Tárogató, 1944-1945 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1944-11-01 / 5. szám
T Á R O G A Tó HE USED HIS VOICE It is difficult to say exactly what bravery is. It displays itself in so many different ways. The other day I was reading a story of the last war. This man “should have had a medal”, it said. Yet all the man did was to use his voice. It was the story of a troop transport five hundred miles out from Liverpool. It was dusk. This was the submarine zone and the whole ship was in darkness. Eight hundred men stood side by side, wearing their life preservers, in complete darkness. They were fourteen feet below water level, knowing there was no chance for them if a torpedo crashed amidships. Suddenly they heard the guns of their own ship, and knew that an enemy submarine had surfaced. Side by side they stood in silent terror, waiting for what they did not know, and could not see. Then, out of the darkness, a voice with something of the quality of a bullfrog, carried to the farthest corner. “Does anybody want to buy a good watch?” it asked. It was so absolutely ridiculous, everybody laughed and guffawed and with their laughter went their terror. Eight hundred men were no longer a frightened mob but eight hundred men facing danger together. The torpedo, they then learned, had missed them. The words humour and human are from the same root; a person without a sense of humour is hardly human. ' —Onward. DAREST THOU GIVE THANKS? .4 Thanksgiving Meditation By P. R. Hayward “Soul of Mine, give thanks”, I said unto myself. And My Soul said, “For what?” And I answered, “For food and shelter.” And this Soul of Mine replied from the depths and said, “On the steppes of the Andes, in the villages of India, amid the tortured homes of China, millions of thy human brothers go to bed hungry and without shelter this very night. Darest thou give thanks?” Then I said that I would give thanks that my body had not been slain in battle. And My Soul spake, “Only because other bodies have been! Darest thou give thanks?” So, when gratitude for my home came to my lips, they were silent when My Soul pointlied to the homeless; when I was grateful for health, I saw the sick: for friends, the lonely; for beauty, those tethered in ugly places; for faith, those impelled by tragic lives to doubt. And always that stern question, “Darest thou give thanks?” So when, by the miracle of a transformed spirit, I made the woes of other men my'own and heard the overtones of their unfulfilled disires, my heart sang, “Accept, O God, my humble and hearty thanks for the blessing of thy unfinished work in thy world.” THE TRUE ARISTOCRACY Mere democracy cannot solve the social question. An element of aristocracy must be introduced into our life. Of course, I do not mean the aristocracy of birth or of the purse, or even the aristocracy of intellect. I mean the aristocracy of character, of will, of mind. That only can free us. From two groups will that aristocracy I hope for come to our people—from our women and our workmen. The revolution in the social condition, now preparing in Europe, is chiefly concerned with the future of the workers and the women. In this I place all my hopes and expectations; for this I will work all my life with all my strength. —Henrik Ibsen. —Onward. THE SILENT SERMON There may be a lesson for us in ?n old story about a disciple of St. Francis who was invited to go out to preach with his master. They walked along many streets, through the busy market and back to the gate of the monastery, without either of them saying a word. Then the young man burst out: “But, master, you have forgotten to preach.” The kindly saint replied, “My son, we have preached. Our behaviour has been closely watched, and it was thus we preached our morning sermon. It is no use, my son, walking anywhere to preach unless you preach as you walk.” —J. H. A. —Onward. WHAT IS JUSTICE? In the Institutes of Justinian, Justice is said to be “the constant and perpetual will to
