Page:The land of many names (1926).pdf/103

 :

Let the busy hand seize upon it. The plough and the spade.



The first plough has not tilled that land with a fruitful furrow, and the first spade did not loosen its soil for a living harvest. The first plough and spade furrowed it with a war-trench, and the first herb which sprouted from it was bullet and barbed wire.



Such was the demand of destiny. That first trench and the furrow hollowed out by munitions, they imprinted upon it the seal of human ownership. The New Continent must be turned into property.



This is how man marked it with his ownership. With his blood he manured the Land of Dreams, and the first seed he sowed was his fathers and brothers and sons.



Many must yield up his sacrifice for the New Lands to the superhuman creator. But from the human tillage there arises a mighty harvest. The Land of Hopes has been redeemed. There was nothing else for it; we had to pay the price. But I tell you that it was worth while. Now we shall turn the Land of Hopes into the Land of Life.



What’s that you call it?



Exult! Now it’s to be called the Land of Life.