Everyone Can Do Something

By Mrs. A. J. Wilder.

How many women have said, "If I were a man I would go and fight for my country!" And how many men who are exempt from the draft for any reason have said, "If I were young"—or "If I could pass the physical examination, I would be glad to go and help"?

If you ever have said these things, you now have a chance to show faith and prove that you meant what you said.

If you are a woman, you can fight for your country at home in your own kitchen. If you are a man who cannot pass the physical tests, you can help, even without bodily strength, at home in your own dining room.

"Your country needs you," say the posters at the recruiting stations. Our country needs us all and the issue of the war depends a good deal upon those who stay at home.

We must fight our appetites, overcome our inclinations and conquer our selfishness. The self-government of our republic, of which we are so proud, is nothing after all but the governing of self and the whole cannot be greater than the sum of the parts. The work for those who cannot go and fight is to so govern themselves that they may not cast discredit upon a free country.

Did you know that the United States will not be able to send France the amount of sugar that country has asked for?

A certain amount of sugar is needed, especially by growing children, to keep the body in proper condition. A child's craving for sweets is a call of nature. It is necessary to the proper development of their bodies. The sugar beets and refineries of France and Belgium have been destroyed by the enemy and the people are starving for sugar while we have eaten so much that we cannot send them what they need. We could all do with a little less and a little saved from each home would amount to a great deal.

We would not revel in plenty while the family of a neighbor was starving. Let's divide with our neighbors overseas!

Our harvests have been so bountiful this year that we have more than we can possibly use for ourselves. We have done our duty by working almost day and night to save it, but if we do not understand and rightly use what we have saved, we will not have helped so much as we should after all.

There are some things that can be used at home that are too perishable to ship to Europe. Surely we can use those things and save them from our abundance, the wheat and meat and sugar to feed our soldiers and the dear ones of those who are standing shoulder to shoulder with them in the fight—the hungry women and children of Belgium and France.

Mrs. A. J. Wilder. "Everyone Can Do Something." Missouri Ruralist,  (November 20, 1917): page 16.

CLICK HERE to return to the list of articles from the Missouri Ruralist.