to follow such Ideals when there's noth- 
 ing left In the world but carnality and hatred. 
 
 Joseph. Vanity or not, that's the way I'm headed. 
 
 Helen. Why do somiC of us have to be young at this 
 time. Why can't we all be old and ready for death? 
 
 Joseph. We'll never be ready for death. The old 
 men who send the boys out to do the dying thank their 
 stars every day that they don't have to do It themselves. 
 
 Helen. But old people learn to expect death and 
 naturally don't shrink from It as we do, and yet the brunt 
 of It all falls on us. I wasn't made for sacrifice. 
 
 Joseph. Neither was I, but we have to accept the 
 heritage of our generation. 
 
 Helen. A gloomy estate, without hope or beauty or 
 laughter. 
 
 Joseph. Even so, the boon Is to us young bloods, for 
 we've got the nerve to act and the pep to make the su- 
 preme effort for whatever we believe In, while the grey 
 heads only plan for us or pass judgment upon us as 
 
 55 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 they rot in their easy chairs. 
 
 Helen. And if we beheve in nothing, the boon Is 
 nothing. 
 
 Joseph. How can we believe in nothing when we're 
 the center of the world's virility? It's inevitable for us 
 to have some purpose if we're truly alive. We may have 
 to be sacrificed, but we don't need to take it like sheep. 
 We can mutiny against the blind obedience of the mass. 
 
 Helen. Why not wallow with the mass in blood and 
 patriotism? It's so much easier. 
 
 Joseph. Now, my dear girl, if I thought you meant 
 half of what you say, I'd stop arguing and clear out, but 
 I believe that down in your heart you're just as willing 
 as I am to take your chances with the anti-war crowd. 
 You feel the sting of it worse because in a way you get 
 it worse. I know about what's coming to me, but your 
 fate isn't so circumscribed. 
 
 Helen. Mine is circumscribed by my inability to feel 
 the confidence that you feel in the worth of principles. I 
 think your purpose futile. I see no future for you or me 
 or your stupid humanity. 
 
 Joseph. Then let's live in the present. It's time to 
 plunge. Won't you do it? 
 
 Helen. Now, Joseph, don't try any more to persuade 
 me. I've told you it isn't practicable. 
 
 Joseph. We could have a few weeks of happiness. 
 
 Helen. And then what? 
 
 Joseph. One day at a time is all any one can travel. 
 
 Helen. No, I couldn't endure it. To be married 
 to you and then have you torn from me by the military 
 claw that has its talons at all our throats — I'm bitter 
 enough as it is. 
 
 Joseph. You might forget your bitterness. 
 
 56 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Helen. You're selfish. Do you think that I could 
 keep on living and working if you were my husband and 
 in prison? It would be simpler to give you up as a lost 
 hope and follow my own course of misery. 
 
 Joseph. Helen, you say such wild things. 
 
 Helen. It's foolish to accept happiness when you 
 know it must be killed. 
 
 Joseph. Can't it be buried for future resurrection? 
 
 Helen. I can't take such a heroic step. I haven't 
 the moral courage. 
 
 Joseph. You had the moral courage to object to the 
 Red Cross woman this morning. 
 
 Helen. That was just an impulse. 
 
 Joseph. Well, get another. 
 
 Helen. Now don't talk about it any more. I've told 
 you. No, nearly every day this week. 
 
 Joseph. All right. I won't ask you again — for a 
 while. 
 
 Helen. I can't see your logic. Here you are resist- 
 ing the military authorities when you claim to be an abso- 
 lute Non-resistant. 
 
 Joseph. I'm not resisting the military authorities, not 
 in the least. I don't have anything to do with the mili- 
 tary authorities, They can do with me as they please. 
 I refuse the draft and take the consequences. 
 
 Helen. You're neither one thing nor the other. 
 Why don't you either obey them or fight them with their 
 own weapons? If I were refusing the draft, I'd turn 
 and kill the people who tried to force it on me. 
 
 Joseph. What good would that do? 
 
 Helen. It would at least be positive. 
 
 Joseph. If you think Non-resistance is negative, 
 you're very much mistaken. In the event of war It's a 
 
 57 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 direct affront to the system that lines up one nationality 
 of working men against another and tells them to kill 
 each other. "I won't" is more positive than "I will" 
 when the world's going headlong to destruction. 
 
 Helen. But "I won't" is resistance. 
 
 Joseph. No, resistance is collision with another force, 
 a reciprocal "I'll down you." Non-resistance is withheld 
 force. It neither attacks nor defends. It stands. It is 
 utterly immovable unless it has free play. Then it's the 
 sporting energy of creative evolution. In time of stress 
 it's the staying instinct of humanity. 
 
 Helen. Humanity — that torpid beast that has no in- 
 stinct higher than to besot itself with war. 
 
 Joseph. Ultimately humanity will know itself and 
 will cease destroying itself. 
 
 Helen. You're too vague and abstract. 
 
 Joseph. At close range humanity does seem rather 
 sluggish, I'll admit. 
 
 Helen. Then you're a pessimist, after all. 
 
 Joseph. No, not ultimately. 
 
 Helen. I'm not concerned with ultimately. Fm 
 talking about now. 
 
 Joseph. I wanted to talk about now, but you wouldn't 
 let me. You switched me off onto ultimately. 
 
 Helen. Don't tamper with now, it's dangerous. It's 
 death. 
 
 Joseph. Socrates says, "Life proceeds from death." 
 Let's experiment on that theory {Goes to her and takes her 
 hand.) Helen, you're fighting against your own desire. 
 We should have been married long ago. Why do you put 
 it off any longer? 
 
 Helen. I'm afraid of the crash. 
 
 Joseph. My court-martial? 
 
 5S 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Helen. I can't meet it. 
 
 Joseph. Then shall we break off? {Walks away 
 frojn her.) I'll go away forever If you say so. {Looks 
 at her enquiringly. As she makes no answer he continues 
 quietly.) I think I've told you of my Irish great-grand- 
 parents who had a son who renounced the faith of his 
 fathers. He was disinherited and his birth entry erased 
 from the family records. He faced his destiny alone. I 
 guess I can if I have to. He was my grandfather. 
 
 Helen {running up to him). No, no, Joseph, I love 
 you. But, oh, Joseph, {her voice shakes with emotion)^ 
 my body is cold as if it vv^ere wrapped in a shroud. Your 
 ideals — they benum^b me. I know you're right, but I 
 can't be like you. I can't be a concrete wall withstand- 
 ing the coercion of the government and the assaults of 
 the mob. I'm of common, ordinary, mortal clay, and I 
 have to crawl to shelter on m.y stomach and hide behind 
 the iav/s of the land when I can't uphold them. 
 
 Joseph. You can do anything, Helen, for you have 
 the courage to express your doubts. {Kisses her gently.) 
 You will? 
 
 Helen {turning from him as if suddenly worried). 
 What about Mother? — and your mother? 
 
 Joseph. Let them take care of each other for a 
 while. It won't be long. 
 
 Helen {goes to the table and picks up her school note 
 hooks). Look at this. I've got all these reports to hand 
 in to the new teacher. 
 
 Joseph. Why do you have to hand in reports when 
 you've been thrown out of school? 
 
 Helen. Oh, it wouldn't be right to let them go. It 
 wouldn't be right to the children. The children didn't 
 throw me out. 
 
 59 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Joseph. Who says you haven't got a conscience? 
 Bring your reports along. We'll do them together. 
 {Picks up a note book and looks into it.) 
 
 Helen {laughing) . What does a mechanical drafts- 
 man know about sixth grade geography and arithmetic? 
 
 Joseph {turning over the pages). I'll study them 
 while you go and pack your suit case. 
 
 Helen. Now? Do you mean this afternoon? 
 
 Joseph. What's the use in waiting? 
 
 Helen. Oh, there's so much to think of. Who will 
 we get to marry us? I don't want any war ranting min- 
 ister to bless our union. 
 
 Joseph. We can get a justice at the court house when 
 we go for the license. {Looking at the clock.) And 
 you'd better hurry up, for I have to catch the five o'clock 
 train tonight and I don't want to go alone. 
 
 Helen. But how horrible it seems to be married in 
 a court room. 
 
 Joseph. If we were anarchists we might marry our- 
 selves, but as socially conscious beings we believe in so- 
 ciety's right to a record, don't we? 
 
 Helen. I'm not Interested enough In society to ques- 
 tion Its right to anything. I follow its dictates as the 
 easiest way out. 
 
 Joseph. In the universal commune where marriage 
 will not be commercial, society won't have to worry so 
 much about marriage and divorce. 
 
 Helen. I care nothing about your universal com- 
 mune. In It or out of it I marry for life. 
 
 Joseph. It's human nature to marry for life. 
 
 Helen. But not the fashion now. 
 
 Joseph. The universal commune will give human 
 nature a chance. Sex perversion will have to abate with 
 
 60 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 the elimination of the idle rich and the economic inde- 
 pendence of women. 
 
 Helen. Women's status is advancing. We are grad- 
 uating from chattels of men to chattels of war. As the 
 latter, we are graciously permitted to marry for a day 
 that the race may be replenished. Then our husbands 
 are wrenched away from us and driven into war or 
 thrown into prison, while we are left to an "economic in- 
 dependence" that doesn't bode well for the next genera- 
 tion. 
 
 Joseph. The next generation will have to get us out 
 of this economic and mihtary slavery if we can't do it in 
 our day. 
 
 Helen. I don't believe in begetting the next genera- 
 tion while the world's in this hell. 
 
 Joseph. How can this hell be subdued except through 
 conscious loving procreation? The world needs a new 
 breed of human beings. 
 
 Helen. So you're not an up-to-date birth-controllist? 
 
 Joseph. Rational people have no need of artificial 
 birth control. 
 
 Helen {going to the writing desk). But then the 
 conflict of Deus Homo and the natural man. However, 
 let it rest for the present. I'll write a note to Mother 
 and then I'll get ready. {Door hell rings.) Oh, Joseph, 
 go to the door, I'm too busy. (Joseph goes to the door.) 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {rushes in). Oh Helen, where's your 
 mother? I think I'm going to get it fixed up all right 
 about Dick. 
 
 Helen. You always were a lucky girl, Katherine. 
 How did you do it? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I telephoned to Father's lawyer and 
 he's either going to get him exempted or into the hos- 
 
 61 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 pital corps or something. I'm so relieved. I feel ten 
 years younger. 
 
 Helen. I congratulate you. You haven't met my 
 friend, Mr. McConnell, I believe. Mrs. Calkins, this is 
 Pvlr. McConnell. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {going up to him and shaking hands 
 while Helen turns back to her writing). Oh, Mr. Mc- 
 Connell, I'm so glad to meet you. I've heard so much 
 about you and read about you in the papers, too, and I've 
 been so curious to see what you looked like. {Looks him 
 over.) So you're the slacker they tell about. 
 
 Helen. Rub it into him, Katherine. {Leaves the 
 note on the table.) You'll excuse me a few minutes, 
 won't you? {Goes out at right.) 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {sitting down leisurely). You're not 
 at all my idea of a slacker. 
 
 Joseph. Thank you. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I was thinking of going to see you 
 to get you to help me about Dick, my husband. You 
 know he almost got drafted, but I'm so encouraged now. 
 I think it's going to come out all right. We were con- 
 sidering his being a Conscience — there, I've forgotten 
 that name again. 
 
 Joseph. Conscientious Objector? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, but of course the kind that the 
 government sanctions, — the kind that are allowed to wear 
 the uniform and do service but don't have to get into the 
 actual fighting. That's so horrid, and those that help 
 in other ways are just as important in winning the war. 
 Still, I've heard people say that all Conscientious Ob- 
 jectors are slackers. Tell me, are they? 
 
