People essayed tasks that, a few years ago, would have seemed impossible;
nor did they demean themselves in so doing. The production and
conservation of food has become a national enterprise that has enlisted
the active cooeperation of men, women, and children of all classes, creeds,
and conditions. Rich and poor joined in the work of war gardens, thinking
all the while not only of their own larders but quite as much of their
friends across the sea. And while they helped win the war, they were
winning their own souls, for they were yielding obedience to a spiritual
impulse and not a mere animal desire. Thus Americans and the people of
other lands, like children at school, are learning the lesson of
democracy. Moreover, they are now appalled at the wastage of former years
and at the cheapness of many of the things that once held their interest.
In this process of achieving an access of democracy it holds true that
"There is no impression without expression." Each reaction of the spirit
tends to groove the impression into a habit, and this process has had a
thousand exemplifications before our eyes since the opening of the war.
People who were only mildly inoculated with the democratic spirit at first
became surcharged with this spirit because of their many reactions. They
have been obeying the behests of spiritual impulse, working in war
gardens, eliminating luxuries, purchasing bonds, contributing to
benevolent enterprises, until democracy is their ruling passion.
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