strong an appeal to 'womanly' women though it be so strong that Italy and France lagged behind the rest of the world in granting woman suffrage, for fear of clerical domination—right that it should offer consolation to the lowly and bereaved; but once the Church appealed equally to men—even the ruffians and swashbucklers respected her, as to-day they respect the State, for she was 'terrible as an army with banners'. She was beautiful, but puissant also:
'Not more fair the moon in her loveliness,
Not more bright the sun in his majesty,
Like an army splendid and terrible,
Ranged for battle.'
sang Adam of S. Victor, some eight centuries ago.[1]
We have seen the appeal that strength and courage make. Before the war, military experts doubted whether fighting in the air would be possible; even the marvellous fund of human daring would, many thought, be exhausted by such a concentration of terrors. The question has never arisen. Boys have crowded into the air service, as they have swarmed to the sacrifice of the trenches and the perils of the sea, five millions of men without compulsion. It is proved that, though there are limits beyond which less civilized races will not go, there is no limit to the valour of the Christianized peoples of the West.
The bulk of mankind will not be drawn by the
- ↑ This hymn Jerusalem et Sion filiae is ascribed to him and dates from, the twelfth century.