 Joseph. Some of us are very slack in obeying mil- 
 itary orders. 
 
 62 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Now, my husband isn't a slacker at 
 all. We're both extremely patriotic. We adore the 
 flag and worship our country, but we have a child and 
 everybody knows it isn't right for a married man to risk 
 his life and put his child in danger of orphanhood unless 
 it's absolutely necessary. There are still plenty of un- 
 married men who could go. There's you, for instance. 
 There's no excuse for you not going. 
 
 Joseph. I offer no excuse. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I don't quite understand about you. 
 You're not a church member, they say. 
 
 Joseph. They speak the truth. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Now, I'm told that to get in with 
 the regular Conscientious Objectors you not only have to 
 be a church member but a micmber of some queer kind 
 of a church. Our church isn't on the list it seems, so 
 Dick couldn't be an applicant. If he couldn't, then how 
 in the world can you? 
 
 Joseph. I'm not an applicant. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Then what are you any way? 
 
 Joseph. A slacker. Didn't the papers say so? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, I know they did, but I'm trying 
 to think the best of you for Helen's sake. One does hear 
 awful things about you. You know they even say that 
 you're an anarchist and want to overthrow the govern- 
 ment — with bombs. 
 
 Joseph. I don't like bombs. I'm working on another 
 m.odus operandi. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. But why should the government be 
 overthrown at all? Don't you know that this is the 
 freest and best government in the whole world? Though 
 I'm a Republican and naturally don't like the Democrats 
 very well, still we're all united on the war, except, of 
 
 63 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 course, you terrible Socialists, who even want to break 
 up the home. 
 
 Joseph. We're a bad lot, I know. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. The home is the foundation of so- 
 ciety and should not be broken up. 
 
 Joseph. I agree with you. It should not be broken 
 up. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Do you believe that all the money 
 in the world should be divided up equally among all the 
 people? Why, if that was done it wouldn't be any time 
 till it v/as all back in the same hands again. My hus- 
 band explained that point to me. They discuss all those 
 deep questions at the golf club. 
 
 Joseph. The golf club has come to a wise conclusion. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Well, then what do you believe? 
 
 Joseph. I believe that golf Is an unproductive occu- 
 pation. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Golf Is a very healthful exercise. 
 Any doctor will tell you that. 
 
 Joseph. Then give the working man a shot at It 
 sometimes. Open up the clubs to the public. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Why, there Isn't room for everybody. 
 
 Joseph. Some day they will have to make room for 
 everybody. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. We don't all occupy the same posi- 
 tion in society. What would the working men do if it 
 wasn't for the rich m.en to give them work? 
 
 Joseph. What would the rich men do If It wasn't 
 for the working men to make them rich? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. You certainly do have funny ideas. 
 I suppose if you had your way, you'd m.ake everybody 
 work. 
 
 Joseph. Yes, and I'd let everybody play, too. Don't 
 
 64 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 you think that work and play should be divided up a 
 little? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Some people aren't strong enough to 
 work. My husband Isn't. You know he almost didn't 
 pass the physical examination for the army and then he 
 got better and did. 
 
 Joseph. Playing golf put him Into condition, I sup- 
 pose. Maybe a little plowing would have done the same. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. But I didn't want him to get too 
 strong on account of the draft. There's the baby to 
 think of. Dick Is a husband and father. 
 
 Joseph. Aren't the working men husbands and 
 fathers? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. But you're not. It's your duty to 
 go and protect those that are needed at home. It's cow- 
 ardly for a big, strong man like you to try to keep out 
 of fighting. 
 
 Joseph. I'm not trying to keep out of fighting. I'm 
 merely refusing to fight. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I don't see what the difference Is. 
 You're refusing to defend your country and your flag 
 when you have nothing to keep you back. 
 
 Joseph. I have something to keep me back. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I'd like to know what It Is. 
 
 Joseph. I don't believe In countries and flags. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Well, you deserve to be punished, 
 and I don't see how Helen can listen to such talk — and 
 yet you haven't talked half as bad as I expected from 
 what I heard about you. You really kind of mix me up. 
 
 Helen (who has just come in carrying a suit case). 
 Don't listen to his talk, Katherlne. He's enough to mix 
 anybody up. I've got so I don't pay any attention to 
 what he says. ( Takes her hat and coat from the chair 
 
 65 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 where she left them mid puts them on hurriedly.) 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I should think not. 
 
 Helen. But he's promised to carry my suit case over 
 to the car, so we'll have to leave you. You just make 
 yourself at home and wait until Mother comes back. I 
 think she'll be back soon. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Where are you going? 
 
 Helen. Off for a little vacation. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Is school out? 
 
 Helen. It is for me. 
 
 Joseph {picking up the suit case). Good-bye, Mrs. 
 Calkins. I wish you good luck with the draft board. 
 (Helen and Joseph go out.) 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {spies the note that Helen has left 
 for her mother. Picks it up and looks at it curiously. 
 Goes to the window and peers out). Now, what are 
 they up to? {Comes hack and examines the note again, 
 trying to look into it without opening it.) There's some 
 m.ystery about it. {Goes again to the window.) He's 
 getting on the car with her. There they go together. 
 {Comes forward and drops into a chair with an expres- 
 sion of disgust on her face.) That's no war wedding. 
 He's nothing but a slacker. He confessed it. Think of 
 marrying a man not in uniform ! 
 
 ACT III 
 
 Winter o/ 1918. 
 
 Kitchen of the Schweitzer home. At the right is a 
 cooking stove and near it a sink and a cupboard. At the left 
 is the outside door, and in the rear a door leading to an- 
 other room. At the left of the rear door there is a large 
 chest of drawers upon which stands a photograph of a 
 
 66 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 young man in uniform. A small American flag set in a vase 
 is placed close to the photograph. In the middle of the room 
 a table is partly set for supper. Grossmutter Schweit- 
 zer in a wheel chair sits at the left of the table knitting 
 army socks. At the right Mr. Schweitzer in working 
 clothes sits reading a letter. Mrs. Schweitzer is pass- 
 ing back and forth setting the table and preparing supper. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Somewhere in France, " always 
 somewhere In France. Why can't we never know where 
 the boy is? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Father, haven't you ever learned 
 not to ask yet, ''why," when it's war? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I'd ought to. I'd ought to know 
 by now that fathers and mothers is nothing. He's not 
 ours no more. They've took him off and they've got him 
 where they want him and we better make our minds up 
 that the front line's not going backwards away from him. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. But he says still he's all right. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. It's a plain lie. They make 'em 
 say that. They won't let 'em write nothing home but 
 that. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. It Is strange his letter — what he 
 says about we don't know what they know that's there 
 and he can't tell us. What does he mean so. Father? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer [bitterly). He means it's hell. 
 That's what he means. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. He never before wrote so short 
 letters to us like this one. Nothing to write, he says. 
 Only one side of the paper he fills up. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I know the boy's heart's aching 
 to tell us something that he can't. There's something 
 happened or — {sigtjificantly) going to happen. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Oh Helnrich, you frighten all 
 
 67 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 through me. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Look how queer like he writes on 
 the page. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {taking the letter). It's crooked the 
 lines like he was sick. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Sick! It's worse than sick. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. But he hasn't been to the hospital 
 ever yet. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Then it's something coming he 
 sees and can't get from it away, like watching the water 
 fill the ship when you're tied on it. That's why there's 
 nothing for to write. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Oh God, will he come ever back? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Who cares but us if he comes back 
 or not comes back? To them — them that's running things 
 — what's any of the soldiers but gun feed? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Father, you must not so speak. 
 You fill always my mind with frightfulness. 
 
 Grossmutter. Was sagt der Junge in seinem Brief? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {going to the stove). Tell her, 
 Heinrich. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer {goes to his mother and shouts in 
 her ear) . Nicht viel. Er ist gesund. Er sended seine 
 Gruesse Grossmutter. 
 
 Grossmutter. Gott erhalte ihn. {Continues knit- 
 ting. ) 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer {walking up and down the room 
 nervously). He's been a long time already somewhere 
 in France, and still all the time all right. There where the 
 guns are working day and night — it don't sound straight. 
 Sixty miles from the front he writes since last month, but 
 I tell you it's now no sixty miles lays between him from 
 no man's land. 
 
 68 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. But what good is it studying out 
 about where he is? There's nothing for us now left but 
 to pray. Only God can see where he is. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I tell you God ain't in this mess. 
 It's the devil's own work. God's blinded from the red 
 smoke spouting in his eyes or he's lying unconscious some- 
 where on the battle field. Anyway, he's clear beat, so 
 there's no use bothering him with praying. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Heinrich, you blaspheme. 
 {Speaking quietly as she stirs the supper on the stove.) 
 Tomorrow I send him all what he asks for in the letter. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. What does he ask for? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Nothing but cigarettes. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Cigarettes — that's all they any of 
 'em wants. Cigarettes to forget their misery. There's 
 something out of gear in the world when whole millions 
 of men don't want nothing but cigarettes and can't live 
 a minute without 'em. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Also I send him the socks. Gross- 
 mutter tomorrow has another pair ready. She knits al- 
 ways for him. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer {excitedly). Likely before he gets 
 the socks his legs will be blowed off. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {screams). Father, quit such ter- 
 rible words. My mind it will be all gone. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. He's up next to a battle. I know 
 he is. I know it how his letter sounds. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. No, no, you speak to frighten me. 
 You know nothing. Pray, Heinrich, pray. Always we 
 must pray. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Curses on them, curses on them ! — 
 them that knows what's going on, them that bosses the 
 job, them that never sees a battle but sits back where it's 
 
 69 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 safe and clean and says, "Tomorrow we've got to take 
 some more miles of enemy trench. It'll cost us about ten 
 thousand men," they say like they was figuring bank notes. 
 Then they orders men shipped to this place out and to that 
 place back like they was material for the job they've con- 
 tracted for. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I don't deny it, but I dassent 
 think of it. Nobody can think when it's war. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. So long as we've got brains we've 
 got to think. You talk like we was dummies, Anna. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. We must so make ourselves. If 
 we do not so make ourselves to think always what they 
 say, then they destroy us. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. It's the interests, I tell you. It's 
 the interests makes this war. They've got to make their 
 loans safe if it takes all the working people in the coun- 
 try. When they get the boys all killed off, then they'll 
 draft the old labor stiffs and maybe end up with the girls. 
 Wall Street's got to be protected. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. It's all the government's bidding, 
 ain't it? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Yes, but the government's sold out 
 to the interests, — the interests that's willing to make 
 money out of human lives. Curses on them ! 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Heinrich, be still with your 
 mouth. You will bring the curses upon us down if you 
 so anger yourself. It is all true what you say, maybe, but 
 since yesterday you spoke such words at the shipyard I 
 have been always fearing for us all. They will get you 
 and put you in jail. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. What I said at the shipyard? 
 That wasn't nothing but what I had a right to say. For- 
 get it, Anna. (Sitting down again at the table.) Isn't 
 
 70 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 supper yet ready? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Soon It Is ready. {Worriedly.) 
 Why couldn't you not talk at the shipyard? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I didn't say nothing they could get 
 me for. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Every day now they arrest Ger- 
 mans. You cannot speak one word If you are Germans In 
 America. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. But that one armed soldier mak- 
 ing a speech to the shipyard men hadn't no right to call 
 the Germans beasts. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. He's got the right to do anything 
 I suppose so long as he's with the government. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I only said It was a He what he 
 said about the Germans. 
 
