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+Project Gutenberg's Lest We Forget, by John Gilbert Thompson and Inez Bigwood
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lest We Forget
+ World War Stories
+
+Author: John Gilbert Thompson
+ Inez Bigwood
+
+Release Date: July 5, 2011 [EBook #36634]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEST WE FORGET ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ | Transcriber's Note: |
+ | |
+ | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has |
+ | been preserved. |
+ | |
+ | Bold text has been marked +like this+. |
+ | |
+ +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+RECESSIONAL
+
+
+ God of our fathers, known of old,
+ Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
+ Beneath whose awful Hand we hold
+ Dominion over palm and pine--
+ Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
+ Lest we forget--lest we forget!
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Far-called, our navies melt away;
+ On dune and headland sinks the fire:
+ Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
+ Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
+ Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
+ Lest we forget--lest we forget!
+
+ RUDYARD KIPLING
+
+ [Illustration: THE KAISER: "YOU SEE YOU HAVE LOST EVERYTHING."
+ THE KING OF THE BELGIANS: "NOT MY SOUL."
+ (Reproduced by permission of the proprietors of _Punch_.)]
+
+
+
+
+ LEST WE FORGET
+
+ WORLD WAR STORIES
+
+ BY
+
+ JOHN GILBERT THOMPSON
+ PRINCIPAL OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
+ FITCHBURG, MASS.
+
+ AND
+
+ INEZ BIGWOOD
+
+ INSTRUCTOR IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
+ STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
+ FITCHBURG, MASS.
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+ SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
+ BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
+ SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Books and articles in astounding numbers have been published in the
+past four years to explain the World War and to inform the public as to
+its progress. Societies and agencies of the government have urged that
+every available means be employed to inform the American people of the
+reasons for the war and the issues at stake; and much has been done for
+adults.
+
+Little or no thought seems to have been given to youthful readers who
+are beginning to think for themselves, and whose first thinking should
+be properly guided, for they are at an age when tales of heroism and
+daring make a strong appeal. In many homes the children are the only
+readers, and in nearly all, their thinking and reading exercise a
+powerful influence.
+
+This volume of stories of the World War is prepared to meet this
+important need, and to set before the pupils the war's unparalleled
+deeds of heroism, with the aims and ideals which have inspired them,
+and which have led American youth to look upon the sacrifice of life as
+none too high a price to pay for the liberation of mankind.
+
+It may be used as a reading book or as an historical reader for the
+upper grammar grades. While great care has been employed to secure
+accuracy of fact and to select material of permanent value, the stories
+are written in a manner that will appeal to children.
+
+The thanks of the authors and publishers are hereby expressed to those
+who have kindly granted permission to use copyrighted material.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ 1. THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD 1
+
+ 2. A KING OF HEROES 20
+
+ 3. THE DEFENSE OF LIÉGE 31
+
+ 4. THE DESTRUCTION OF LOUVAIN 38
+
+ 5. CARDINAL MERCIER 43
+
+ 6. AND THE COCK CREW _Amelia Josephine Burr_ 57
+
+ 7. A BELGIAN LAWYER'S APPEAL 59
+
+ 8. EDITH CAVELL 61
+
+ 9. SON _Robert W. Service_ 66
+
+ 10. THE CASE OF SERBIA _David Lloyd George_ 68
+
+ 11. THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN FRYATT 71
+
+ 12. RUPERT BROOKE 76
+
+ 13. "LET US SAVE THE KIDDIES" 81
+
+ 14. THE CHARGE OF THE BLACK WATCH AND THE SCOTS GREYS 91
+
+ 15. THE BATTLES OF THE MARNE 94
+
+ 16. THE QUEEN'S FLOWER 105
+
+ 17. AT SCHOOL NEAR THE LINES 108
+
+ 18. A PLACE IN THE SUN 112
+
+ 19. MARSHAL JOFFRE 119
+
+ 20. THE HUN TARGET--THE RED CROSS 129
+
+ 21. "THEY SHALL NOT PASS" 140
+
+ 22. VERDUN _Harold Begbie_ 146
+
+ 23. THE BEAST IN MAN 147
+
+ 24. WHEN GERMANY LOST THE WAR _New York Sun_ 155
+
+ 25. CARRY ON! _Robert W. Service_ 162
+
+ 26. WAR DOGS 165
+
+ 27. THE BELGIAN PRINCE 175
+
+ 28. DARING THE UNDARABLE 182
+
+ 29. KILLING THE SOUL 189
+
+ 30. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION 195
+
+ 31. A BALLAD OF FRENCH RIVERS _Christopher Morley_ 207
+
+ 32. BACILLI AND BULLETS 209
+
+ 33. THE TORCH OF VALOR _Sir Gilbert Parker_ 216
+
+ 34. MARSHAL FOCH 223
+
+ 35. THE MEXICAN PLOT 228
+
+ 36. WHY WE FIGHT GERMANY _Franklin K. Lane_ 242
+
+ 37. GENERAL PERSHING 245
+
+ 38. THE MELTING POT 252
+
+ 39. BIRDMEN 256
+
+ 40. ALAN SEEGER 271
+
+ 41. CAN WAR EVER BE RIGHT? 275
+
+ 42. WHAT ONE AMERICAN DID 293
+
+ 43. RAEMAEKERS 301
+
+ 44. THE GOD IN MAN 309
+
+ 45. IN FLANDERS FIELDS _Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae_ 321
+
+ 46. THE WORLD WAR 322
+
+ 47. NATIONS AND THE MORAL LAW _John Bright_ 343
+
+ [Illustration: PRESIDENT WILSON ANNOUNCING TO JOINT SESSION OF
+ CONGRESS THE SEVERANCE OF OUR RELATIONS WITH GERMANY
+ _Copyright by G.V. Buck. From Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+
+
+
+LEST WE FORGET
+
+
+
+
+THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD
+
+
+On April 19, 1775, was fired "the shot heard round the world." It was
+the shot fired for freedom and democracy by the Americans at Lexington
+and Concord. In 1836, upon the completion of the battle monument at
+Concord, the gallant deeds of those early patriots were commemorated by
+Emerson in verse.
+
+ By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
+ Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
+ Here once the embattled farmers stood,
+ And fired the shot heard round the world.
+
+This is not the only shot for freedom fired by America and Americans.
+As President Wilson has said, "The might of America is the might of a
+sincere love for the freedom of mankind." The shots of the Civil War
+were fired for united democracy and universal freedom.
+
+The soldiers and sailors of the United States fired upon the Spaniards
+in the Spanish-American War, that an oppressed people might be
+released and given an opportunity to live and work and grow in liberty.
+
+That the Filipinos, like the Cubans, might learn to understand freedom,
+to safeguard it, and to use it wisely, has been the whole purpose of
+the United States in aiding them.
+
+On April 6, 1917, the shot was heard again. The whole world had been
+listening anxiously for it, and was not disappointed.
+
+Those against whom the first American shot for freedom was fired in
+1775 have now become the strongest defenders of liberty and democracy.
+Their country is one of the three greatest democracies of the world.
+Shoulder to shoulder, the Americans and British fight for the freedom
+of mankind everywhere. They fight to defend the truth and to make this
+truth serve down-trodden peoples as well as the mighty.
+
+Indeed, President Wilson has wisely said, "The only thing that ever set
+any man free, the only thing that ever set any nation free, is the
+truth. A man that is afraid of the truth is afraid of life. A man who
+does not love the truth is in the way of failure."
+
+Germany has no love for the truth. The history of the empire is strewn
+with broken promises and acts of deceitfulness. America stands for
+something different. It stands for those ideals which President Wilson
+saw when he looked at the flag.
+
+"And as I look at that flag," he said, "I seem to see many characters
+upon it which are not visible to the physical eye. There seem to move
+ghostly visions of devoted men who, looking at that flag, thought only
+of liberty, of the rights of mankind, of the mission of America to show
+the way to the world for the realization of the rights of mankind; and
+every grave of every brave man of the country would seem to have upon
+it the colors of the flag; if he was a true American, would seem to
+have on it that stain of red which means the true pulse of blood, and
+that beauty of pure white which means the peace of the soul. And then
+there seems to rise over the graves of those men and to hallow their
+memory, that blue space of the sky in which stars swim, these stars
+which exemplify for us that glorious galaxy of the States of the Union,
+bodies of free men banded together to vindicate the rights of mankind."
+
+At Mount Vernon, he said, in speaking of the work of George Washington,
+"A great promise that was meant for all mankind was here given plan and
+reality." So for the sake of many peoples of Europe who were wronged,
+America has carried out that promise. When honorable Americans promise,
+they would rather give up life than fail to keep their word. But when
+the Germans promise it means only "a slip of the tongue," for this is
+also the meaning of the German word which is translated "promise."
+
+That the United States has to fulfill this special mission of
+defending the truth is very clear. The great American leader said again
+in behalf of his people:
+
+"I suppose that from the first America has had one particular mission
+in the world. Other nations have grown rich, other nations have been as
+powerful as we are in material resources; other nations have built up
+empires and exercised dominion. We are not alone in any of these
+things, but we are peculiar in this, that from the first we have
+dedicated our force to the service of justice and righteousness and
+peace.
+
+"The princes among us are those who forget themselves and serve
+mankind. America was born into the world to do mankind's service, and
+no man is an American in whom the desire to do mankind's service is not
+greater than the desire to serve himself.
+
+"Our life is but a little plan. One generation follows another very
+quickly. If a man with red blood in him had his choice, knowing that he
+must die, he would rather die to vindicate some right, unselfish to
+himself, than die in his bed. We are all touched with the love of the
+glory which is real glory, and the only glory comes from utter
+self-forgetfulness and self-sacrifice. We never erect a statue to a man
+who has merely succeeded. We erect statues to men who have forgotten
+themselves and been glorified by the memory of others. This is the
+standard that America holds up to mankind in all sincerity and in all
+earnestness.
+
+"We have gone down to Mexico to serve mankind, if we can find out the
+way. We do not want to fight the Mexicans; we want to serve the
+Mexicans if we can, because we know how we would like to be free and
+how we would like to be served, if there were friends standing by ready
+to serve us. A war of aggression is not a war in which it is a proud
+thing to die, but a war of service is a thing in which it is a proud
+thing to die."
+
+The liberty-loving nations now fighting in the World War desire that
+truth and freedom shall be secured even to the Germans along with all
+other peoples. If the Germans had possessed these priceless virtues,
+probably no World War would have been necessary. But the spirit of
+militarism has bound down and deceived the German people.
+
+President Wilson, at West Point, said: "Militarism does not consist in
+the existence of any army, not even in the existence of a very great
+army. Militarism is a spirit. It is a point of view. It is a system. It
+is a purpose. The purpose of militarism is to use armies for
+aggression. The spirit of militarism is the opposite of the civilian
+spirit, the citizen spirit. In a country where militarism prevails, the
+military man looks down upon the civilian, regards him as inferior,
+thinks of him as intended for his, the military man's support and use,
+and just as long as America is America that spirit and point of view is
+impossible with us. There is as yet in this country, so far as I can
+discover, no taint of the spirit of militarism."
+
+The people of Germany have given up their sons, paid enormous taxes
+which kept them poor but made landowners rich, all for the sake of the
+military whims of their superiors.
+
+Any American would say, like President Wilson, "I would rather belong
+to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to
+be in love with liberty. But we shall not be poor if we love liberty,
+because the nation that loves liberty truly sets every man free to do
+his best and be his best, and that means the release of all the
+splendid energies of a great people who think for themselves."
+
+Thus, it is clear that America fights _to serve_. The Germans fight _to
+get_, even as their word "kriegen," used by them to mean "make war,"
+really means "to get." For them, making war is never with the idea of
+service, but with the idea of getting. They desire many things for
+Germany, and to get them, they have used the most brutal force. Not for
+a moment would they stop to listen to the opinions of mankind
+throughout the world.
+
+President Wilson spoke with authority, when he said: "I have not read
+history without observing that the greatest forces in the world and the
+only permanent forces are the moral forces. We have the evidence of a
+very competent witness, namely, the first Napoleon, who said that as he
+looked back in the last days of his life upon so much as he knew of
+human history, he had to record the judgment that force had never
+accomplished anything that was permanent. Force will not accomplish
+anything that is permanent, I venture to say, in the great struggle
+which is now going on on the other side of the sea. The permanent
+things will be accomplished afterward, when the opinion of mankind is
+brought to bear upon the issues, and the only thing that will hold the
+world steady is this same silent, insistent, all-powerful opinion of
+mankind. Force can sometimes hold things steady until opinion has time
+to form, but no force that was ever exerted except in response to that
+opinion was ever a conquering and predominant force."
+
+By the opinions of mankind, he meant ideals, of which he had already
+said: "The pushing things in this world are ideals, not ideas. One
+ideal is worth twenty ideas."
+
+Thus, in behalf of the great American nation, he calls upon the young
+Americans of to-day to follow the true spirit of their country. To them
+all he says, "You are just as big as the things you do, just as small
+as the things you leave undone. The size of your life is the scale of
+your thinking."
+
+When this great American president who believed that moral force was
+always greater than physical force and who taught that America's
+mission in the world was to serve all mankind and finally to make them
+free; when he perceived after every other means had failed, that only
+physical force could affect Germany and that "the sore spot" in the
+world must be healed, as a cancer is, with the surgeon's knife; then he
+appeared in person, on April 2, 1917, before the Congress of the United
+States and read his great war message. Following his advice, Congress
+declared on April 6 that a state of war existed with Germany.
+
+The message was in substance as follows:
+
+ Gentlemen of the Congress:
+
+ I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because
+ there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made,
+ and made immediately.
+
+ On the third of February last I laid before you the
+ extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government
+ that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose
+ to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its
+ submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either
+ the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of
+ Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany
+ within the Mediterranean.
+
+ The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of
+ every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo,
+ their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to
+ the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy
+ for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with
+ those of belligerents.
+
+ Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the stricken
+ people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with
+ safe-conduct by the German Government itself and were
+ distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk
+ with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle....
+
+ I am not now thinking of the loss of property, immense and
+ serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale
+ destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women, and
+ children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the
+ darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and
+ lawful. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and
+ innocent people cannot be.
+
+ The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a
+ warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations.
+ American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways
+ which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships
+ and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk
+ in the waters in the same way. The challenge is to all mankind.
+ Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it.
+
+ The choice we make for ourselves must be made after very careful
+ thought. We must put excited feeling away. Our motives will not
+ be revenge or the victorious show of the physical might of the
+ nation, but only the vindication of right, of human rights, of
+ which we are only a single champion....
+
+ The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms
+ at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even
+ in the defense of their rights. The armed guards which we have
+ placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale
+ of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be.
+
+ There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making;
+ we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most
+ sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or
+ violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are
+ not common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life.
+
+ With a profound sense of the solemn step I am taking and of the
+ grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating
+ obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that
+ the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German
+ Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the
+ Government and people of the United States; that it formally
+ accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon
+ it and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country
+ in a more thorough state of defense, but also to exert all its
+ power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of
+ the German Empire to terms and end the war.
+
+ While we do these things--these deeply momentous things--let us
+ be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our
+ motives and our objects are. Our object is to vindicate the
+ principles of peace and justice in the life of the world against
+ selfish and autocratic power and to set up among the really free
+ and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose
+ and action as will henceforth insure the observance of those
+ principles.
+
+ Neutrality is no longer desirable where the peace of the world
+ is involved and the freedom of its peoples; and the menace to
+ that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic
+ governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly
+ by their will, not by the will of their people.
+
+ We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling
+ toward them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon
+ their impulse that their Government acted in entering this war.
+ It was not with their knowledge or approval.
+
+ A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by
+ a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic Government
+ could be trusted to keep faith within it, or to observe its
+ agreements. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of
+ opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plotting of
+ inner circles, who could plan what they would and render an
+ account to no one, would be a corruption seated at its very
+ heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor
+ steady to a common end, and prefer the interests of mankind to
+ any narrow interests of their own.
+
+ Indeed, it is now evident that German spies were here even
+ before the war began. They have played their part in serving to
+ convince us at last that that Government entertains no real
+ friendship for us, and means to act against our peace and
+ security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies
+ against us at our very doors, the note to the German Minister at
+ Mexico City is eloquent evidence.
+
+ We are accepting this challenge because we know that in such a
+ Government, following such methods, we can never have a friend;
+ and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in
+ wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no
+ assured security of the democratic governments of the world.
+
+ We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe
+ of liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of
+ the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power.
+ We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false
+ pretense about them, to fight thus for the peace of the world
+ and for the liberation of its peoples, the German people
+ included; for the rights of nations great and small and the
+ privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of
+ obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace
+ must be planted upon the tested foundations of political
+ liberty.
+
+ We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no
+ dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material
+ compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but
+ one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be
+ satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the
+ faith and the freedom of the nations can make them.
+
+ Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object,
+ seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share
+ with all free people, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our
+ operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe
+ the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be
+ fighting for.
+
+ It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as
+ belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we
+ act without animus, not in enmity toward a people or with the
+ desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only
+ in armed opposition to an irresponsible Government which has
+ thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right, and is
+ running amuck.
+
+ We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German
+ people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early
+ reëstablishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage
+ between us, however hard it may be for them, for the time being,
+ to believe that this is spoken from our hearts.
+
+ We have borne with their present Government through all these
+ bitter months because of that friendship, exercising a patience
+ and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We
+ shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that
+ friendship in our daily attitude and actions toward the millions
+ of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live
+ among us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it
+ toward all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the
+ Government in the hour of test.
+
+ They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they
+ had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be
+ prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who
+ may be of a different mind and purpose.
+
+ If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm
+ hand of stern repression; but if it lifts its head at all, it
+ will lift it only here and there and without countenance except
+ from a lawless and malignant few.
+
+ It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the
+ Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There
+ are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead
+ of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great, peaceful people
+ into war--into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars,
+ civilization itself seeming to be in the balance.
+
+ But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight
+ for the things which we have always carried nearest our
+ hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to
+ authority to have a voice in their own government, for the
+ rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion
+ of right by such a concert of free people as shall bring peace
+ and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last
+ free.
+
+ To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes,
+ everything that we are and everything that we have, with the
+ pride of those who know that the day has come when America is
+ privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles
+ that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has
+ treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.
+
+On July 4, 1918, the United States had been at war for more than a
+year, and it seemed to the millions of people who were anxiously
+waiting for the peaceful giant to awake that very little had been
+accomplished. They were fearful that the Germans in their next great
+offensive, for which they had been preparing for over two months, might
+capture Paris, or at least get near enough to it to destroy the city
+with their long range artillery. The offensives, already launched by
+the Germans, had been frightfully effective, and the Allies felt that
+American soldiers in large numbers were necessary to save them from
+possible disaster. They were looking for a great "push" by the enemy
+and one that German leaders had promised the people at home would bring
+victory and settle the war in their favor. This offensive, as we know,
+was launched on July 15 and instead of succeeding was changed by
+Marshal Foch's counter-stroke into a serious defeat for the Germans.
+
+But this outcome could not of course be predicted in America on July 4,
+and hearts were heavy with fear that the United States might after all
+be too slow and too late. It was not then generally known that during
+the months of May and June, over a half million American soldiers had
+been landed in France.
+
+On July 4, 1776, the American colonies by a Declaration of Independence
+determined to fight for liberty and democracy; on April 6, 1917, the
+American Congress declared that the United States would help defeat the
+selfish aims of Germany. In the early fight of the American colonies
+for independence, the first battles were fought in April and the
+Declaration of Independence was signed in July of the next year; in
+the fight for the liberty of all peoples, the German included, the
+Americans entered the war in April, and the President on July 4 of the
+following year, standing at the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon,
+read a Declaration of Independence, not for America alone, but for the
+entire world.
+
+In 1776, the declaration was supported by a small army of a few small
+colonies, in 1918 the declaration was supported by the full strength of
+the greatest and wealthiest nation on the globe.
+
+It was a beautiful day with a cloudless sky and a cooling breeze.
+President Wilson and his party, including members of the cabinet; the
+British ambassador, the Earl of Reading; the French ambassador, Jules
+J. Jusserand; and other members of the diplomatic corps, had come down
+the Potomac from Washington on the President's steam yacht, the
+_Mayflower_.
+
+When they had gathered around the tomb of Washington near his old home,
+Mount Vernon, on the banks of the beautiful Potomac River,
+representatives of thirty-three nations placed wreaths of palms on the
+tomb to show their fealty to the principles for which the "Father of
+His Country" fought; then all stood with bared heads while John
+McCormack sang "The Star-Spangled Banner." As the beautiful notes rose
+and swelled and echoed over the hallowed ground, into the hearts of all
+present came the conviction that the starry flag would soon bring to
+all the peoples of the world the peace and security that surrounded
+that historic group at Mount Vernon.
+
+Then the President with the marines about him, and beyond them
+thousands of American citizens, began to read the Declaration of the
+Independence of the World. It is so simple in language that even
+children of twelve years of age may understand nearly all of it, and it
+is so deep and noble in thought that even the greatest scholars and
+statesmen will find it worthy of close study. It will stand forever
+with Washington's Farewell Address and Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech as a
+great American document. It is as follows, except that the four ends
+for which the world is fighting are restated in briefer form:
+
+ Gentlemen of the Diplomatic Corps and my Fellow-Citizens:
+
+ I am happy to draw apart with you to this quiet place of old
+ counsel in order to speak a little of the meaning of this day of
+ our nation's independence. The place seems very still and
+ remote. It is as serene and untouched by hurry of the world as
+ it was in those great days long ago, when General Washington was
+ here and held leisurely conference with the men who were to be
+ associated with him in the creation of a nation.
+
+ From these gentle slopes, they looked out upon the world and saw
+ it whole, saw it with the light of the future upon it, saw it
+ with modern eyes that turned away from a past which men of
+ liberated spirits could no longer endure. It is for that reason
+ that we cannot feel, even here, in the immediate presence of
+ this sacred tomb, that this is a place of death. It was a place
+ of achievement.
+
+ A great promise that was meant for all mankind was here given
+ plan and reality. The associations by which we are here
+ surrounded are the inspiriting associations of that noble death
+ which is only a glorious consummation. From this green hillside
+ we also ought to be able to see with comprehending eyes the
+ world that lies around us and conceive anew the purpose that
+ must set men free.
+
+ It is significant--significant of their own character and
+ purpose and of the influences they were setting afoot--that
+ Washington and his associates, like the barons at Runnymede,
+ spoke and acted, not for a class but for a people. It has been
+ left for us to see to it that it shall be understood that they
+ spoke and acted, not for a single people only, but for all
+ mankind. They were thinking not of themselves and of the
+ material interests which centered in the little groups of
+ landholders and merchants and men of affairs with whom they were
+ accustomed to act, in Virginia and the colonies to the north and
+ south of here, but of a people which wished to be done with
+ classes and special interests and the authority of men whom they
+ had not themselves chosen to rule over them.
+
+ They entertained no private purpose, desired no peculiar
+ privilege. They were consciously planning that men of every
+ class should be free and America a place to which men out of
+ every nation might resort who wished to share with them the
+ rights and privileges of freemen. And we take our cue from
+ them--do we not? We intend what they intended.
+
+ We here in America believe our participation in this present war
+ to be only the fruitage of what they planted. Our case differs
+ from theirs only in this, that it is our inestimable privilege
+ to concert with men out of every nation what shall make not only
+ the liberties of America secure, but the liberties of every
+ other people as well. We are happy in the thought that we are
+ permitted to do what they would have done had they been in our
+ place. There must now be settled once for all what was settled
+ for America in the great age upon whose inspiration we draw
+ to-day.
+
+ This is surely a fitting place from which calmly to look out
+ upon our task that we may fortify our spirits for its
+ accomplishment. And this is the appropriate place from which to
+ avow, alike to the friends who look on and to the friends with
+ whom we have the happiness to be associated in action, the faith
+ and purpose with which we act.
+
+ This, then, is our conception of the great struggle in which we
+ are engaged. The plot is written plain upon every scene and
+ every act of the supreme tragedy. On the one hand stand the
+ peoples of the world--not only the peoples actually engaged, but
+ many others also who suffer under mastery but cannot act;
+ peoples of many races and every part of the world--the peoples
+ of stricken Russia still, among the rest, though they are for
+ the moment unorganized and helpless. Opposed to them, masters of
+ many armies, stand an isolated, friendless group of governments
+ who speak no common purpose, but only selfish ambitions of their
+ own by which none can profit but themselves, and whose peoples
+ are fuel in their hands; governments which fear their people and
+ yet are for the time their sovereign lords, making every choice
+ for them and disposing of their lives and fortunes as they will,
+ as well as of the lives and fortunes of every people who fall
+ under their power--governments clothed with the strange
+ trappings and the primitive authority of an age that is
+ altogether alien and hostile to our own. The past and the
+ present are in deadly grapple and the peoples of the world are
+ being done to death between them.
+
+ There can be but one issue. The settlement must be final. There
+ can be no compromise. No half-way decision would be tolerable.
+ No half-way decision is conceivable. These are the ends for
+ which the associated peoples of the world are fighting and which
+ must be conceded them before there can be peace:
+
+ 1. Every power anywhere that can secretly and of its own single
+ choice bring war upon the world must be bound or destroyed.
+
+ 2. All questions must be settled in accordance with the wishes
+ of the people concerned.
+
+ 3. The same respect for honor and for law that leads honorable
+ men to hold their promises as sacred and to keep them at any
+ cost must direct the nations in dealing with one another.
+
+ 4. A league of nations must be formed strong enough to insure
+ the peace of the world.
+
+ These great objects can be put into a single sentence. What we
+ seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed
+ and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind.
+
+ These great ends cannot be achieved by debating and seeking to
+ reconcile and accommodate what statesmen may wish, with their
+ projects for balances of power and national opportunity. They
+ can be realized only by the determination of what the thinking
+ peoples of the world desire, with their longing hope for justice
+ and for social freedom and opportunity.
+
+ I cannot but fancy that the air of this place carries the
+ accents of such principles with a peculiar kindness. Here were
+ started forces which the great nation against which they were
+ primarily directed at first regarded as a revolt against its
+ rightful authority, but which it has long since seen to have
+ been a step in the liberation of its own peoples as well as of
+ the people of the United States; and I stand here now to
+ speak--speak proudly and with confident hope--of the spread of
+ this revolt, this liberation, to the great stage of the world
+ itself! The blinded rulers of Prussia have aroused forces they
+ know little of--forces which, once aroused, can never be crushed
+ to earth again; for they have at their heart an inspiration and
+ a purpose which are deathless and of the very stuff of triumph!
+
+
+
+
+A KING OF HEROES
+
+
+"King" is not a word that will go out of use when the world has been
+won for democracy. We shall still use it much as we do now, when we
+say, "He is a prince" or "He is a king among men"; for there are still
+good kings, as well as bad ones. Some countries that are really
+democratic prefer to keep kings as reminders of their past and as
+ornaments of their present.
+
+England is really more democratic than the United States and yet
+England has a king; and as some one has said, he is a king and a
+democrat and a king of democrats. This was well shown by his letter to
+the first American soldiers who marched through London in April, 1918,
+on their way to the battle line in France. Each soldier was handed an
+envelope bearing the inscription, "A message to you from his majesty,
+King George V." In the envelope was the letter shown on the opposite
+page, from a democratic king to the American soldiers in the army of
+democracy.
+
+ [Illustration: (hand written letter from the King of England)
+
+ WINDSOR CASTLE
+
+ Soldiers of the United States, the
+ people of the British Isles welcome
+ you, on your way to take your
+ stand beside the Armies of
+ many Nations now fighting in
+ the Old World the great battle
+ for human freedom.
+
+ The Allies will gain new heart
+ & spirit in your company
+ I wish that I could shake
+ the hand of each one of you
+ & big you God speed on your
+ mission.
+
+ George R.I.
+
+ April 1918.]
