Gustave Aimard: Men will be warriors as long as ignorance and brutality exist

====

Anti-war essays, poems, short stories and literary excerpts

French writers on war and peace

====

Gustave Aimard
The Frontiersmen

“O! it is horrible to think that this home I love so much should be the scene of such a conflict.”

“…I can sympathize with your sorrow, Miss Barton. God has made this country too beautiful to be marred by the strife of men.”

“It is a terrible blot on human nature,” said Ruth, “that men dwelling so far from society, in the midst of the forest, where every object should excite sacred emotions, can engage in these unholy conflicts with each other. It is a proof – a strong proof – of the wretched condition of poor human nature, unassisted by the light that shines from above.”

“Such is the nature of men,” said Ralph, “and surely, perhaps, it will always be. The first men were warriors, and if ignorance and brutality always exist, the last men will be warriors, too. The whole history of the world has been written with the sword – places most sacred have been profaned by the bloody stains of human passion, and themes the most holy have given rise to the deadliest hatred and contention. We cannot expect that men educated in the ways of the forest shall ever be wiser than those who boast of their civilization.”