 PvIrs. Schweitzer. But you're German and you das- 
 sent say anythlng's a He no matter If It's ten lies. They'll 
 get you. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. If they arrest me for that, well 
 this ain't the country I've always took It for. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Nothing's what we took It for 
 before the war. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Why, that fellow was saying such 
 things that had to be denied by somebody. He was telling 
 about baiting Germans and sticking the bayonets Into their 
 fat bellies and hearing them squeal like stuck pigs In the 
 slaughter house. He said that no German was better 
 than a hog anyhow and baiting 'em was good sport. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Well, didn't the men like to hear 
 what he spoke? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. They laughed and clapped like 
 they did. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Then what was your business to 
 
 71 
 
rin: jazz of iwrRioriSM 
 
 say JlHcrciU? 
 
 Mk. ScwKiTZi r. All I said was that Germans wasn't 
 hogs nil nunc than he was calling 'cm that. Nobody heard 
 me but the men right close. 
 
 Mrs. ScHWKiTZKR. That's sedition language. I know 
 it is. l^'vcrything that doesn't agree with all what they 
 say is sedition language. 1 learned that already since a 
 long time. 
 
 Mr. ScHWKirzF.R. And he talked about bagging Ger- 
 mans with aeroplanes like they was ducks or something. 
 1 CiHidn't stand it. 
 
 Mrs. Si uwKirzKR. You've got to stand it. You've 
 got to pretend like you like it. What becomes of us it you 
 get in jail taken away, me without a husband or a son 
 either and Grossmutter old and helpless so? 1 wish you 
 hadn't ever got work at the shipyard even if the wages is 
 better. You'd ought to have stayed with the street paving 
 job, where they don't have war speeches all the time be- 
 fore the men. 
 
 Mr. Sruwrnzi-R. It's the same about on all jobs 
 now. You'\ e got to listen to war hollering and have your 
 wages held back for liberty bonds wherever you work. Be- 
 sides they ain't paving streets no more; they're killing 
 Huns. Dirt roads is good enough till they get through 
 with that. Hut there's plenty oi people paving the inside 
 of their pockets out oi the Hun killing just the same. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. You have no care for your 
 tongue, Heinrich, and the federal oflicers is everywhere, 
 especially at the shipyard. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Well, if they want to take me 
 they'll have to take me for it's all said now. But ain't 
 you as bad as me when you didn't salute the flag down 
 there at that church meeting with a pack of howling wo 
 
Tin: J A// i)\< IV\ IKlonsM 
 
 llU'fl ? 
 
 Mrs. ScMIwr.n/i.K. Ihat's what Ir.niud nir my les- 
 son. Now I do all what duy say. 
 
 Mr. SrnwKiizKR. Well, if I axut say what's (lie 
 p ain (ruth aiui iiodimjr more nor nothing less than the 
 plain truth it's too had, hut I know everyone's suspieion, 
 ing cveryhody else most of the time since the war 
 
 Mrs. S('ii\vi,ii/i.r. Doesn't the j^M)vermnent tell them 
 toi^ I laven ( you seen the adds, all aroufid on (he ma^a- 
 zmo covers and in the street cars and everywhere Irljinj^r 
 cveryhody (o look out for (h(< people next to them ami 
 report them il (hey jre(s a ehaiuv? I've seen wonien 
 lookmg at each odier kni(ting (o^edier in (he park like 
 they wished (hey could catch each odier somehow, luery- 
 body's supposed (o think cveryhody else is a (ierman spy 
 Mr. ScMWi.irzi.R. The women— they've ^nnc nuts 
 Mrs. Sciiwkitzi.k. They're each one fij^hlin^r |or 
 their own son, dial's all. Isn'l a woman's own' IKsh and 
 hlood (he lirsi lhm|^ all (he (ime wha( she (hinks about? 
 
 Mr. S('iiwin/i,R. Why don'l ihey (hink some of the 
 time ahout wha('s behind all (his murdering? 
 
 Mrs. Sciiwi'irzi.R. lUrause (hey don't care. They 
 want to sec their own hoy again. That's all what they 
 care ahoiii. ^ 
 
 Mr. Sciiwkhzkr. Then ihey'd he((er pray like you 
 said a while ago. 
 
 Mrs. Scmiwmizi r. They do pray. They pray and 
 pray and pray, hu( when (he praying's over (he war's still 
 going on and (here's nothing with any mother hut (he 
 craving (ha( she wants her hoy hack and she don't care 
 whos killed so long as it isn'( him. And when it comes 
 m her muul what danger he's in, something swells up in 
 her and she says all secret lo herself that if it's killing 
 
 73 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 others will bring her boy back, why kill them, kill all of 
 them and send every other mother's boy in the country 
 over to get killed in place of hers, and who wins the war 
 or loses it doesn't make no matter so long as her boy's 
 brought back to her all right. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I suppose that's why the women 
 are the last ones that wants the war to come but the 
 strongest for fighting it after it's come. If the women 
 ain't so fierce as the men by nature you'd think they was 
 when there's a war on. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. They carried their own in their 
 wombs and they didn't carry none but their own. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I guess you're right. It's their 
 own they're praying for every time. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. And their own they're secretly 
 thinking about when they say country. If they've got 
 nobody of their own to fear for they don't have the samxC 
 look in their eyes nor the same sound in their voices when 
 they talk about patriotism. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. That kind talks patriotism be- 
 cause it's the style, ain't it, like high heels or anything? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Yes, but do the men always talk 
 so truly about loving their country? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. It's business with the men. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Then it seems like patriotism's 
 a cheat all through. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Maybe when a m.an lives always 
 in the same place where he was born and doesn't know 
 nothing about any other country, he's straight in his 
 patriotism, but then they don't know how small is one 
 country in the whole world. The man that's sure got 
 the love of his fellowmen in his heart ain't stopping with 
 his own country. 
 
 74 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I know it's not so that a woman 
 loves her country more than her own son. If she does 
 she is strange to Nature. If she loves her son so great 
 that she feels sympathy that other mothers also love 
 their sons the same and suffer the same as her, then she is 
 not strange to Nature, but also then patriotism is too 
 small. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. So great sympathy is of the future 
 time, far away from today. Today is only to hate what 
 is not of the same race or language or color. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Yes, so fearful is patriotism. But 
 come eat supper now. 
 
 {She puts the supper on the table and arranges Gross- 
 MUTTER^S chair before the table. All are seated and begin 
 supper. ) 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. It's a long day to go back to ten 
 hours again. A man comes home too tired to be hungry. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. You said the men wasn't going 
 to accept to change again from eight hours. Why did 
 they? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Because men's nothing but sheep 
 any way. That's why. Whether it's to work or to kill 
 they'll do what they're told to. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Listen, somebody comes up the 
 steps. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Don't be so scared at every little 
 sound you hear, Anna. What if there does? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Oh,- it so frightens me. {Foot- 
 steps and voices are heard outside — then a heavy knock.) 
 Go see who comes. Father. 
 
 (Mr. Schweitzer opens the door. Two police of- 
 ficers — Sergeant Murry and Officer Green — enter.) 
 
 Sergeant Murry {gruffly). Does Henry Schweitzer 
 
 75 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 live here? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I am Henry Schweitzer. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {showing him a legal paper). I 
 have a warrant here for the arrest of Henry Schweitzer. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. What for? please to tell me. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. On a charge of disturbing the 
 peace. {Takes him by the arm.) You are under arrest. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {running to him in fear). Oh, 
 Helnrlch, Helnrlch! 
 
 Sergeant Murry {exhibiting another paper). Here's 
 a search warrant, too, and we're going to make a clean 
 job of this Hun joint, you bet yer life. ( To Officer 
 Green). Go to it, Harry. (Officer Green goes to 
 the chest of drawers and begins to look through it.) 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Oh, don't take him away. What 
 has he done wrong? He Is a good man. See, he has an 
 old mother here what he takes care of. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I haven't done nothing that the 
 law can touch me for. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. You dam.ned Hun, you, you've 
 been talking sedition and you know it just as Vv^ell as me. 
 You've been disloyal to the country that nourishes and 
 pertects you and you'll eat your big brags before we get 
 through with you or I ain't sergeant of the war squad. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. When was I talking sedition? I 
 deny it. 
 
 Sergeant Murray. You know when you done it, 
 you dirty liar, you. I guess you didn't know who was 
 standing two feet from you when you shot your face off 
 about Lieutenant Adams at the shipyard yesterday, did 
 you? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. But he didn't say anything what 
 was wrong. 
 
 76 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Sergeant Mujiry. What do you know about it. 
 You didn't hear him, did you ? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. No, but all about it he told me; 
 every word what he said, he told me. We are loyal. Our 
 son fights for this country in France — at the front since 
 a long time already. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. So his father's stabbing him in 
 the back, eh ? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. What you mean? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Ain't it stabbing his own son in 
 the back to talk against the country his son's fighting for? 
 If he wants to kill his own son let him do it, but he ain't 
 going to be allowed to kill none of our American boys; 
 not while I'm sergeant of the war squad. We'll put him 
 where he belongs. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Nothing what he said was against 
 this country. He told me. We are Americans, both of 
 us. He is a naturalized citizen since many years. I bring 
 you his papers. {Starts to go to the next room.) 
 
 Sergeant Murry {shouting to her in an ugly voice). 
 None of that stuflf. Come back here. We'll do the find- 
 ing things our own selves, before you get a chance to 
 chuck 'em. What are you trying to pull off? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {coming back) . We are loyal. I 
 swear to God we are loyal, both of us. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Then why don't he show respect 
 when a man's speaking that's lost his arm in defense of 
 liberty and democracy? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I said only it wasn't right to call 
 the Germans always beasts and names like that. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Ain't right to call 'em beasts — 
 the dirty dogs that shot his arm off for him ? Suppose you 
 think they're angels. 
 
 77 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I said only they was men like any- 
 body else. I had a right to say so. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, no red-blooded American's 
 going to stand for that. Maybe you'll learn what Amer- 
 icanism is when you've been in one of our free hotels for 
 a while. Ha, ha! 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. How long will they put him in 
 jail? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. I ain't the judge. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. We can prove we are loyal. See 
 our son's picture in his war uniform. (Points to the pic- 
 ture,) Wait a minute I get his letter. Here. (Picks up 
 her son's letter and takes it to him.) Look at this — a 
 letter from our son, just today comes. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Tell that to the jury. I ain't the 
 jury. I'm arresting him for disturbing the peace. That's 
 what my business is. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. But there is not now any more 
 peace. How can he disturb peace when it is all war? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Anna, you talk too much. You 
 make it worse. ( To Sergeant Murry) . Can't I give 
 bail money? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Not before you're booked at the 
 police station, I reckon. I ain't the police station nor the 
 court neither. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Oh, please, sir, if you take him 
 away, let him get first cleaned up. See, he has yet his 
 old work clothes on. He comes tired from work home. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Never mind his clothes. He 
 don't need to be dressed up where he's going. But we 
 ain't going to take him away until we get your house 
 cleaned up for you. (To Officer Green). How are 
 you coming, Harry? 
 
 78 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Officer Green. Nothing here that looks like evi- 
 dence, but I guess you'd better rub your fingers over some 
 of these things to be satisfied. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Yes, I see where I'll have to get 
 busy if we don't want to stay here all night. ( To Mr. 
 Schweitzer). Here, old man, here's something that 
 '11 hold you for a while. {Snaps a pair of handcuffs on 
 Mr. Schweitzer'^ wrists.) 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Oh, don't, please sir. He won't 
 run away. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Guess not with them bracelets on. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Let him change his clothes and 
 get washed up, please. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Mind your business; I'm mind- 
 ing mine. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer (/>/^^^f;/^/y). He's not a criminal. 
 He's a good man. He never meant to displease Ameri- 
 cans when he spoke about Germans. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Anna, Anna, say nothing more. 
 I'll go with the officer. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. You bet you'll go. Sit down 
 there (pointing to a chair) ^ and shut up. {To Officer 
 Green.) Anybody'd know you're as green as your name 
 at the house cleaning business. Watch me. {Begins to 
 look through the drawers.) 
 