+
+
+No autocratic king or kaiser desires to shake the hand of each of his
+soldiers or to become in any way one of them. To an autocrat, to the
+German Kaiser, to the German officers, the German privates are only
+Things to be used as are swords and guns. A wounded German officer felt
+insulted because he was made well again in an English hospital in the
+same ward with German privates.
+
+An interesting story is told of a Red Cross nurse, to whom a badly
+wounded man was brought at a field hospital during one of the battles
+in which the brave little Belgian army was trying to hold back the
+invading Germans. All the surgeons were busy, and the man needed
+assistance at once. The nurse knew what was needed to save his life
+until he could receive surgical treatment, and she knew how to do it;
+but she could not do it alone. She must have help at once, and of the
+right kind.
+
+She was about to give up in despair, when she saw a man walking through
+the field hospital, cheering the sufferers and asking if he could be of
+any assistance. She called to him, and when he came she said, "You can
+save this man's life if you will help me and do just what I tell you,
+just when I tell you to do it. Do you think you can take orders and
+obey them promptly?"
+
+"I think so," replied the man. "Let us save this poor soldier's life,
+if we can."
+
+The nurse set to work, telling the stranger just what she wanted him to
+do. She wasted no words, but gave orders as if she expected them to be
+obeyed quickly and intelligently. The stranger proved himself equal to
+the occasion, and the delicate work which saved the man's life was soon
+done.
+
+"Thank you," said the nurse, as she finished. "I see you are used to
+taking orders and know how to obey. I shall remain with this soldier,
+until he regains consciousness. He will want to know to whose
+assistance he owes his life. Kindly give me your name."
+
+The stranger hesitated. Then he said, "The soldier really owes his life
+to you, but I am glad if I was able to help. If he asks, you may tell
+him the people call me Albert."
+
+And all at once the commanding little Red Cross nurse understood that
+the tall, quiet man, who, she said, showed that he was used to taking
+orders, was Albert, King of the Belgians.
+
+Italy has a king and Belgium has a king; but like King George of
+England they are democratic kings, exercising what authority is granted
+to them by the people in accordance with a constitution. The German
+Kaiser claims to hold all authority of life and death over his people,
+including the right of declaring defensive war, by "divine right," by
+God's choice of him and his family to rule.
+
+When Germany, at the outbreak of the war in 1914, resolved to break the
+treaty in which with other nations she had pledged herself never to
+violate, but always to defend, the neutrality of Belgium; when she was
+ready to declare to the world that a sacred treaty was only "a scrap of
+paper" to be torn up whenever her needs seemed to require it, she sent
+on Sunday night, August 2, 1914, at seven o'clock, an ultimatum to the
+Belgian government--to be answered within twelve hours--in substance as
+follows:
+
+ The German Government has received information, of the accuracy
+ of which there can be no doubt, that it _may_ be the intention
+ of France to send her forces across Belgium to attack Germany.
+
+ The German Government fears that Belgium, no matter how good her
+ intentions, may not be able unaided to prevent such a French
+ advance; and therefore it is necessary for the protection of
+ Germany that she should act at once.
+
+ The German Government would be very sorry to have Belgium
+ consider her action in this matter as a hostile act, for it is
+ forced upon Germany by her enemies. In order to prevent any
+ misunderstanding, the German Government declares:
+
+ 1. Germany intends no hostile act against Belgium, and if
+ Belgium makes no resistance, the German Government pledges the
+ security of the Belgian Kingdom and all its possessions.
+
+ 2. Germany pledges herself to evacuate all Belgian territory at
+ the end of the war.
+
+ 3. Germany will pay cash for all supplies needed by her troops
+ which Belgians are willing to sell her and will make good any
+ damage caused by her forces.
+
+ 4. If Belgium resists the advance of the German forces, the
+ German Government will be compelled to consider Belgium as an
+ enemy and will act accordingly. If not, the friendly relations
+ which have long united the two nations will become stronger and
+ more lasting.
+
+In twelve hours Belgium must make a decision that would change her
+entire future history and, as later events proved, the history of
+Europe and of the world. She made it; and by that decision she
+sacrificed herself and brought death and destruction upon her people
+and her possessions, but she saved her honor and her soul. Germany had
+promised her everything, if she would only let the German armies march
+unhindered through Belgium into France. No Belgian should be harmed or
+disturbed, and anything needed by the German army would be paid for.
+After the Germans had won the war, as they doubtless would have done if
+Belgium had not blocked their way, Belgium would have become a
+thriving, wealthy kingdom, under German protection. Antwerp would have
+been perhaps the greatest port in the world, and Brussels, next to
+Berlin, the world's most magnificent capital. But the Belgians did not
+hesitate nor did their heroic king.
+
+The Belgian Government replied on Monday morning, at four o'clock, in
+substance as follows:
+
+ The Note from the German Government has caused the most painful
+ surprise to the Belgian Government. The French on August 1
+ assured us most emphatically that they would respect our
+ neutrality. If this should prove to be false, the Belgian army
+ will offer the greatest possible resistance to invasion by them.
+ The neutrality of Belgium is guaranteed by the powers, among
+ them Germany, and the attack which the German Government
+ threatens to make on Belgium would be a violation of the Law of
+ Nations. No military necessity can justify such a violation of
+ right.
+
+ The Belgian Government, if it accepted the proposals of Germany,
+ would sacrifice the honor of the nation and betray its duty to
+ Europe; and it therefore refuses to believe that this will be
+ demanded in order to maintain its independence. If this
+ expectation proves unfounded, the Belgian Government is fully
+ decided to resist by all means in its power any attack against
+ its rights.
+
+On Tuesday the King brought in person a message to the Belgian
+Legislature, as President Wilson has often brought such messages to the
+American Congress. King Albert's message was in substance as follows:
+
+ Not since 1830 has Belgium passed through such an anxious hour.
+ Our independence is threatened. We still have hope that what we
+ dread may not happen; but if we have to resist invasion and
+ defend our homes, that duty will find us armed, courageous, and
+ ready for any sacrifice. Already our young men have risen to
+ defend their country in danger. I send to them, in the name of
+ the nation, a brotherly greeting. Everywhere in the provinces of
+ Flanders and of Walloon alike, in city and country, one feeling
+ fills all minds--that our duty is to resist the enemies of our
+ independence with firm courage and as a united nation.
+
+ The perfect mobilization of our army, the great number of
+ volunteers, the devotion of the citizens, the self-denial of
+ families have shown beyond doubt the bravery of the Belgian
+ people. The moment to act has come.
+
+ No one in this nation will betray his duty. The army is ready,
+ and the Government has absolute trust in its leaders and its
+ soldiers.
+
+ If the foreigner violates our territory, he will find all
+ Belgians grouped round their King and their Government, in which
+ they have absolute confidence.
+
+ I have faith in our destinies. A nation which defends its rights
+ commands the respect of all. Such a nation cannot die. God will
+ be with us in a just cause. Long live independent Belgium!
+
+Hardly had the King finished his noble message, when the Prime Minister
+announced to the Legislature that Germany had declared war upon
+Belgium, and that her troops were moving against Liége.
+
+Never as long as men remember the history of these fateful days will
+the decisive action of the heroic Belgian people and of their heroic
+king be forgotten. The slightest hesitation between right and wrong
+would have set civilization and human liberty back perhaps a thousand
+years. And the decision had to be made not only by a people, but by a
+young king with German blood in his veins and married to a German
+princess--and between sunset and sunrise.
+
+Did he see the horrors before him and his people? Did he see the
+destruction of the most beautiful buildings in the world, the pride of
+his people? Did he see the tearing down and burning of the entire city
+of Louvain, with its university and its valuable library containing
+some of the oldest and most nearly priceless books and manuscripts? Did
+he see the children and the aged dying by the roadside of hunger and
+fatigue? Did he see the Belgian men carried off as slaves to work in
+Germany?
+
+Do you think he or his Queen would have hesitated if he had? No one who
+really knows them thinks so. Nothing can justify choosing the wrong.
+King Albert, the King of Heroes, and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians
+are honored and respected by all who love liberty and justice, for it
+has been well said, "Treaties and engagements are certainly scraps of
+paper, just as promises are no more than breaths. But upon such scraps
+of paper and breaths the fabric of civilization has been built, and
+without them its everyday activity would come to an end." They
+represent truly the heroic Belgian people who by their decision on
+Sunday night, August 2, 1914, saved the world. Queen Elizabeth,
+although a Bavarian princess, has said of the Germans, "Between them
+and me has fallen a curtain of iron which will never again be lifted."
+
+The Belgian Minister to the United States said of King Albert after the
+war had begun:
+
+"It is when one talks with our soldiers that one perceives how he is
+loved; they say, all of them, that they will die for him. He is
+constantly at their side, encouraging them by his presence and his
+courage. At certain moments, he adventures too far; always he is in the
+very midst of combat."
+
+ [Illustration: KING ALBERT OF BELGIUM]
+
+The King and Queen are both of them unusually brave and daring. Not
+many royal pairs would trust their lives to cross the English Channel
+and return in an airplane, as they did in the summer of 1918 to attend
+a celebration held by the King and Queen of England.
+
+A Belgian soldier writing of King Albert said: "The King came and
+placed himself at my side in the trench. He took the rifle of a soldier
+so tired he could not stand, to give him a chance to rest, and fired,
+just like the other soldiers, for an hour and a half. He himself often
+carries their letters to the soldiers and distributes among them the
+little bundles which their friends and parents send them from the homes
+now destroyed. He shares their mess with the soldiers and he calls them
+always 'my friends.' He does not want that they shall do him honor; he
+wishes simply to be a soldier in all that the word _soldier_ means. One
+night he was seen, exhausted by fatigue, sleeping on the grass at the
+side of the road."
+
+Do you wonder that the Belgians love their King and that the world
+honors him as the Hero King of a Nation of Heroes?
+
+
+
+
+DEFENSE OF LIÉGE
+
+
+To Germany's unfair and treacherous proposal that Belgium be false to
+her promises to the world, there was but one answer for Belgium. It was
+"No." Immediately after this reply had been received by the German
+minister, and just as King Albert had finished his noble speech and
+left the House, the Belgian Prime Minister had to announce to
+Parliament that Germany had already declared war and that even at that
+moment the German soldiers were advancing toward Liége, and within a
+few hours would be besieging the city.
+
+Liége was the industrial center of Belgium, just as Antwerp was the
+commercial, and Brussels the political center, or capital. The city of
+Liége was famous for its coal mines, glass factories, and iron works.
+Of the latter the Cockerill Works of Seraing have been named as second
+only to Krupp's. The city is important historically and also
+politically--being the truest democracy in Europe. Its people were
+happy and free. Its governor was trusted and respected, but no less
+bound by common law than the people themselves.
+
+Liége also has great strategic advantages. Situated on the left bank
+of the Meuse, in a valley at the junction of three rivers, it is a
+natural stronghold. It was besides supposed to be fortified more
+perfectly than any other city in the world. A ring of twelve forts
+surrounded it, six of them large and powerful, six not so powerful and
+smaller.
+
+One weakness, however, as General Emmich, commander of the German
+forces, knew, was the great distance between the forts. The small forts
+were not placed between the large ones; but two of the smaller works
+were together on the southwest, two in a ten-mile gap across the
+northeast, a fifth was between two of the larger forts on the
+southeast. The three points where the small forts were situated were
+the places that the enemy planned to attack.
+
+Another weakness was the smallness of the garrison,--74,000 men were
+needed for the defense of Liége and Namur, and only about a hundred men
+were stationed in some of the forts.
+
+But the Belgians were equally aware of the weak points. General Leman
+gave orders to throw up entrenchments between forts and to fill the
+garrison. Even then, the number of men in the forts was but 25,000,
+when it should have been at least 50,000.
+
+Yet the Belgian soldiers, following the example of their brave leader,
+General Leman, did all they could to prepare a strong resistance.
+
+Without any delay, the German commander, on August 5, sent forward his
+men in the 7th army corps with the purpose of taking Fort Evegnée, the
+little fort on the southeast. No time was taken to bring up the heavy
+guns--the Germans thought they would not need them. In this they were
+mistaken.
+
+Three times they rushed forward, but were repulsed. The third time they
+reached the Belgian trenches; but, obeying an order to counter-attack,
+the Belgians rushed out and drove the Germans back, inflicting heavy
+losses and taking 800 prisoners.
+
+At the same time, an attack was made from the northeast by the German
+9th corps. The fighting was even fiercer here, but the enemy managed to
+break through the defenses. During the fighting, the enemy schemed to
+capture the Belgian general. Could they take General Leman, they
+thought, the Belgian soldiers would not long hold out. Therefore, when
+the fight was fiercest, eight Uhlans, two officers, and six privates,
+mistaken for Englishmen because they were in English uniform, rode to
+the headquarters of General Leman and attempted to take him prisoner.
+But they were discovered and either killed or captured, after a
+hand-to-hand struggle in the headquarter's building with members of the
+Belgian staff aided by gendarmes. Heavy street fighting forced the
+Germans back of the defenses once more. Then, by a decisive
+counter-attack, the second attack of the enemy was repulsed.
+
+That same night came a third attack from the southeast again, against
+Fort Evegnée, and also from the southwest against the two small forts,
+Chaudfontaine and Embourg.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night. The Belgians on the southwest took
+advantage of it to work at strengthening their defenses. They needed no
+lights and used none, for they were in less danger of being seen by the
+enemy.
+
+If the Germans should take this part of the city, it would be
+particularly valuable to them, for here were the great iron works, the
+railway depots, the electric lighting works, and the small-arms and gun
+factory. Besides, they could then without doubt easily march on through
+Belgium and, as the German commander planned, overrun France. France
+surely needed all the time which the brave Belgian soldiers could save
+for her, for it had never been thought that Germany would break through
+on that side. France, since her previous war with Germany, when she had
+lost the beautiful provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, had massed her
+garrisons on the eastern line. In fact, very few forts had been built
+on the Belgian side, since the two countries had always maintained
+friendly relationships with each other, and the neutrality of Belgium
+was guaranteed by the Powers. Now, if Germany could not be held back
+until the French soldiers could be brought up to the Belgian border,
+then Germany's plan of greed and tyranny would be successful, and all
+of Europe would be lost. To check the Germans here meant to save the
+rest of Europe.
+
+The city of Liége lay in darkness, save for the light of the kindly
+moon. From among the crowd of buildings, the old citadel arose like a
+great shadow. The searchlights flashed fitfully from the forts,
+traveling across the enemy's position, while the men watched, half
+expecting that the enemy would advance in the darkness, as so many of
+Germany's black deeds were committed under cover of night. Over the
+country, to the east, lay the ruined buildings, the broken walls, and
+the dead from the fearful conflict of that day.
+
+Half an hour before midnight, a storm of shot and shell broke upon the
+trenches. High explosive shells burst with brilliant flashes and loud
+uproar. The guns from the forts replied, and the city shook in the
+thundering shock.
+
+Heavy forces of Germans advanced, made a rush for the ditches, but were
+pushed back. Just before daybreak, however, the 10th corps crept up
+silently and rushed forward in a mass. The searchlights were thrown
+upon them, and the guns of the Belgian regiments fired upon them. Only
+after a hard fight, lasting five long hours, did the Germans break and
+run.
+
+But with all the heroism of the Belgian garrison, after four days and
+four nights of ceaseless fighting, the men were exhausted. They could
+not be relieved, while the Germans had many fresh troops in reserve.
+The Belgian gunners might be able to hold the forts, but they could not
+long hold the stretches of ground between. But by this time the Belgian
+staff realized this and ordered two of the generals to withdraw
+secretly with their forces while yet there was time. General Leman was
+left in charge of the remaining forces to continue the brave defense of
+the works. The Germans had brought up their heavy artillery. Sooner or
+later they would break through.
+
+On August 6, the Germans cut their way through between the forts and
+entered the city. The forts held out for a time, still holding the
+enemy from crossing the rivers. Once they had nearly crossed the large
+bridge over the Meuse, but the Belgians blew it up, and time after
+time, as the pontoon-bridges of the Germans were thrown across, above
+and below Liége, the fire from the forts destroyed them.
+
+Then, surrounded by enemies inside the city and outside, the garrison
+was forced to retire. In the latter part of August, all the forts of
+Liége were in the hands of the Germans. But Belgium had made a brave
+resistance; she had stood like Horatius at the bridge. She had kept the
+Germans back, and by so delaying them had saved Europe.
+
+The defense of Liége was one of the most brilliant military
+achievements and one of the decisive events in world history.
+
+Its brave leader, General Leman, did not see the close of the siege. He
+was wounded and captured when Fort Loncin, the large fort where he had
+taken his stand with his men, exploded under the terrific fire of the
+enemy. But from his prison, he sent the following letter to King
+Albert:
+
+ After a severe engagement fought on August 4, 5, and 6, I
+ considered that the forts of Liége could not play any other part
+ but that of stopping the advance of the enemy. I maintained the
+ military government in order to coördinate the defense as much
+ as possible and in order to exert a moral influence on the
+ garrison.
+
+ Your Majesty is aware that I was at the Fort of Loncin on August
+ 6 at noon.
+
+ Your Majesty will learn with sorrow that the fort exploded
+ yesterday at 5:20 P.M., and that the greater part of the
+ garrison is buried under the ruins. If I have not died in this
+ catastrophe, it is owing to the fact that my work had removed me
+ from the stronghold. Whilst I was being suffocated by the gases
+ after the explosion of the powder, a German captain gave me a
+ drink. I was then made a prisoner and brought to Liége. I am
+ aware that this letter is lacking in sequence, but I am
+ physically shaken by the explosion of the Fort of Loncin. For
+ the honor of our armies I have refused to surrender the fortress
+ and the forts. May your Majesty deign to forgive me. In Germany,
+ where I am taken, my thoughts will be, as they have always been,
+ with Belgium and her King. I would willingly have given my life
+ better to serve them, but death has not been granted me.
+
+ GENERAL LEMAN.
+
+
+
+
+THE DESTRUCTION OF LOUVAIN
+
+
+More than one hundred years ago, Napoleon, the famous French general,
+started out to conquer the world, just as the Germans have been
+dreaming of doing. Napoleon had almost unbelievable success--carrying
+the banner of France into practically the whole of Europe. But into
+whatever provinces Napoleon went, though bent upon the subjugation of a
+world, he never allowed his army to wantonly lay waste and destroy.
+There was great attraction for him in the wonderful works of art which
+he found in many of the large cities. He ordered his men to seize these
+works secretly and to carry them back to Paris. There they were
+preserved. France indeed is now named the preserver of the arts.
+
+Had the German officers done even this, their crime would not be so
+great to-day. The French not only saved art and property, but also
+tried to save the lives of non-combatants as often as possible.
+
+One of the leading daily papers of Cologne, Germany, explained in its
+issue of February 10, 1915, why the German soldiers have committed
+deeds that will forever shame the German people in the minds of the
+rest of humanity. Like the invasion of Belgium, these deeds are not
+defended as _right_ or _just_ but as _necessary_ to help on the German
+advance to victory. The article read as follows:
+
+ We have adopted it as a principle that the wrong-doing of an
+ individual must be expiated by the entire community to which he
+ belongs. The village in which our troops are fired upon will be
+ burned. If the guilty one is not found, substitutes will be
+ chosen from the population at large, and will be executed under
+ martial law.... The innocent must suffer with the guilty, and,
+ if the latter are not caught, must receive punishment in their
+ place, not because a crime has been committed, but to prevent
+ the commission of a future crime. Every case in which a village
+ is burned down, or hostages are executed, or the inhabitants of
+ a village which has taken arms against our invading forces are
+ killed, is a warning to the inhabitants of the territory not yet
+ occupied. There can be no doubt that the destruction of Battice,
+ Herve, Louvain, and Dinant has served as warning. The
+ devastation and bloodshed of the opening days of the war have
+ prevented the larger Belgian cities from attempting any attacks
+ upon the weak forces with which it was necessary for us to hold
+ them.
+
+The destruction of works of art and of the beautiful cathedrals built
+in the Middle Ages cannot be explained and defended in this way, but
+some other pitiable and often childish excuse is offered. The Germans
+always assume that others do as they would do in the same
+circumstances. They assumed England would not interfere, if the
+neutrality of Belgium was violated, for Germany would not have
+interfered, had she been in England's place. They assumed the French
+and English would use the towers of the cathedrals for observation
+posts, for Germany would have done so; and although they were promised
+by the Allied officers that the towers would not be so used and were
+informed by the bishops and priests that they were not so used, yet
+they proceeded to destroy the beautiful structures. Their own promises
+and statements in a similar case would have been of no value, and so
+they assumed the promises of others were valueless and that the priests
+had been compelled to lie about the matter, as the Germans would have
+forced them to do, if possible.
+
+They also fired upon the cathedrals of Ypres, Soissons, Arras, and
+Rheims in retaliation, whenever the enemy bombarded the German lines
+near by. Destroying a cathedral was like killing pure and beautiful
+women and children. The Huns felt the Allies would let them advance
+rather than have it happen.
+
+As the Germans were on their way to seize Antwerp, after they had taken
+the Belgian capital, they were driven out of Malines and turned upon
+Louvain. They were greatly irritated at the strong resistance which the
+Belgian army was making. They even feared that suddenly Belgium's
+allies would join her at Antwerp and invade Germany, upsetting the
+German plans entirely.
+
+Therefore they sought to terrorize and subdue the country by a complete
+destruction of Louvain, one of the most ancient and historic towns in
+that section of Europe. Its buildings and monuments were of world-wide
+interest.
+
+Repulsed and chased back to the outskirts of Louvain, the troops were
+ordered to destroy the town. The soldiers marched down the streets,
+singing and jeering, while the officers rode about in their military
+automobiles with an air of bravado, as they contemplated the deed they
+were about to do. They first attempted to anger the people, so as to
+have some pretext for the criminal deed they had determined upon. But
+the people, knowing the character of the Germans, showed remarkable
+restraint. They gave up all firearms, even old rifles and bows and
+arrows that were valuable historic relics. They housed and fed their
+enemies, paid them immense sums of money; and when the commander sent
+for two hundred and fifty mattresses, they even brought their own beds
+and cast them, with everything they could lay hands on, down into the
+market-place. They knew the penalty for refusal was the death of their
+respected burgomaster.
+
+The people of Boston, at the time of the Revolution, refused to feed
+and house the British soldiers. But these people of Louvain submitted
+to much worse than that, hoping that the enemy would pass on and spare
+their lives and their homes.
+
+But on Tuesday evening, August 25, as the people were sitting down to
+their evening meal, the soldiers suddenly rushed wildly through the
+streets, and furnished with bombs, set fire to all parts of the town.
+That night witnessed some of the most terrible deeds in all history.
+The town of 45,000 inhabitants was wiped out; many of the citizens were
+killed, and others were sent by train to an unknown destination.
+Besides the loss of life, there was lost to the world forever a great
+store of historic and artistic wealth.
+
+But one principal building in all the town was left standing--the Hotel
+de Ville. This was purposely saved as a monument to German authority,
+when the whole country should be taken over and rebuilt as a
+German-Belgium!
+
+This cowardly act of cruelty will always stand out as typical of German
+atrocity. Louvain was undefended and was already in the hands of the
+Germans. By this one deed perhaps more than any other, Germany showed
+to what depths of degradation she would stoop. By the destruction of
+Louvain, she put back civilization and culture for five hundred years,
+and her own good name was burned away from among the nations of the
+world. The Germans from that day were branded as the enemies of the
+human race. The world sprang with united sympathy to the side of little
+Belgium--so that for her the destruction of Louvain meant more than a
+glorious victory.
+
+
+
+
+CARDINAL MERCIER
+
+
+He is an old man, nearly seventy, with thin, grayish-white hair. He is
+very tall, as was Abraham Lincoln, nearly six feet and six inches. He
+is thin, with deep-set, jet-black eyes, and thin, almost bloodless
+lips.
+
+He is a symbol of oppressed Belgium,--frail in body, lacking great
+physical strength, but standing tall and erect with flashing eyes;
+unconquerable because of his unconquerable soul.
+
+The spirit of such men as he, and of such nations as his beloved
+Belgium, is well expressed in Henley's now famous "Invictus."
+
+ Out of the night that covers me,
+ Black as the pit from pole to pole,
+ I thank whatever gods may be
+ For my unconquerable soul.
+
+ In the fell clutch of circumstance
+ I have not winced nor cried aloud,
+ Under the bludgeonings of chance
+ My head is bloody, but unbowed.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ It matters not how strait the gate,
+ How charged with punishments the scroll.
+ I am the master of my fate;
+ I am the captain of my soul.
+
+Amidst all the horrible deeds committed by the Germans in Belgium,
+Cardinal Mercier has spoken the truth publicly and fearlessly. His
+unconquerable soul seems to have protected his frail body. He is one of
+the great heroes of brave, suffering Belgium--a hero who carries
+neither sword nor gun; but his courage might be envied by every soldier
+on the field of battle, and his judgment by every commander directing
+them.
+
+The Germans seemed to fear him from the first. General von Bissing, who
+was the German Governor of invaded Belgium, wrote to Cardinal Mercier,
+after the Cardinal's Easter letter to the oppressed Belgians appeared,
+and called him to account, suggesting what might happen to him if he
+did not cease his attacks upon the Germans and German methods.
+
+The Cardinal replied that he would never surrender his liberty of
+judgment and that, whenever the orders and laws of the Germans were in
+conflict with the laws of God, he would follow the latter and advise
+his people to do the same.
+
+"We render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's," he wrote, "for we
+pay you the silent dread of your strength, but we keep, sacred in our
+hearts and free from your orders, our ideas of right and wrong.
+
+"It was not without careful thought that we denounced to the world the
+evils you have done to our brothers and sisters--frightful evils and
+horrible crimes, the tragic horror of which cold reason refuses to
+admit.
+
+"But had we not done so, we should have felt ourselves unworthy of our
+high office.
+
+"As a Belgian, we have heard the cries of sorrow of our people; as a
+patriot, we have sought to heal the wounds of our country; and as a
+bishop, we have denounced the crimes against innocent priests."
+
+They deprived him of his automobile, with which he used to hasten to
+all parts of Belgium to assist and comfort sufferers from German
+tyranny and torture. They ordered him to remain in his residence.
+
+As a part of his church duty, he wished to go to Brussels to celebrate
+high mass. He applied for a pass which would allow him to go by train
+or trolley. An excuse was invented for refusing it. Then the Cardinal
+sent word to the Commandant that he must go and that he would walk. Two
+hours afterward he left his residence on foot, accompanied by two or
+three priests, and started on his walk of fifteen or more miles to
+Brussels.
+
+Men, women, and children, and priests from every part of the city
+crowded about him and followed him, till he reached the German
+sentries, who stopped the crowd and demanded where they were going.
+
+The Cardinal showed his _Ausweiss_, an identification card which every
+Belgian must carry, and he was allowed to proceed with two priests for
+companions. The other priests demanded the right to go on, and a heated
+dispute arose between them and the sentries. One of the priests lost
+his temper and forgot himself so far that he began to beat one of the
+sentries with his umbrella. The other sentry called for help, and the
+crowd was soon dispersed. The angry priest was put under arrest and led
+off to the guardhouse.
+
+The Cardinal had gone on but a short way when the uproar behind him
+caused him to stop and look back at what was happening. When he saw the
+priest led off by the soldiers, he and his companions turned back and
+followed the soldiers to the little guardhouse. He walked directly in,
+looking neither to the right nor the left, standing a head above the
+rest of the crowd. He fixed his piercing black eyes upon the eyes of
+the priest; then he beckoned him to come and turned and walked out,
+followed by the priest.
+
+The soldiers made no attempt to stop them. They seemed to recognize an
+authority that they could not help obeying, even though they did not
+want to. The Cardinal accompanied by the three priests went on down the
+road and out of Malines towards Brussels. They walked about half way
+to the city and then took the trolleys.
