It was each man for himself before the war.  It couldna be sae when the bad times came upon us.  We had to draw together.  Had we no done so we should have perished.  Men drew together in each country; nations approached one another and stood together in the face of the common peril.  They have a choice now.  They can draw apart again.  Or they can stay together and advance wi’ a resistless force toward a better life for a’ mankind.

I’ve the richt to say a’ this.  I made my sacrifice.  I maun wait, the noo, until I dee before I see my bairn again.  When I talk o’ suffering it’s as ane who has suffered.  When I speak of grief it’s as ane who has known it, and when I think of the tears that have been shed it is as ane who has shed his share.  When I speak of a mother’s grief for her son that is gone, and her hope that he has not deed in vain, it is as one who has sought to comfort the mither of his ain son.

So it’s no frae the ootside that auld Harry Lauder is looking on.  It’s no just talk he’s making when he speers sae wi’ you.  He kens what his words mean, does Harry.

I ken weel what it means for men to pull together.  I’ve seen them doing sae wi’ the shadow of death i’ the morn upon their faces.  I’ve sung, do you mind, at nicht, for men who were to dee next day, and knew it.  And they were glad, for they knew that they were to dee sae that the world micht have a better, fuller life.  I’d think I was cheating men who could no longer help themselves or defend themselves against my cheating were I to gie up the task undone that they ha’ left tae me and tae the rest of us.

Aye, it’s a bonny world they’ve saved for us.  But it’s no sae bonny yet as it maun be—­and as, God helping us, we’ll mak’ it!