 Officer Green. I tell you there ain't a thing there 
 we can touch. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. I'm not taking no chances. This 
 is the only sure way. ( Throws everything out upon the 
 floor — clean linen, papers, wearing apparel, etc.) I guess 
 you're right. Nothing but rubbish here. {Gives the pile 
 a few broad kicks.) Try that there cupboard. 
 
 Officer Green {opening cupboard). What's the 
 
 79 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 good in wasting time over a lot of dishes ? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Can't they hide things under 
 dishes? Look between 'em all and take 'em all out and 
 look behind 'em. (Officer Green begins to look over 
 dishes, piling them carefully on the floor.) You act like you 
 was afraid of breakin' 'em. Ha, ha! If I was as slow 
 as you, I'd quit my job and go to raising potatoes. Get 
 a move on you. I can't wait a year. You finish that place 
 up clean now, while I dig out these holes. ( Opens tip cup- 
 hoards and drawers around the sink, throwing out pots 
 and kettles, knives and forks, soap, flat irons, etc., with a 
 great rattle and hang.) What you got there? 
 
 Officer Green {looking over a pile of newspapers 
 which he has found in the cuphoard). Nothing but old 
 newspapers, so far as I can see. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {authoritatively). Bring them to 
 me. (Officer Green oheys.) What language do you 
 call that. It ain't yours, is it? 
 
 Officer Green. What if it is German? Where's 
 it any evidence? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. You're too soft for crook catch- 
 ing, you poor fish. {Shakes out all the papers and scat- 
 ters them ahout the floor.) 
 
 Grossmutter {who has heen looking on in astonish- 
 ment, calls out to her son). Heinrich, vas geht dort, vor? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer {goes to her and shouts in her ear). 
 Es ist die Polizel. Sie durchsucht unser Haus. 
 
 Grossmutter. Aber warum? 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Wir sind Deutsche. Es ist Krieg. 
 Sei ruhig. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {shouting angrily) . That's enough 
 now of your dirty Hun talk. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. My mother speaks only German. 
 
 80 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, she'd better cut It out or 
 I'll tell her in plain American to keep still and I guess 
 she'll understand. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. I told her already In German. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. You better shut up, too, and sit 
 down where I told you to, or you'll wish you had. ( To 
 Officer Green.) Try the next room. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer (Picks up her son's letter and again 
 offers it to Sergeant Murry, with desperate pleading). 
 Oh, please sir, look at this. Read It. Then you know 
 how our son fights for America. My husband he helps 
 to build the ships for America and we buy always Liberty 
 Bonds and Red Cross. I will show you. Grossmutter, 
 too, all the time she knits for the soldiers. I beg please 
 that you read it. {Holds out the letter imploringly.) 
 Maybe he is since he wrote killed. We know nothing, but 
 he is to the front trenches, we know. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {takes the letter and looks at it 
 carelessly) . I don't want your damned letters. ( Crumples 
 it and throws it on the floor.) I don't care if you've got 
 a dozen sons In the war, you're traitors just the same, both 
 of you. The Department of Justice knows you all right. 
 You're the woman that insulted the flag down there at 
 the church with that anarchist Holden woman. We've got 
 the record of it. You'd ought to be jugged yourself along 
 with your old man. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I did not know It was Insulting 
 to the flag. I would stand up but I thought it was of 
 no harm to remain In stillness. I will do anything what 
 the government says. Please sir, oflficer, do not take m.y 
 husband away from his family what so needs him. He is 
 a good man. You will know he Is a good man. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. Anna, say no more. It Is of no 
 
 81 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 use. 
 
 (Sergeant Murry continues his search; looks behind 
 all the pictures, and peers into every receptacle, throwing 
 to the floor everything available except the son's picture 
 in uniform and the flag in the vase. Even the contents of 
 the pantry shelf are hurled into the debris — boxes of salt 
 and pepper, bags of beans and rice, potatoes, bread, salt 
 pork, coffee, tea, sugar, etc., till the room is in utter con- 
 fusion.) 
 
 Officer Green {coming in from the other room 
 carrying a small box of polished wood). Here's the 
 goods all right. 
 
 Sergeant Murry (gruffly). Let me see. (Opens 
 the box and takes out a small German flag, old and torn, 
 which he lays down on the table as he looks deeper into 
 the box.) 
 
 Officer Green (picking up the flag and holding it 
 before Sergeant Murry). Well, don't that tickle your 
 glims ? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. What is it? (Takes it in his 
 hands and looks at it indifferently.) 
 
 Officer Green. So the sergeant of the war squad 
 don't know when he's holding a German flag in his hands. 
 That's one on you, ha, ha, ha ! 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, you don't see 'em floating 
 around these parts very often, you bet yer life. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. That's Grossmutter's box. It's 
 her old keepstakes since fifty years in the old country. \Ye 
 didn't know what was in the box. Do not blame us that 
 a German flag was in our house when we didn't know it. 
 I swear before God my husband nor I didn't know it was 
 there, and Grossmutter she is too old to blame her. 
 
 Sergeant Murry (throzvs the box to the floor with a 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 bangy scattering its contents of old jewelry, laces, pictures, 
 etc.). You'll know it pretty soon. {To Mr. Schweit- 
 zer in sudden anger.) Come here, you Hun dog! (Mr. 
 Schweitzer goes toward him slowly. Sergeant Murry 
 rushes at him and jerks him forward violently.) You 
 stinking cur ! Here, take this damned rag and blow your 
 nose on it. {Rams the flag into his hands.) 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. It is not my flag. It is an old 
 relic only which my mother puts away. I wish not to 
 harm my mother's things that she from the past treasures. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {bellowing) . I tell you, blow your 
 nose on it! 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Oh, ofl^cer, look. We are Amer- 
 icans. See, this is our flag. {Runs to the chest of drawers 
 and takes the flag from the vase. Rushes back to Sergeant 
 Murry waving the flag above her head.) I stand under 
 protection from this flag what our son fights for. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {grabs the flag violently from her 
 hands). You damn German! You ain't fit to touch the 
 Stars and Stripes. This is my flag. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. Have you a son what fights in 
 France for this flag as does our son? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. No more of your bullcon. {Folds 
 the American flag and puts it in his pocket. Takes Mr. 
 Schweitzer's handcuffed hands, which still hold the Ger- 
 man flag, and roars). Pick up your hands here and blow 
 your nose on your damned Hun flag or I'll knock your 
 block off. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {in terror). Do it, Heinrich. To 
 us it is nothing. 
 
 Mr. Schweitzer. But Mother, it is yet her country 
 — the fatherland. I cannot so hurt her to let her see me 
 do so. 
 
 83 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer. I'll do it, officer. Let me have 
 it, Heinrich. (Reaches for the flag.) 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Get out of here. I told him to 
 do it. {To Mr. Schweitzer). Hurry up, there. (Mr. 
 Schweitzer makes no move.) 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {pleadingly). Do it, Heinrich. 
 (Mr. Schweitzer still stands motionless.) 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Are you paralyzed? {Grabs Mr. 
 Schweitzer's hands more violently and presses them 
 against his nose, shouting in unbridled anger.) You 
 scoundrel, you yellow dog, you Hun bastard ! I'll show you 
 what an American is. Blow, I tell you ; blow your rotten 
 brains out, you God-damn son-of-a-bitch, you! {Pushes 
 Mr. Schweitzer's head back and bangs the handcuffs 
 against his face till he groans with pain.) 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {screaming) . Oh Heinrich, Hein- 
 rich! (Grossmutter utters a cry and faints in her chair. 
 Mrs. Schweitzer rushes to her.) They kill her! They 
 kill her! 
 
 Sergeant Murry {lets go of Mr. Schweitzer's 
 hands and the German flag falls to the floor. Calls to 
 Officer Green). Come on, Harry. Let's go. 
 
 Officer Green {who has gone to Grossmutter and 
 with Mrs. Schweitzer is trying to revive her) . Can 
 you lay her back more? She ought to be out flat. {They 
 put down the back of the wheel chair and work over her, 
 fanning her and rubbing her hands.) She'll be all right 
 in a minute. Now she's coming out, I think. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {picks up the German flag gingerly 
 and holds it at arms length). Guess I'd better wrap up 
 this snot rag and take it along for evidence. Give me a 
 piece of paper, Harry. 
 
 Officer Green. Ain't there enough on the floor to 
 
 84 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 find one yourself? Fm busy. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {takes a paper from a debris, 
 wraps up the German flag and puts it in his pocket.) That 
 ought to convict 'em sure. 
 
 Grossmutter {moaning and trying to rise in her 
 chair) . Heinrich. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {takes Mr. Schweitzer by the 
 arm and starts to the door. Calls to Officer Green). 
 Come on, Harry. It's time to beat it. 
 
 Officer Green {starts to follow). I'll say it's time 
 to beat it. {Muttering) . We've done enough dirt for 
 one night. 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {as Grossmutter again moans and 
 trys to speak). Sei ruhig, Grossmutter. Sle gehen schon. 
 Ruhig, ruhig. {Goes to Sergeant Murry.) Please of- 
 ficer, let me get his coat. It's cold to go from the house 
 out with no coat. His hat, too; please, sir, let me get 
 them. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Bring 'em to the jail tomorrow. 
 I can't wait a year. ( To Officer Green who has gone 
 to Grossmutter and is fanning her) . Come along, 
 Harry. No more kiddin' with the women. ( To Mr. 
 Schweitzer). Step lively, there, God damn you! {They 
 go out.) 
 
 Grossmutter {raising her head and speaking with dif- 
 ficulty) . Wohin geht Heinrich wohin? 
 
 Mrs. Schweitzer {falls to the floor by Grossmut- 
 TER^s chair sobbing convulsively) . Ins Gefaengnis. Es 
 ist unrecht. Es ist unrecht. 
 
 ACT IV. 
 
 Fall 0/1918. 
 
 Mrs. Holden's living room turned into a small dress- 
 making establishment. Helen is in the center of the 
 
 85 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 r 00771 fitting an evening dress on Mrs. Calkins. Mrs. 
 McCoNNELL is sitting before a sewing machine on the 
 left basting a garment to be stitched, while Mrs. Holden 
 is busy at an ironing board at the right. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. You know it's almost getting serious 
 the way I'm talked about for coming to this house. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. How could anybody talk about you, 
 child? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. They do. There are people who 
 actually doubt my loyalty — think of it ! — me, almost a 
 war widow. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I wish nobody was any nearer to 
 war widowhood than you are, Katherine. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. But my husband's in France. Isn't 
 that near enough? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Quite near enough. However, the 
 base hospitals aren't on the firing line. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {looking in the glass). I wonder how 
 I'd look in black. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Don't talk about black. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, I know you don't believe in 
 letting people know your grief, Mrs. McConnell, and of 
 course it's very brave in you, but I think we ought to show 
 some outward respect for our dead for the first year, any- 
 way. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Our grief is our own, isn't it? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. It's the nation's grief, too. The 
 whole country mourns for every soldier killed in defense 
 of the colors. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. It pays its formal tribute to the 
 dead. 
 
 Helen. As the grand finale of the war carnival. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Oh, all of you say such dreadful 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 things. That's what makes it dangerous for me to be 
 seen coming here. I'm risking my reputation. 
 
