Page:Great Speeches of the War.djvu/164

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134
Will Crooks

iron and hearts of oak"? Yes, our children's children shall be told how Britain's sons stood by her in her dire need, and won immortal glory. It is an obligation. You cannot refuse the call, and yet there are a few who walk about lamenting this war has happened. As there is a God above me, I say this is a holy war. [Cheers.] Whether it takes six months or six years, we have to fight it out to a finish. [Cheers.] I would rather see the whole British race blotted out than I would see any man, woman, or child working under the Kaiser.

We have read the German proclamations. "Strike terror to their hearts; frighten the women and children; leave the women nothing but their eyes to weep with," says the Kaiser. How little do they know of our family! Leave us nothing but eyes to weep with! Fancy the son of a woman of Aberdare coming back to-night and saying, "Are you frightened?" "Frightened! What do you mean?" "Oh! I understand the Germans are leaving the women with nothing but their eyes to weep with." "Oh! you've heard that, Tom, have you? Well, have you beaten the Germans yet?" "No." "Well, don't show your head in Aberdare again till you have." That's the sort of terror the Aberdare women fear most.

Be strong, we are not here to play, to dream or drift;
There's hard work to do and loads to lift.
No matter how entrenched the wrong.
The fight how hard, or how long,
Faint not, fight on; to-morrow will come the song.