Page 29 - 1917 May - To Dragma

240 TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain,
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Have you ever felt like this? I f not, perhaps you w i l l before
commencement festivities are over.
TEA
By Margaret Widdemer
They've flowers and cakes and candle-light, and chair by crowded chair
And I am very sweet and kind because I do not care.
I think that I am hoping still if I am very good,
And talk to those around me as a courteous lady should,
The room will softly split across, and roll from left to right
With all its smiling pasteboard folks and colored things and light,
And let me run into the grass and climb a sunset hill
And find three hours one year ago when I was living still!
This is f o r you who have lived in the mountains!
THE EXILE
By Katherine Tynan
Since I have lost the mountains, I
Look for them in the waste of sky.
And think to see at the street-close
The lovely line of blue and rose
The mountains keep that once I knew.
There are no mountains there at all,
But only the blank roof and wall
Of many houses red and grey.
I had forgotten the old way
The mountains keep in rain and dew.
Even in the pleasant country places,
Where the fields' faces are friends' faces,
The mountains I shall not forget,
The mountains come between us yet,
Between me and the woods and streams.
The wind that blows across them calls
Ever at dawns and evenfalls,
And I am suddenly forlorn—
Across the pastures and ripe corn
I see the mountains in my dreams.
TO DRAGMA OF ALPHA OMICRON PI 241
A WOMAN'S REPORT OF CONDITIONS IN GERMANY
F r o m The Outlook o f December 6 , 1 9 1 6 .
To readers of Mrs. Gallison's account of her visit to Germany (the
second installment o f which appears i n this number o f The Outlook)
it w i l l be interesting to compare a very different report of conditions
in Germany from another American woman. Miss Madeleine Z. Doty
last summer went to Germany. I n part, at least, her purpose was to
carry aid to underfed German babies; but i t was i n part to observe
conditions there. H e r report is appearing on successive Sundays i n
the N e w Y o r k Tribune and i n the Chicago Tribune. Miss Doty
—Joyce Kilmer. is w e l l k n o w n f o r what she has done on behalf o f prison r e f o r m .
She f o u n d the German people suffering f r o m physical privations
and the mental strain of war. The food that she had, except i n the
very best hotels and i n certain private homes, was inadequate.
"Prison diet," she says, "does not promote health or strength. One
can live on it, but patriotism and temper suffer." The people at a
cafe which she describes were "shrunken, listless, distraught." She
could not swallow the cakes that were served. " O n l y the music is
cheerful, " she says. "There is a revival o f band playing i n Ger-
many. I t is needed to hide the lack of laughter and talk Life
* has become mere existence, a prison existence." A satisfying meal
she reports as a noteworthy experience. A f t e r one such meal she
w r i t e s : " I t seems cruel to eat o f Germany's best, but I decided to
live henceforth at the most expensive hotels."
Since her preceding visit the year before she reports a change in
the attitude of the German people toward America:
To-day the average person is pathetically eager to be friends.
Slowly the people are awakening. For months the newspapers have
fed them on the triumphs of Germany and the perfidy of other
nations. B u t these stories of glorious German victories have resulted
in what? A lean and barren country, under-nourishment, death, the
hatred of other nations. The people begin to doubt their leaders.
T o call these people "barbarians" is an outrage. They are, like
ourselves, just folks, kindly and generous, deceived and browbeaten
by a ruthless military group.
Her account of being spied upon is amusing. She tells of doubling
on her tracks when she went to visit a member o f the Social Demo-
cratic party i n order that she m i g h t avoid observation. She saw
enough of spies to f o r m the f o l l o w i n g impression:
The f u n n y thing about German spies is that they dress f o r the
part. T h e y are as unmistakable as Sherlock Holmes. T h e y nearly