 Helen. Nonsense! You're not only treason-proof, 
 but you're trying all the time to reform us. If they slan- 
 der you any more tell them that you come here as a mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. That's a good idea. I have tried 
 to bring you to a better understanding of the war, 
 haven't I? 
 
 • Mrs. Holden. You've done your best. It's not your 
 fault that we're still unreclaimed heretics. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. And I've reasoned it all out how I'm 
 fulfilling a real war-time duty in coming here. 
 
 Helen. If you've reasoned anything out, Katherine, 
 do enlighten us. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Well, it's this way. Mrs. Holden, 
 you practically saved Dick's life. Father would have 
 let him be drafted to the trenches or anything, but you 
 told me what to do to save him, and I did it, and I do 
 feel grateful to you, for now he's doing the noblest ser- 
 vice that a man can do — relieving human suffering. 
 
 Helen. Holding the knives and the bandages while 
 the doctors patch up men to go back to the front. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. And I know he's not shirking no 
 matter how hard it is. 
 
 Helen. Probably not or he'd be disciplined. They 
 make even the doctors sweat. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Isn't it magnificent the way nearly 
 all of the doctors have volunteered? 
 
 Helen. Where else could they find such a feast of 
 scientific experiment? It's even better than a vivisection 
 laboratory. But what's all this got to do with your ful- 
 filling a war-time duty in coming here? 
 
 87 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Oh, yes, I forgot what I was going 
 to say. Well, in having you for my dressmaker during 
 the war, I'm Hooverising. 
 
 Helen. Good! So you are. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Besides, your gowns are really quite 
 chic, Helen. 
 
 Helen. Thank you, and if you'll please hold up your 
 arm for a few minutes, I'll try to live up to the compli- 
 ment. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Now you've got it too tight. 
 
 Helen. (Adjusts a pin or two.) How's that? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, it feels better now. [Looks 
 it over carefully in the glass.) Helen, if you get that 
 skirt too long, you'll just have to cut it off. Mrs. Briggs 
 says the skirts are getting shorter all the time in Paris. 
 
 Helen. Perhaps cloth is getting scarcer. I'll Hoover- 
 ise it a little more if you say so. The scraps might be 
 salvaged by the Red Cross. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Is that the message Mrs. Briggs 
 brought back from the war zone? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Of course that wasn't all she said. 
 She talked most inspiringly about her work among the 
 soldiers. You don't seem to care anything at all about 
 the welfare of the soldiers. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. There's a difference of opinion as to 
 what constitutes the welfare of the soldiers. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. She fairly made me want to go over. 
 She's had such a wonderful time over there. 
 
 Helen. Haven't you had a wonderful time over 
 here? You'd better stick to this side of the pond where 
 your rations of ice cream and candy aren't limited in spite 
 of the regulations on sugar. Don't risk having your 
 appetite taken away by the smell of rotting corpses. 
 
 88 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Helen, you seem to like to talk about 
 those gruesome things. If you were like me you'd dwell 
 only on the ideal side of the war. 
 
 Helen. I'm not an idealist. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {looking again in the glass). Isn't it 
 wonderful how I'm economising on this gown? With 
 the new crepe-de-Chine you'd never know that I wore the 
 underslip all last season, would you? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I hope you're making good use of 
 the money you're saving on clothes this year. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Indeed I am. I'm learning the 
 pleasure of giving. 
 
 Helen. An extreme pleasure that's being quite gen- 
 erally enforced these days. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Aren't you through yet with this in- 
 terminable fitting? 
 
 Helen. Well, take it off. I guess I can finish it all 
 right now. (Helen unfastens the gown.) 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. You've kept me standing a long 
 time today. I'm tired 
 
 Helen. I can sympathise with you. (Mrs. Cai. 
 KINS goes to the next room, leaving the door open. Helen 
 sits down exhaustedly.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden {singing softly as Mrs. McConnell's 
 sewing machine hums) : 
 
 *'Jesus, I my cross have taken, 
 All to leave and follow thee." 
 
 Helen. Mother, if you don't stop your hymn-sing- 
 ing, you'll drive me to — well, to doing what the church 
 ladies did to you. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Excuse me, dear. I know you don't 
 like it. I forgot. 
 
 Helen. It makes me chafe. I don't believe in tak- 
 
 89 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 ing up the cross. I rebel at your meek, pacifist philosophy. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Her meek, pacifist philosophy 
 seems to be the only thing left intact above the insensate 
 maelstrom of the world today. Hasn't she stuck to her 
 moorings with a tenacity that is boldness in itself? She 
 at least has kept the faith and made her point from first 
 to last. 
 
 Helen. Made her point by getting you into prison 
 for ten years. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. No, she got me out on bail. 
 
 Helen. She led you to the danger zone of pacifism 
 and now you've been struck down while she remains stand- 
 ing — for a while at least. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, that's what hurts me. Why 
 didn't they arrest me instead of you ? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Because I moved with the im- 
 petus of a convert and inevitably got my head into the 
 noose. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins [calling out from the next room). Oh, 
 Mrs. McConnell, they aren't going to hang you, are they? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. No, not yet. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. How you did frighten mt. They 
 won't put you in a regular prison, will they, with mur- 
 derers and everybody? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. They will. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. When? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Very soon. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I didn't know it was so bad as that. 
 
 Helen. So bad as what? What do you think she's 
 done ? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I don't quite know, only it's some- 
 thing against the government. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Not against the government, but 
 
 90 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 regardless of the government. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, they do talk about you're being 
 an anarchist and trying to overthrow the government like 
 your son Joseph. Helen, will you please come here. 
 You'll simply have to help me get this dress off. (Helen 
 goes out.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden {having finished her ironing, hangs it 
 over the back of a chair and goes near to Mrs. McCon- 
 NELl). Why don't you rest a little, since you've only a 
 few short hours left? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I'd rather be busy up to the last 
 minute. It keeps my mind under control. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Have you got everything ready to go? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Yes, I've been ready for three 
 days. I expected it. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Why didn't you tell us before? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I told you as soon as the mes- 
 sage actually came. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I can't m.ake up my mind to it. I 
 didn't think you would really have to serve your sentence. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I did. A case on appeal isn't 
 judged on its merits you know, only on technicalities. Be- 
 sides, the courts, like everything else now, are ruled by 
 war-passion. They did well to give me a few hours' no- 
 tice before taking me away. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You accept your fate magnificently. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. No, it's only that I'm free from 
 doubt. Even going to prison is easier than being in the 
 mental anguish that I was in before, trying to reconcile 
 humanitarian ideals with bloodshed. 
 
 ( The door bell rings. Mrs. Holden goes to the door. 
 A Liberty Bond Solicitor enters. He wears on the 
 lapel of his coat a conspicuous celluloid bow of red, white 
 
 91 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 and blue, marked ^'volunteer".) 
 
 Solicitor {taking a pencil and paper from his pocket), 
 I'm taking subscriptions for the fourth Liberty Loan. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I do not care to subscribe. 
 
 Solicitor. I am the captain of this district. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. So I supposed. The last solicitor 
 told me he would send the captain, but it's quite unneces- 
 sary for you to come. 
 
 Solicitor. Then you've already bought a Liberty 
 Bond? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. No. I don't buy war bonds. 
 
 Solicitor {looking at her threateningly). Madam, 
 we have ways of making people buy bonds. 
 
 Mrs. Holden {answering his look calmly). My re- 
 fusal is final. (Solicitor continues to stare at her.) Why 
 do you wait? 
 
 Solicitor. Your refusal is final. We'll see about 
 that. {JVrites something on the paper.) Do you realize 
 that if you continue to refuse to do your duty as a citizen 
 of this free republic that your name will be published in 
 the newspapers as a Liberty Bond slacker? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. My name has already been published 
 several times. I'm getting quite used to it. 
 
 Solicitor. Then you have no respect for public opin- 
 ion? Be careful, the public is in no mood to deal gently 
 with such as you. There are mobs abroad. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I know it. I've seen something of 
 them. Do you approve of mob rule? 
 
 Solicitor. No, but one can't blame the outraged pub- 
 lic sometimes for taking the law into its own hands when 
 the regularly constituted officials are slow. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Would you condone a mob bent on 
 revolution ? 
 
 92 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Solicitor. That's an entirely different thing. Law 
 and order must be maintained. We have the militia to 
 attend to that. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. What is law and order? 
 
 Solicitor. I'm not here to answer fool questions. I 
 mean business. Come on. You have the protection of 
 the army and navy, and if you can't back them up with 
 your pocket book you're a pretty poor American. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I don't ask the protection of the 
 army and navy. 
 
 Solicitor. No more joking. This is serious business. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I'm not joking. I've given you my 
 answer. Do you want it again? 
 
 Solicitor. Come on. W^hat will you have ? — a hun- 
 dred dollar bond to begin with? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I do not buy war bonds. I'm a Paci- 
 fist. 
 
 Solicitor. A Pacifist, eh? Rather late in the day to 
 be a Pacifist. I wonder how long you'd be a Pacifist if 
 the Germans should land in New York. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I'm not expecting them. 
 
 Solicitor. Neither am I, by golly! We've got 'em 
 on the run now, and the next thing it's on to Berlin. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You'll join the invading host, I sup- 
 pose. 
 
 Solicitor {ignoring her remarks and speaking impera- 
 tively) . For the third time I offer you a bond of the 
 fourth Liberty Loan. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And for the third time I refuse. 
 
 Solicitor. Madam, be careful; you are treading on 
 dangerous ground. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I have stated my position. 
 
 Solicitor {begins to speak in a wheedling tone). Now 
 
 d3 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 look here, little woman, I don't want to see you get into 
 trouble. I know you're a widow and not rich, but you 
 can afford one bond at least. If you haven't got the cash 
 in hand you can get credit. {Pauses for Mrs. Holden to 
 answer. As she remains silent he continues in a still more 
 wheedling tone). Now come along and do your duty like 
 a good patriot and you won't find tt.q a hard man. No, 
 not at all. Let me persuade you as a friend. I like you, 
 Mrs. Holden — I believe that's your name; I have it down 
 somewhere here. {Looks over his note hook.) Yes, Mrs. 
 Holden. You're a nice little v/oman, but don't tell m.y 
 wife I said so, ha, ha ! There now, come through sweetly 
 and there won't be any trouble at all. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You are Vvasting your words. I do 
 not compromiise my principles. 
 
 Solicitor {angrily). Look here, you say you're a 
 Pacifist, but I'll just tell you that there's no such animal 
 left in this country. Either you're a loyal, clean, 100% 
 American, or you're a sneaking traitor. {Bangs his fist 
 on the table.) Which are you? 
 
 Mrs. Holden {quietly). I am neither. 
 
 Solicitor. You — 
 
 Mrs. McConnell {stepping up to him). Mrs. Hol- 
 den has told you that she does not buy war bonds and I 
 can assure you that she's a woman of her word. 
 
 Solicitor {still angry). Another county heard from. 
 Who are you, I'd like to know? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I'm Mrs. Holden's friend. 
 
 Solicitor. Do you live here? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. At present. 
 
 Solicitor. Have you subscribed for a Liberty Bond? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. No. 
 
 Solicitor {taking out his pencil and pad again) . Your 
 
 94 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 name, please. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I, also, do not subscribe for war 
 bonds. 
 
 Solicitor. Are you a Pacifist, too? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I'm a non-resistant revolutionist. 
 
 Solicitor. A what? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. A non-resistant revolutionist. 
 
 Solicitor. Well, that's a new one on me. But If 
 you're a revolutionist of any color, I guess It's red. {With 
 a puzzled look) . You must be a case for the police. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Yes, I am. 
 
