The Lady and the Bear

Snug in her cozy Suffolk home, small, bright-eyed, merry Lady (Dorothea) Gibb read an article by famed Soviet Journalist Ilya Ehrenburg exhorting his fellow Russians to hate the Nazis harder than ever. To so devout a Quaker as 83-year-old Lady Gibb, such talk was abhorrent. She penned a note to Comrade Ehrenburg, told him he was filling Russian minds "with something very old and evil, a thirst for vengeance after victory. . . . This does not bring happiness to the victor but only leads to sorrow and evil in the future."

Back from Author Ehrenburg came an adamant reply: "Respected Lady Gibb, you are just mistaken in charging me with particular vindictiveness. As a son of my people ... I am voicing our common sentiment. You say, strange lady, that evil cannot triumph. That is true because ranged against evil are human beings. . . .

"We read with pain the reports of the flying bomb on London. Who is it that you are sorry for? The English children, or the Germans who man the flying bomb installations? You cannot forgive both the wolf and the lamb. That amounts to giving the wolf first a good dinner and then a soothing sermon to aid his digestion.

"You say the Almighty does not need the help of men to cope with the forces of evil. From childhood on I have respected all creeds but every religion teaches that man must help good to triumph. . . ."

Last week Lady Gibb learned that Ehrenburg's letter to her had been printed in the Red Star, had started a furious correspondence from Red Army men & women. Sapper Pikalov was moved to strike off a poem titled War on Lady Gibb.

Signed Lady Gibb last week: "Oh dear, what have I done now? ... I didn't expect my letter to be turned into a newspaper controversy. I wrote as a good Quaker. It won't do any good--all this hate. The ordinary people of Germany are having their punishment now. Their homes are blasted and ruined, their families are broken. I would not kill Hitler ... I should like to see him paint houses again and wallpaper a few homes."

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