+
+In speaking of the Germans, the Cardinal is reported to have said,
+"They are so stupid, these Germans! Sometimes I feel that they are like
+silly, cruel children, and that I should do something to help them."
+
+He loves America and the Americans and is grateful for all that the
+United States have done for his suffering people. He told one of his
+fellow-workers who had become discouraged, "If you follow a great
+Captain, as I do, you will never be discouraged."
+
+In him martyred Belgium has found a voice heard round the world. He has
+never ceased to denounce the atrocious crimes of the German masters of
+his country and he has continually sought to comfort and cheer his
+unhappy people. He sees far, and so he sees clearly the power outside
+ourselves that finally brings to Right the victory over Might. His
+Pastoral Letter, Christmas, 1914, will never be forgotten nor will the
+words of cheer to his suffering people when he reminds them of the
+greatest truth of life, that only through sacrifice and suffering come
+the things best worth while. His statement in letters to the German
+Commandant of the facts concerning the deportation of Belgians into
+Germany, to work as virtual slaves, will forever form part of the
+records of history's blackest deeds.
+
+This Pastoral Letter of Christmas, 1914, is in part as follows:
+
+ It was in Rome itself that I received the tidings--stroke after
+ stroke--of the destruction of the church of Louvain, of the
+ burning of the Library and of the scientific laboratories of our
+ great University and of the devastation of the city, and next of
+ the wholesale shooting of citizens, and tortures inflicted upon
+ women and children, and upon unarmed and undefended men. And
+ while I was still under the shock of these calamities, the
+ telegraph brought us news of the bombardment of our beautiful
+ metropolitan church, of the church of Notre Dame, of the
+ episcopal palace, and of a great part of our dear city of
+ Malines.
+
+ Afar, without means of communication with you, I was compelled
+ to lock my grief within my own afflicted heart, and to carry it,
+ with the thought of you, which never left me, to my God.
+
+ I needed courage and light, and sought them in such thoughts as
+ these. A disaster has come upon the world, and our beloved
+ little Belgium, a nation so faithful in the great mass of her
+ population to God, so upright in her patriotism, so noble in her
+ King and Government, is the first sufferer. She bleeds; her sons
+ are stricken down, within her fortresses, and upon her fields,
+ in defense of her rights and of her territory. Soon there will
+ not be one Belgian family not in mourning. Why all this sorrow,
+ my God? Lord, Lord, hast Thou forsaken us?
+
+ The truth is that no disaster on earth is as terrible as that
+ which our sins provoke.
+
+ I summon you to face what has befallen us, and to speak to you
+ simply and directly of what is your duty, and of what may be
+ your hope. That duty I shall express in two words: Patriotism
+ and Endurance.
+
+
+ PATRIOTISM
+
+ When, on my return from Rome, I went to Havre to greet our
+ Belgian, French, and English wounded; when, later at Malines, at
+ Louvain, at Antwerp, it was given to me to take the hands of
+ those brave men who carried a bullet in their flesh, a wound on
+ their forehead, because they had marched to the attack of the
+ enemy, or borne the shock of his onslaught, it was a word of
+ gratitude to them that rose to my lips. "O brave friends," I
+ said, "it was for us, it was for each one of us, it was for me,
+ that you risked your lives and are now in pain. I am moved to
+ tell you of my respect, of my thankfulness, to assure you that
+ the whole nation knows how much she is in debt to you."
+
+ For in truth our soldiers are our saviors.
+
+ A first time, at Liége, they saved France; a second time, in
+ Flanders, they halted the advance of the enemy upon Calais.
+ France and England know it; and Belgium stands before them both,
+ and before the entire world, as a nation of heroes. Never before
+ in my whole life did I feel so proud to be a Belgian as when, on
+ the platforms of French stations, and halting a while in Paris,
+ and visiting London, I was witness of the enthusiastic
+ admiration our allies feel for the heroism of our army. Our King
+ is, in the esteem of all, at the very summit of the moral scale;
+ he is doubtless the only man who does not recognize that fact,
+ as, simple as the simplest of his soldiers, he stands in the
+ trenches and puts new courage, by the calmness of his face, into
+ the hearts of those of whom he requires that they shall not
+ doubt of their country. The foremost duty of every Belgian
+ citizen at this hour is gratitude to the army.
+
+ If any man had rescued you from shipwreck or from a fire, you
+ would hold yourselves bound to him by a debt of everlasting
+ thankfulness. But it is not one man, it is two hundred and fifty
+ thousand men who fought, who suffered, who fell for you so that
+ you might be free, so that Belgium might keep her independence,
+ so that after battle, she might rise nobler, purer, more erect,
+ and more glorious than before.
+
+ Pray daily, my Brethren, for these two hundred and fifty
+ thousand, and for their leaders to victory; pray for our
+ brothers in arms; pray for the fallen; pray for those who are
+ still engaged; pray for the recruits who are making ready for
+ the fight to come.
+
+ Better than any other man, perhaps, do I know what our unhappy
+ country has undergone. Nor will any Belgian, I trust, doubt of
+ what I suffer in my soul, as a citizen and as a Bishop, in
+ sympathy with all this sorrow. These last four months have
+ seemed to me age-long. By thousands have our brave ones been
+ mown down; wives, mothers are weeping for those they shall not
+ see again; hearths are desolate; dire poverty spreads, anguish
+ increases. At Malines, at Antwerp, the people of two great
+ cities have been given over, the one for six hours, the other
+ for thirty-four hours of a continuous bombardment, to the throes
+ of death. I have passed through the greater part of the most
+ terribly devastated districts and the ruins I beheld, and the
+ ashes, were more dreadful than I, prepared by the saddest of
+ forebodings, could have imagined. Other parts which I have not
+ yet had time to visit have in like manner been laid waste.
+ Churches, schools, asylums, hospitals, convents in great
+ numbers, are in ruins. Entire villages have all but disappeared.
+ At Werchter-Wackerzeel, for instance, out of three hundred and
+ eighty homes, a hundred and thirty remain; at Tremeloo two
+ thirds of the village are overthrown; at Bueken out of a hundred
+ houses, twenty are standing; at Schaffen one hundred and
+ eighty-nine houses out of two hundred are destroyed--eleven
+ still stand. At Louvain the third part of the buildings are
+ down; one thousand and seventy-four dwellings have disappeared;
+ on the town land and in the suburbs, one thousand eight hundred
+ and twenty-three houses have been burnt.
+
+ In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in my thoughts, the
+ magnificent church of St. Peter will never recover its former
+ splendor. The ancient college of St. Ives, the art-schools, the
+ consular and commercial schools of the University, the old
+ markets, our rich library with its collections, its unique and
+ unpublished manuscripts, its archives, its gallery of great
+ portraits of illustrious rectors, chancellors, professors,
+ dating from the time of its foundation, which preserved for
+ masters and students alike a noble tradition and were an
+ incitement in their studies--all this accumulation of
+ intellectual, of historic, and of artistic riches, the fruit of
+ the labors of five centuries--all is reduced to dust.
+
+ Thousands of Belgian citizens have in like manner been deported
+ to the prisons of Germany, to Münsterlagen, to Celle, to
+ Magdeburg. At Münsterlagen alone three thousand one hundred
+ civil prisoners were numbered. History will tell of the physical
+ and moral torments of their long martyrdom. Hundreds of innocent
+ men were shot. I possess no complete list, but I know that there
+ were ninety-one shot at Aerschot, and that there, under pain of
+ death, their fellow citizens were compelled to dig their graves.
+ In the Louvain group of communes one hundred and seventy-six
+ persons, men and women, old men and babies, rich and poor, in
+ health and sickness, were shot or burnt.
+
+ In my diocese alone I know that thirteen priests were put to
+ death. One of these, the parish priest of Gelrode, suffered, I
+ believe, a veritable martyrdom.
+
+ We can neither number our dead nor compute the measure of our
+ ruins. And what would it be if we turned our sad steps towards
+ Liége, Namur, Andenne, Dinant, Tamines, Charleroi, and
+ elsewhere?
+
+ And where lives were not taken, and where buildings were not
+ thrown down, what anguish unrevealed! Families, hitherto living
+ at ease, now in bitter want; all commerce at an end, all careers
+ ruined; industry at a standstill; thousands upon thousands of
+ workingmen without employment; working-women, shop-girls, humble
+ servant-girls without the means of earning their bread; and poor
+ souls forlorn on the bed of sickness and fever, crying, "O Lord,
+ how long, how long?"
+
+ How long, O Lord, they wondered, how long wilt Thou suffer the
+ pride of this iniquity? Or wilt Thou finally justify the impious
+ opinion that Thou carest no more for the work of Thy hands? A
+ shock from a thunderbolt, and behold all human foresight is set
+ at naught. Europe trembles upon the brink of destruction.
+
+ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
+
+ Many are the thoughts that throng the breast of man to-day, and
+ the chief of them all is this: God reveals Himself as the
+ Master. The nations that made the attack, and the nations that
+ are warring in self-defense, alike confess themselves to be in
+ the hand of Him without whom nothing is made, nothing is done.
+ Men long unaccustomed to prayer are turning again to God. Within
+ the army, within the civil world, in public, and within the
+ individual conscience, there is prayer. Nor is that prayer
+ to-day a word learnt by rote, uttered lightly by the lip; it
+ surges from the troubled heart, it takes the form, at the feet
+ of God, of the very sacrifice of life.
+
+ God will save Belgium, my Brethren, you cannot doubt it.
+
+ Nay, rather, He is saving her.
+
+ Across the smoke of conflagration, across the stream of blood,
+ have you not glimpses, do you not perceive signs, of His love
+ for us? Is there a patriot among us who does not know that
+ Belgium has grown great? Nay, which of us would have the heart
+ to cancel this last page of our national history? Which of us
+ does not exult in the brightness of the glory of this shattered
+ nation? Let us acknowledge that we needed a lesson in
+ patriotism. There were Belgians, and many such, who wasted their
+ time and their talents in futile quarrels of class with class,
+ of race with race, of passion with personal passion.
+
+ Yet when, on the second of August, a mighty foreign power,
+ confident in its own strength and defiant of the faith of
+ treaties, dared to threaten us in our independence, then did all
+ Belgians, without difference of party, or of condition, or of
+ origin, rise up as one man, [close-ranged] about their own king
+ and their own government, and cry to the invader: "Thou shalt
+ not pass!"
+
+ At once, instantly, we were conscious of our own patriotism. For
+ down within us all is something deeper than personal interests,
+ than personal kinships, than party feeling, and this is the need
+ and the will to devote ourselves to that more general interest
+ which Rome called the public thing, _Res publica_. And this
+ profound will within us is Patriotism.
+
+ Our country is not a mere gathering of persons or of families
+ dwelling on the same soil, having amongst themselves relations,
+ more or less intimate, of business, of neighborhood, of a
+ community of memories, happy or unhappy. Not so; it is an
+ association of living souls to be defended and safeguarded at
+ all costs, even the cost of blood, under the leadership of those
+ presiding over its fortunes. And it is because of this general
+ spirit that the people of a country live a common life in the
+ present, through the past, through the aspirations, the hopes,
+ the confidence in a life to come, which they share together.
+ Patriotism, an internal principle of order and of unity, an
+ organic bond of the members of a nation, was placed by the
+ finest thinkers of Greece and Rome at the head of the natural
+ virtues.
+
+
+ ENDURANCE
+
+ We may now say, my Brethren, without unworthy pride, that our
+ little Belgium has taken a foremost place in the esteem of
+ nations. I am aware that certain onlookers, notably in Italy and
+ in Holland, have asked how it could be necessary to expose this
+ country to so immense a loss of wealth and of life, and whether
+ a verbal manifesto against hostile aggression, or a single
+ cannon-shot on the frontier, would not have served the purpose
+ of protest. But assuredly all men of good feeling will be with
+ us in our rejection of these paltry counsels.
+
+ On the 19th of April, 1839, a treaty was signed in London, by
+ King Leopold, in the name of Belgium on the one part, and by the
+ Emperor of Austria, the King of France, the Queen of England,
+ the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Russia on the other; and
+ its seventh article decreed that Belgium should form a separate
+ and perpetually neutral State, and should be held to the
+ observance of this neutrality in regard to all other States. The
+ signers promised, for themselves and their successors, upon
+ their oaths, to fulfill and to observe that treaty in every
+ point and every article. Belgium was thus bound in honor to
+ defend her own independence. She kept her oath. The other Powers
+ were bound to respect and to protect her neutrality. Germany
+ violated her oath; England kept hers.
+
+ These are the facts.
+
+ The laws of conscience are sovereign laws. We should have acted
+ unworthily had we evaded our obligation by a mere feint of
+ resistance. And now we would not change our first resolution; we
+ exult in it. Being called upon to write a most solemn page in
+ the history of our country, we resolved that it should be also a
+ sincere, also a glorious page. And as long as we are required to
+ give proof of endurance, so long we shall endure.
+
+ All classes of our citizens have devoted their sons to the
+ cause of their country; but the poorer part of the population
+ have set the noblest example, for they have suffered also
+ privation, cold, and famine. If I may judge of the general
+ feeling from what I have witnessed in the humbler quarters of
+ Malines, and in the most cruelly afflicted districts of my
+ diocese, the people are energetic in their endurance. They look
+ to be righted; they will not hear of surrender.
+
+ The sole lawful authority in Belgium is that of our King, of the
+ elected representatives of the nation. This authority alone has
+ a right to our affection, our submission.
+
+ Occupied provinces are not conquered provinces. Belgium is no
+ more a German province than Galicia is a Russian province.
+ Nevertheless the occupied portion of our country is in a
+ position it is compelled to endure. The greater part of our
+ towns, having surrendered to the enemy on conditions, are bound
+ to observe those conditions. From the outset of military
+ operations, the civil authorities of the country urged upon all
+ private persons the necessity of avoiding hostile acts against
+ the enemy's army. That instruction remains in force. It is our
+ army, and our army solely, in league with the brave troops of
+ our Allies, that has the honor and the duty of national defense.
+ Let us intrust the army with our final deliverance.
+
+ Towards the persons of those who are holding dominion among us
+ by military force, and who cannot but know of the energy with
+ which we have defended, and are still defending, our
+ independence, let us conduct ourselves with all needful
+ forbearance. Let us observe the rules they have laid upon us so
+ long as those rules do not violate our personal liberty, nor our
+ consciences, nor our duty to our country. Let us not take
+ bravado for courage, nor tumult for bravery.
+
+ Our distress has moved the other nations. England, Ireland, and
+ Scotland; France, Holland, the United States, Canada, have vied
+ with each other in generosity for our relief. It is a spectacle
+ at once most mournful and most noble. Here again is a revelation
+ of the Providential Wisdom which draws good from evil. In your
+ name, my Brethren, and in my own, I offer to the governments and
+ the nations that have succored us the assurance of our
+ admiration and our gratitude.
+
+
+OZYMANDIAS
+
+ I met a traveler from an antique land
+ Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
+ Stand in the desert.... Near them, on the sand,
+ Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
+ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
+ Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
+ Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
+ The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
+ And on the pedestal these words appear:
+ "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
+ Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
+ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
+ Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
+ The lone and level sands stretch far away.
+ PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
+
+
+
+
+AND THE COCK CREW[1]
+
+
+ "I hate them all!" said old Gaspard,
+ And in his weather-beaten face
+ The lines of bitterness grew hard,
+ For he had seen his dwelling-place
+ Laid waste in very wantonness,
+ And all his little treasures flung
+ Into that never-sated press
+ From which no wine, but gall, had sprung--
+ And not his heart alone was sore,
+ For in his frail old limbs he bore
+ Wounds of the heavy, ruthless hand
+ That weighed so cruelly of late
+ Upon the people and the land.
+ It was not hard to understand
+ Why old Gaspard should hate
+ Even the German lad who lay
+ His neighbor in the hospital,
+ The boy who pleaded night and day:
+ "Don't let me die! don't let me die!
+ When I see the dawn, I know
+ I shall live out that day, and then
+ I'm not afraid--till dark--but oh,
+ How soon the night comes round again!
+ Don't let me die! don't let me die!"
+
+ The old man muttered at each low,
+ Pitiful, half delirious cry,
+ "They should die, had I the say,
+ In hell's own torment, one and all!"
+ And then would drag himself away,
+ Despite each motion's agony,
+ To where the wounded poilus lay,
+ And cheer them with his mimicry
+ Of barnyard noises, and his gay
+ Old songs of what life used to be.
+ One night the lad suddenly cried,
+ "Mother!" And though the sister knew--
+ He was so young, so terrified,
+ "You're safe--the east is light," she lied.
+ But "No!" he sobbed, "the cock must crow
+ Before the dawn!" They did not hear
+ A cripple crawl across the floor,
+ But all at once, outside the door,
+ In the courtyard, shrill and clear,
+ Once, twice and thrice, chanticleer crew.
+ The blue eyes closed and the boy sighed,
+ "I'm not afraid, now day's begun.
+ I'll live--till--" With a smile, he died.
+
+ And in that hour when he denied
+ The god of hate, I think that One
+ Passed through the hospital's dim yard
+ And turning, looked on old Gaspard.
+
+ AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] COPYRIGHT BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+A BELGIAN LAWYER'S APPEAL
+
+
+One of the great lawyers of Belgium in behalf of the members of the bar
+of Brussels, Liége, Ghent, Charleroi, Mons, Louvain, and Antwerp,
+appeared twice before the German Court of Justice at Brussels and
+appealed for more just treatment of the Belgian people. In his first
+appeal, he protested against the illegal manner in which the Belgians
+were accused of crime, tried, and convicted at the pleasure of German
+officials. He concluded with the following eloquent words:
+
+ I can understand martial law for armies in the field. It is the
+ immediate reply to an aggression against the troops, the quick
+ justice of the commander of the army responsible for his
+ soldiers. But our armies are far away; we are no longer in the
+ zone of military operations. Nothing here threatens your troops,
+ the inhabitants are calm.
+
+ The people have taken up work again. You have bidden them do it.
+ Each one attends to his business--magistrates, judges, officials
+ of the provinces and cities, the clergy, all are at their posts,
+ united in one outburst of national interest and brotherhood.
+
+ However, this does not mean that they have forgotten. The
+ Belgian people lived happily in their corner of the earth,
+ confident in their dream of independence. They saw this dream
+ dispelled; they saw their country ruined and devastated; its
+ ancient hospitable soil has been sown with thousands of tombs
+ where our own sleep; the war has made tears flow which no hand
+ can dry. No, the murdered soul of Belgium will never forget.
+
+His second appeal will be spoken by school children in Belgium, and
+perhaps in America, when the names of the German judges to whom he
+spoke are forgotten even in Germany.
+
+ We are not annexed. We are not conquered. We are not even
+ vanquished. Our army is fighting. Our colors float alongside
+ those of France, England, and Russia. The country subsists. She
+ is simply unfortunate. More than ever, then, we now owe
+ ourselves to her, body and soul. To defend her rights is also to
+ fight for her.
+
+ We are living hours now as tragic as any country has ever known.
+ All is destruction and ruin around us. Everywhere we see
+ mourning. Our army has lost half of its effective forces. Its
+ percentage in dead and wounded will never be reached by any of
+ the belligerents. There remains to us only a corner of ground
+ over there by the sea. The waters of the Yser flow through an
+ immense plain peopled by the dead. It is called the Belgian
+ Cemetery. There sleep our children by the thousands. There they
+ are sleeping their last sleep. The struggle goes on bitterly and
+ without mercy.
+
+ Your sons, Mr. President, are at the front; mine as well. For
+ months we have been living in anxiety regarding the morrow.
+
+ Why these sacrifices, why this sorrow? Belgium could have
+ avoided these disasters, saved her existence, her treasures, and
+ the lives of her children, but she preferred her honor.
+
+
+
+
+EDITH CAVELL
+
+
+Americans are particularly interested in the story of Edith Cavell,
+because the American minister in Brussels on behalf of the American
+people asked German officials to spare her life, or at least to
+postpone her execution, until he might have an opportunity to see that
+she was properly defended. Germany's disregard of America and the
+wishes of the American people was clearly shown by the scornful manner
+in which Germany set aside as of no importance American protests and
+requests. Her action in this case was similar to her action earlier in
+regard to the _Lusitania_, involving in both cases direct falsehoods by
+representatives of the German government.
+
+Germans wondered that the shooting of an English woman for treason
+should cause a sensation, just as they wondered why even their enemies
+did not applaud them for murdering more than a thousand non-combatants
+on the _Lusitania_. They did not realize that both of these crimes
+would add thousands of volunteers to the armies fighting against them,
+and that they would always be recorded in history as among the most
+despicable deeds of a civilized nation. Some one has said, "Attila and
+his Huns were ignorant barbarians, but the modern Huns know better and
+therefore they are more to be condemned."
+
+Edith Cavell was so brave, so frank, so honest that it would seem that
+even to the Germans her virtues would
+
+ plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against
+ The deep damnation of her taking-off.
+
+But not so, for German education and training have evidently made the
+German people look upon almost everything in a way different from that
+of Americans, Englishmen, and Frenchmen. And yet the common German
+people do at times show that they have a feeling of admiration, if not
+of affection, for peoples of other nations; for we are told of a German
+city erecting a statue to the French and English soldiers who died as
+captives in the German prison located there, with the inscription, _To
+our Comrades, who here died for their Fatherland_.
+
+But we must remember that there are many kingdoms in Germany and cruel
+Prussia rules them all. It was Prussian savagery and barbarity that
+approved the massacre by the Turks of almost an entire people, the
+Armenians, and it was done under the eyes of German officers. The same
+is true of the wholesale slaughter of non-combatant Serbian men, women,
+and children by the Bulgarians. A word from Germany would have stopped
+it all.
+
+When the war broke out, Edith Cavell was living in England with her
+aged mother. She felt her duty was in Belgium and she went to Brussels
+and established a private hospital. An American woman, Mary Boyle
+O'Reilly of Boston, a daughter of the poet, John Boyle O'Reilly, worked
+with her for a time. When Miss O'Reilly was expelled from Belgium, she
+begged Miss Cavell to leave that land of horror, but Miss Cavell only
+said, "My duty is here."
+
+She and her nurses cared for many a wounded German soldier and this
+alone should have insured her fair treatment, if not gratitude, from
+Germany.
+
+She was arrested, kept in solitary confinement for ten weeks without
+any charge being made against her; then was tried secretly for having
+sheltered French and Belgian soldiers who were seeking to escape to
+Holland.
+
+It is probably true that Miss Cavell did this, but the history of war
+in modern times records no case where any one has been put to death for
+giving shelter for a short time to a fugitive soldier. Such an act does
+not, according to the custom of civilized countries, make one a spy,
+nor is it treason.
+
+Those who have investigated the case carefully have come to the
+conclusion that the Germans decided to make a terrible example of some
+of the women in Brussels who were sympathizing with and perhaps helping
+French and Belgian soldiers to escape to Holland, for about the same
+time twenty-two other women were arrested on the same charge as that
+finally made against Edith Cavell.
+
+When Brand Whitlock, the American minister, learned from an outsider
+(he could get no information from the German officials) that Edith
+Cavell had been condemned, he sent the following letters, one a
+personal one, the other an official one, to the German commandant:
+
+ Personal:
+
+ MY DEAR BARON:
+
+ I am too ill to put my request before you in person, but once
+ more I appeal to the generosity of your heart. Stand by and save
+ from death this unfortunate woman. Have pity on her.
+
+ Your devoted friend,
+ BRAND WHITLOCK.
+
+
+ Official:
+
+ I have just heard that Miss Cavell, a British subject, and
+ consequently under the protection of my Legation, was this
+ morning condemned to death by court-martial.
+
+ If my information is correct, the sentence in the present case
+ is more severe than all the others that have been passed in
+ similar cases which have been tried by the same Court, and,
+ without going into the reasons for such a drastic sentence, I
+ feel that I have the right to appeal to your Excellency's
+ feelings of humanity and generosity in Miss Cavell's favor, and
+ to ask that the death penalty passed on Miss Cavell may be
+ commuted and that this unfortunate woman shall not be executed.
+
+ Miss Cavell is the head of the Brussels Surgical Institute. She
+ has spent her life in alleviating the sufferings of others, and
+ her school has turned out many nurses who have watched at the
+ bedside of the sick all the world over, in Germany as in
+ Belgium. At the beginning of the war Miss Cavell bestowed her
+ care as freely on the German soldiers as on others. Even in
+ default of all other reasons, her career as a servant of
+ humanity is such as to inspire the greatest sympathy and to call
+ for pardon. If the information in my possession is correct, Miss
+ Cavell, far from shielding herself, has, with commendable
+ straightforwardness, admitted the truth of all the charges
+ against her, and it is the very information which she herself
+ has furnished, which has aggravated the severity of the sentence
+ passed on her.
+
+ It is then with confidence, and in the hope of its favorable
+ reception, that I have the honor to present to your Excellency
+ my request for pardon on Miss Cavell's behalf.
+
+ BRAND WHITLOCK.
+
+But no real attention was paid to the American notes. Edith Cavell was
+sentenced at five o'clock on the afternoon of October 11, and was put
+to death that same night.
+
+Permission was refused to take her body for burial outside the prison.
+It is doubtless still buried in the prison yard unless the Germans have
+removed it for fear a monument may be erected above it. The English are
+to erect a monument in her honor in London. Dr. James M. Beck, in
+writing about her case, says of her burial in the prison yard, "One can
+say of that burial place, as Byron said of the prison cell of Chillon:
+'Let none these marks efface, for they appeal from tyranny to God.'"
+
+
+
+
+SON[2]
+
+
+ He hurried away, young heart of joy, under our Devon sky!
+ And I watched him go, my beautiful boy, and a weary woman was I.
+ For my hair is gray, and his was gold; he'd the best of his life
+ to live;
+ And I'd loved him so, and I'm old, I'm old; and he's all I had to
+ give.
+
+ Ah, yes, he was proud and swift and gay, but oh, how my eyes were
+ dim!
+ With the sun in his heart he went away, but he took the sun with
+ him.
+ For look! How the leaves are falling now, and the winter won't be
+ long....
+ Oh, boy, my boy with the sunny brow, and the lips of love and of
+ song!
+
+ How we used to sit at the day's sweet end, we two by the
+ fire-light's gleam,
+ And we'd drift to the Valley of Let's Pretend, on the beautiful
+ River of Dream.
+ Oh, dear little heart! All wealth untold would I gladly, gladly pay
+ Could I just for a moment closely hold that golden head to my gray.
+
+ For I gaze in the fire, and I'm seeing there a child, and he waves
+ to me;
+ And I run and I hold him up in the air, and he laughs and shouts
+ with glee;
+ A little bundle of love and mirth, crying: "Come, Mumsie dear!"
+ Ah, me! If he called from the ends of the earth I know that my
+ heart would hear.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Yet the thought comes thrilling through all my pain: how worthier
+ could he die?
+ Yea, a loss like that is a glorious gain, and pitiful proud am I.
+ For Peace must be bought with blood and tears, and the boys of our
+ hearts must pay;
+ And so in our joy of the after-years, let us bless them every day.
+
+ And though I know there's a hasty grave with a poor little cross
+ at its head,
+ And the gold of his youth he so gladly gave, yet to me he'll never
+ be dead.
+ And the sun in my Devon lane will be gay, and my boy will be with
+ me still,
+ So I'm finding the heart to smile and say: "Oh God, if it be
+ Thy Will!"
+
+ ROBERT W. SERVICE.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] COPYRIGHT BY BARSE AND HOPKINS.
