Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/americaworldwar01roos AMERICA AND THE WORLD WAR * * * * * * BOOKS BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS. Illustrated. Large 8vo $3.50 _net_ LIFE-HISTORIES OF AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS. With Edmund Heller. Illustrated. 2 vols. Large 8vo $10.00 _net_ AFRICAN GAME TRAILS. An account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist. Illustrated. Large 8vo $4.00 _net_ OUTDOOR PASTIMES OF AN AMERICAN HUNTER. New Edition. Illustrated. 8vo $3.00 _net_ HISTORY AS LITERATURE and Other Essays. 12mo $1.50 _net_ OLIVER CROMWELL. Illustrated. 8vo $2.00 _net_ THE ROUGH RIDERS. Illustrated. 8vo $1.50 _net_ THE ROOSEVELT BOOK. Selections from the Writings of Theodore Roosevelt. 16mo 50 cents _net_ AMERICA AND THE WORLD WAR. 12mo 75 cents _net_ THE ELKHORN EDITION. Complete Works of Theodore Roosevelt. 26 volumes. Illustrated. 8vo. Sold by subscription. * * * * * * AMERICA AND THE WORLD WAR by THEODORE ROOSEVELT New York Charles Scribner’S Sons 1915 Copyright, 1915, by Charles Scribner’S Sons Published January, 1915 [Illustration] PRAYER FOR PEACE Now these were visions in the night of war: I prayed for peace; God, answering my prayer, Sent down a grievous plague on humankind, A black and tumorous plague that softly slew Till nations and their armies were no more-- And there was perfect peace ... But I awoke, wroth with high God and prayer. I prayed for peace; God, answering my prayer, Decreed the Truce of Life:--Wings in the sky Fluttered and fell; the quick, bright ocean things Sank to the ooze; the footprints in the woods Vanished; the freed brute from the abattoir Starved on green pastures; and within the blood The death-work at the root of living ceased; And men gnawed clods and stones, blasphemed and died-- And there was perfect peace ... But I awoke, wroth with high God and prayer. I prayed for peace; God, answering my prayer, Bowed the free neck beneath a yoke of steel, Dumbed the free voice that springs in lyric speech, Killed the free art that glows on all mankind, And made one iron nation lord of earth, Which in the monstrous matrix of its will Moulded a spawn of slaves. There was One Might-- And there was perfect peace ... But I awoke, wroth with high God and prayer.