would have been if their lot had been cast in normal times. Unknown
to themselves, their "subconscious intelligence" must have taken a
colour and a tone from the circumstances in which they have been
reared. As to the colour, our task will be to wipe out the tinge
of blood; as to the tone, to restore the note which is associated
with the Angels' Song.

This is my "Plea for the Innocents." What will the State offer
them as they emerge from childhood into boyhood, and from boyhood
into adolescence?

Perhaps it will offer Conscription; and, with no "perhaps" at all,
some strident voices will pronounce that offer the finest boon
ever conferred upon the youth of a nation. Then, if there is any
manliness or fibre left in the adherents of freedom, they will
answer that we adopted Conscription for a definite object, and,
when once that object is attained, we renounce it for ever.

What will the State offer? Obviously it must offer education--but
what sort of education? The curse of militarism may make itself
felt even in the school-room. It would be deplorable indeed if,
as a result of our present experience, children were to be taught
what J. R. Green called a "drum-and-trumpet history," and were made
to believe that the triumphs of war are the highest achievements
of the human spirit.

As long as there is an Established Church, the State, in some sense,
offers religion. Is the religion of the next few years to be what
Ruskin commends: a "religion of pure mercy, which we must learn to
defend by fulfilling"; or is it to be the sort of religion which