+
+
+
+
+THE CASE OF SERBIA
+
+
+But Belgium is not the only little nation that has been attacked in
+this war, and I make no excuse for referring to the case of the other
+little nation--the case of Serbia. The history of Serbia is not
+unblotted. What history in the list of nations is unblotted? The first
+nation that is without sin, let her cast a stone at Serbia--a nation
+trained in a horrible school. But she won her freedom with her
+tenacious valor, and she has maintained it by the same courage. If any
+Serbians were mixed up in the assassination of the Grand Duke, they
+ought to be punished. Serbia admits that. The Serbian Government had
+nothing to do with it. Not even Austria claimed that. The Serbian Prime
+Minister is one of the most capable and honored men in Europe. Serbia
+was willing to punish any one of her subjects who had been proved to
+have any complicity in that assassination. What more could you expect?
+
+What were the Austrian demands? Serbia sympathized with her
+fellow-countrymen in Bosnia. That was one of her crimes. She must do so
+no more. Her newspapers were saying nasty things about Austria. They
+must do so no longer. That is the Austrian spirit. How dare you
+criticize a Prussian official? And if you laugh, it is a capital
+offense. Serbian newspapers must not criticize Austria. I wonder what
+would have happened had we taken up the same line about German
+newspapers. Serbia said: "Very well, we will give orders to the
+newspapers that they must not criticize Austria in future, neither
+Austria, nor Hungary, nor anything that is theirs." She promised not to
+sympathize with Bosnia; promised to write no critical articles about
+Austria. She would hold no public meetings at which anything unkind was
+said about Austria. That was not enough. She must dismiss from her army
+officers whom Austria should subsequently name. But these officers had
+just emerged from a war where they were adding luster to the Serbian
+arms--gallant, brave, efficient. I wonder whether it was their guilt or
+their efficiency that prompted Austria's action. Serbia was to
+undertake in advance to dismiss them from the army--the names to be
+sent in subsequently. Can you name a country in the world that would
+have stood that? Supposing Austria or Germany had issued an ultimatum
+of that kind to this country. "You must dismiss from your army and from
+your navy all those officers whom we shall subsequently name." Well, I
+think I could name them now. Lord Kitchener would go. Sir John French
+would be sent about his business. General Smith-Dorrien would be no
+more, and I am sure that Sir John Jellicoe would go. And there is
+another gallant old warrior who would go--Lord Roberts.
+
+It was a difficult situation for a small country. Here was a demand
+made upon her by a great military power who could put five or six men
+in the field for every one she could; and that power supported by the
+greatest military power in the world. How did Serbia behave? It is not
+what happens to you in life that matters; it is the way in which you
+face it. And Serbia faced the situation with dignity. She said to
+Austria: "If any officers of mine have been guilty and are proved to be
+guilty, I will dismiss them." Austria said, "That is not good enough
+for me." It was not guilt she was after, but capacity.
+
+Then came Russia's turn. Russia has a special regard for Serbia. She
+has a special interest in Serbia. Russians have shed their blood for
+Serbian independence many a time. Serbia is a member of her family, and
+she cannot see Serbia maltreated. Austria knew that. Germany knew that,
+and Germany turned around to Russia and said: "I insist that you shall
+stand by with your arms folded whilst Austria is strangling your little
+brother to death." What answer did the Russian Slav give? He gave the
+only answer that becomes a man. He turned to Austria and said: "You lay
+hands on that little fellow and I will tear your ramshackle empire limb
+from limb."
+
+ DAVID LLOYD GEORGE, 1914.
+
+
+
+
+THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN FRYATT
+
+
+Captain Charles Fryatt was in command of a British steamship named
+_Brussels_, running from Tilbury, England, to the Hook of Holland. His
+ship was hailed in 1915 by a German submarine and ordered to stop.
+
+A torpedo costs several thousand dollars, therefore a submarine saves
+one whenever she can sink a ship by some other means. Also a submarine
+can carry but few torpedoes, so by saving them she can remain longer at
+sea and at her work of destruction.
+
+Captain Fryatt was well aware that if he came to a stop, the Germans
+would board his ship and sink her by bombs, or would order the
+passengers off and sink her by shells from the guns. This is the way
+they sank the _Carolina_ off the coast of New Jersey, leaving the
+passengers in open boats--many of whom died from exposure and by the
+capsizing of one boat in the tempest which struck them at midnight.
+
+Captain Fryatt knew that by the laws of nations he had the right to
+defend his ship, so instead of stopping as the Germans ordered him to
+do, he put on full speed and turned the head of his ship towards the
+submarine, hoping to ram her and sink her. He was obeying instructions
+from his government, and was doing nothing but what he had a perfect
+right to do according to international law.
+
+He did not succeed, but he gained time and forced the submarine to
+submerge, for British destroyers were coming up in answer to his
+wireless call.
+
+For his bravery, the British Government rewarded him by giving him a
+gold watch and naming him with praise in the House of Commons.
+
+More than a year later, on June 23, 1916, German warships out on a raid
+captured the _Brussels_, which Captain Fryatt still commanded. He was
+taken to Bruges, Belgium, and put on trial for his life. The Germans
+claimed his case was like that of a non-combatant on land who fired
+upon the soldiers. They found him guilty on June 27 and sentenced him
+to be shot, for having attempted to sink the submarine, U-33, by
+ramming it. They laid much emphasis on the fact that the British
+Government had rewarded him, although this really had nothing to do
+with whether or not he had a right to defend his ship.
+
+The United States was not then at war with Germany, and the diplomatic
+affairs of England were in charge of the United States Ambassador in
+Berlin. When Ambassador Gerard learned that Captain Fryatt had been
+captured and taken to Bruges for trial, he sent two notes to the proper
+German officials, demanding the right to visit Captain Fryatt and to
+secure counsel for him.
+
+The German officials acknowledged his notes and assured him that they
+would take the necessary steps to meet his request.
+
+But the morning of the day after Ambassador Gerard sent his notes,
+Captain Fryatt was tried and sentenced, and was shot in the afternoon
+of the same day. As in the case of Edith Cavell, Germany's answer to
+America was a lie, and a scornful carrying out of her illegal purpose
+before the American Ambassador could do anything more. She acted in
+exactly the same way in connection with the _Lusitania_, and with all
+her submarine warfare, or piracy, as it really is according to
+international law.
+
+One of the leading German writers on international law says, "The
+merchant ship has the right of self-defense against an enemy attack,
+and this right it can exercise against visit, for this is indeed the
+first act of capture."
+
+Germany knew she had no right to shoot Captain Fryatt, and she did not
+want her right challenged at his trial; so she did not allow the
+American Ambassador to see him and to secure counsel for him.
+
+She desired to make him an example of German "frightfulness" as she had
+in the case of Edith Cavell and of the _Lusitania_. She thought this
+would prevent other British vessels trying to ram her submarines.
+
+The whole world is wondering if Germany would cower under
+"frightfulness," and therefore believes other peoples will. Her policy
+certainly has never had the effect that she hoped it would. It has
+simply made her enemies fight all the harder and dare all the more,
+because they remember her inhuman acts and unlawful deeds.
+
+The Germans published the following notice of the trial and execution:
+
+ On Thursday at Bruges before the Court Martial of the Marine
+ Corps, the trial took place of Captain Fryatt, of the British
+ steamer _Brussels_, which was brought in as a prize. The accused
+ was condemned to death because, although he was not a member of
+ a combatant force, he made an attempt, on the afternoon of March
+ 28, 1915, to ram the German submarine, U-33, near the Maas
+ Lightship.
+
+ The accused received at the time from the British Admiralty a
+ gold watch as a reward for his brave conduct on that occasion,
+ and his action was mentioned with praise in the House of
+ Commons.
+
+ On the occasion in question, disregarding the U-boat's signal to
+ stop and show his national flag, he turned at a critical moment
+ at high speed against the submarine, which escaped the steamer
+ by a few metres only because of swiftly diving. He confessed
+ that in so doing he had acted in accordance with the
+ instructions of the Admiralty. The sentence was confirmed
+ yesterday afternoon and carried out by shooting.
+
+ This is one of the many nefarious _franc-tireur_ proceedings of
+ the British merchant marine against our war vessels, and it has
+ found a belated but merited expiation.
+
+The civilized nations of the world, in which we do not include Germany
+and her allies, have agreed that the execution of Captain Fryatt was a
+murder. Possibly the Germans also know it, but defend it as they did
+the invasion of Belgium, as "necessary" to German victory.
+
+History will forever record it as an example of the black deeds done by
+desperate men who care only to accomplish their selfish ends, and will
+explain how these evil deeds of horror and of terror have injured those
+who committed them more than those who suffered from them.
+
+On the very day of the execution of Captain Fryatt, the British
+passenger liner _Falaba_ was torpedoed and sunk without warning. She
+sank in eight minutes carrying with her one hundred and four men,
+women, and children, who were "not members of a combatant force."
+
+
+
+
+RUPERT BROOKE[3]
+
+
+Among the losses that the World War has caused--many of them losses
+that can never be made good--is that of the promising young English
+poet, Rupert Brooke.
+
+He was a fine type in mind and body. His father was a teacher in the
+great English school at Rugby, and here the boy learned to write, and
+to play cricket, tennis, and football. He was interested in every form
+of athletics and was strong and skillful at all. He was a great walker
+and a fine diver and swimmer. He was said to have been one of the
+handsomest Englishmen of his day, tall, broad, easy, and graceful in
+his movements, with steady blue eyes, and a wavy mass of fair hair.
+
+He had traveled much in France, Germany, Italy, the United States,
+Canada, and the South Seas, where he visited Stevenson's home in Samoa.
+Of all lands, however, he loved England best.
+
+When the war broke out, Brooke said, "Well, if Armageddon's on, I
+suppose I should be there." He enlisted, was commissioned as
+lieutenant, and was sent almost immediately with the English forces to
+relieve Antwerp, at that time besieged by the Germans. This experience,
+lying day after day in trenches under German fire, followed by the
+terrible retreat by night with the thousands of Belgians who had lost
+everything except their lives, changed the careless, happy youth into a
+man. He was but twenty-seven years old when he enlisted. He wrote but
+little poetry after his enlistment, but it is all of a finer, more
+spiritual quality than any of his previous work.
+
+He spent the following winter training in England, and then joined the
+British Expeditionary Forces for the Dardanelles. He never reached
+there, however, for he died at Scyros on April 23, 1915, and was buried
+by torchlight at night, in an olive grove on the island.
+
+One of his friends, Wilfred Gibson, has paid a beautiful tribute to him
+in a short poem entitled "The Going." It is a tribute that might well
+be offered to any of the thousands of young heroes from many lands who
+have gone with a sudden glory in their young eyes to give all, that
+human liberty should not be lost.
+
+ He's gone.
+ I do not understand.
+ I only know
+ That, as he turned to go,
+ And waved his hand,
+ In his young eyes a sudden glory shone,
+ And I was dazzled by a sunset glow--
+ And he was gone
+
+Death appeared to be in his mind constantly after his terrible
+experience at Antwerp, but he seems never to have feared it. It is
+really the subject of all of his five sonnets written in 1914, and
+these are the best of his work. He thought constantly of England and of
+all that she had done for him and meant to him. He thought also of the
+little meaningful things of life, and put them into these
+sonnets--dawn, sunset, the beautiful colors of the earth, music,
+flowers, the feel of furs, and the touch of a cheek. Strange that he
+should have thought of the touching of fur. It probably gave him a
+strange sensation as it does to many. And then he thought of water and
+its movement in the wind, and its warmth under the sun, which seemed to
+him like life, just as its freezing under the frost seemed to him like
+death. All of this and more he put into a beautiful sonnet entitled
+"The Dead."
+
+ These hearts were woven of human joys and cares,
+ Washed marvellously with sorrow, swift to mirth.
+ The years had given them kindness. Dawn was theirs,
+ And sunset, and the colors of the earth.
+ These had seen movement, and heard music; known
+ Slumber and waking; loved; gone proudly friended;
+ Felt the quick stir of wonder; sat alone;
+ Touched flowers and furs and cheeks. All this is ended.
+
+ There are waters blown by changing winds to laughter
+ And lit by the rich skies, all day. And after,
+ Frost, with a gesture, stays the waves that dance
+ And wandering loveliness. He leaves a white
+ Unbroken glory, a gathered radiance,
+ A width, a shining peace, under the night.
+
+Note how significant is every human experience which he mentions from
+"the quick stir of wonder" which the youth feels, to the kindness which
+comes with years. "They had seen movement" is strange, and yet many
+like Rupert Brooke are fascinated with movement and see life chiefly in
+motion,--in smiles and steps.
+
+His finest poem, however, is the last of the five sonnets and is
+entitled "The Soldier." Here he pours out his heart in love of England
+and in the pride that he feels in being an Englishman. Read France or
+America or some other worthy homeland in place of England and it will
+appeal to other hearts beside Englishmen. It is a beautiful poem, one
+that will live forever.
+
+ If I should die, think only this of me:
+ That there's some corner of a foreign field
+ That is forever England. There shall be
+ In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
+ A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
+ Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
+ A body of England's, breathing English air,
+ Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
+
+ And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
+ A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
+ Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
+ Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
+ And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
+ In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
+
+One of our American poets, George Edward Woodberry, has beautifully
+said:
+
+ There is a grave in Scyros, amid the white and pinkish marble of
+ the isle, the wild thyme and the poppies, near the green and
+ blue waters. There Rupert Brooke was buried. Thither have gone
+ the thoughts of his countrymen, and the hearts of the young
+ especially. It will long be so. For a new star shines in the
+ English heavens.
+
+ Ever the faith endures,
+ England, my England--
+ "Take us and break us: we are yours,
+ England, my own!
+ Life is good, and joy runs high
+ Between English earth and sky:
+ Death is death; but we shall die
+ To the song on your bugles blown,
+ England--
+ To the stars on your bugles blown."
+
+ W.E. HENLEY.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] BASED ON "THE COLLECTED POEMS OF RUPERT BROOKE," COPYRIGHT BY JOHN
+LANE COMPANY.
+
+
+
+
+"LET US SAVE THE KIDDIES"
+
+
+At 12:20 noon, on Saturday, May 1, 1915, there steamed out of New York
+harbor one of the largest and fastest passenger ships in the world. It
+was the _Lusitania_, flying the British flag, and bound for Europe, via
+Liverpool. On board were nearly two thousand men, women, and children.
+They were not overcrowded, however, for the _Lusitania_ was the finest,
+the most comfortable of ocean boats. It was more than an eighth of a
+mile in length, 88 feet in width, and 60 feet in depth, and had a speed
+of nearly 30 miles an hour.
+
+Her passengers, once out from shore, settled down to seven days of life
+in this immense, floating hotel. Tiny babies toddled across the smooth,
+shining floors of the new home, or watched with gurgles of delight the
+older children rollicking and romping over the decks. The women chatted
+and sang, and played all sorts of games. The men, too, engaged in many
+contests, athletic stunts, and games. At night, when the little ones
+were quietly sleeping in their bunks, their elders gathered in the
+grand saloon and there listened to some fine singer, a famous
+violinist, or a great lecturer.
+
+ [Illustration: THE _LUSITANIA_ IN NEW YORK HARBOR
+ _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+So the days passed, the people living as one great family. New
+friendships grew, and many delightful acquaintances were formed. The
+complete harmony and restfulness of such a life, the clear skies and
+sunshine, and the vast expanse of blue-green ocean, all made them
+forget that they were riding into a region of horror and war.
+
+For nearly ten months Belgium, England, France, and Russia had been
+waging war against Germany. Around England's coasts lurked the horrors
+of the German submarine. The travelers on the morning of sailing had
+read the warning against crossing. It has since been called the "Death
+Notice." It read:
+
+ NOTICE
+
+ Travelers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are
+ reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her
+ allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war
+ includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that in
+ accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German
+ Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain or any of
+ her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters; and that
+ travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or
+ her allies do so at their own risk.
+
+ IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY.
+
+ WASHINGTON, D.C., April 22, 1915.
+
+It had been printed in the newspapers beside the advertisement of the
+sailing of the _Lusitania_, and was posted that very morning by order
+of Count von Bernstorff, German ambassador to the United States. But
+most of the travelers paid no attention to the notice after reading it,
+for they were sure that no implement of war would be turned against a
+passenger ship. With stout hearts, many of the travelers said, "We are
+Americans. No country will refuse respect and protection for an
+American citizen in any part of the world." Or they said, "We are
+British citizens,--not soldiers. We are on a merchant vessel--not a
+battleship. Surely our rights will be respected. We cross under
+necessity."
+
+So they dared to exercise their freedom and their rights when they
+boarded the steamer for this return trip.
+
+After sailing for five days in safety, they came at last within sight
+of land. Early on Friday morning a heavy fog had lowered, but the ship
+continued to plow steadily through the tranquil waters. Toward noon the
+fog lifted and the sunshine and blue sky came to view, contributing to
+the full enjoyment of the travelers.
+
+They had just finished luncheon. Some were quietly writing
+letters--others playing games. Many had strolled to the upper decks.
+They greeted their new acquaintances, regretting that they were so soon
+to part, for they were now but ten or fifteen miles out from shore off
+"Old Head of Kinsale," and within a few hours all would land, going on
+their separate ways for the rest of the journey. Though they were
+nearing a world at war, all seemed peaceful.
+
+The ship's clock pointed at two, when a few men standing on deck saw
+what looked like a whale rising from the water about three quarters of
+a mile away. They saw it speeding toward them, and suddenly they knew
+what it was; but no one named it, until with a train of bubbles it
+disappeared under the ship, and they cried, "It's a torpedo!"
+
+With a fearful explosion, the center of the ship was blown up through
+the decks, making a great heap of wreckage. The passengers fled from
+the lower to the upper decks, many of them not stopping for life
+preservers. Some of those who did strap on the life preservers did not
+put them on correctly. Many leaped into the water, trusting to be
+picked up by a passing boat. Although every one was terribly
+frightened, yet there seemed to be no panic. The men lowered the
+lifeboats, which were crowded to the full. As many as seventy or eighty
+people, it is said, were packed into one small boat.
+
+Leslie N. Morton, a mere lad, has been officially named as bravest of
+the crew. He was stationed on the starboard side, keeping look-out,
+when the torpedo struck. He, with the assistance of his mate, rowed a
+lifeboat for some miles, put the people on a fishing smack, and
+returned again for other survivors, rescuing in all nearly a hundred.
+
+There were many acts of heroism among the passengers, but in all of the
+distress one young man stood out among the hundreds upon the ship.
+Alfred G. Vanderbilt, a young American millionaire, quickly realizing
+that the steamer was sinking, turned to his valet and cried, "Let us
+save the kiddies!" The two sprang to the rescue of the babies and small
+children, carrying two of the little ones in their arms at a time and
+placing them carefully in the lifeboats with their mothers. Mr.
+Vanderbilt and his valet continued their efforts to the very last. When
+they could find no more children, they turned to the assistance of the
+women that were left. When last seen, Mr. Vanderbilt was smilingly,
+almost happily, lending his aid to the passengers who still remained on
+deck.
+
+The whole civilized world honors the memory of this brave youth, who
+gave his life in serving helpless women and children. Gratifying indeed
+it is to know that the little ones were cared for, though sad to learn
+that even then only twenty-five of the hundred and twenty-nine babies
+on board were saved. About one hundred children were innocent victims
+of that dastardly deed which the Germans, through savage desire to
+terrorize, became brutes enough to do.
+
+Elbert Hubbard, a noted American writer, and his wife went down with
+the ship. Charles Frohman, a leading producer of plays, was another
+prominent American lost. He has been cited as the finest example of
+faith and calm strength, for, realizing that there was little hope for
+him, he smilingly remarked, "Why fear death? It is the most beautiful
+adventure that life gives us."
+
+In less than twenty minutes after the torpedo struck, nothing except
+floating pieces of wreckage strewn on the disturbed surface of the
+water marked the place of the great calamity.
+
+The wireless operator had sent the S.O.S. signal of distress several
+times, and also had time to send the message, "Come at once, big list,
+10 miles south of 'Old Head of Kinsale.'" He had received answers
+before his apparatus was put out of use, and soon trawlers and pilot
+boats came to the rescue and brought to shore those who had survived.
+The cold ocean water, however, had made many so numb that they were
+unable to help themselves enough to be lifted into the lifeboats, even
+when the life preservers had kept them afloat. Of the 159 Americans on
+board, 124 perished. In all, only 761 people were saved; 1198 perished.
+
+That day the terrible news came over the cable to America,--the great
+passenger steamer _Lusitania_ had been torpedoed by a German submarine;
+probably a thousand lives had been lost, among them many Americans!
+
+At the White House, the President realized the awful import of such a
+message.
+
+In a day or so, nearly two thousand telegrams poured in from all parts
+of the country; and it is said that the President read them all, for he
+wanted to know how the individual American felt.
+
+The Germans offered all sorts of excuses for their cruel deed. A German
+paper printed the following:
+
+ Must we not, we who may be defeated by starvation and by lack of
+ war materials, must we not defend ourselves from this great
+ danger (with which the enemy's blockade threatens us), with all
+ our might and with all the means that the German spirit can
+ invent, and which the honor of the German people recognizes as
+ lawful weapons? Have those, who now raise such outcries, any
+ right to accuse us, those who allowed their friends and
+ relatives to trust themselves on a ship whose destruction was
+ announced with perfect clearness in advance? When our enemy's
+ blockade method forces us to measures in self-defense, _the
+ death of non-combatants is a matter of no consequence_.
+
+A blockade of an enemy's ports is, and always has been, a perfectly
+fair kind of warfare. In our Civil War, the southern ports were, from
+the beginning, blockaded by the northern warships. Germany was in no
+danger of starving, as the events since have proved. Her excuses were,
+as they have been in every case where she has played the part of the
+brute, worse than no excuses and always based on falsehoods.
+
+"The steamer carried ammunition for England," they said. But it was
+bought and carried in accordance with international law. Germany had
+the same right to buy and carry from a neutral country. "It was a
+British ship," they said. But it was a passenger ship and carried
+nearly two thousand people, many of them Americans, who, according to
+all international agreements, were guaranteed safe passage even in time
+of war.
+
+All nations recognize the obligation of an enemy to visit and search
+the vessel they think should be sunk, to make sure it carries
+contraband of war, and if so, to give the people an opportunity to get
+safely into the lifeboats. Not only did the Germans not do this, but
+they did not even signal the ship that it was about to be sunk. The
+newspaper warning put out by Bernstorff was no excuse for committing an
+unlawful, inhuman act.
+
+From all points of view, the Germans, in sinking the _Lusitania_,
+committed a horrible crime, not only against international law, but
+against humanity and civilization. In all war, armed forces meet armed
+forces; never do armed forces strangle and butcher the innocent and
+unprotected. There is such a thing as _legitimate_ warfare, except
+among barbarians.
+
+Here again was shown the German attitude in the "scrap of paper."
+Evidently trusting to the great distance of the United States and her
+well-known unpreparedness, Germany thought that a friendly relation
+with this country was a matter of entire indifference to her; or, if
+she hoped to draw America into the war, she little dreamed to what end
+those hopes would come!
+
+Around the world one verdict was pronounced against Germany. This
+verdict was well worded in a Russian paper, the _Courier_:
+
+ The right to punish these criminals who violate the laws of
+ humanity belongs first and foremost to the great American
+ Republic. America knows well how to use this right. The sympathy
+ of the civilized world is guaranteed her beforehand. The world
+ is being suffocated by poisonous gases of inhuman cruelty spread
+ abroad by Germany, who, in the madness of her rage, is
+ committing needless, purposeless, and senseless murder, solely
+ from lust of blood and horrors!
+
+The American government, upon the occurrence of the calamity, showed
+great forbearance, believing that "a man of proved temper and tried
+courage is not always bound to return a madman's blow." A strong
+protest was sent to the Imperial German Government, which caused
+Germany to abandon for a time her submarine attacks upon neutral
+vessels. It was the renewal of these attacks that finally led to the
+declaration of war by the United States of America upon Germany and her
+allies, and it was the _Lusitania_ outrage more than any other one
+event that roused the fighting spirit of America.
+
+
+
+
+THE CHARGE OF THE BLACK WATCH AND THE SCOTS GREYS
+
+
+Sometimes a retreat is in reality a great victory. It has been said
+that it requires a greater general to direct successfully a great
+retreat than it does to direct a great attack.
+
+Some marvelous retreats have occurred in the World War, the greatest
+coming at its very beginning, when the English and French fell back to
+save Paris and to defeat the Germans at the Marne. This retreat was
+really a series of battles, day after day, with terrible losses on both
+sides.
+
+An English private in the Black Watch, named Walter Morton, only
+nineteen years of age, described for the _Scotsmen_ one of these
+battles in which his regiment and the Scots Greys made a magnificent
+charge. His story was as follows:
+
+ We went straight from Boulogne to Mons, being one of the first
+ British regiments to reach that place. Neither army seemed to
+ have a very good position there, but the numbers of the Germans
+ were far too great to give us any chance of success. We were
+ hard at it all day on Monday; and on Tuesday, as the French
+ reinforcements which we had been expecting did not arrive, the
+ order was given to retire.
+
+ In our retreat we marched close upon eighty miles. We passed
+ through Cambrai, and a halt was called at St. Quentin. The
+ Germans, in their mad rush to get to Paris, had seldom been far
+ behind us, and when we came to St. Quentin the word went through
+ the ranks that we were going into action. The men were quite
+ jubilant at the prospect. They had not been at all pleased at
+ their continued retirement before the enemy, and they at once
+ started to get things ready. The engagement opened briskly, both
+ our artillery and the Germans going at it for all they were
+ worth. We were in good skirmishing order, and under the cover of
+ our guns we were all the time getting nearer and nearer the
+ enemy. When we had come to within 100 yards of the German lines,
+ the commands were issued for a charge, and the Black Watch made
+ the charge along with the Scots Greys. Not far from us the 9th
+ Lancers and the Cameronians joined in the attack.
+
+ It was the finest thing I ever saw. The Scots Greys galloped
+ forward with us hanging on to their stirrups, and it was a sight
+ never to be forgotten. We were simply being dragged by the
+ horses as they flew forward through a perfect cloud of bullets
+ from the enemy's maxims. All other sounds were drowned by the
+ thunder of the horses' hoofs as they careered wildly on, some of
+ them nearly driven mad by the bullets which struck them. It was
+ no time for much thinking. Saddles were being emptied quickly,
+ as we closed on the German lines and tore past their maxims,
+ which were in the front ranks.
+
+ We were on the German gunners before they knew where they were,
+ and many of them went down, scarcely realizing that we were
+ amongst them. Then the fray commenced in deadly earnest. The
+ Black Watch and the Scots Greys went into it like men
+ possessed. They fought like demons. It was our bayonets against
+ the Germans' swords. You could see nothing but the glint of
+ steel, and soon even that was wanting as our boys got well into
+ the midst of the enemy. The swords of the Germans were no use
+ against our bayonets. They went down in hundreds.
+
+ Then the enemy began to waver, and soon broke and fled before
+ the bayonets, like rabbits before the shot of a gun.
+
+ There were about 1900 of us in that charge against 20,000
+ Germans, and the charge itself lasted about four hours. We took
+ close upon 4000 prisoners, and captured a lot of their guns. In
+ the course of the fighting I got a cut from a German sword--they
+ are very much like saws--and fell into a pool of water, where I
+ lay unconscious for twenty-three hours. I was picked up by one
+ of the 9th Lancers.
+
+
+
+
+THE BATTLES OF THE MARNE
+
+
+At Marathon (490 B.C.) and at Salamis (480 B.C.) the Greeks defeated
+the Persians and saved Europe for western civilization. Had the
+Persians won, the history of Europe and of the world would be the story
+of the civilization of the East instead of that of the West.
+
+At Tours (732 A.D.) Charles Martel defeated the forces of the
+Mohammedans, who had already conquered Spain, and saved Europe for
+Christianity.
+
+At the Marne (1914 and 1918) the French, the English, and (in the
+second battle) the Americans, defeated the modern Huns and saved Europe
+for democracy and from the rule of merciless brute force. The First
+Battle of the Marne has been called the sixteenth decisive battle of
+the world.