 Solicitor. Your name, please. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Elizabeth McConnell. (He 
 writes it down.) 
 
 Solicitor {pompously) . I shall report you at once to 
 the Department of Justice. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. You're too late. I've already 
 been convicted. 
 
 Solicitor. What do you mean? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Vvhat I say. (Helen e7iters 
 unnoticed.) 
 
 Solicitor. You both seem to think I'm here for a 
 show, but I'll show you that war's a grim business. ( Takes 
 out his watch.) I'll give you just two m.ore minutes and 
 If you don't com.e to the conclusion by that time that the 
 law's bigger than you are, I'll report your whole nest here. 
 
 Mrs. PIolden. How long has It been a law that we 
 shall subscribe for war bonds? 
 
 Solicitor. Well, If It's not a law It's as good as a 
 law, because you've got to do It. It's patriotism and pa- 
 triotism's the unwritten law of every nation. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I will not subscribe for a war bond 
 whether the law or the unwritten law or something as 
 
 95 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 good as the law demands it. The war is a crime and I 
 refuse to be a party to a crime. 
 
 Solicitor. Woman, you'll pay for your sedition. 
 {Puts on his hat and starts to go out.) 
 
 Helen {coming forward). I'll get a bond. 
 
 Solicitor {turns around but does not rernove his hat). 
 Are you a resident here ? 
 
 Helen. Yes, I'm Mrs. Holden's daughter. 
 
 Solicitor. Your name, please. 
 
 Helen. Helen Holden McConnell. 
 
 Solicitor {writing it down). McConnell? That's 
 this woman's name, isn't it? 
 
 Helen. Yes, I'm her son's wife. 
 
 Solicitor. Oh, she's your mother-in-law? Well, 
 where's your husband? 
 
 Helen. Away. 
 
 Solicitor. At the front? 
 
 Helen. Yes. 
 
 Solicitor. I know you're lying, for a bunch like you 
 hasn't got anybody in the war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Have you? 
 
 Solicitor {proudly). My son's an instructor in avia- 
 tion. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I had a son killed in the Ar- 
 gonne. 
 
 Solicitor. You did? This woman's husband? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. No, a younger son. 
 
 Solicitor {surprised). You really had a son who 
 died an honored martyr for country? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell {sadly). Who died a disillu- 
 sioned victim of country. There is no honor to death in 
 war. It is a bitter mockery. 
 
 Solicitor. Well, however you look at it, I should 
 
 96 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 think you'd want to do all you can to keep other people's 
 sons from getting killed. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I do. 
 
 Solicitor. Then buy a Liberty Bond. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. It's advertised that one bond 
 will buy ten trench knives. Aren't they for killing pur- 
 poses ? 
 
 Solicitor. For killing Germans to save our boys. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Aren't they somebody's boys? 
 
 Solicitor. Not from our look out. {To Helen). 
 What will you take, young woman ? You know there's no 
 better Investment than Liberty Bonds. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh, Helen, why do you do It? 
 
 Solicitor. No advice from you, please. Your daugh- 
 ter's got more common sense than you've got. I can see 
 that. She's trying to protect you. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I want no protection of that kind. 
 
 Helen. I have only fifty dollars. Here It Is. {Hands 
 him the money.) 
 
 Solicitor. Can't you do a little better than that for 
 your country? 
 
 Helen. No. 
 
 Solicitor {writes receipt and hands it to her), I sup- 
 pose you think It doesn't matter since the war's practically 
 won, but I tell you that though there's been talk of peace 
 lately, we've got to clinch our victory and the people have 
 got to come through with the money for It. That's all 
 there Is about It. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. God save us from the curse of vic- 
 tory. 
 
 Solicitor {taking of his hat and scratching his head 
 as he looks curiously at Mrs. McConnell). Say, I've 
 just thought of something. Are you that woman that was 
 
 97 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 tried this summer for making a seditious speech at some 
 kind of a labor meeting? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I am. 
 
 Solicitor. Well, upon my word, I didn't know you 
 lived here. I thought you were in jail long ago. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I entrain tonight. 
 
 Solicitor. You entrain tonight? You talk like a 
 soldier going to war. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. The war between truth and 
 falsehood. 
 
 Solicitor. Well, by God, I hope you get all that's 
 coming to you. {Goes out.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden. How many more times will we have 
 to go through all this, I wonder. 
 
 Helen. Until we grovel with alacrity. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Or go to prison like Mrs. McConnell 
 and Joseph. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {coming in from the other room 
 dressed for the street). Has he gone? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Why, where have you been all this 
 time, Katherine? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Hiding in the kitchen. He's really 
 gone, hasn't he? My, but that was a narrow escape for 
 m.e. You know he's the captain of our district. I'm one 
 of his deputies. Suppose he'd seen me here. I didn't 
 dare leave while he was here. I thought he might see me 
 going away. And then v/hen he talked so loud I was 
 afraid he was going to search the house and I didn't know 
 what to do. 
 
 Helen. If he'd found you maybe he would only have 
 pressed you into service bullying Mother. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. No, the deputies don't have to do 
 any of that work. If any one refuses us, we just report 
 
 98 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 them to him and then he has to go and make them. 
 
 Helen. He seems to take kindly to his job. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. He's very patriotic. 
 
 Helen. We noticed that. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Well, I think I'll be going home. 
 Mrs. McConnell, I want you to know that although I 
 realize what an awful thing it is to be convicted of crime 
 against the government, I don't think you're a criminal 
 at heart. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. She's a prophet — like Socrates, like 
 Savonarola, like Christ. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins Oh, Mrs. Holden, how sacrilegious, 
 
 like Christ, and she not even in the church any more. 
 
 Why, she's been condemned by the government. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. So was Christ. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. But he was our Savior. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Every martyr for truth and righteous- 
 ness is one with him and a savior. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Don't call me a martyr. Be 
 literal. I'm an ordinary woman sentenced to prison for 
 my opinions like many others today. If the future sees 
 martyrdom in it after I'm dead, I can't protest, but while 
 I'm here I won't stand for it. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Now, Helen, don't fail to get my 
 dress to me by Thursday afternoon. I must have it for 
 the Navy Alliance ball Thursday night. If I don't have 
 it I can't go, for I haven't another thing to wear. 
 
 Helen. I shall consider it my patriotic duty to get 
 it to you on time. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Mrs. McConnell, there's something 
 I wanted to tell you in case I don't see you again. They 
 kept the star in the service flag for your son Ernest after 
 all. 
 
 89 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Let them do so or not, as they 
 please. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Everybody respects Ernest In spite 
 of your disgrace. Mr. Thorp always reads his name with 
 the honor roll of our hero dead. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. How many names are there on 
 what the church so patronlslngly calls Its honor roll? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Ernest was the first one killed In 
 action, then one of the Smith boys died of wounds and 
 the other was reported missing. It was a long time be- 
 fore they found out that he was killed in the Argonne, 
 too. With that delay and with Ernest's star being held 
 up on account of your disloyalty It made us very late in 
 getting our service flag put right. You know they took 
 Vv'illiam Schweitzer's star off the flag after his father was 
 convicted. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Then why didn't they take my 
 son's star off after I was convicted? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. His was a gold star. 
 
 Helen. They couldn't spare a gold star. Those are 
 the counters, aren't they, Katherine? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. They're what make the flag so sol- 
 emn. 
 
 Helen. How do you feel when you sew on a gold 
 star? I would feel like a murderer. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. It's not our fault that our soldiers 
 die. They're murdered by the cowardly enemy. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Aren't we responsible if we send 
 them to fight ? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Our responsibility is to see that their 
 deaths are Immortalized in the memory of the people. 
 
 Mrs. McConell. Maybe some day the people will 
 realize that death In battle is no different from death in 
 
 100 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 any other mortal catastrophy. A battle is nothing but a 
 miserable wreck multiplied to the highest degree. It Is 
 the same In kind as the head-on collision of two trains. 
 Your gold stars and bronze tablets are pitiable recompense 
 for a human life snuffed out by blind force. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. That Isn't so. It's an honor to die 
 for country. Even the drafted soldiers feel It. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. How do you know how the 
 drafted soldiers feel? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I guess I know as much as you do 
 about It. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Yes, we women can only spec- 
 ulate about how they feel. I speculated once and I was 
 told later that I hit pretty near to the mark. I was sitting 
 In the railway station on the day the twenty-one-year-olds 
 were drafted, and across the aisle was a group of young 
 men reading the papers which contained the numbers of 
 the draft. It came to me in a flood of consciousness how 
 they felt and how I felt and how the world will feel when 
 it wakes up, and I wrote it down in verse on the back of 
 an envelope. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. I heard you wrote a seditious poem 
 about the draft. I'd like to hear It just for curiosity. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. All right, I'll say It to you to 
 satisfy your curiosity^ but more to relieve my own feel- 
 ings. {She repeats the poem earnestly.) 
 Draft Day 
 
 The wheel at Washington turns round today. 
 
 We dare not say we fear; we dare not say 
 
 We long to live. We search the printed lines 
 
 For numbers mystical and real; for signs 
 
 That bear a terror deeper than the roar 
 
 Of countless oceans pounding on the shore. 
 
 101 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Cold figures clamp our beings — mine, yours, his — 
 
 And draw us to the crash of centuries 
 
 With a blind force that vibrates beyond sound, 
 
 While we adore and grovel on the ground. 
 
 Two, seven, five, eight, three — digits can hurl 
 
 A living human soul Into the whirl, 
 
 Naked, young, tender, quivering and warm 
 
 Into the death-dark passion of the storm 
 
 And slime it with foul murder In the name 
 
 Of patriotism, tinsel-mask of shame ! 
 
 We dare not say we fear ; we dare not say 
 
 We long to live. The wheel turns round today. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins {after a pause). Well, If you won't 
 see things the way other people do, I suppose it's no use 
 trying to make you. I believe that all any of you are 
 trying to do is to be different. But your talk just goes in 
 one ear and out of the other w^Ith me, for I know that a 
 few Pacifists like you don't know so much more than all 
 the ministers and writers and professors and that kind of 
 people who teach us the purity of patriotism and the dig- 
 nity of fighting for our country. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. If It Is such a noble thing to 
 fight for one's country why don't you respect the enemy 
 for doing so? Why do you accuse the enemy of com.mit- 
 ting murder when you don't admit that we also are mur- 
 derers ? 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Because our side Is right. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. So says the enemy. 
 
 Mx<s. Calkins. But both sides can't be right. One 
 must be wrong, and we know we're not wrong. Germany 
 started it and has to be punished. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Germany didn't start it alone. 
 
 102 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Preparedness in all countries started it. Static war had 
 been collecting in storage vats so long that it finally pro- 
 duced a general explosion. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. You've changed so terribly, Mrs. 
 McConnell. I can't understand it. You used to be so 
 loyal and patriotic. Yet I do feel sorry for you on 
 account of all the trouble you've had through the war. 
 But I don't feel half so sorry for you as I do for Mrs. 
 Schweitzer. Even if she is German she's tried to do 
 what's right since she saw her mistake in not saluting the 
 flag. You know her son was reported dead once and then 
 It turned out that he was In the hospital with shell shock. 
 After he was supposed to be well they took him back into 
 active service, and the latest news Is that he's raving crazy 
 somewhere over there. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I've seen Mrs. Schweitzer. Her 
 grief is worse than mine. William Is hopelessly Insane. 
 
 Mrs. Calkins. Yes, I'm awfully sorry for her. 
 Well, I truly must go. {Calling back as she goes out of 
 the door.) Now, Helen, don't forget — Thursday. 
 
