This column originally appeared in the Victoria Daily Times on July 26, 1941.
High summer with its hot cloudless days is upon us, and we are watering the garden, with due respect to Saanich regulations. There are some hours in which no tap may run. But the hours of darkness are unrestricted and so the short nights carry the pleasant sound of running water as the tiny streams go down the gladiolus rows and circle around the rose bushes.
Tap streams must not be allowed to dig holes in the ground, and so various means are taken to prevent this. In one neat garden, I saw pink shells used for this purpose. We have old pails, whose worn bottoms are covered with gravel and the streams come out through the holes that time has made. The birds are happy over all this irrigation, and are tempted to build new houses not to waste all this good mud.
These are times of strange happenings when many of the old catchwords are falling. But some things remain, and there are still happy surprises. From the radio came the news that Sunday churches in Moscow were crowded, for, as Mr. Churchill said in his great speech on the day war was declared, 鈥渋n the time when loved ones are in danger, everyone prays.鈥� There is still a refuge for the soul to which people turn in their sore need, and no system of government can entirely stifle man鈥檚 cry to God.
There is a young woman in London who drives a car through the devastated streets; it is not an ambulance to pick up the wounded but a death car to pick up the dead. She was in the great blitz when so much of the heart of the city was blasted, and in a letter to a friend, tells how she hung on to a lamp post with the ground heaving under her, and how up through the interstices of her soul came the words, 鈥淵es, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.鈥� And in these words she found the courage and strength.
China wins the admiration of the world with its staunch resistance to a ruthless foe, superior in arms and equipment. In all these long years of destruction the Chinese spirit has not wavered and we know that much of this bravery is due to General Chiang Kai-shek and his wife.
In the little book called My Religion, which Madame Chiang Kai-shek wrote for her own people, she tells that early in life she accepted God鈥檚 will as her own and gave herself to fulfil it.
鈥淚 used to pray,鈥� she writes, 鈥渢hat God would do this or that for me. Now I pray that God will make His will known to me. 鈥� Despair and despondency are not mine today. Exposed to danger, I am not afraid. I know that nothing can happen to the General or to me until our work is done. After that, what does it matter?鈥�
These are strong words from the field of battle that should strengthen the weak arm and confirm the feeble knees.
The faith of the Christian shines more brightly when all around is dark, and the great need of this present troubled time, when men鈥檚 hearts are failing them for fear, is for that unwavering Christian faith in the hearts of more and more people who are not afraid to proclaim it. Christianity is the only faith broad enough to bring world peace. In it there are no chosen people, no superior races. Christ came to preach liberty to the captive and听give light to those who sit in darkness.
Now I know that someone will write me a letter about this, to tell me about some tight-fisted old farmer who starved his horses, beat his wife, cheated the hired man, and still 鈥減assed the plate鈥� in the Methodist Church. All of which may be true, and what does it prove? A good apple tree can have some ugly shrivelled apples on it and still be a good tree. One of our greatest failings is to look at other people鈥檚 shortcomings and make these an excuse for our own slack living; like the men who today will not fight for their country because someone else should go first, or someone got a commission who did not deserve it.
But in spite of all these failings of ours, Christianity does make a clear pattern for living and does give people a sense of right and wrong. We may not always choose the right, but we certainly know it. The tragedy of Nazi Germany is that their sense of right and wrong has been entirely wiped out.
William L. Shirer, in his book Berlin Diary, tells something about how this poison works on the German people. He tells of a mother who was notified of the death of her son in an air raid over England, but subsequently the news came over the BBC that he was safe in a prison camp.
Of course, Germans are forbidden to listen to foreign news, but some of the brave ones do it anyway. Several of the bereaved mother鈥檚 friends heard the good news of her boy鈥檚 safety and hastened to tell her, and you would suppose she was grateful and happy to receive the news. Happy she may have been, but certainly not grateful. She informed the Gestapo, and the bearers of the good tidings were arrested. Mr. Shirer was not allowed to tell this story in his broadcast from Berlin. The censors took it out, saying: 鈥淎mericans would not understand the mother鈥檚 heroism.鈥�
This is too nice a day to think of these things. A cool wind is blowing in from the sea and the perfume of the lilies comes in through the open windows. We have many things to cheer us here in sa国际传媒: the success of the Loan, the multiple war efforts, people giving their holiday money to the Red Cross and their good clothes for Bundles for Britain. Remember that 鈥� their good clothes.
sa国际传媒 is working, paying and praying. We know what the issues are and we are ready to cut down on our bacon and anything else that will help our brave defenders overseas. We believe in the honesty and good faith of our leaders. Here is a story from a Red Cross garden party in Victoria:
A little boy went through the crowd selling tickets on a small dog which was carried in his arms.
鈥淏uy a ticket on a good pup,鈥� he was calling. 鈥淗ere is a chance to get a purebred spaniel for 25听cents. A dog is man鈥檚 best friend, and this is a good one. Mother and father both have pedigrees, and have won prizes here and in other parts of the world. This is a chance that might never come again.
鈥淏uy yourself one of the finest dogs know to man 鈥� beautiful, faithful, intelligent spaniel. Owner is parting with him for patriotic reasons only. Look at him. See for yourself that this dog is a perfect specimen. Perfect markings 鈥� house-broke, purebred spaniel. Three months old. A听beauty. You will be proud to have him.鈥�
Tickets were going fast. Another boy was in charge of them, so the salesman was free to attend to the publicity.
鈥淎 dog will never desert you. Faithful and affectionate. If I had not promised him to the Red Cross I would never part with him. Look at him. Going to someone for 25听cents.鈥�
A lady who had just bought five tickets was full of enthusiasm. 鈥淚听feel sure that I am going to get him,鈥� she said,鈥� and I am going to call him Winston Churchill.鈥�
The young salesman stopped and looked at her in surprise. 鈥淣o, don鈥檛 do that,鈥� he said earnestly. 鈥淗e鈥檚 an awful nice dog, but he ain鈥檛 that good.鈥�
听
Some of McClung鈥檚 columns from the 1930s and 1940s have been collected in a book, The Valiant Nellie McClung: Selected Writings by sa国际传媒鈥檚 Most Famous Suffragist, by Barbara Smith.