+
+Before the First Battle of the Marne, September 5 to 10, 1914, the
+German military machine had been winning, as never an army had won
+before in the entire recorded history of the world. Its path had been
+one of treachery, of atrocities, of savagery, but one of tremendous and
+unparalleled victory. The Germans at home called it "the great times."
+
+Brave little Belgium had been able to hold back the German hordes but
+for a short time at Liége and Namur, but, as future events proved, long
+enough to make possible the decisive battles at the Marne. The Germans
+had taken Brussels and Antwerp, had destroyed Louvain, had filled
+themselves with outrage and murder, had drunk of blood and wine and
+success until they were thoroughly intoxicated with the belief so
+common to drunken brutes that no men in the world can stand against
+them. The little Belgian army, "the contemptible little English army"
+(as the Kaiser called it), and the magnificent French army had been
+retreating day by day almost as fast as the Germans could advance. Soon
+Paris and then all of France would be in German hands--and what a
+glorious time they would have in the gayest and most beautiful capital
+of the world. Although bodies of German cavalry raided the coast, the
+German leaders, elated and intoxicated with thoughts of rich plunder
+and dissipation, did not turn aside in force to follow the Belgian army
+and to take the Channel ports of Dunkirk, Calais, and Boulogne, but
+pushed on toward Paris. The French government, expecting a siege of the
+city, moved to Bordeaux.
+
+The main forces of the Germans had turned south from the coast towards
+Paris with General von Kluck's army of about 200,000 men at the right
+or west of the German line of advance. General von Kluck was
+attempting to outflank the English army, that is, to throw part of his
+forces around the extreme western end of the English army, which had to
+keep retiring rapidly to avoid being encircled. The French army was
+obliged to fall back to keep in touch with the British.
+
+The English retired nearly one hundred miles without losing their
+cheerfulness or their confidence. It was this turning movement on the
+left that forced all the allies to retire. An English writer who was
+with the army said that though the Germans constantly attacked with
+reckless courage, yet the British and French retired slowly with their
+faces to the foe, and showing the greatest heroism. The numbers of the
+Germans were greater than those of the Allies, and the Germans gave
+them no rest. Night and day they hammered away, coming on like great
+waves. The gaps the English made were filled instantly. The German guns
+played upon the Allies constantly. Their cavalry swept down upon them
+recklessly. If the English had great losses, the Germans had greater.
+The English fought with cool bravery. They never wavered an instant.
+But the pressure upon them could not be resisted. Column after column,
+squadron after squadron, mass after mass, the enemy came on like a
+battering ram, crushing everything in its way. They swarmed on all
+sides, even though shattered by shot and shell. Nothing but the
+steadfast courage, the sheer pluck, the spirit, the soul of the
+English soldiers saved the army from complete destruction.
+
+"The enemy hung on to us like grim death," said a wounded soldier.
+"They wanted us to retreat in a direction that would best suit their
+plans. But we were not taking marching orders from them. We went our
+own way at our own pace. We were retiring, not retreating."
+
+Then on the fifth of September came General Joffre's appeal to the
+defenders of civilization, and particularly to the French soldiers:
+"The hour has come to hold our positions at any cost and to fight
+rather than to retreat.... No longer must we look at the enemy over our
+shoulders, for the time has come to put forth all our efforts in
+attacking and defeating him."
+
+A French writer has said of the retreat, which by order of General
+Joffre had now come to an end, "Their bodies retreated, but never their
+souls;" and he might have added of the German advance, "It was an
+advance of bodies, not of souls." It was material might in men and guns
+forcing back an army weaker in everything except soul and spirit. The
+World War has shown over and over again, not only at the Marne but at a
+hundred other places and in a hundred other ways, that soul and spirit
+are the real conquerors and that God is not always, as Napoleon said,
+on the side of the larger battalions.
+
+The Germans had come on flushed with success and egotism, destroying
+French property, looting, and dissipating. Their spirit was the spirit
+they found in the French wine cellars, and as for soul, as civilized
+people understand the word, they had none. They were an army of tired,
+conquering brutes. Their morale was low because of their great success
+and all that had accompanied it of feasts and slaughter. The morale of
+the French was never higher. Every day and every hour they had been
+compelled to retreat, giving up, giving up all that they loved even
+better than life itself to these brutes, until the brain of the French
+army said on the evening of September 5, 1914, "You have gone so far in
+order that you may now stand successfully." And in the morning at dawn,
+it was not only the bodies of the French soldiers that hurled
+themselves against the invaders, but the souls of French men, the soul
+of France; and all along the line from Verdun to Meaux, under the
+gallant leadership of Manoury, Foch, Sarrail, Castelnau, and others,
+the French armies held. If they had not held--not only held but
+attacked--all of future history would be different.
+
+General Foch, commander in chief at the Second Battle of the Marne,
+inspired his troops in this first battle to supernatural bravery. He
+knew they must not yield, so with his right broken, his left shattered,
+he attacked with his center. It was that or retreat. His message to
+the commander-in-chief, General Joffre, will never be forgotten.
+
+"My left has been forced back, my right is routed. I shall attack with
+the center."
+
+The Germans could not put their souls into the battles as the French
+soldiers did, and besides, the Germans were weakened by feasting and
+dissipation. With the Huns it was the right of might; with the Allies
+it was the might of right, and in the end the second always defeats the
+first.
+
+Some one has well said:
+
+"It is the law of good to protect and to build up. It is the law of
+evil to destroy. It is in the very nature of good to lead men aright.
+It is in the very nature of evil to lead men astray. Goodness makes for
+wisdom. Badness is continually exercising poor judgment.
+
+"Germany and Austria have made colossal mistakes in this war because of
+their colossal violation of truth and justice. In brutally wronging
+Serbia, they lost the friendship and support of Italy. In perpetrating
+the monstrous crime against Belgium, they brought against them the
+whole might of the British Empire. In breaking international law with
+their reckless submarine warfare, they caused the United States to
+enter the war on the side of the Allies."
+
+It is said that the army of the German Crown Prince retreated before
+the impetuous attack of the French and, because of this retreat, all
+the other German armies were obliged to do likewise. It is more
+probable, however, that the general retreat was due to General Joffre's
+strategy. The Germans under General von Kluck were within about twenty
+miles of Paris, near Meaux on the Marne, when suddenly they were struck
+in the flank and rear by about twenty thousand fresh troops brought out
+unexpectedly from Paris in motor trucks, taxis, limousines, and all
+kinds of pleasure cars. Now the Germans, who had caused the retreat of
+the French and British armies upon Paris by continually outflanking the
+British, were in their turn outflanked and compelled to retreat, and
+Paris was saved.
+
+An English writer has said that although the Germans were outflanked
+only in the west, yet the blow passed from one end of the German line
+to the other, from Meaux to Verdun, just as the blow from the buffer of
+the engine, when it is coupled to the train, passes from one truck to
+another to the very end of the train.
+
+The Germans in the next few days retreated from the Marne to the Aisne,
+where they entrenched. Paris and France and Europe and the only world
+worth living in were saved. The French government moved back to Paris.
+
+Hall Caine in "Three Hundred and Sixty-five Days" says: "The soul of
+France did not fail her. It heard the second approach of that monstrous
+Prussian horde, which, like a broad, irresistible tide, sweeping across
+one half of Europe, came down, down, down from Mons until the thunder
+of its guns could again be heard on the boulevards. And then came the
+great miracle! Just as the sea itself can rise no higher when it has
+reached the top of the flood, so the mighty army of Germany had to stop
+its advance thirty kilometres north of Paris; and when it stirred
+again, it had to go back. And back and back it went before the armies
+of France, Britain, and Belgium, until it reached a point at which it
+could dig itself into the earth and hide in a long, serpentine trench
+stretching from the Alps to the sea.
+
+"Only then did the spirit of France draw breath for a moment, and the
+next flash as of lightning showed her offering thanks and making
+supplications before the white statue of Jeanne d'Arc in the apse of
+the great cathedral of Notre Dame, sacred to innumerable memories. On
+the Feast of St. Michael, ten thousand of the women of Paris were
+kneeling under the dark vault, and on the broad space in the front of
+the majestic façade, praying for victory. It was a great and grandiose
+scene, recalling the days when faith was strong and purer. Old and
+young, rich and poor, every woman with some soul that was dear to her
+in that inferno at the front--the Motherhood of France was there to
+ask God for the triumph of the right.
+
+"And in the spirit of that prayer the soul of France still lives."
+
+Nearly four years later the Germans, with greatly increased forces in
+France, due to the collapse of Russia, were again upon the Marne and
+only about forty miles from Paris. French and English and Americans
+were opposing them upon a line shaped like a great letter U, extending
+south with Rheims at the top on the east, and Soissons at the top on
+the west. The Marne River was at the curve at the bottom, and there
+most of the Americans were stationed.
+
+On July 15, 1918, the Germans began the offensive which was to result,
+as they hoped, in the capture of Paris. They attacked on the Marne and
+between the Marne and Rheims. At the end of the fourth day, they had
+advanced about six miles, crossing the Marne and pushing back the
+American troops. The Americans fought bravely and soon regained the
+ground they had lost, although the French generals suggested that they
+should not attempt to retake it. The American commander, however, sent
+word to the French general, who was his superior officer, saying that
+he did not feel able to follow the suggestion, for the American flag
+had been compelled to retire. None of his soldiers, he said, would
+understand this being allowed as long as they were able to attack. "We
+are going to counter-attack," he added. They did so, and regained all
+the ground lost.
+
+It is clear now that the French generals knew the counter-attack was
+unnecessary, and knew why. West of the line from Soissons to the Marne
+is a great forest, and back of this General Foch, commander in chief of
+all the allied armies, had been for several days gathering guns,
+ammunition, tanks, and troops ready to strike the flank of the Germans,
+when they should attack between Rheims and the Marne and attempt to
+cross the Marne, as he knew they would in their desire to take Paris. A
+terrible tempest passed over the region just before the Allied attack,
+preventing the Germans from observing the advancing tanks and troops.
+An English writer has said, "The storm which had covered the noise of
+the final preparation of a number of tanks which led the assault, was
+over. Not a sound was heard in the forest, though it was teeming with
+men and horses. Then suddenly the appointed moment came when day broke.
+There was a roar from all the guns, the whole front broke into activity
+as men and tanks dashed forward. I suppose there has been nothing more
+dramatic in the whole war than this scene on which the general looked
+down from the top of a high perch in the forest on that quiet July
+morning!"
+
+The Allies struck so unexpectedly that they captured hundreds of guns
+and thousands of prisoners, and obliged the Germans to fall back
+across the Marne, losing all the territory they had gained and much
+more. The danger to Paris was again turned aside by the military genius
+of General Foch and the bravery of the troops under his command.
+
+It was the first great battle in which the Americans took part. They
+showed themselves equal to the best of the Allies, and better than the
+Germans. A London paper called the American counter-attack one of the
+historical incidents of the whole war. All Europe, except Hunland, rang
+with praises of the American troops.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+In the history of the World War, most of the great land battles will be
+named from rivers, the Marne, the Yser, the Somme, the Aisne, the
+Ailette, the Ancre, the Bug, the Dneister, the Dunajec and the Piave. A
+battle of the Rhine will probably be fought before German territory can
+be invaded to any great extent.
+
+
+
+
+THE QUEEN'S FLOWER
+
+
+On July 25, 1918, nearly every person in Washington, the capital of the
+United States, was asked to buy a bunch of forget-me-nots; and nearly
+every one responded, so that almost $7000 worth was sold in about an
+hour. In many other cities sales were held, and for many years to come
+such sales will be held all over the civilized world, for the
+forget-me-not is the Queen's flower, chosen by Elizabeth, Queen of
+Belgium, to be sold on her birthday, July 25, to raise money for the
+children of Belgium. She is a lover of flowers as are all the people of
+her country. Many parts of Belgium were before the war, like Holland,
+devoted to raising flowers for bulbs and seeds. It is said that the
+garden at the Belgian Royal Palace was the most beautiful garden in the
+world.
+
+For many years it has been the Queen's custom to name a flower to be
+sold on her birthday for the benefit of some good cause. In 1910 she
+named the La France rose to be sold for the benefit of sufferers from
+tuberculosis in Belgium. Nearly $100,000 was raised on this one day.
+
+The war has not done away with the beautiful custom, and on the
+Queen's birthday in 1918, she named a flower to be sold to raise money
+to help care for the children of Belgium. She chose the forget-me-not,
+for the Queen can never forget the terrible sacrifice her country was
+called upon to make, nor the brutal manner in which the Huns used their
+power.
+
+Those who have carefully studied the facts have concluded that the Huns
+coolly and deliberately planned to destroy Belgium as a country and a
+people, not only during the war but forever. It was to carry out this
+plan that the villages and cities were burned or bombarded until they
+were nothing but heaps of stone and ashes; that much of the machinery
+was either destroyed or carried into Germany; that the Belgian boys and
+men were herded together and deported into Germany to work as slaves;
+and that the Belgian babies were neglected, starved, and murdered. If
+only the old and feeble were left at the end of the war, there could be
+no Belgium to compete with Germany, and Germany desired this whether
+she should win or lose.
+
+America has done much to relieve the suffering of the Belgian people.
+Germany saw to it, however, that the babies and very young children
+were neglected as far as possible, with the exception of healthy
+Belgian boy babies, and many of these she snatched from their parents
+and carried into Germany to be raised as Huns. It has been said that
+no horror of the war equaled the horror of what Germany did to Belgian
+childhood.
+
+Queen Elizabeth realized the danger and did everything in her power to
+protect and help the babies of Belgium. Although she is by birth a
+German princess, she wishes never to forget and that the world may
+never forget the great wrong done her country. In naming the
+forget-me-not she meant that Belgium's wrong should never be forgotten,
+and that the children of Belgium should not be forgotten.
+
+The flower is to be sold for the benefit of Belgian children at all
+times and in all countries, for the Queen has said she will never name
+another.
+
+The little blue forget-me-not will be sold all over the civilized
+world, that means except in Hunland, and wherever it is sold Belgium's
+story will be remembered. All that is sweet and beautiful and pure is
+connecting itself in the minds and hearts of men with Belgium in her
+sacrifice and suffering; and as long as history is recorded and
+remembered, the word "Belgium" will awaken these feelings in those who
+read. This is a part of her reward, just as the opposite is a part of
+the punishment of the Hun.
+
+
+
+
+AT SCHOOL NEAR THE LINES
+
+
+The boys and girls in America have listened with great interest and
+sympathy to the many stories of children in devastated France, left
+fatherless, homeless, perhaps motherless, with no games or sport,
+indeed with no desire to play games or sports of any kind. For them,
+there seemed to be only the awful roar and thunder of the cannon, which
+might at any moment send down a bursting shell upon their heads. The
+clothes they wore and the food they ate were theirs only as they were
+given to them, and so often given by strangers.
+
+In America the school children worked, earned, saved, and sent their
+gifts to those thousands of destitute children, and with their gifts
+sent letters of love and interest to their little French cousins across
+the seas.
+
+Many of the letters were written in quiet, sunny schoolrooms, thousands
+of miles from the noise of battle. But many a letter thus written
+reached the hands of a child who sat huddled beside his teacher in a
+damp, dark cellar that took the place of the pleasant little
+schoolhouse he had known.
+
+But in those cellars and hidden places, the children studied and
+learned as best they might, in order some day to be strong, bright men
+and women for their beloved France, when the days of battle should be
+over and victory should have been won for them to keep.
+
+The gladness of the children when they received the letters will
+probably never be fully known. Perhaps it seemed to some of them like
+that morning on which they marched away from the school building for
+the last time. The shells had begun to burst near them, as they sat in
+the morning session. Quickly they put aside their work, and listened
+quietly while the master timed the interval between the bursting of the
+shells. At his order, they had formed in line for marching, and at the
+moment the third or fourth shell fell, they marched out of the school
+away into a cellar seventy paces off. There, sheltered by the strong,
+stout walls, they listened to the next shell bursting as it fell
+straight down into the schoolhouse, where by a few moments' delay, they
+would all have perished or been severely injured.
+
+So, while they heard the cannon roaring, they were happy to know that
+their friends in America thought of them and were helping them. No one
+will ever realize just how much it meant to the French people to know
+that America was their friend, or the great joy they felt when the
+American soldiers marched in to take their places in the fight for
+France and the freedom of the world.
+
+Odette Gastinel, a thirteen-year-old girl of the Lycée Victor Duruy,
+one of the schoolrooms near the front, has written of the coming of the
+Americans. Throughout the United States her little essay has been read,
+and great men and women have marveled at its beauty of thought and
+wording, and have called it a little masterpiece.
+
+In the first paragraph, she tells of the great distance between the
+millions of men (the Germans and the Allies) although separated only by
+a narrow stream; and in the second, she speaks of the closeness of
+sympathy between France and America,--though America lies three
+thousand miles over the sea.
+
+ It was only a little river, almost a brook; it was called the
+ Yser. One could talk from one side to the other without raising
+ one's voice, and the birds could fly over it with one sweep of
+ their wings. And on the two banks there were millions of men,
+ the one turned toward the other, eye to eye. But the distance
+ which separated them was greater than the spaces between the
+ stars in the sky; it was the distance which separates right from
+ injustice.
+
+ The ocean is so vast that the sea gulls do not dare to cross it.
+ During seven days and seven nights the great steamships of
+ America, going at full speed, drive through the deep waters
+ before the lighthouses of France come into view; but from one
+ side to the other, hearts are touching.
+
+It is no wonder that the great American, General Pershing, stopped, in
+all the tumult and business of war, to write to people in America:
+
+ [Illustration: (hand written letter from General Pershing)
+
+ Headquarters, Am. Ex. Forces.
+ France.
+
+ In the veins of the fatherless
+ children of France courses
+ the blood of heroes. Theirs
+ is a heritage worth cherishing--a
+ heritage which appeals
+ to the deepest sentiments of
+ the soul. What France through
+ their fathers has done for
+ humanity, France through
+ them will do again.
+
+ Save the fatherless
+ children of France!
+
+ John J. Pershing.
+
+ April 12, 1918
+]
+
+
+
+
+A PLACE IN THE SUN
+
+
+The history of Rome about 1500 years ago tells us of "the wild and
+terrifying hordes" of Huns, with ideas little above those of plunder
+and wanton destruction, led by Attila whose "purpose was to pillage and
+increase his power." They came near setting civilization back for
+hundreds of years, but were finally subdued. When we remember these
+facts, we do not wonder that the Germans are called, and probably
+always will be called, Huns; but another explanation is the true one.
+
+When in 1900, a German army was embarking at Bremerhaven for China to
+help other nations to put down the Boxer rebellion, the German Kaiser,
+William II, in addressing his troops said: "When you come upon the
+enemy, no quarter will be given, no prisoners will be taken. As the
+Huns under their King Attila, a thousand years ago, made a name for
+themselves which is still mighty in tradition and story, so may the
+name of German in China be kept alive through you in such a wise that
+no Chinese will ever again attempt to look askance at a German."
+
+The United States helped put down the Boxer rebellion, and with other
+nations was paid an indemnity by China. By vote of Congress, the
+United States returned the money to China. Germany acted very
+differently, for but three years before, she had seized from China the
+land about Kiaochau Bay and the port of Tsingchau, as reparation for
+the murder of two German missionaries. Although Germany had strongly
+fortified this territory, Japan besieged it and regained it in
+November, 1914.
+
+In speaking in 1901 of Germany's then new possession in China, the
+Kaiser said: "In spite of the fact that we have no such fleet as we
+should have, we have conquered for ourselves a place in the sun. It
+will now be my duty to see to it that this place in the sun shall
+remain our undisputed possession, in order that the sun's rays may fall
+fruitfully upon our activity and trade in foreign parts." The German
+Crown Prince, in an introduction to a book published in 1913, said: "It
+is only by relying on our good German sword that we can hope to conquer
+the place in the sun which rightly belongs to us and which no one will
+yield to us voluntarily. Till the world comes to an end, the ultimate
+decision must rest with the sword."
+
+These statements make clear to us how the modern Huns would win the
+place in the sun which they have been taught to believe rightly belongs
+to them.
+
+It is possible that the Kaiser took his idea of "a place in the sun"
+from a wonderful old copper engraving by the greatest of all German
+artists, Albrecht Dürer. The engraving was made in 1513 and represents
+a German knight in full armor mounted upon a fine war horse, riding
+into a dark and narrow defile between cliffs, to reach a beautiful
+castle standing in the sun on a hill beyond. A narrow path runs down
+from the castle, which the knight can reach only by passing through the
+gloomy and dangerous defile between the rocks. If he would reach his
+desired place in the sun, he must be afraid of nothing, even though
+human skulls and lizards are under his horse's feet and death and the
+devil travel by his side. His horse and his dog are evidently afraid,
+but the knight himself shows no fear as he rides forward with his "good
+German sword" at his side and his long spear over his shoulder. A
+recent German writer has said about this picture, "Every German heart
+will comprehend the knight who persists in spite of death and the devil
+in the course on which he has entered. Such a man of resolute action is
+not tormented by subtle doubts."
+
+So has Germany in the World War tried to ride through the valley of
+death and destruction, with death and the devil always by her side, to
+reach a coveted place in the sun. That such a place can be attained
+only by force is the terribly wrong ideal that has been taught to the
+German people, to the children in the schools, to the adults in public
+meetings and in the public press, until at last they have come to
+believe it, and are willing to ride through the world accompanied by
+death and the devil if they may thus gain "a place in the sun."
+
+ [Illustration: SEEKING A PLACE IN THE SUN
+ _By Albrecht Dürer_]
+
+They are, as a German poet, Felix Dahn, wrote, the kith and kin of
+Thor, the god of might, who conquered all lands with his thundering
+hammer; and it is their destiny to conquer the world by "the good
+German sword."
+
+This is the ideal that the Allies are fighting against. What is the
+ideal they are fighting for? It may also be illustrated by a picture,
+but this time by a word picture written by a man long familiar with
+Dürer's wonderful engraving. For years he had a copy of the engraving
+hung above his desk. As he studied it, he finally saw himself a knight
+riding on through the world; and he saw riding with him, not death and
+the devil, but two other knights. One of the knights was hideous to
+look upon, and rode just behind him; and one was wonderfully beautiful
+and strong, and rode just ahead of him. And all three rode at full
+speed forever and ever, the knight, who was the man himself, in the
+middle, always striving to outrun the knight who was behind him, and to
+overtake the one before him. Finally he put the thought in verse, for
+it seemed to him to represent the life of every human being who was
+free to live out his life as he would wish.
+
+
+THE QUEST
+
+ A knight fared on through a beautiful world
+ On a mission to him unknown;
+ At his left and a little behind there rode
+ The self of his deeds alone.
+
+ At his right and a length before sped on--
+ Him none but the knight might see--
+ A braver heart and a purer soul,
+ The self that he longed to be.
+
+ And ever the three rode on through the world
+ With him at the left behind;
+ Till never the knight would look at him,
+ Feeble and foul and blind.
+
+ Desperately on they drave, these three,
+ With him at the right before,
+ While the knight rode furiously after him
+ And thought of the world no more.
+
+ Forever on he must ride on his quest
+ And peace can be his no more,
+ Till the one at his left he has dropped from sight
+ And o'ertaken the one before.
+
+ Thus ages ago the three fared on,
+ And on they fare to-day,
+ With him at the left a little behind,
+ The right still leading the way.
+
+This knight seeks not a place in the sun but a change in himself, to
+become a better, a braver, a truer knight. Then, wherever he may be,
+he will find his place in the sun; and that nation whose people seek to
+grow wiser and better and nobler will always find "the sun's rays
+falling fruitfully" upon them.
+
+To win prosperity and happiness through becoming abler and better
+people, under a government which will do all it can to aid them,
+because it is "a government of the people, for the people, and by the
+people," is the ideal for which the Allies fight.
+
+"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own
+soul?"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the
+unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
+advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
+remaining before us--that from these honored dead, we take increased
+devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of
+devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
+died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of
+freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the
+people, shall not perish from the earth.
+
+ ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
+
+
+
+
+MARSHAL JOFFRE
+
+
+The greatest leaders in history are often men who for the larger part
+of their lives have been almost unknown. Poor, simple in their habits,
+but loyal and true of heart, they have risen from obscurity to
+positions they alone could fill, and then through their devotion and
+achievement have become the heroes of the people.
+
+Lincoln, the greatest example and inspiration to American hearts, was
+in his youth such a simple and obscure person. The Pilgrim fathers, the
+early pioneers in the West, the great inventors of the hundreds of
+improvements in the world of business, travel, and communication, were
+nearly all of them unknown for the greater part of their lives, but
+were men of true hearts and of strong purposes.
+
+Unattractive, ungainly in appearance, unpopular save among those who
+knew him well, but with the strength of will and soul born of the
+simple, true life he had lived, Lincoln rose step by step to seats of
+power until he sat at length in the highest of all. By that calmness
+and vision which belong to such great men, Lincoln saved the nation
+from failure and corruption. He must have foreseen the great nation
+into which the United States might grow, if only he could rescue it
+from the terrible ravages of war and reunite the people with one
+strong, common soul.
+
+ [Illustration: MARSHAL JOSEPH JACQUES JOFFRE
+ Marshal Joffre is holding the golden miniature Liberty Statue
+ presented to him when he visited New York City in 1917
+ _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+We Americans, by thinking of such a leader as Lincoln, may more clearly
+appreciate what it meant to France in this World War to follow on to
+victory with such a leader as Joseph Jacques Joffre.
+
+Marshal Joffre was born in 1852 and lived for years in Rivesaltes, a
+little town near the boundary between France and Spain. His ancestors
+for generations had been farmers, and his father was a cooper by trade.
+The boy was a sweet-tempered, modest, intelligent, blue-eyed, and
+blonde-haired youth. He suffered somewhat from his school-fellows, as
+any boy does who is popular with his teachers. But he was industrious,
+wide-awake, and interested in a great many things, mathematics probably
+being the subject in which he excelled. Trained by thrifty peasant
+parents, he acquired regular habits which were valuable to him all his
+life long. Even in this World War, when great responsibility pressed
+upon him, he rarely failed to retire by nine or ten at night and to
+rise at five in the morning. Before six each morning, he was out for a
+short, brisk walk or for a ride on his horse.
+
+When he was only fifteen years old, he astonished his parents by
+announcing his intention to try for entrance to the École Polytechnique
+in Paris, a great training school for military officers. Such a plan
+seemed, not only to his parents, but to his many friends, much too
+ambitious for a barrel-maker's son. But he insisted on trying the
+examination and passed fourteenth in a class of one hundred and
+thirty-two. His sister, for whom Joffre always had a great affection,
+declared that he would have secured a higher rank if he had not passed
+such a poor examination in German, a language for which he evidently
+had a strong dislike. Those who have seen his examination papers say
+that they are models of neatness, clear thinking, and accuracy.
+
+Because of his high standing, Joffre was made sergeant of his class at
+the École Polytechnique. This honor, which made him responsible for the
+order and behavior of his own classmates, was rather an embarrassing
+one, for he was not of a domineering nature, and was besides the
+youngest boy in the hall. He found great difficulty in exercising his
+authority over these dozen or so lively youths, though he was destined
+one day to be given command over more than three million men.
+
+By hard work he made good progress in his studies. But he did not
+finish his course, for in 1870 the Franco-Prussian War broke out.
+Joffre, but eighteen years of age, was made a sub-lieutenant in a Paris
+fort. That terrible year left its impression upon him for life. He felt
+the greatest agony at the loss of beautiful Alsace-Lorraine--a part of
+his own beloved country, taken by the enemy. From that time he lived
+with one hope--that he might some day be of service in setting right
+that wrong, in getting back for France that which had been stolen from
+her. He once said, "I have seen 1870. I have given my life utterly to
+see that it did not happen again." Thus, it has been said: "The formula
+for Joffre is easy to find. It is a number; it is a date; it is 1870."