 Helen. And that's what the marching legions are 
 dying for — to make the world safe for Katherine's gabble 
 and the Navy Alliance ball. {Bitterly.) It makes me 
 laugh. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Poor Katherine! We must respect 
 her good intentions. 
 
 Helen. Especially since we're subsisting on the 
 crumbs of her Hooverizing. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. There's a better day coming. We 
 must have the faith. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. And keep our inner lamps burn- 
 ing. 
 
 Helen. Mine have gone out. 
 
 103 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Don't let them. 
 
 Helen. Lamps can't burn without oil. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Helen, you are dooming your- 
 self to darkness. 
 
 Helen. What control have I over my life? Aren't 
 we all helpless creatures of circumstance? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. We have a choice of spiritual 
 motives if nothing else. 
 
 Helen. But, even so, if we happen to be living in this 
 day and age, we are marked by fate either for quick 
 annihilation or slow, torturing death. That's the actual- 
 ity of war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. War itself is a choice. 
 
 Helen. But to choose against it is utter destruction 
 when the rest of the world has chosen for it. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Not to the moral consciousness. 
 
 Helen. Suppose one has no moral consciousness. 
 Suppose one is conscious of nothing but blank duration of 
 time, varied only by flashes of acute suffering. That's my 
 state of mind, and all because the one with whom my 
 life is bound up has chosen to deny that he is subject to 
 human laws. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I don't believe that Joseph miakes any 
 such denial. He recognizes and follows human laws so 
 long as they are just and pure, but when they conflict with 
 the higher laws he cannot compromise. The laws of God 
 are supreme. 
 
 Helen. And so he must hang by his hands to the 
 dungeon doors of Fort Leavenworth. I tell you there are 
 no laws of God. There is no God, or such things would 
 not be allowed to be. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. God Is not personality. God is 
 Consummate Nature. That is why the laws of God per- 
 
 104 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 mit of evil, pain and death, real and undeniable. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Do you call it only Consummate Na- 
 ture that sustains Joseph through torture in prison? I 
 must call it the Lord. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. What Lord can we trust in more 
 securely than Love, the Creative Principle of all Nature? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. If no miraculous event of superna- 
 tural origin is to be hoped for — and I admit that since 
 the war my old belief in divine intervention has been 
 shaken — how is the world to be delivered from the sin 
 and suffering of today? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. By faith made rational. When 
 religion ceases to be fanatical and superstitious, then it 
 can be put into practice, and the Kingdom of Heaven, 
 the new social order which Jesus the radical proclaimed, 
 will be the natural result. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Can humanity achieve it without di- 
 vine aid? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. That depends on what you mean 
 by divine aid. The hypothesis of natural science is the 
 first requisite. To commune with the Infinite we transcend 
 the physical, but we do not do so in violation of natural 
 law. Human inspiration cannot be supernatural. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. But what is the Source of human 
 inspiration? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Life is the Source of human in- 
 spiration. The Conscientious Objectors in prison prove 
 this. They belong to various schools of religious thought 
 and many claim to have no religion at all, but whatever 
 their creeds or negations they are all impervious to the 
 sophistry of war heroics. This is not from any extraordi- 
 nary, divine guidance being given them, but because they 
 have the living instinct to see that the moral standards of 
 
 105 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 the time are artificial and unnatural. In other words, 
 they are possessed of a rational ideal. Such knowledge 
 innate and unwarped in the human soul is the Light of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Helen. Conscientious Objectors aren't human. I 
 know they're not. If Joseph were human he would have-' 
 followed Dick Calkins to a sheltered place ii^de the war 
 machine, from which he could come back to me sound and 
 sane. But no, he must throw himself under the wheels of 
 the machine and be ground to dust. Oh, it is not right 
 for him to follow the Light of the Spirit, as you call it, to 
 the inevitable destruction of his body and mind. Even 
 the trenches would have been better than where he is, 
 locked in darkness and filth, starved and beaten and tor- 
 tured. If he has renounced all personal ends in life, I 
 haven't. I want my husband. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. You still have your husband. 
 
 Helen. I want him here beside me. I care for noth- 
 ing but to get him out of prison. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. We're doing all we can to obtain his 
 release. 
 
 Helen. But nothing can be done, because he won't 
 obey any military orders, not even in prison. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. He will come out transfigured. 
 
 Helen {excitedly) . He will come out insane or dead. 
 Only last week they sent a dead man home dressed in the 
 uniform. In life he had refused to put on the uniform 
 and had sat in the dungeon in his underclothes until he got 
 pneumonia and died. But in death they had him. His 
 body had to submit to their discipline at last. Militarism 
 will have its way. What's the use of bucking against the 
 force of iron and steel? What is the Conscientious 
 Objector's ideal anyway but one single, consuming idea? 
 
 106 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Holden. One single, clear vision in a world 
 gone blind. 
 
 Helen. A filmy dream. I hate it. I would lie, I 
 would steal, I would kill to get my husband out of prison, 
 but I can't get him out by any means at all, because he is 
 bound hand and foot by his merciless principles. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Helen, you're distraught. Let's not 
 talk of Joseph till you're calmer. 
 
 Helen (wildly). He does not love me. He does 
 not love me or he would not have chosen prison instead 
 of me. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. He loves you too much to allow 
 you to override his integrity. I've known him longer 
 than you have, my dear. (Goes to her and strokes her 
 hand gently.) I understand his nature. Don't try to 
 change him. You can't do it. (Helen makes no an- 
 swer, but bursts into passionate crying.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden. She's desperately tired. She needs a 
 rest, but she won't take one. She won't do anything but 
 work. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Think, Helen, we're all suffer- 
 ing. I have a son dead on the battlefields of France. I, 
 his mother, in ignorance and stupidity encouraged him to 
 follow after a stupendous mirage, and in its horrible 
 reality he lost his life. I have another son who is being 
 tortured in the dungeon of a military prison — your hus- 
 band, dear, but still my son— ^who, in spite of opposition 
 from you and me, followed the course of the wiser brave. 
 Without a murmur he is making his sacrifice that the coun- 
 terfeit by which his brother was deceived may be exposed. 
 It is for you and me to give him our moral backing with- 
 out flinching and to bear his sufferings as bravely as he 
 does himself. 
 
 107 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Helen. I can't feel as you do. Vm young. I want 
 life. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. What is life to you? 
 
 Helen. It's something that sings and laughs. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Laughter is not of today, but 
 there can be song in suffering, mighty song. 
 
 Helen. What is song without mirth? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. It may be the oratorio of a new 
 creation. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. That is how your soul is singing when 
 you go to prison. I can see it in your eyes. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell (speaking meditatively) . I'm go- 
 ing into a strange, new life. I have no idea what it will 
 be, but there must be work for me there besides the hard 
 labor of the prison workroom. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I feel ashamed that I am not going 
 with you. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. You are needed outside to pass 
 the word along quietly. It wouldn't do for us all to be in 
 prison. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yours is the Spartan task. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I know that life in prison is no bed 
 of roses, but others have lived through it, I guess I can. 
 The experience may be necessary to me. My faith is not 
 so tranquil as yours. It requires continual renewal through 
 inner struggle. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. How could a jury be so warped as to 
 convict a woman like you? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I'm no different from hundreds 
 of others who have fallen into the toils of war-time "jus- 
 
 tice." 
 
 Helen. A trial for sedition is a greased chute to 
 prison it seems. 
 
 108 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. When the delusion of patriotism 
 reaches Its zenith reason falls to Its abyss. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Do you remember the words of your 
 judge about the divine right of country In that astonishing 
 speech he made when he sentenced you? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I have them down by heart. 
 "Country exists by natural, divine right and Its authority 
 to command Is of God. You have not considered suffi- 
 ciently the religion of patriotism. You have been weighed 
 In the balance of loyalty, patriotism and devotion to coun- 
 try and found wanting. Therefore it is the judgment of 
 this court that you be confined In the federal prison at 
 hard labor for a term of ten years, etc., etc." 
 
 Helen. Do you know what came into my mind when 
 I heard him say those words to you ? 
 . Mrs. McConnell. I hope you didn't condemn him 
 In your heart. It's his religion. 
 
 Helen. If It's his religion it doesn't set very heavy 
 on him for you don't see him renouncing his proud seat 
 on the bench for a bunk in a dugout. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I wanted to ask him myself why he 
 remained so far from his country's battle front, but It 
 didn't seem worth while to be arrested for contempt of 
 court when my soul was so thoroughly guilty of such 
 contempt. 
 
 Helen. I was so filled with hatred for him sitting 
 there rubbing his fat cheeks with his soft hands that I 
 could have killed him. If Joseph and the rest of you ever 
 succeed in making a revolutionist out of me, I warn you, 
 I'll be a fiery one. I'll use the nearest weapons at hand 
 and I'll strike for immediate results, not for some distant, 
 hazy Utopia. For freedom I'll pay no less than the price 
 of blood. 
 
 109 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Some day the prostrate world 
 will know that blood does not buy freedom. Some day 
 humanity will rise in moral resurrection from this tomb of 
 tradition. Then it will look back over history and see 
 that only false or transitory ends have ever been gained 
 by war. In America we boast of our freedom paid for 
 by the blood of our forefathers in the revolution, but now 
 in 1918 what is left of that freedom but shattered frag- 
 ments? And look at poor France. Where is that virile 
 spirit flown that once caused her to rise against the wrongs 
 of the Bourbon monarchy? It could not transcend the 
 blood streams of the guillotine. As a natural conse- 
 quence of the violence of her revolution, France accepted 
 the perfect imperialism of Napoleon from which she has 
 never recovered physically or morally. 
 
 Helen. What about Russia? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Russia is the world's hope to- 
 day, but let her guard well the fire within her own breast 
 lest tomorrow she cease to be the great emancipator. If 
 her vigorous industrial government becomes militarised it 
 will inevitably lose its truly revolutionary character. The 
 Russian revolution, like other revolutions, will succeed in 
 inverse proportion to the bloodshed resorted to in pro- 
 moting it. But whether the soviet system prevails or falls 
 in Russia the new world order is being born in the cosmic 
 throes which are now upon Russia. A new cycle of evolu- 
 tion is manifesting itself in industrial upheavel, and every 
 corner of the earth will be touched by it before the world 
 is regenerated. 
 
 Helen. According to what we read in the papers 
 there is nothing going on in Russia but murder and 
 plunder. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. That is all the capitalistic In- 
 
 110 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 terests wish to see going on there. If it doesn't go on 
 sufficiently to condemn sovletism In the eyes of the world, 
 these Interests will see to It that it Increases. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Russia can't have outgrown patriot- 
 Ism entirely or she would not be organizing a new army. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. If the Allies can bait her Into 
 maintaining a strong army they can more easily destroy 
 sovletism. Under military discipline the soviet state will 
 necessarily take precedence of the soviet Idea, and a state 
 Is more easily destroyed than an Idea. If they can draw 
 her Into continued m.illtary defense she may forget her 
 revolutionary Internationalism In a revival of elementary 
 nationalism. 
 