+What he saw at that time shaped his purposes for the future.
+
+Joffre is not only a thinker, but a man of action. He thinks hard for a
+time, and then feels compelled to put his thoughts into action. The
+story is told of how Confucius, upon leaving a funeral service,
+presented his horse to the chief mourner. When asked why he did so, he
+replied, "I wept with that man and so I felt I ought to _do_ something
+for him." Joffre thought long and hard and then wanted to _do_
+something.
+
+After the war of 1870, he went into the engineering corps of the army
+and for fifteen years served well in building barracks and
+fortifications. Then he asked to go to Indo-China where France was
+waging a colonial war. He was commissioned a lieutenant, and at the end
+of three years returned a captain, with the Legion of Honor.
+
+He was made a member of the staff of administration of the engineering
+corps, and while in this service it was said of him: "Joffre is good
+at all jobs. He will be good for the big job some day."
+
+In 1892 he went to Africa to build a railroad. While working at that,
+news came that Colonel Bonnier and his party of Frenchmen had been
+attacked and many of them massacred by the natives near Timbuctoo.
+Joffre organized a rescuing expedition (which has ever since been held
+up as a model), took possession of Timbuctoo, and subdued the tribes;
+then went back and finished his railroad. When he returned to France
+this time he was a colonel, having risen one degree in the Legion of
+Honor.
+
+After three years he was sent to Madagascar, where he built such
+excellent defenses that upon his return he was made head of the French
+military engineering corps. He then had the task of preparing the forts
+of France. He built the forts of Belfort, Épinal, Toul, and Verdun, all
+of which victoriously withstood the German attacks in the World War.
+
+By this time, Joffre was a general. He practiced at handling troops in
+the field until he knew all the tactics in moving great bodies of men.
+He became chief of such matters as transportation, armament, and
+mobilization.
+
+Yet all this time Joffre was almost entirely unknown among the French
+people. Quiet, almost shy, a man of few words, he was not one to call
+attention to himself. Only those who were close to him knew him and
+his great ability. Late in life he had married a widow with two
+beautiful daughters. He lived with them very quietly in Auteuil in the
+suburbs of Paris. Here the great chief loved to gather his family about
+the piano and enjoy their companionship and an evening of music. He
+could often be seen mornings, walking with his two beloved daughters.
+Always he was a kind, thoughtful, gentle, often silent man, and, being
+silent, he had also the virtue of being a good listener. For he hated
+empty words, though he talked long enough when he had something to say.
+He spoke with the greatest simplicity, however, and was always very
+gentle and courteous in his manners.
+
+The officers of the staff of eleven men who directed the military
+affairs of the country, of which staff Joffre was a member, valued and
+esteemed him highly. It was from among the men of this staff that a
+commander in chief would be chosen in case of war.
+
+But when the time came in 1911 to reorganize the army and appoint a
+commander in chief, the minds and hearts of the French people turned
+toward General Pau, the one-armed hero of the Franco-Prussian War.
+While they were eagerly waiting to applaud his promotion, they were
+informed that General Joseph Joffre had accepted the appointment.
+General Pau had refused the position, saying, "No patriotic Frenchman
+has any right to accept this when such a man as Joffre is available."
+
+Joffre had a great deal of opposition to face. Unpleasant comments were
+made, and worse than all, France herself was filled with all sorts of
+political and social evils.
+
+Germany, as all France knew, was planning to dash across the border,
+and that before very long. But Joffre determined that, should his
+country be attacked from beyond the Rhine, it would be defended.
+
+Joffre was now fifty-nine years old with his blonde hair and eyebrows
+grown white. His large head, square face and jaw, his great and
+powerful frame, suggested strength, vigor, and a marvelous ability for
+leadership. His first act was to place General Pau, whom he recognized
+as a very able man, in the next highest command.
+
+Assisted by President Poincaré and Millerand, Minister of War, he set
+out to reform the army. There prevailed a system of spying, by which
+officers were privately watched and reported for disloyalty upon the
+least suspicion. Joffre destroyed this system entirely and announced
+that all officers would be appointed purely on the basis of merit. He
+dismissed several generals, some of them his own personal friends,
+because they were incompetent. They were generals who were either too
+old, or who could not act quickly and efficiently in the field, even
+though they were good thinkers. This caused him some unhappy hours, but
+he did it for France. He promoted men who successfully performed their
+duties. He made excellent preparation in the new departments created by
+modern science and inventions,--telephones, automobiles, and
+aëroplanes. Altogether he put system and order into everything, aroused
+a soul in his army, and created a new spirit in France.
+
+A year before the war came, Germany had 720,000 men ready to march into
+France. Joffre, with remarkable skill, raised his army in numbers to
+about 600,000. Even so they were greatly outnumbered, but Joffre knew
+that all depended on their ability, for the first few weeks, to
+withstand the expected onrush of German troops. So he organized them
+carefully, and best of all, put into their hearts the belief that
+"there is something which triumphs over all hesitations, which governs
+and decides the impulses of a great and noble democracy like
+France,--the will to live strong and free, and to remain mistress of
+our destinies." This spirit in Joffre and in the other French leaders
+made France powerful in those first fateful days. It was the same
+spirit which Joffre later imparted to his men on the eve of the Battle
+of the Marne, the spirit which made that battle result in victory for
+France. As the men on that September evening gathered about their
+officers and listened to the reading of Joffre's message, Joffre's
+spirit itself took possession of every one of them.
+
+"Advance," the order read, "and when you can no longer advance, hold
+at all costs what you have gained. If you can no longer hold, die on
+the spot."
+
+Joffre was careful not to make any decisions until he had thought the
+question over deeply, but once made, his decisions were immediately
+carried out. When he ordered a retreat, he knew the reason, and his men
+trusted him and followed his orders implicitly. The people of France,
+too, came to love and trust this great general of theirs.
+
+When the German army, fairly on its way to Paris, suddenly met the
+greatest defeat Germany had known since the days of Napoleon, the
+villagers near Auteuil, where Joffre had his home, came and covered the
+steps of his house with flowers. This was the first tribute of the
+people to the man who had saved the nation, and it showed their
+confidence in the future of the country as long as it should rest in
+the hands of Joseph Jacques Joffre.
+
+Thus, from the unknown man who in 1911 had been exalted to a great and
+responsible position, Joffre quickly became known and loved by all the
+people of France as "Our Joffre." He was later retired from active
+service with the highest military rank, Marshal of France.
+
+
+
+
+THE HUN TARGET--THE RED CROSS
+
+
+All the civilized nations of the world have agreed to respect the Red
+Cross, believing that when men are carried from the battlefield wounded
+or dying, it is inhuman to war upon them further. But the agreement to
+this by Germany, like all other German agreements, became only "a scrap
+of paper" when the Hun leaders thought they saw an advantage in tearing
+it up.
+
+Germany is also the only nation claiming to be civilized that kills its
+prisoners when it thinks best. When the Kaiser told the German soldiers
+going to China to take no prisoners, he meant that they should kill
+them.
+
+Frightfulness was not a sudden afterthought on the part of the Germans,
+arising in the excitement of war. It was deliberately planned and
+taught to the German officers and soldiers. The manual prepared for
+their use in land warfare contains the rules which are to guide them.
+Among the directions are these: Endeavor to destroy all the enemies'
+intellectual and material resources. The methods which kill the
+greatest number at once are permitted. Force the inhabitants to
+furnish information against their own armies and their own people.
+Prisoners may be killed in case of necessity. Any wrong, no matter how
+great, that will help to victory is allowed.
+
+How the Germans carried out the "Rules for Land Warfare" is well shown
+by the proclamation posted by General von Bülow in the streets of Namur
+on August 25, 1914. It read as follows:
+
+ Before four o'clock all Belgian and French soldiers must be
+ turned over to us as prisoners of war. Citizens who fail to do
+ this will be sentenced to hard labor for life in Germany. At
+ four o'clock all the houses in the city will be searched. Every
+ soldier found will be shot. Ten hostages will be taken for each
+ street and held by German guards. If there is any trouble in any
+ street, the hostages for that street will be shot. Any crime
+ against the German army may bring about the destruction of the
+ entire city and every one in it.
+
+Frightfulness was taught not only to officers and soldiers but to all
+the German people, and especially to the children in the schools. One
+of the selections read and recited, even in the primary schools of
+Germany before the war, was "The Hymn of Hate" by a German poet, which
+in English prose is in substance as follows:
+
+ Hate! Germany! hate! Cut the throats of your hordes of enemies.
+ Put on your armor and with your bayonets pierce the heart of
+ every one of them. Take no prisoners. Strike them dead. Change
+ their fertile lands into deserts. Hate! Germany! hate! Victory
+ will come from your rage and hate. Break the skulls of your
+ enemies with blows from your axes and the butts of your guns.
+ They are timid, cowardly beasts. They are not men. Let your
+ mailed fist execute the judgment of God.
+
+A German general told Edith Cavell, when she was pleading in behalf of
+some homeless Belgian women and children, "Pity is a waste of
+feeling--a moral parasite injurious to the health."
+
+The whole idea of the German War Book is given in the statement made by
+a great German:
+
+"True strategy means to hit your enemy and to hit him hard, to inflict
+on the inhabitants of invaded towns the greatest possible amount of
+suffering, so that they shall become tired of the struggle and cry for
+peace. You must leave the people of the country through which you march
+only their eyes to weep with."
+
+And these rules and teachings came at a time when nations were seeking
+to do away with war forever and were agreeing upon rules that, if war
+should come, would make it less horrible and that would in particular
+spare non-combatants.
+
+A German soldier wrote to the American minister, Mr. Gerard, early in
+the war while Mr. Gerard was still in Berlin:
+
+ To the American Government, Washington, U.S.A.:
+
+ Englishmen who have surrendered are shot down in small groups.
+ With the French one is more considerate. I ask whether men let
+ themselves be taken prisoner in order to be disarmed and shot
+ down afterwards? Is that chivalry in battle?
+
+ It is no longer a secret among the people; one hears everywhere
+ that few prisoners are taken; they are shot down in small
+ groups. They say naïvely: "We don't want any unnecessary mouths
+ to feed. Where there is no one to enter complaint, there is no
+ judge." Is there, then, no power in the world which can put an
+ end to these murders and rescue the victims? Where is
+ Christianity? Where is right? Might is right.
+
+ A Soldier and a Man Who Is No Barbarian.
+
+On October 25, 1914, a small party of German soldiers succeeded in
+entering Dixmude and capturing the commander of the French marines
+defending the town, and some of his men. It was a dark night and
+raining hard, and although the Germans had been able to get through the
+lines into the city and to capture Commander Jeanniot and a few of his
+men, they were unable to find a way back through the lines and out of
+the city. They wandered about in the rain and mud for nearly four
+hours, driving the captured French marines before them with the butts
+of their rifles. Day was dawning and there was no chance for them to
+escape in a body in the daytime. So the officers halted them behind a
+hedge and directed them to scatter.
+
+Then the question arose as to what they should do with their prisoners.
+The majority voted that they should be put to death, and at a sign from
+their leader, the Boches knelt and opened fire upon the prisoners, who
+knew nothing of what was being planned. They were all killed, including
+the commander, except one, who was hit only in the shoulder. Before the
+Germans could put him to death, a party of French marines discovered
+them. The whole band was taken prisoner and brought before the Admiral,
+who sentenced three of the leaders to be executed. To have killed them
+all when they were taken would have seemed only too good for them, but
+the French are not a barbarian but a law-abiding people.
+
+Germany believes she can win in war by making it so "frightful" that
+none but Germans can be strong enough to endure it. So among other
+atrocities, Germany has used the red cross on hospitals and hospital
+ships as a mark to guide them in dropping bombs and in aiming
+torpedoes. The Roumanian Minister of the Interior stated to the United
+States government the following:
+
+ Because of the action of Germany and her allies, it has been
+ found advisable to remove the Red Cross conspicuously painted on
+ the top of the hospital buildings, because it served as a
+ special mark for the bombs, etc., from aeroplanes.
+
+Germany also believes, without doubt, that killing wounded who may
+otherwise recover and go back into service will reduce the man power of
+her enemies, who, she thinks, are too Christianlike, too merciful, too
+faithful to their agreements to do likewise. Bombing hospitals and
+killing nurses and doctors will also make it likely that more wounded
+will die through lack of care and treatment. She knows that every
+hospital ship sunk means another must be taken to replace it from those
+carrying food or troops.
+
+There is no mistake about her intentions, although she did at first
+offer lying excuses. She has dropped "flares," great burning torches,
+at night to be sure that the red cross was there and then dropped her
+bombs upon the hospital. She has killed many non-combatants in this
+way.
+
+Germany has torpedoed, during the first four years of the war, hospital
+ships with the big red crosses painted on their sides and all lights
+burning at night (to show they were hospital ships), amounting to a
+total tonnage of over 200,000 tons. The torpedo that sank the _Rewa_
+without warning hit the German target, the red cross, exactly. Germany
+torpedoed the hospital ship _Britannic_, 50,000 tons, the largest
+British ship afloat, partly, without doubt, so that she could not
+compete with German ships after the war.
+
+The first hospital ship destroyed by the Huns was the _Portugal_, sunk
+by a German submarine while she was lying at anchor in the Black Sea.
+One of the survivors described the sinking as follows:
+
+ The _Portugal_ was sinking at the place where she was broken in
+ two, her stern and stem going up higher all the time as she
+ settled amidships. All around me unfortunate Sisters of Mercy
+ were screaming for help. The deck became more down-sloping every
+ minute and I rolled off into the water between the two halves of
+ the sinking steamer. It so happened that the disturbance of the
+ water somewhat abated and I succeeded in swimming up again. I
+ glanced around. The _Portugal_ was no more. Nothing but broken
+ pieces of wreck, boxes which had contained medicaments,
+ materials for dressings, and provisions, were floating about.
+ Everywhere I could see the heads and arms of people battling
+ with the waves, and their shrieks for help were frightful. The
+ hospital ship _Portugal_ was painted white, with a red border
+ all around. The funnels were white with red crosses and a Red
+ Cross flag was on the mast. These distinguishing signs were
+ plainly visible and there can be no doubt whatever that they
+ could be perfectly well seen by the men in the submarine. The
+ conduct of the submarine proves that the men in it knew that
+ they had to do with a hospital ship. The fact of the submarine's
+ having moved so slowly shows the enemy was conscious of being
+ quite out of danger.
+
+Eighty-five lives were lost, including twenty-one nuns who were serving
+as nurses.
+
+Notwithstanding the fact that, according to the Germans, God is on
+their side, some power for good saved most of those on the hospital
+ship _Asturias_. She did not sink when struck by the torpedo, but she
+was rendered helpless by the loss of her rudder. There was no sandy
+beach in sight, so the captain tried to guide her near the rocky shore
+where, if she sank, perhaps some might reach land, but he found he
+could not guide the ship. It was dark night, but guided by some unseen
+power she dodged a reef upon which she would have gone to pieces,
+rounded a headland, and beached herself upon the only piece of sandy
+shore in that vicinity.
+
+The English hospital ship _Lanfranc_ was carrying many wounded Germans
+to England when she was torpedoed. An English officer gave the
+following vivid description to a London daily paper:
+
+ The _Lanfranc_ was attacked by a submarine about 7:30 Tuesday
+ evening just as we had finished dinner. A few of us were
+ strolling to and fro on the deck when there was a crash which
+ shook the liner violently. This was followed by an explosion,
+ and glass and splinters of wood flew in all directions. I had a
+ narrow escape from being pitched overboard and only regained my
+ feet with difficulty. In a few minutes the engine had stopped
+ and the _Lanfranc_ appeared to be sinking rapidly, but to our
+ surprise she steadied herself and after a while remained
+ perfectly motionless. We had on board nearly 200 wounded
+ prisoners belonging to the Prussian Guard, and about twice as
+ many British wounded, many being very bad cases. The moment the
+ torpedo struck the _Lanfranc_, many of the slightly wounded
+ Prussians made a mad rush for the lifeboats. One of their
+ officers came up to a boat close to which I was standing. I
+ shouted to him to go back, whereupon he stood and scowled. "You
+ must save us," he begged. I told him to wait his turn.
+
+ Meanwhile the crew and the staff had gone to their posts. The
+ stretcher cases were brought on deck as quickly as possible and
+ the first boats were lowered without delay. Help had been
+ summoned, and many vessels were hurrying to our assistance. In
+ these moments, while wounded Tommies--many of them as helpless
+ as little children--lay in their cots unaided, the Prussian
+ morale dropped to zero. They made another crazy effort to get
+ into a lifeboat. They managed to crowd into one, but no sooner
+ had it been lowered than it toppled over. The Prussians were
+ thrown into the water, and they fought each other in order to
+ reach another boat containing a number of gravely wounded
+ soldiers.
+
+ The behavior of our own lads I shall never forget. Crippled as
+ many of them were, they tried to stand at attention while the
+ more serious cases were being looked after. And those who could
+ lend a hand hurried below to help in saving friend or enemy. I
+ have never seen so many individual illustrations of genuine
+ chivalry and comradeship. One man I saw had had a leg severed
+ and his head was heavily bandaged. He was lifting himself up a
+ staircase by the hands and was just as keen on summoning help
+ for Fritz as on saving himself. He whistled to a mate to come
+ and aid a Prussian who was unable to move owing to internal
+ injuries. Another Tommy limped painfully along with a Prussian
+ officer on his arm, and helped the latter to a boat. It is
+ impossible to give adequate praise to the crew and staff. They
+ were all heroes. They remained at their posts until the last man
+ had been taken off, and some of them took off articles of their
+ clothing and threw them into the lifeboats for the benefit of
+ those who were in need of warm clothing. The same spirit
+ manifested itself as we moved away from the scene of outrage. I
+ saw a sergeant take his tunic off and make a pillow of it for a
+ wounded German. There was a private who had his arms around an
+ enemy, trying hard to make the best of an uncomfortable resting
+ place.
+
+ In the midst of all this tragedy the element of comedy was not
+ wanting. A cockney lad struck up a ditty, and the boat's company
+ joined in the chorus of Raymond Hitchcock's "All Dressed Up and
+ Nowheres to Go." Then we had "Take Me Back to Blighty," and as
+ a French vessel came along to our rescue, the boys sang "Pack Up
+ Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile." The
+ French displayed unforgettable hospitality. As soon as they took
+ our wounded on board, they improvised beds and stripped
+ themselves almost bare that English and German alike might be
+ comfortable.
+
+The destruction of the _Llandovery Castle_ was as bad or worse than
+those already described. For a time the Huns ceased to sink hospital
+ships running from France to England, but when they learned, through
+spies, that the _Warilda_ carried no Germans, she was sunk early in
+August, 1918, with a loss of one hundred and twenty-three doctors,
+nurses, and wounded. After the _Llandovery Castle_, after the Warilda,
+there could be no further German pretense that Germany was waging any
+other than a barbarian war.
+
+Such inhumanity seems like the work of madmen. Is the Kaiser insane?
+Are the German war leaders insane? Or are the German people, all,
+entirely different from the people we consider sane?
+
+Let us remember that a Roman writer said many centuries ago, "Whom the
+gods would destroy, they first make mad."
+
+When the Huns are losing, they show themselves at their very worst.
+When they were winning in the first stages of the war, they committed
+deeds blacker than those of the barbarians who sacked Rome, but after
+the tide turned against them, then they became even worse and began to
+use the red cross as a target in bombing hospitals and torpedoing
+hospital ships.
+
+Moreover, at the Second Battle of the Marne, orders were issued to the
+German soldiers, who were being driven back with great loss, that
+seemed too inhuman even for the modern Huns. They were as follows:
+"Henceforth the enemy is not to be allowed to recover his dead and
+wounded except behind his own position, even under the Red Cross flag.
+If stretcher bearers go out, a warning shot is to be fired. If no
+attention is paid to the shot, the enemy must be thoroughly engaged at
+once."
+
+As the _Philadelphia Public Ledger_ says, "This is typical of Prussian
+militarism. It is precisely the sort of thing that our young men have
+sailed away across the Atlantic to uproot and finally destroy."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ We do pray for mercy;
+ And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
+ The deeds of mercy.
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+
+
+"THEY SHALL NOT PASS"
+
+
+The caves described in the Arabian Nights are not more wonderful than
+the rock citadel of Verdun; in many ways they are not so marvelous. The
+old citadel is now like a deserted cave, but a cave lighted by
+electricity and with a passenger elevator to carry one from the lowest
+floor to the top of the rock, a hundred feet above. In former wars it
+was a hive of soldiers.
+
+Blasted out of the solid rock-hill are rooms, great halls, passages,
+hospitals, storerooms, and barracks. The heaviest shells of the enemy
+fall harmless from the natural rock. Here, one would think, a few
+soldiers could hold the town and the Meuse valley against greatly
+superior numbers. And this would be true if it were not for the fact
+that modern long-range guns can be placed by an enemy on the
+surrounding hills, once they have won them, and prevent food,
+ammunition, or supplies being brought to the citadel. Leaving these
+guns with enough men to work them, the great body of the enemy could
+then advance towards Paris, for the Meuse valley at Verdun is the
+highway from Metz to Paris.
+
+The French generals realized long ago that the city and the valley
+could not, because of the increased power of big guns, be defended from
+the citadel. So they built great forts several miles from the city upon
+the hills which surrounded it, to halt the Germans when they should
+advance, as France knew they would when they were ready.
+
+For an army to get from Germany into France and to the plains east of
+Paris, it was necessary to pass down the valley of the Meuse and
+through Verdun, and for this reason France spent vast sums of money to
+make these forts impregnable.
+
+After the opening weeks of the World War had shown how easy it was for
+the German big guns to destroy the finest modern forts, like those at
+Liége, Namur, and Antwerp, the French command removed the garrisons
+from the forts protecting Verdun and placed them in trenches farther
+away from the city and the citadel, upon the second range of hills.
+
+There was another way for the Germans to reach the plains of Champagne
+and of Châlons, which by treaty they had agreed not to use. That way
+was through Belgium. When the Huns declared this treaty only "a scrap
+of paper" to be torn up whenever their plans required it, and, to the
+surprise of all honorable nations, went through Belgium, they were soon
+able to reach the plains east and north of Paris, and Verdun ceased to
+be a key position. Verdun was about one hundred and fifty miles from
+Paris, and the Germans were already less than half that distance from
+the city. So when it was learned that the enemy had determined to
+capture Verdun, the forts surrounding it, and the highway through the
+river valley, the French command decided it was not worth holding at
+the cost in lives that would be necessary. To capture it would help the
+Germans very little, and to retire from it would greatly improve the
+French lines.
+
+The Germans doubtless realized that this would be the decision of the
+French and that they would have an easy, an almost bloodless, victory.
+They also knew that all Germans and all Frenchmen had for centuries
+looked upon Verdun as a second Gibraltar and as one of the chief
+defenses of Paris and northern France, one which had been made--as the
+French thought--impregnable by the expenditure of vast sums of money.
+For this reason the Germans believed its loss would be taken as a
+terrible blow by the French people, and would be considered by the
+German populace as the greatest victory of the war. They hoped it might
+be the last straw, or one of the last, that would break the backbone of
+the French resistance. In order to give credit for this great victory
+to their future Kaiser, the armies of the Crown Prince were selected
+for the easy task.
+
+The French command, it is said, had already issued the first orders
+for the retreat to stronger positions, when the French civic leaders
+realized Germany's game by which she hoped to win a great moral victory
+and to add to the hopes and courage of the German people; and although
+General Joffre believed it was a mistake, the French decided to remain
+just where they were.
+
+The Germans were so sure of everything going as they had planned that
+they had advertised their coming victory in every corner of Germany and
+even in the Allied countries. When they found they were to be opposed,
+they brought up larger forces and when these were not strong enough to
+win, they increased them, until the Battle of Verdun, in which the
+Germans lost nearly half a million men in killed, wounded, and
+prisoners, became probably the greatest battle in the history of the
+world. It continued for six months.
+
+Is it not strange that this, the greatest of all battles, was not a
+conflict waged to secure some territory, some river crossing, some
+fort, or some city absolutely necessary to win further progress, but a
+battle to add strength to the German mind and soul and to weaken the
+spirit of the French? Think of these modern Huns, who believe in the
+force of might and of material things, fighting for a victory over the
+spirit, which is never really broken by such things and is never
+_conquered_ by them, but is to be won only by justice, mercy,
+friendship, love, and other spiritual forces.
+
+And the French spirit did not flinch or weaken. The French people and
+the French soldiers said, "They shall not pass," and they did not pass.
+The Germans brought their big guns near enough to destroy the city, but
+the citadel laughed at them. They captured Fort Douaumont and Fort
+Vaux, but later had to give them up to the French.
+
+All of Hunland rejoiced when the Brandenburgers captured Fort
+Douaumont, and the disappointment of the French people made every one
+realize that to have given up the city and the citadel without a fight,
+even though it was wise from a military point of view, would have been
+a grave mistake. But before the long battle was over, the French
+soldiers made one of their most remarkable charges back of waves of
+shell fire and swept the Germans from the hill upon which the fort was
+built. They recaptured the fort, taking six thousand prisoners, and
+sent thrills and cheers through France and the civilized world.
+
+No, they did not pass. The soul of France with her flaming sword stood
+in the way. The Huns were trained to fight things that they could see,
+that they could touch, that they could measure, and especially things
+that they could frighten and kill. The soul of France they could not
+see, just as they could not, at the opening of the war, see or
+understand the soul of Belgium, and just as they did not believe in or
+comprehend the soul of America, later. But the soul of France barred
+their way and they did not pass, for they could neither frighten her
+nor kill her.
+
+ For though the giant ages heave the hill
+ And break the shore, and evermore
+ Make and break and work their will;
+ Though world on world in myriad myriads roll
+ Round us, each with different powers
+ And other forms of life than ours,
+ What know we greater than the soul?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The right is more precious than peace. We shall fight for the things
+which we have always carried nearest our hearts. To such a task we
+dedicate our lives.
+
+ WOODROW WILSON, 1917.
+
+
+
+
+VERDUN
+
+
+ She is a wall of brass;
+ You shall not pass! You shall not pass!
+ Spring up like summer grass,
+ Surge at her, mass on mass,
+ Still shall you break like glass,
+ Splinter and break like shivered glass,
+ But pass?
+ You shall not pass!
+ Germans, you shall not, shall not pass!
+ God's hand has written on the wall of brass--
+ You shall not pass! You shall not pass!
+
+ The valleys are quaking,
+ The torn hills are shaking,
+ The earth and the sky seem breaking.
+ But unbroken, undoubting, a wonder and sign,
+ She stands, France stands, and still holds to the line.
+ She counts her wounded and her dead;
+ You shall not pass!
+ She sets her teeth, she bows her head;
+ You shall not pass!
+ Till the last soul in the fierce line has fled,
+ You shall not pass!
+
+ Help France? Help France?
+ Who would not, thanking God for this great chance,
+ Stretch out his hands and run to succor France?
+
+ HAROLD BEGBIE.
+
+
+
+
+THE BEAST IN MAN
+
+
+A German leader once said, "The oldest right in the world is the right
+of the strongest." This is true and will always continue to be true as
+long as the world is made up only of inanimate matter and lifeless
+forces and of living, thinking beings who consider "the strongest" as
+meaning the powers or things that can cause the greatest destruction
+and the most terrible evil. The beasts recognize these as the
+strongest, and without question admit that the oldest right in the
+world is the chief right in the world.
+
+But as men have become civilized, they have come to fear destruction,
+and even the loss of life, less and less, and have learned to feel the
+strength of beauty, truth, justice, mercy, purity, and innocence. So it
+comes to pass that Robert Burns mourns when his plow turns under a
+mountain daisy or destroys the home of a field mouse. Because he feels
+the influence of the innocent and the helpless, the "wee, modest,
+crimson-tipped flower" and the "wee, sleekit, cowrin, tim'rous
+beastie," he gives us two of the most beautiful poems in the English
+language, poems that, by the power of their tenderness, truth, and
+beauty, have brought tears to the eyes of many a strong, brave man who
+feared no enemy.
+
+Such was the power of Joan of Arc when she led the French soldiers to
+battle and to victory,--simply the power of her belief and her faith,
+for she was a simple, untrained peasant girl, knowing nothing of how
+battles are to be won.
+
+Such is the power of the English nurse, Edith Cavell, executed by the
+Germans as a spy, because she helped English and Belgians to escape
+from the German horrors in Belgium by crossing the line into Holland.
+
+Such is the power of the murdered mothers and children on the
+_Lusitania_, the memory of whose wrongs cause English and American
+soldiers to go "over the top," crying "Lusitania! Lusitania!"
+
+Such is the power of undaunted Cardinal Mercier, who in the very midst
+of German officers and troops, denounces German atrocities in Belgium,
+and yet is himself untouched.
+
+The exercise of the right of the strongest, the _right_ which comes
+through _might_, brings about war. General Sherman, who knew the
+terrors of war from what he saw in our Civil War, said, "War is hell."
+He could not describe its horrors and so he used the one word that
+means to most people the most horrible state and place in which human
+beings can suffer. For many years most men have realized that war is
+the most dreadful scourge of the human race, and that it should be
+abolished. But as is always the case, men cannot agree,--which is, of
+course, the chief reason why there are wars. In the face of terrible
+calamities, disasters, and great crises, men will agree. Perhaps the
+World War will prove the great disaster that will lead men to do away
+forever with war.
+
+For twenty-five years before the world's peace was rudely broken by the
+ambitions of Germany, the people of other countries had been urgently
+seeking some means of doing away with war. Peace societies had been
+organized and wealthy men had donated money to be used in efforts to
+secure the permanent peace of the world. A Peace Palace had been
+erected at The Hague from funds donated by the American
+multi-millionaire, Andrew Carnegie, who had also set aside a fund of
+$10,000,000 for the purpose of keeping the world at peace. The Nobel
+prize of $40,000 was awarded annually to the person anywhere in the
+world who had done the most for peace. Theodore Roosevelt, while
+President, won this by settling the Russian-Japanese War. The Tsar of
+Russia had proposed at one of the conferences of nations held at the
+Peace Palace that the nations should gradually do away with military
+preparations. We can see now why all these efforts failed. Germany had
+her mind and heart set on war and on conquering the world.
+
+Most men agree that war is unnecessary, and before the German attack
+upon Belgium and upon the liberty of the world, many leaders of thought
+in other countries were sure a great war could never occur in modern
+times. One group argued that its cost in money would be so great that
+no nation could meet it for more than a few months. But the United
+States is, in 1918, spending nearly $50,000,000 a day for war, and she
+can continue to do so for some years, if necessary. The cost in dollars
+will never prevent war nor make a great war a very brief one.
+
+But think of what the cost of the war for one year would accomplish if
+spent for the purposes of peace, for construction instead of
+destruction. Ten billion dollars, the approximate cost of the war for
+the United States for the year 1918, if put at interest at four per
+cent, would earn $400,000,000, or about the cost of the Panama Canal.
+This interest would send 500,000 young men and women to college each
+year, and pay all their necessary expenses. It would do away with all
+the slums and poverty of our great cities. If the cost to one nation
+for one year would, as a permanent fund, accomplish this, it is easy to
+realize that the world could almost be made an ideal one in which to
+live, if the money that all the nations spend upon the World War could
+have been saved and made a permanent fund for the betterment of world
+conditions.
+
+Another group said, "Modern science has made war so terrible and so
+destructive that men will not take part in it, or if this is not true
+now, it soon will be." When we think of what has occurred and is
+occurring every day in the present war, this seems also unlikely.
+
+When we read of guns that will carry a shell weighing a ton for over
+twenty-five miles which will, when it explodes, destroy everything
+within an eighth of a mile, and of guns less destructive that will
+carry over seventy-five miles, almost wholly destroying a church and
+killing sixty-five men, women, and children; when we read of bombs
+dropped from the sky, killing innocent women and children, hundreds of
+miles from the field of battle; of the terrible work of poison gases
+and of liquid fire; of battles above the clouds from which men fall to
+death in blazing air-planes, and of battles beneath the waves in which
+men sink in submarines to be suffocated to death; of an entire ridge
+being undermined and blown up by tons of dynamite, with an explosion
+heard nearly one hundred miles away and killing thousands: how can we
+believe that war is likely soon to become so terrible that men will not
+engage in it, if they are willing to do so now? Sir Gilbert Parker well
+says: "Guns have been invented before which the stoutest fortresses
+shrivel into fiery dust; shells destroy men in platoons, blow them to
+pieces, bury them alive; death pours from the clouds and spouts upward
+through the sea; motor-power hurls armies of men on points of attack in
+masses never hitherto employed; concealment is made well nigh
+impossible. These things, however, have but made war more difficult and
+dreadful; they have not made it impossible. They have only succeeded in
+plumbing profounder depths of human courage, and evoking higher
+qualities of endurance than have ever been seen before."
+
+No, most people who are thinking about the subject to-day are agreed
+that wars will not end because of the destructive power of men, but
+through the constructive power of human feeling and intellect. When the
+great majority of men recognize, as so many do now, that as the world
+exists to-day, no nation can ever gain by a war of aggression, but that
+the nation at war loses her best, her young and strong, and has left
+only the old and defective who cannot fight, that she loses her
+industrial and commercial prosperity as well, and through these losses
+loses more than she can ever gain by conquest; when all nations realize
+that the destruction of great cathedrals like Rheims, of the beautiful
+town hall at Lille, of the unique Cloth Market at Ypres, and of a
+University like that of Louvain makes the whole world poorer beyond
+measure, then will men agree that no small group of men, and no single
+nation shall, in the future, be allowed to cause war; and then they
+will organize some power strong enough to prevent war.
+
+Then will come the League of Nations to Enforce Peace, or the
+Parliament of Man of which Tennyson wrote in "Locksley Hall"
+seventy-five years ago. The poet seemed as in a vision to see the
+present World War with its terrors and its battles in the air. Perhaps
+his vision of the abolition of war and the federation of the world is
+equally true.
+
+ For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see,
+ Saw the Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be;
+
+ Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails,
+ Pilots of the purple twilight, dropping down with costly bales;
+
+ Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain'd a ghastly dew
+ From the nations' airy navies grappling in the central blue;
+
+ Far along the world-wide whisper of the south wind rushing warm,
+ With the standards of the peoples plunging through the thunder storm;
+
+ Till the war drum throbb'd no longer, and the battle flags were furled
+ In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.
+
+ [Illustration: SIR DOUGLAS HAIG--IN COMMAND OF THE BRITISH ARMIES
+ _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+
+
+
+WHEN GERMANY LOST THE WAR[4]
+
+
+No man knows exactly when and where the three and twenty allies will
+win the war, but all men know when and where Germany lost it. It was
+four years ago this morning, at a point near Gemmenich, a village
+southwest of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was then and there that the first gray
+uniform crossed the frontier from Germany into Belgium.
+
+An hour before and it was not too late for Germany to win the war, or
+at least to lose it with honor. An hour afterward, and Germany was
+doomed. What has befallen her since that 4th of August, what will
+befall her in the future, were predetermined from the fatal instant of
+that summer morning when the first German soldier trod where Prussia
+had promised he should never go. There is not a German killed to-day in
+the flight to the Vesle whose fate was not written at Gemmenich.
+
+It was not merely that the invasion of a land guaranteed perpetual
+neutrality brought Great Britain into the fight and turned into a world
+war what Germany had hoped would be a small, swift, and easy campaign.
+It was the exposure of Germany herself. Know of her what we may to-day,
+we thought of her otherwise four years ago yesterday. She had thrown
+about herself a mantle which hid the sword and the thick, studded
+boots. She worked at science and played at art. She sang and thumped
+the piano. She cleaned her streets and washed her children's faces.
+Many persons in America and England believed that she was efficient and
+that her very _verboten_ signs were guides to the ideal life. Even as
+the Kaiser reviewed his armies he babbled of peace; peace, to believe
+him, was the first object of his life.
+
+We do not know of any writer who has condensed the proof of Germany's
+falsehood and cowardice into so few words as Von Bethmann-Hollweg, who,
+as Chancellor of the Empire, spoke as follows to the Reichstag four
+years ago this afternoon:
+
+ Gentlemen, we are now acting in self-defence. Necessity knows no
+ law. Our troops have occupied Luxemburg and have possibly
+ already entered on Belgian soil. [The speaker knew that the
+ invasion had begun.]
+
+ Gentlemen, that is a breach of international law.
+
+ The French Government has notified Brussels that it would
+ respect Belgian neutrality as long as the adversary respected
+ it. But we know that France stood ready for an invasion. France
+ could wait, we could not. A French invasion on our flank and the
+ lower Rhine might have been disastrous. Thus we were forced to
+ ignore the rightful protests of the Governments of Luxemburg
+ and Belgium. The injustice--I speak openly--the injustice we
+ thereby commit we will try to make good as soon as our military
+ aims have been attained. He who is menaced as we are and is
+ fighting for his all, can only consider the one and best way to
+ strike.
+
+There stood the German Empire, intensively trained in the arts of war
+for forty years, pleading cowardice in extenuation of her broken word.
+"France could wait, we could not!" A brave man, Bethmann-Hollweg,
+unless he knew before he spoke that the whole nation had sunk to the
+immoral level of the cowards who invaded Belgium because they feared
+that on a fair field France would have beaten them! It is curious that
+in the whole record of German state-craft in the war, the Chancellor's
+confession of his empire's degradations stands out almost like a clean
+thing.
+
+The Chancellor did not deceive the people except in his implication
+that France would have struck through Belgium if Germany had not. He
+did not deceive himself, either. He knew the cowardice of Germany. It
+is probable that he believed, as the Junkers believed, that England,
+too, was a coward. Prince Lichnowsky had told them the truth about
+England, but they had not believed. In the years of Kultur, they had
+forgotten what honor was like. They chose to credit the stories that
+England was torn with dissensions, threatened with rebellion in
+Ireland and India, nervous from labor troubles, and not only physically
+unprepared for war but mentally and morally unfit for war. Even the
+telegram of Sir Edward Grey, communicated on the day of Belgium's
+invasion, to the German Government by the British Ambassador at Berlin,
+did not dispel the illusion about Great Britain:
+
+ In view of the fact that Germany declined to give the same
+ assurance respecting Belgium as France gave last week in reply
+ to our request made simultaneously at Berlin and Paris, we must
+ repeat that request and ask that a satisfactory reply to it and
+ to my telegram of this morning be received here by 12 o'clock
+ to-night. If not, you are instructed to ask for your passports
+ and to say that His Majesty's Government feels bound to take all
+ steps in their power to uphold the neutrality of Belgium and the
+ observance of a treaty to which Germany is as much a party as
+ ourselves.
+
+Even that memorable document, we say, did not convince Germany that
+common honor still lived across the Channel. The Foreign Secretary, Von
+Jagow, a mere tool of the Kaiser, took it mechanically; but Von
+Bethmann-Hollweg added to the sum of German cowardice. Brave as he had
+been in the Reichstag, he whimpered to Sir Edward Goschen when he saw
+that "12 o'clock to-night" on paper. This account of the conversation
+is Goschen's, but the German Chancellor later confirmed the
+Englishman's version:
+
+ I found the Chancellor very agitated. His Excellency at once
+ began a harangue which lasted for about twenty minutes. He said
+ that the step taken by His Majesty's Government was terrible to
+ a degree; just for a word--"neutrality," a word which in war
+ time had so often been disregarded--just for a scrap of paper,
+ Great Britain was going to make war on a kindred nation who
+ desired nothing better than to be friends with her.
+
+When he added that it was a matter of "life and death" to Germany to
+advance through Belgium, the British Ambassador replied that it was "a
+matter of life and death for the honor of Great Britain that she should
+keep her solid engagement to do her utmost to defend Belgium's
+neutrality if attacked." Her utmost! Aye, she has done it!
+
+A last gasp from the German Chancellor: "But at what price will that
+compact have been kept? Has the British Government thought of that?"
+Sir Edward Goschen replied that "fear of consequences could hardly be
+regarded as an excuse for breaking solemn engagements," but these words
+were lost. The German Chancellor had abandoned himself to the
+contemplation of the truth: that morning Germany had been beaten when a
+soldier stepped across a line. How long the decision might be in
+dispute Bethmann-Hollweg could not know, but he must have known that,
+cheating, Germany had loaded the dice at the wrong side. If she had
+struck fairly at France, England would have had to stand by, neutral.
+The seas would be open to Germany. If France had violated Belgium's
+neutrality--as Germany professed to believe she intended to do--England
+would have attacked France, keeping the pledge made in the Treaty of
+London. But now, because England weighed a promise and not the price of
+keeping it, there could be no swift stroke at lone France, no dash
+eastward to subdue Russia. To-day, when Germany sees how ripe Russia
+was then for revolution, the remembrance of that 4th of August must be
+the bitterest drop in the deep cup of her regret.
+
+The items at which we have glanced were not all or even the most
+important acts of Germany's dawning tragedy. It was not merely that she
+revealed herself to the world, but that she revealed herself to
+herself. The moving picture of Kultur, of fake idealism, of humaneness,
+which she had unreeled before our charitable eyes was stopped, and
+stopped forever. The film, exposed momentarily to the flame of truth,
+exploded and left on the screen the hideous picture of Germany as she
+was. No more sham for a naked nation. In went the unmasked Prussian to
+outrage and murder, to bind and burn. When a Government violated its
+word to the world, why should the individual check his passions? All
+the world, at first unbelieving, watched the procession of horror, and
+then, against its wishes, against all the ingrained faith that the long
+years had stored within the human breast, the world saw that it was
+dealing with nothing less than a monster.
+
+England's day, this? Yes, and a glorious anniversary for her. She has
+indeed kept her "solid engagement to do her utmost." In a million
+graves are men of the British Empire who did not consider the price at
+which the compact would be kept. Their lives for a scrap of paper--and
+welcome! When we think that we are winning the war--and nobody denies
+that it is American men and food and ships and guns that are winning it
+now--let us look back to the 4th of August, 1914, and remember what
+nation it was that stood between the beast and his prey, scorning all
+his false offers of kindness to Belgium, his promises not to rob
+France, and his hypocritical cry of "kindred nation" to the England he
+really hated.
+
+But it is not alone England's day. It is the day of the opening of the
+world's eyes to the criminality of Prussia. It is the anniversary of
+Germany's loss of the war. We--America, France, England, Italy, and the
+rest of us--will win it, but Germany lost it herself with the one
+stroke at Gemmenich. She believed it a masterpiece of cunning. It was
+the foul thrust of a coward and the deliberate mistake of a fool.
+
+ _The New York Sun_, August 4, 1918.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] COURTESY OF _THE NEW YORK SUN_
+
+
+
+
+CARRY ON![5]
+
+
+ It's easy to fight when everything's right,
+ And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;
+ It's easy to cheer when victory's near,
+ And wallow in fields that are gory.
+ It's a different song when everything's wrong,
+ When you're feeling infernally mortal;
+ When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,
+ Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:
+
+ Carry on! Carry on!
+ There isn't much punch in your blow.
+ You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;
+ You're muddy and bloody, but never you mind.
+ Carry on! Carry on!
+ You haven't the ghost of a show.
+ It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,
+ Carry on, my son! Carry on!
+
+ And so in the strife of the battle of life
+ It's easy to fight when you're winning;
+ It's easy to slave, and starve and be brave,
+ When the dawn of success is beginning.
+ But the man who can meet despair and defeat
+ With a cheer, there's the man of God's choosing;
+ The man who can fight to Heaven's own height
+ Is the man who can fight when he's losing.
+
+ Carry on! Carry on!
+ Things never were looming so black.
+ But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,
+ And though you're unlucky you never are weak.
+ Carry on! Carry on!
+ Brace up for another attack.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Carry on, old man! Carry on!
+
+ There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,
+ And some who in brutishness wallow;
+ There are others, I know, who in piety go
+ Because of a Heaven to follow.
+ But to labor with zest, and to give of your best,
+ For the sweetness and joy of the giving;
+ To help folks along with a hand and a song;
+ Why, there's the real sunshine of living.
+
+ Carry on! Carry on!
+ Fight the good fight and true;
+ Believe in your mission, greet life with a cheer;
+ There's big work to do, and that's why you are here.
+ Carry on! Carry on!
+ Let the world be the better for you;
+ And at last when you die, let this be your cry:
+ Carry on, my soul! Carry on!
+
+ ROBERT SERVICE.
+
+ [Illustration: A DOG DELIVERING A DISPATCH AT HEADQUARTERS
+ _Copyright by Western Newspaper Union Photo. Service_]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[5] COPYRIGHT, BY BARSE AND HOPKINS
+
+
+
+
+WAR DOGS
+
+
+The story of "The Animals Going to War" tells how, one by one, the wild
+creatures, then the enemies of man, were made his friends and learned
+to be his helpers. In the World War, the horse has borne man into the
+thick of the conflict, the mule has drawn his big guns into place, and
+the dog has wonderfully come to his aid, so that now, whenever the
+"dogs of war" are let loose, the war dogs go with them.
+
+The Battle of Verdun had been raging for months; Fort Douaumont had
+been taken, lost, and finally retaken by the French. The Germans still
+poured against it a terrific rain of shot and shell, and within the
+battered fortress the guns were disabled and the ammunition nearly
+exhausted. Help was needed and needed at once. Long ago the wireless
+had been shot to pieces, and the telephones had been destroyed. It was
+sure death for a man to venture outside, let alone trying to reach the
+lines behind, where he might secure help.
+
+Still the defenders stood firm, and in their hearts, if not with their
+lips, over and over they repeated those magic words, "They shall not
+pass!" But the shells continued to fall in their very midst, and unless
+that battery could be silenced, the fort and all the men in it would be
+lost. What could be done when no messenger could reach the lines
+behind?
+
+Suddenly, as the men were straining their eyes almost hopelessly in the
+direction of those lines, they saw a small, dark speck moving across
+the fields, stopping only here and there behind a rock to take shelter
+from the bursting shells. Now and then it dashed wildly over the open
+fields. But ever straight on toward the fort it came. Swiftly the
+entrance of the fort was flung open, and in dashed one of the faithful
+dogs, unhurt. In the wallet, fastened to his collar, was found a
+message telling that relief was coming. Strapped to his back was a tiny
+pannier, inside of which were two frightened carrier pigeons. On a slip
+of paper the commander quickly wrote his message: "Stop the German
+battery on our left." Then adding any necessary facts as to pointing
+the guns, he fastened the message to the trembling bird and let it
+loose. Straight to its home, above shot and shell, flew the pigeon. In
+a few moments the German battery was silenced, and Douaumont and the
+brave defenders were saved.
+
+All along the lines, the dogs were busy bearing important messages back
+and forth from one commander to another, and from one fort to another.
+Zip, an English bulldog, ran two miles in heavy shell fire and
+afterward had to go about with his jaw in splints; but he delivered his
+message and seemed anxious to get well enough to carry another. One of
+the other messenger dogs, it is said, carried orders almost
+continuously for seventy-two hours, hardly stopping to eat or drink;
+for no war dog would eat or drink anything given him by strangers. The
+faithful animals were in danger of being taken prisoners, as well as of
+being struck. Indeed, in one instance a heavy cannon rolled over upon a
+big mastiff, pinning him there until help came.
+
+When the battle ceased, the dogs sprang from the trenches and searched
+the fields and woods for wounded men. They could find them much more
+quickly and with less danger of being seen than any Red Cross man.
+
+In former wars among civilized peoples, the firing has always been upon
+armed forces, and the guns were silent after each battle to allow both
+sides to find and care for the wounded soldiers in the field. The
+Germans, however, have used the Red Cross doctors and stretcher-bearers
+for targets, so that to send them out only means to add them to the
+number wounded. But the dogs, creeping among the men, can seldom be
+seen by the enemy, and besides are able to find the wounded quicker and
+more easily. As soon as a dog finds an injured soldier, he seizes his
+cap, a button, or a bit of his clothing, and runs back with it to the
+doctor or a Red Cross nurse, for he will give it to no one else. The
+stretcher-bearers then follow the dog and bring back the wounded man.
+Often the man may lie in a dense thicket where no one would think to
+look for him, but the dog, by his keen sense of smell or by hearing the
+deep breaths or some slight sound made by the injured man, creeps in
+and finds him.
+
+Sometimes, to attract the attention of an ambulance driver, the dogs
+give several short, quick barks; but usually they do their work
+silently, for if they bark, the enemy will fire.
+
+Many times a dog finds a man unable to get back to the lines, but not
+so seriously wounded but that he can help himself somewhat. In such a
+case, before running for help, the dog stands quiet, close to the
+soldier, and allows him to take the flasks and first-aid bandages from
+the wallet which is hung about the dog's neck or pinned to the blanket
+on his back.
+
+Thus, by the help of these faithful friends, the lives of many hundreds
+of men have been saved. Over one hundred were rescued in one night
+after a battle. A big Newfoundland, named Napoleon, had the credit of
+saving as many as twenty. One of the men, in speaking of him, said,
+"Part of his tail has been blown away, and once he was left for dead in
+No Man's Land, but he is still on the job, working for civilization."
+
+When not fighting or on watch, the men in the trenches enjoy the
+company of the dogs and teach them to perform all sorts of tricks, the
+fox terriers proving especially intelligent. They also do good work in
+keeping the trenches free from rats.
+
+At night, a French sentinel sometimes crawls through the entanglements
+on his way to a "listening post" out in No Man's Land. With him goes a
+sentinel dog. The sentinel's purpose is to discover if the enemy are
+getting ready for a surprise attack. Lying flat on the earth, or
+crouching in a shell hole, he listens with bated breath for any
+telltale noises. The dog, listening too, creeps along beside him, or
+slinks silently out into the darkness. He can tell, when his master
+cannot, if an enemy is abroad. Making no sound, giving no betraying
+bark, as soon as he discovers the enemy the dog draws near to his
+master, stands at attention, his ears pricked up, his hair bristling,
+his tail wagging as he silently paws the ground or growls so low that
+only his master can hear him. If the German soldier attempts to fight,
+the dog springs at him and throws him to the ground.
+
+A group of soldiers were on watch one night in one of the front
+trenches, when all of the dogs suddenly became uneasy, growling low,
+and growing more and more excited. The soldiers knew their dogs and
+trusted their warnings, so they telephoned back to the main trenches
+for help. In less than half an hour, an attack was made from the
+German trenches opposite. Meanwhile, however, reënforcements had
+arrived for the Allies, which sent the enemy back to his own lines
+again. How the dogs knew so long before that the attack was coming,
+whether they could have heard the first faint signs of preparation in
+the enemy trenches, the soldiers could not tell.
+
+When a front line trench of the enemy is captured, it is the faithful
+dogs who draw up the many cartloads of ammunition and supplies, and
+some of the smaller guns. For this, the Belgian dogs are especially
+well fitted.
+
+Happy as long as they can help in the fighting, restless and uneasy
+whenever sent back to the hospitals for treatment or rest, these dogs
+have shown the worth of all the training they have received, as well as
+a great amount of natural intelligence.
+
+While Zip, Napoleon, Spot, Stop, Mignon, and Bouée have been doing
+their bit on the firing line, still others have been taking their
+training in readiness to go to the front. And very hard training it is.
+Sheep dogs, fox terriers, bulldogs, collies, St. Bernards,
+Newfoundlands, Alaskan wolf dogs, mongrels,--all must be carefully
+trained by expert dog trainers.
+
+First they must learn to distinguish between the uniform of their
+country and that of the enemy. They must not bark, because then the
+enemy will be sure to shoot. In carrying letters from post to post,
+they must learn to recognize the posts by name.
+
+ [Illustration: A FRENCH OFFICER AND HIS DOG BOTH WEARING
+ ANTI-GAS MASKS WHILE CROSSING A DANGEROUS ZONE IN FRANCE
+ _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+About three months of training are necessary to teach the dogs to
+travel as far as three kilometres in this work. Two of the dogs are put
+into the care of two trainers, and taught to recognize both as their
+masters, and to carry dispatches from one to the other.
+
+The dogs must be trained to obey implicitly. If the master stops
+abruptly in his walk, the dog must do the same; if the trainer runs,
+the dog must keep in perfect step, ready at a given signal to lie down,
+or follow a scent, or find a wounded soldier. For many hours he must be
+trained in jumping, because of the great heights over which he must
+spring, carrying heavy weights in his mouth or upon his back or around
+his neck. He must learn to make no sound except when ordered to do so,
+to find objects which have been most skillfully hidden, to distinguish
+between a dead man and one wounded and breathing, to deliver the token
+of a wounded man only to the doctor or Red Cross nurse, to allow
+nothing to hinder him from carrying out any task, to refuse food and
+water from strangers, and to aid soldiers on the watch. These watch
+dogs must learn to give a signal when they scent poison gas or hear the
+enemy creeping up. And they must guard prisoners very carefully.
+
+Some dogs cannot learn all of these duties, and so specialists examine
+every dog that is enlisted. There are tests for health, intelligence,
+speed, quick tempers, and even tempers. When a dog has been in training
+for several weeks, he is sometimes found in the end to be unfit for
+service, and the trainer has to admit a new recruit in his place and
+start all over again. Often a dog can do certain tasks much better than
+others, and so each one is assigned to the kind of service which he can
+do best.
+
+It is marvelous what great services these dogs have rendered in the
+World War. The governments have recognized their worth, and societies
+have been formed to train and protect them. The French people, in 1912,
+organized the "Blue Cross." It is a Blue Cross officer who examines the
+dogs and a Blue Cross doctor who gives first aid and orders an injured
+dog to the hospital for further treatment. The Blue Cross also has been
+at work in Italy.
+
+The American Red Cross Society has taken over the task of securing and
+protecting dogs on the American front, but instead of the red cross,
+the animals wear a red star, so that the field is blest with three red
+symbols of mercy--the red cross, the red triangle, and the red star.
+The number of dogs added to the war service during the first four years
+of the war was about ten thousand on all fronts.
+
+Not only have dogs been provided by various societies, but many have
+been given by private families. One elderly French father wrote to the
+French War Department, "I already have three sons and a son-in-law with
+the Colors; now I give up my dog, and 'Vive la France!'"
+
+The French government officials, as well as the various societies, have
+shown their gratitude by awarding honors to the canine heroes. Many
+have been mentioned in the orders for bravery and heroic conduct.
+Several have been presented with gold collars. The French government
+has even published a "Golden Book of Dogs," in which are recorded some
+of the heroic deeds of these brave and faithful friends of man. One of
+the dogs wearing a French medal of honor is a plucky fox terrier, who
+is said to have saved one hundred fifty lives after the Battle of the
+Marne. Bouée, a fuzzy-haired, dirty, yellow-and-black, tailless little
+fellow, is another hero, who has been cited three times for his
+bravery. During a heavy action, when all the telephone wires had been
+destroyed, Bouée carried communications between a commandant and his
+force, fulfilling his duty perfectly without allowing anything to
+distract him.
+
+Shall we not change the old proverb from "As brave as a lion," to "As
+brave as a dog"?
+
+
+
+
+THE _BELGIAN PRINCE_
+
+
+The _Belgian Prince_ was a British cargo steamer. On a voyage from
+Liverpool to Philadelphia, with Captain Hassan in command, she was, on
+July 31, 1917, attacked and sunk by a German U-boat. For brutal
+savagery and barbarism, the drowning of the crew of the _Belgian
+Prince_ is one of the most astounding in the history of human warfare.
+Captain Hassan was taken aboard the U-boat, and no further knowledge of
+his fate has been received. The _Belgian Prince_ was a merchant ship,
+not a warship in any sense of the word.