 Helen. The only angle of the war that I have any 
 sym.pathy with Is the Bolshevik! defense. If I were a 
 Russian I wouldn't hesitate to make use of a machine gun. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Bullets can't defend ideas, for 
 Ideas and lead have nothing in common. The only valid 
 aggression or defense in the whole scheme of struggling 
 nature is positive non-resistance. In plant growth It is 
 the concentration of sap In the new shoots after the rav- 
 ages of weather or the violent onslaughts of the pruning 
 shears; In animal life It Is the prowess of sagacity as op- 
 posed to fierceness, and In the human sphere It is the phil- 
 osophy of the folded arms. The solidarity of a group 
 which has the will and intelligence to remain inert till the 
 moment arrives for concerted constructive action Is more 
 powerful than the biggest and best equipped army that 
 ever went out to fight. Without the spilling of any blood 
 the Industries necessary to society could be taken over and 
 controlled by the workers if the desire to do so were strong 
 enough. The capitalist system is rotten to the core, and 
 all that is needed to topple it over Is a non-resistant and 
 
 111 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 irresistible will on the part of those who are exploited 
 by it. 
 
 Helen. Your remarks are out of season. Why 
 should anybody want to overthrow such a beneficent sys- 
 tem even if it is rotten? It not only gives us fixed stand- 
 ards of respectability without which we would be floun- 
 dering in hopeless vulgarity, but it offers such handsome 
 opportunities for benevolence and philanthropy. Why, 
 whole nations are moved to altruism by it. Didn't Eng- 
 land enter the war for the sole purpose of defending the 
 women and children of Belgium, and isn't America asking 
 nothing in return for her gallant salvation of democracy? 
 That England is incidentally starving a few million wo- 
 men and children in the central nations and Russia, v/ith her 
 economic blockade, only enhances her virtue, for by this 
 method the produce of the earth falls exclusively upon the 
 just — an improvement upon the profligacy of the Almighty 
 who sends his rain upon the just and unjust. Though 
 America is producing a large and lusty crop of blood 
 profiteers, we need feel no shame, for it redounds mag- 
 nificently to our national honor in the swelled treas- 
 uries of our war charities. And when Germany vio- 
 lated Belgium, invaded France and sank the Lusitania 
 did she not do so "of necessity" in the interests of 
 civilization? Why change a system that makes for 
 such sublime self-abnegation that aviators, irrespective of 
 nationality, are willing to risk their lives dropping bombs 
 on school-houses and hospitals in the enemy border towns 
 under the sworn oath that all reprisals shall be at the rate 
 of ten to one? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh, these terrible years! Can the 
 world ever forget them? 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. The world mustn't forget them. 
 
 112 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 The horror of them must be burned Into the conscious- 
 ness of the race till war becomes repulsive even in historic 
 perspective. I would be willing to spend the rest of my 
 life in prison if I could by so doing help to lay the founda- 
 tion stones for a universal strike against war and its ad- 
 vance agent, preparedness for war. 
 
 Helen. You can't, and you're throwing your life 
 away trying to. People will always reverence war. Wait 
 till the next "war to end war" comes along. You'll see 
 the crowd running after its tinsel on parade with the 
 same bleer-eyed lust as now. You'll hear the same sound- 
 ing brass from the pulpits in the name of Christ, and 
 from every house on your block the same syncopated 
 strains of jazz patriotismi will vibrate in your window till 
 you're forced either to join in the crazy tune or be damned 
 by your own sanity. Yes, your noble humanity can't be 
 happy without its occasional war spree and it will always 
 be willing to die the fearful deaths of war for the pleasure 
 it gets from war's perfect abandonment. You can't 
 deny that in the last analysis humanity is essentially carnal. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Humanity is essentially spiritual. If 
 it were not so It would not be able to produce one Con- 
 scientious Objector, but every war has had its Isolated 
 dissenters and this war has summoned thousands to pun- 
 ishment for ideals. The power is latent In the breast of 
 humanity to overcome the degeneracy of war. 
 
 Helen. The superstition that war Is sublime sacrifice 
 Is bred in the bone of the race. The old traditions of war 
 heroism will always be stronger than the Impulse to real 
 heroism can ever become. Take the women In this war 
 for example, thousands of them, millions of them all 
 over the world sitting knitting — knitting their brains out. 
 Why? Not because they are supplying anything needed 
 
 113 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 by the soldiers (the factories can manufacture knitted 
 goods much more easily and satisfactorily) , but because It 
 is a war tradition that women shall knit while men fight. 
 ' Mrs. Holden. I believe that women will be the 
 first to see war in its true light, though they are the most 
 deceived by it now. 
 
 Helen. I doubt It when I see some of your famous 
 pre-war pacifist women occupying themselves with the 
 milder forms of war work such as food conservation with 
 its corollary of enemy starvation. Oh, yes, war is very 
 wrong and unnecessary In time of peace, but when the big 
 horn begins to blovv^ then our peace societies and our anti- 
 war periodicals suddenly discover that "This war is dif- 
 ferent; this is a war for humanity, a righteous war, a 
 war for world peace. So It Is now and so it ever shall be. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. We who know the truth about 
 war can do but one thing — pledge our lives to the over- 
 throwing of the evils that cause it. Capitalism and pa- 
 triotism are the body and soul of war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. In the universal commune war will 
 be an extinct phenomenon. 
 
 Helen. Mother, you talk like Joseph. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Joseph has been my teacher since Mr. 
 Thorp failed me. 
 
 Helen {thoughtfully). Joseph, Joseph, if I could 
 listen to you as a teacher I might become reconciled. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. His light will envelop you yet. 
 I'm sure it will. 
 
 Helen. It's too strong. It dazzles me. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Didn't you say that Sergeant Murry 
 was coming for you at half past three? It's a quarter to 
 four. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Well, I'm in no hurry if he Isn't, 
 
 114 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 though I'm all ready to go. I left some letters In the 
 desk to be mailed after I'm safely locked up. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I'll not forget about them, and 
 can't you think of anything else for me to do? I'm so 
 afraid you've forgotten something. Are you sure you've 
 attended to everything? 
 
 Helen. Of course she has. She's not the woman to 
 lose her head over a little thing like going to prison for 
 ten years. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. If I were of my old faith I'd say, 
 "I'll pray for you," but prayer has a different meaning 
 to me now. The war has taken away my glibness in 
 offering prayer. I am dumb before the infinity of your 
 Creative Principle and my Creator God. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Sympathy is the essence of real 
 prayer. You may pray for me on that basis for I'm sure 
 of the potency of such prayer. 
 
 Helen. Well, I can't deny that your religion of nat- 
 ural spirituality gives my skepticism a jar when I see you 
 going off to prison as if — (Door bell rings.) Oh, 
 Mother, It's the officer to take her. ( Throws up her 
 hands and covers her face in horror. Mrs. Holden 
 opens the door to Sergeant Murry.) 
 
 Sergeant Murry {entering quickly). Is Mrs. Mc- 
 Connell ready? She's expecting me, I guess. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. Yes, you're late. I've been wait- 
 ing for you. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {rather gruffly). I know I'm late 
 and we haven't got no time to waste. My Instructions is 
 to bring you right along. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. My friends may go with me to 
 the train, I suppose. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. I don't care how many goes 
 
 115 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 along if they'll behave thereselves. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I'll put on my hat and be right 
 out. (Goes to next roo^n. Helen follows.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden {calling to Helen as she goes out). 
 Bring my things, too, please. We must hurry. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Yes, you bet you must hurry. I 
 can't wait a year. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Won't you sit down? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. No, thanks. {Walks about the 
 room rather impatiently, then leans against the table, 
 thumping it nervously.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden {who has seated herself, points to an 
 easy chair near her and speaks graciously) . You'd better 
 take this chair, sergeant, and rest a little. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. All right. {Sits down.) 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I suppose you're a very busy man. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, the sergeant of the war 
 squad's not fooling away his time, I'll tell you that, with 
 all the sedition that's floating around loose. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. What is your special work, may I 
 ask? 
 
 Sergeant Murry {with an air of dignity). Slack- 
 ers, pro-Germans, Pacifists, smugglers and wireless tap- 
 pers. All such cases in this locality goes first through my 
 hands for investigation. I make my reports direct to the 
 Department of Justice. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh, that's the way we're classified, is 
 it? How interesting. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Yes, ma'am. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Do you enjoy these investigations? 
 I'm quite anxious to know. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. I'm proud to be serving the gov- 
 ernment. Who wouldn't be? 
 
 116 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 Mrs. Holden. You think It right to send people 
 like Mrs. McConnell to jail? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, I guess she wouldn't be 
 going there if she hadn't broke the law, would she? The 
 law's got to be enforced alike for everybody. If anyone 
 ain't a law abidin' citizen they've got to go to jail and 
 there's no two ways about it. Law is law. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. What about the higher law? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Ain't the federal law the highest 
 there is? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. It seems to me that the federal law 
 has fallen very low when citizens are forbidden to express 
 their honest opinions on public questions as provided in 
 the constitution. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, if you don't like the laws 
 of this country all I can say is you'd better get out. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I was born in this country and so 
 were my ancestors for ten or more generations. It is my 
 privilege to criticize the government as much as I please 
 and the government has no right to stop me. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. It isn't for nobody outside the 
 government to say what the government's got a right to 
 do. The government's boss and you nor nobody can't get 
 around it. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. It was intended that the people 
 should be boss. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Maybe onst, but when there's 
 war there's got to be discipline. It's different now from 
 what it was before the war. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I should say it is. Power has made 
 the government drunk. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Lady, I'm sergeant of the war 
 squad of this city, sworn to do my duty and I'll do it. You 
 
 117 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 better be careful. I tell you right here that I'll have no 
 disrespectful words spoke against the government in my 
 presence even if I am sitting down in your house. 
 
 Mrs. Holden {unabashed, speaking good-naturedly). 
 From whom do you get your authority, sergeant? 
 
 ^Sergeant Murry. From the government. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Who is the government? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, I guess the president's 
 somebody. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. But isn't the president elected by the 
 people ? 
 
 Sergeant Murry. The people maybe elects the 
 president but after he's elected it's him that tells the peo- 
 ple where to get off at. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. And they proceed to get off where 
 he tells them. That's the discouraging part. On the 
 other hand, he is bound by existing conditions to get off 
 sooner or later where Wall Street tells him to. The 
 people must reject this usurpation of their authority if we 
 are ever to be a free country again. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Anarchists like you hadn't ought 
 to be allowed loose, but if they start anything they'll find 
 the government's ready for them. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. I doubt if the government is ready 
 for a spiritual uprising of the people. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. So you're a spiritualist? That's 
 all damned nonsense. You think the governm.ent's afraid 
 of spooks, do you? 
 
 Mrs. Holden. No, but I wouldn't be surprised to 
 see the government in its present form fade away into the 
 realm of spooks after a while. I'm looking for a world 
 revolution, you know. 
 
 Sergeant Murry. Well, maybe you'll be on the 
 
 118 
 
THE JAZZ OF PATRIOTISM 
 
 inside looking out yourself some day if you keep on. 
 (Mrs. McConnell and Helen come in ready to go. 
 Helen helps her mother quickly to put on her coat and 
 hat while Sergeant Murry waits impatiently by the 
 door.) Hurry up! I can't wait a year. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Yes, we're coming. 
 
 Helen {picking up Mrs. McConnell's traveling 
 bag). I'll carry this. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. All right, but don't forget to 
 give it to me when I get on the train, for it's all the 
 worldly goods I'm taking with me. My new clothes are 
 waiting for me there. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. Oh, this is too terrible. To see you 
 off to prison — a woman like you. 
 
 Helen. The whole world's in prison. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. I never felt freer in my life. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. That's because you're bearing wit- 
 ness before the world that the war is a lie. 
 
 Mrs. McConnell. The witness of forced silence. 
 
 Helen. Gagged for telling the truth. 
 
 Mrs. Holden. But gagged and silent her living tes- 
 timony will be heard when the loud-mouthed rantings of 
 today are still. 
 
 Sergeant Murry {opening the door). Come along. 
 No more stalling around. Step lively. {All go out.) 
 
 The End 
 
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