+
+The Germans evidently intended to sink her without a trace left behind
+to tell the story, as their Minister to Argentina advised his
+government to do with Argentine ships; but three members of her crew,
+the chief engineer and two seamen, escaped as by a miracle. Their
+stories are now among the records of the British Admiralty; they have
+also been published in many books which have a place in thousands of
+libraries, public and private, all over the world. How will the Hun,
+when peace comes again, face his fellow-men?
+
+The story of the chief engineer, Thomas Bowman, is as follows:
+
+ At 7:50 P.M. on the night of July 31, the _Belgian Prince_ was
+ traveling along at ten knots, when she was struck. The weather
+ was fine and the sea smooth. It was a clear day and just
+ beginning to darken. I was on the after deck of the ship, off
+ watch, taking a stroll and having a smoke. The donkeyman shouted
+ out, "Here's a torpedo coming." I turned and saw the wake on the
+ port about a hundred yards away. I yelled a warning, but the
+ words were no more than out of my mouth when we were hit.
+
+ I was thrown on deck by a piece of spar, and when I recovered I
+ found the ship had a very heavy list to port and almost all the
+ crew had taken to the boats. I got into the starboard lifeboat,
+ which was my station. Until then I had seen no submarine, but
+ now heard it firing a machine gun at the other side of the ship.
+ With a larger gun it shot away the radio wires aloft so that we
+ could send out no S.O.S. messages. As soon as we had pulled away
+ from the ship I saw the U-boat, which promptly made toward our
+ own boats and hailed us in English, commanding us to come
+ alongside her. We were covered by their machine gun and
+ revolvers. We were in two lifeboats and the captain's dinghy.
+
+ The submarine commander then asked for our captain and told him
+ to come on board, which he did. He was taken down inside the
+ submarine and we saw him no more. The rest of us, forty-three in
+ number, were then ordered to board the submarine and to line up
+ on deck. A German officer and several sailors were very foul and
+ abusive in their language. They ordered us, in English, to strip
+ off our life belts and overcoats and throw them down on the
+ deck.
+
+ When this was done they proceeded to search us, making us hold
+ up our hands and threatening us with revolvers. These sailors,
+ while they passed along the deck and were searching us,
+ deliberately kicked most of the life belts overboard from where
+ we had dropped them. Beyond making us take off our life belts
+ and coats there was no interference with our clothing. They
+ robbed me of my seaman's discharge book and certificate, which
+ they threw overboard, but kept four one-pound notes.
+
+ After searching us, the German sailors climbed into our
+ lifeboats and threw out the oars, gratings, thole-pins, and
+ baling tins. The provisions and compass they lugged aboard the
+ submarine. They then smashed our boats with axes so as to make
+ them useless, and cast them adrift. I saw all this done myself.
+ Several of the German sailors then got into our dinghy and rowed
+ to the _Belgian Prince_. These men must have been taken off
+ later, after they had ransacked the ship.
+
+ The submarine then moved ahead for a distance of several miles.
+ I could not reckon it accurately because it was hard to judge
+ her speed. She then stopped, and after a moment or two I heard a
+ rushing sound like water pouring into the ballast tanks of the
+ submarine.
+
+ "Look out for yourselves, boys," I shouted. "She is going down."
+
+ The submarine then submerged, leaving all our crew in the water,
+ barring the captain, who had been taken below. We had no means
+ of escape but for those who had managed to retain their life
+ belts. I tried to jump clear, but was carried down with the
+ submarine, and when I came to the surface I could see only about
+ a dozen of our men left afloat, including a young lad named
+ Barnes, who was shouting for help.
+
+ I swam toward him and found that he had a life belt on, but was
+ about paralyzed with cold and fear. I held him up during the
+ night. He became unconscious and died while I was holding him.
+ All this time I could hear no other men in the water. When dawn
+ broke I could see the _Belgian Prince_ about a mile and a half
+ away and still floating. I began to swim in her direction, but
+ had not gone far when I saw her blow up.
+
+ I then drifted about in the life belt for an hour or two longer
+ and saw smoke on the horizon. This steamer was laying a course
+ straight for me, having seen the explosion of the _Belgian
+ Prince_. She proved to be a British naval vessel, which also
+ found the two other survivors in the water. We were taken to
+ port and got back our strength after a while. None of us had
+ given the submarine commander and crew any reason for their
+ behavior toward us. And I make this solemn declaration
+ conscientiously, believing it to be true.
+
+The two common sailors who survived were William Snell, a negro, of
+Norfolk, Virginia, and George Silenski, a Russian. William Snell's
+story is as follows:
+
+ Two men of the submarine's crew stayed on top of the conning
+ tower with rifles in their hands which they kept trained on us.
+ Seven other Germans stood abreast of our line on the starboard
+ side of the boat, armed with automatic pistols. The captain of
+ the submarine, a blond man with blue eyes, was also on deck and
+ stood near the forward gun, giving orders to his crew in German,
+ and telling them what to do. Pretty soon he walked along in
+ front of the men of the _Belgian Prince_, asking them if they
+ had arms on them. He ordered us to take off our life belts and
+ throw them on deck, which we did. As they dropped at our feet,
+ he helped his sailors pick them up and sling them overboard.
+
+ When I threw my belt down, I shoved it along on the deck with my
+ foot, and finally stood on it. As the commander walked along the
+ line, he huddled us together in a crowd and then went and pulled
+ the plugs out of our lifeboats, which were lying on the
+ starboard side of the submarine. When he went back to the
+ conning tower, I quickly picked up my belt and hid it under a
+ big, loose oilskin which I was wearing when I left the _Belgian
+ Prince_. The Germans did not make me take it off when they
+ searched me. I hugged the life belt close to my breast with one
+ arm.
+
+ When the commander returned to the conning tower, four German
+ sailors came on deck from below and got into our captain's small
+ boat, which was on the port side. The submarine then backed a
+ little, steamed ahead, and rammed and smashed one of our
+ lifeboats, which had been cast adrift.
+
+ The four men who had jumped into our captain's boat now pulled
+ alongside the _Belgian Prince_. The submarine then got under way
+ and moved ahead at about nine knots, as near as I could guess,
+ leaving her four men aboard the _Belgian Prince_, and all of us,
+ except our skipper, huddled together on the forward deck, which
+ was almost awash.
+
+ She steamed like this for some time, and then I noticed that the
+ water was rising slowly on the deck until it came up to my
+ ankles. I had also noticed, a little while before this, that the
+ conning tower was closed. The water kept on rising around my
+ legs, and when it got almost up to my knees I pulled out my life
+ belt, threw it over my shoulders, and jumped overboard. The
+ other men didn't seem to know what was going to happen. Some of
+ them were saying, "I wonder if they mean to drown us."
+
+ About ten seconds after I had jumped, I heard a suction as of a
+ vessel sinking and the submarine had submerged entirely, leaving
+ the crew of the _Belgian Prince_ to struggle in the water.
+
+ I began to swim toward our own ship which I could see faintly in
+ the distance, it being not very dark in that latitude until late
+ in the evening. The water was not cold, like the winter time,
+ and I was not badly chilled, but swam and floated all night, on
+ my back and in other positions. One of our crew, who had no
+ life belt, kept about five yards from me for half an hour after
+ the submarine submerged. Then he became exhausted and sank. I
+ could hear many other cries for help, but I could not see the
+ men.
+
+ When day came, there were lots of bodies of old shipmates
+ floating around me. Then about five o'clock, as near as I can
+ judge, I made out the _Belgian Prince_ and four men coming over
+ the side. They had been lowering some stuff into a boat. I cried
+ out, "Help, help!" but they paid no attention to me.
+
+ Then the submarine came to the surface and the four sailors
+ hoisted their stuff out of the rowboat and were taken aboard.
+ Ten minutes later the submarine submerged. Then there was a
+ great explosion as the _Belgian Prince_ broke in two and sank.
+ Soon I saw a vessel approaching and she passed me, but turned
+ and came back just in time. I was all in. It was a British
+ patrol steamer, and as soon as I came to, I made a full report
+ to the captain of the loss of the _Belgian Prince_ and the
+ drowning of her crew.
+
+The Russian, in his story, tells of the taking away of the life belts
+and the smashing of the lifeboats; of the crew of the _Belgian Prince_
+being left to sink or swim after the U-boat submerged--in all of these
+details agreeing with the stories of the other two. And he adds:
+
+ Then I swam toward the ship all night, although I had no life
+ belt or anything to support me. About five o'clock in the
+ morning I reached the _Belgian Prince_ and climbed on board. I
+ stayed there about an hour and got some dry clothes and put them
+ on.
+
+ I saw the submarine come near the ship and three or four of her
+ men climbed on board. I hid and they did not notice me. They
+ had come to put bombs in the ship, so I jumped overboard from
+ the poop with a life belt on. The submarine fired two shells
+ into the ship to make her hurry up and sink. Then the Germans
+ steamed away. I climbed into our little boat which had been left
+ adrift and stayed there until a British patrol ship came along
+ and picked me up.
+
+Do you wonder that the members of the British Seamen's Union have taken
+a pledge, "No peace until the sea is free from Hun outrages"; and that
+they have declared a boycott on all German ships, cargoes, and sailors
+for seven years after the war? Sailors of other nations are joining
+with the British in this boycott.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
+ It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
+ Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
+ It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
+ 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
+ The thronèd monarch better than his crown:
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ It is an attribute to God himself;
+ And earthly power doth then show likest God's
+ When mercy seasons justice.
+
+ SHAKESPEARE.
+
+
+
+
+DARING THE UNDARABLE
+
+ We are thirty in the hands of Fate
+ And thirty-one with Death, our mate.
+
+
+So sang the men who, with D'Annunzio, the Italian poet and hero, set
+out "to dare the undarable."
+
+Little has yet been told of the deeds of the Italians in the World War,
+but as they become known, the people of other nations realize that
+Italy has really worked wonders in her almost superhuman attempts to
+conquer, not only men, but nature as well. When the complete story is
+written of her struggles with avalanches, snow, frost, and enemy
+soldiers in the mountain passes, it will be one continuous record of
+heroic deeds.
+
+D'Annunzio, although well over fifty years of age, and in most
+countries judged too old for actual warfare, has been one of Italy's
+most daring fighters. He was known throughout his native land by his
+writings, and his fiery, passionate pleas published in all Italian
+cities before Italy entered the war, helped his countrymen see the
+right and decide to fight for it.
+
+As soon as Italy decided to join the Allies, D'Annunzio sought and was
+granted a post of great danger. He became an aviator, in the same corps
+with his son.
+
+Austria, whenever possible, sent aviators over Venice and other Italian
+cities to drop bombs, although this warfare upon non-combatant women
+and children was contrary to international law. The Austrians, like the
+Germans, seemed to believe that it was wise for them to use any means
+to win.
+
+In August, 1918, D'Annunzio commanded a flight of eight bombing
+airplanes over Vienna. It was a long-distance record for a squadron of
+planes. Leaving the Italian lines at half past five in the morning,
+they flew to Vienna and back, over six hundred miles, reaching home in
+about sixteen hours. It was necessary for them to fly very high, at
+about fifteen thousand feet, to cross the Alps and to escape the
+Austrian barrage. All the machines returned but one, which was obliged
+to land on account of engine trouble.
+
+More than a million printed declarations, or statements, were dropped
+on Vienna to inform the Austrians of the real state of affairs. In
+Germany and Austria, the people were allowed to know only what their
+rulers thought would be good for them to know. D'Annunzio wanted to
+show them that Italians could drop bombs on Vienna if they desired to
+do so, or thought it right to do so.
+
+The manifestoes, as they are called, were in German, and read as
+follows:
+
+ We Italians do not war upon women, children, and old men--but
+ only upon your blind, obstinate, and cruel rulers, who cannot
+ give you either peace or food, but try to keep you quiet with
+ hatred and falsehood.
+
+ You are said to be intelligent. Why do you wear the uniform of
+ Prussia? It is suicide for you to continue the war. The victory
+ that would end the war promised to you by the Prussians is like
+ the wheat they promised you from Ukraine. You will all die while
+ waiting for it. People of Vienna, think for yourselves! Awake!
+
+In February, 1918, D'Annunzio with twenty-nine companions set out on
+three small torpedo boats to destroy some Austrian warships discovered
+by an Italian aviator to be lying hidden in the Bay of Buccari. To get
+at them, it was necessary to steam past the Austrian fortifications.
+Discovery meant death.
+
+It is not strange that D'Annunzio was the mastermind of this
+expedition, for he loves the sea, as he says, with all the strength of
+his soul. He was born on a yacht at sea and has written much about
+ships and the ocean. He has taken as his motto three Latin words,
+"Memento audere semper," which mean, "Remember always to dare."
+
+As they steam away from the Italian shores, D'Annunzio talks to his
+brave companions. He says, "Sailors, companions, what we are about to
+do is a task for silent men. Silence is our trusty helmsman. For that
+reason I need not urge you with many words to be brave, for I know you
+are already eager to match your courage against the unknown danger. If
+I were to tell you where we are bound, you would hardly be able to keep
+from dancing for joy. We are only a handful of men on three small
+ships, but our hearts are stronger than the motors, and our wills can
+go further than the torpedoes.
+
+"We carry with us, to leave for a souvenir for the enemy, three bottles
+sealed and crowned with the flaming tricolor of Italy. We will leave
+them to-night floating on the smooth surface of the bay amid the
+wreckage of the vessels we have struck."
+
+Then D'Annunzio reads to them the letter which he has written and
+inclosed in each bottle, ridiculing the Austrians because they have
+hidden their ships safely behind the guns of the forts, and do not have
+courage to come out in the open sea. He says the Italians are always
+ready "to dare the undarable," and that they have come to make the
+enemy whom they hate most of all, the laughingstock of the world.
+
+He goes on speaking to the sailors: "Because this thing that we attempt
+is so dangerous, we have already conquered Fate. To-morrow your names
+will be honored in all Italy, and will shine as golden as the torpedo.
+Therefore, every one to-day must give all of himself and more than all
+of himself, all of his strength and courage, and even more. Do you
+swear it? Answer me."
+
+The sailors cry, "We swear it! Viva l'Italia!"
+
+And D'Annunzio answers, "Memento audere semper."
+
+They have been steaming for twenty-four hours and are now very near the
+enemy's guns guarding the entrance to the bay. The very audacity of the
+Italians seems to save them, for they steam on unchallenged, and when
+near enough, discharge a torpedo at the giant Austrian dreadnought. The
+ship is struck and all is excitement and confusion. Rockets are sent up
+to alarm and inform the forts. The Italian torpedo boats turn for home.
+D'Annunzio says, "The sky is starry, the sea is starry, and our hearts
+are starry, too."
+
+One of their three ships is soon disabled and falls behind. The other
+two turn back to help her, and this is what probably saves them all;
+for the Austrian forts, seeing them sailing into the harbor, think they
+are Austrian vessels and do not fire upon them. When they steam out of
+the harbor, the forts think they are Austrian torpedo boats in pursuit
+of the Italians who must have escaped in the darkness. As D'Annunzio
+says, "Our very audacity has conquered Fate."
+
+They sank one of the largest of the Austrian dreadnoughts, and then
+returned in safety to Italy.
+
+It remained, however, for another Italian naval officer to outdo those
+who "dared the undarable" at Buccari. Lieutenant Luigi Rizzo, with two
+small motor patrol boats, succeeded in sinking two huge dreadnoughts
+protected by an escort of fast destroyers. His story of the encounter
+is as follows:
+
+ We were returning to our base just before dawn on July 10, 1918,
+ after a night of dull, monotonous work along the enemy's coast,
+ when I saw smoke coming from ships nearly two miles away. I
+ thought we had been discovered and were being pursued. The only
+ way I could know what we had to contend with was to get nearer
+ the enemy, so I turned the two boats in my command toward the
+ distant smoke.
+
+ Soon I discovered that it was two of Austria's largest
+ dreadnoughts protected by a great convoy of destroyers.
+ Evidently because we were so small, we had not been seen in the
+ darkness; and although we were poorly armed, with only two large
+ torpedoes for each of our two boats and eight smaller ones to
+ throw by hand, we crept ahead until we were inside the line of
+ the destroyers, and slowly and quietly approaching the
+ dreadnoughts. I headed for one of them which proved to be the
+ _St. Stephen_, and Lieutenant Aonzo, in charge of the other
+ boat, made for the other, the _Prince Eugene_.
+
+ Then the watch on the dreadnoughts discovered us and began to
+ fire at us with their small guns. How we escaped destruction is
+ a miracle. Lieutenant Aonzo sent his first torpedo, and missed;
+ but the second struck the giant fairly. Both of my torpedoes
+ struck the _St. Stephen_.
+
+ After that all was confusion and excitement. We were fired upon
+ and encircled by a muddled crowd of destroyers. I turned my boat
+ to escape. A destroyer stood directly in my way and I veered off
+ and almost touched the bow of the sinking _St. Stephen_ in
+ passing. The destroyers gave their attention to me and this
+ allowed Lieutenant Aonzo to escape.
+
+ I saw that I would soon be overtaken, so I sent two torpedoes at
+ the nearest destroyer. The first missed, but the second hit the
+ mark. There was a tremendous explosion. The destroyer wobbled
+ and began to turn over. I put on all power and escaped in the
+ darkness.
+
+ The whole thing did not take over fifteen minutes. When we were
+ sure of our escape, the five boys of my crew went nearly mad
+ with joy, hugging, cheering, kissing, and crying in their
+ excitement at what we had done. They hoisted our largest flag
+ and trimmed our boat with bunting. A short way from us we could
+ see that Lieutenant Aonzo was doing the same.
+
+ We knew the reception we would have when those at home learned
+ the story, but we did not expect so much. The King decorated and
+ honored us, the Admiralty gave us prize money, and the people
+ added their contributions to it, for they declared we doubtless
+ saved the city of Ancona from bombardment.
+
+Lieutenant Rizzo was promoted to the rank of Commandant although not
+yet thirty years of age.
+
+The _St. Stephen_ sank where she was torpedoed. The _Prince Eugene_ was
+able to make for home, but sank before she reached there, a short way
+from the Austrian coast. At the beginning of 1918, Austria had four of
+these giant dreadnoughts; on July 11, she had but one still floating.
+
+
+
+
+KILLING THE SOUL
+
+
+As the centuries pass, the greatest glory of any nation, its highest
+satisfaction and pride, is in the works of art which it possesses. In
+each country there are works of art which have been preserved through
+many generations. They are the great inheritance of all the past ages.
+Every nation prizes this inheritance and wishes to hold it in
+safekeeping for still another generation; for into these creations of
+genius, men have put their souls.
+
+If a famous inventor of machinery dies and the particular machine which
+he made is destroyed, there are yet other machines left, which have
+been made after his pattern, usually much better than the first one
+which he constructed.
+
+While steamboats, railways, telegraphs, and automobiles are very
+useful, they are not so mysterious and individual but that they may be
+exactly copied and many, many duplicates be made and used by every
+country under the sun.
+
+If all the music of the great composer Beethoven should be destroyed so
+that no copy remained in the world, there perhaps would be some master
+musicians of to-day who could remember and write down the notes, and so
+reproduce the wonderful compositions once more.
+
+But there have been artists who have seen visions and dreamed dreams of
+God and heaven and the best and happiest things they had found in life.
+Such a one, with the power of his great genius, has made the dream into
+a picture, a painting, a statue, or a wonderful building, which no
+other person in the world is able to copy exactly. Indeed, there are
+many half-finished works which no artist, however great, has been able
+to complete. The creator has put into the work his soul, the best of
+all he thought and knew. So when many artists with their many dreams
+brought their finest works together into one place, it was certain that
+forever that place would be cherished and the wonder of it would belong
+to all people everywhere. While the artists have died long ago, their
+spirits, their very souls, seem alive to-day in the beautiful art works
+which they have left. It is for this reason that we speak of great
+artists who lived eight or nine hundred years ago, as if they were
+still living to-day, for their souls are alive in what they so
+wonderfully made. Those who look upon these works are mysteriously
+inspired to live better and happier lives themselves.
+
+ [Illustration: RHEIMS CATHEDRAL]
+
+The loveliest art works in France are its Gothic cathedrals, and of
+them all, the Cathedral at Rheims was probably the most wonderful. No
+monument of ancient or modern times is more widely known to the world.
+It was built in the Middle Ages and expressed all the aspiration and
+faith of the people of that time. For seven hundred years it has been
+cherished for its great beauty, for the memory of the men who made it
+so beautiful, and for the sacred services which have been held in it.
+All the kings of France, except six, were crowned in it. One of the
+most striking services was the coronation of Charles VII, while Joan of
+Arc stood beside him with the sacred banner in her hands.
+
+The cathedral held the works of many ancient artists. It was especially
+famous for its rose window, in which the figures of prophets and
+martyrs were glorified by the afternoon sun. Beneath the window was a
+magnificent gallery. Statues of angels, a beautiful statue of Christ,
+and one of the Madonna were to be found in this wonderful building. The
+stained glass windows were all very beautiful. Even the bells in the
+tower were famous.
+
+With the excuse that the French were using the great towers of the old
+cathedral as observation posts, the Germans bombarded and destroyed the
+church. The roof was battered in and burned, the stained glass windows
+broken, the famous bells pounded into a shapeless mass of metal, and
+the wonderful statues and decorations hopelessly destroyed. Only the
+statue of Joan of Arc, in front of the cathedral, remained uninjured,
+as though to say, "I am the soul of France. You cannot injure or kill
+me." Afterwards the Germans bombarded the church a second time,
+attempting to tear down even the walls that were still standing.
+
+Even savages in war respect sacred places, but the Germans deliberately
+aimed their guns at them. No excuse can ever be accepted by the
+civilized world for this deliberate destruction, and certainly the
+excuse cannot be accepted by military men that the act was due to bad
+marksmanship.
+
+Other ancient churches were horribly damaged. The Germans stabled their
+horses in them, broke down the candelabra and statues, and carried away
+many valuable relics.
+
+The burning of the University buildings at Louvain completely destroyed
+the treasures that had been preserved for centuries. Priceless
+manuscripts, paintings that can never be replaced, and valuable books
+in rare bindings were lost to the world.
+
+The Germans scornfully but ignorantly declared, "Why should we care if
+every monument in the world is destroyed? We can build better ones."
+But the German idea of beauty is great strength and huge size. Their
+own public buildings and statues are often horrible in color, immense
+and awkward in appearance. They give people the impression of a
+fearsome brute spreading himself out before them. With few exceptions,
+there are no dainty figures and designs, nor any beautiful thoughts and
+feelings, as shown in the work of real artists.
+
+The old cathedral at Rheims can never be restored. No one can ever
+bring back the old beauty and color; no one can revive those statues
+and paintings so that ever again they will seem to breathe forth the
+soul of the artists who fashioned them seven hundred years ago. The
+walls may be rebuilt, and artists of tomorrow may beautify them, but
+the spirit of the great men of the Middle Ages is gone--it has fled
+from the place forever. Thus the Germans, not content with killing the
+bodies of men, have in this way killed the souls of some of the
+greatest of the geniuses of the past. How can she pay the damage, or
+meet a fitting punishment?
+
+ * * * * *
+
+What a peerless jewel was this cathedral, more beautiful even than
+Notre Dame in Paris, more open to the light, more ethereal, more
+soaringly uplifted with its columns like long reeds surprisingly
+fragile considering the weight they bear, a miracle of the religious
+art of France, a masterpiece which the faith of our ancestors had
+called into being in all its mystic purity.
+
+ PIERRE LOTI.
+
+
+
+
+THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
+
+
+The controller, as he is called on the Siberian railroad, was passing
+through the cars to see that every passenger had a ticket. He did not
+notice the _mooshik_, which is what the Russian peasant is called in
+his own language, hiding under one of the car seats with a large bundle
+in front of him; or if he saw him, he passed on without seeming to have
+done so.
+
+The _mooshik_ had given the brakeman a small sum of money, about fifty
+cents in our currency, to let him hide there whenever the controller
+came around, and in this way ride from Petrograd, or Petersburg as the
+Bolsheviki renamed it after the revolution, to Vladivostok, a distance
+of about four thousand miles.
+
+Now this _mooshik_ did not need to go to Vladivostok; but his Russian
+nature made him _go_, go somewhere, it made little difference where. He
+had been the year before to Jerusalem, but this was for religious
+reasons, and now he must go again for no reason except that from within
+came the impulse to travel, an impulse too strong to be denied. The
+Russian government did not attempt to discourage the people from
+traveling, but actually made it easier by fixing fares for long
+distances at very small amounts. This traveler did not have even that
+small amount, but he found it easy with a smaller one to bribe his way
+in Russia.
+
+There is a society in Russia, whose members pledge themselves never to
+remain more than three days in any one place; and it is said that
+wealthy Russians, after their children have grown up, will often divide
+their property and with staff in hand spend the remainder of their
+lives in traveling from one holy place to another.
+
+A dream, a vision, leads the wealthy man to do this, and perhaps this
+is true also of the _mooshik_; but it is as likely that he goes because
+of the reality, the real people, the real village, the real home that
+he leaves behind. He is uneducated, for only seven out of every hundred
+can read and write in Russia. He lives in a shed as filthy and bad
+smelling as a pig-pen, or rather he starves there, starves both for
+food and for comfort. Black bread, potatoes, and sometimes cabbage,
+make up his "balanced diet." He cannot afford money for meat, eggs,
+milk, butter, sugar, or any of the many other ordinary foods of the
+American home, nor for the light of lamp or candle.
+
+It is not strange that such _mooshiki_ constantly move on and have no
+love for their native place, and have never established an "Old Home
+Day." It is not so strange that their former Tsar, Peter the Great,
+said, "One can treat other European people as human beings, but I have
+to do with cattle." Are they not treated like cattle?
+
+But it is strange that a Russian writer can say of these people, and
+say it with truth, "A Russian may steal and drink and cheat until it is
+almost impossible to live with him; and yet, in spite of it all, you
+feel a charm in him that draws you to him, and that there is something
+more in him, some good or promise of good, that raises him above the
+level of all other races you have ever met." It is strange that he is
+so religious, so pitying of others, and so critical of himself; that he
+has so many noble visions and dreams for which he is ready and willing
+to die.
+
+Uneducated, with little or no respect for truth or honesty in their own
+dealings, with no experience in government, having always been robbed
+by the aristocracy, and now eager and willing in turn to rob them, but
+with dreams of a society of men where all crime and hardship and
+unnecessary suffering are abolished, where there are no grafters, no
+self-seekers, no wrong-doers, no conflict, no robbery, no war--these
+Russian _mooshiki_, workmen, soldiers, and sailors, as a result of a
+revolution, found themselves attempting to govern a nation nearly twice
+as large in population as the United States. There are indeed two
+problems before the world, to make the world safe for democracy, and to
+make democracy safe for the world.
+
+History tells the story of many revolutions. The story of the American
+Revolution, which was an uprising of the American colonies against the
+mother country, and that of the French Revolution, in which the
+laborers and peasants and some others rose against the extravagant and
+autocratic rulers of France, are well known to Americans.
+
+When the real character and aims of the German autocracy were made
+plain to the world, all free people hoped for and expected the World
+War to end in a revolution of the German people. But the mass of the
+German people are kept ignorant of what the rest of the world feels and
+thinks about them, and have so long been trained to unquestioning
+obedience that a German revolution can come, if ever, only after some
+unexpected and appalling German defeat.
+
+It has been said that if, at the time the Russian revolution broke out,
+a few regiments of trained veteran soldiers had been in Petrograd, the
+revolution would have been put down by these soldiers, to whom
+obedience to commands of superiors had become second nature. Those on
+guard in the city were newly-formed regiments recently trained and
+taken into the service.
+
+The Russian revolution of March 9-13, 1917, overthrew Tsar Nicholas and
+the Romanoff dynasty. The Tsar has since been shot, and his son and
+heir has died--from exposure, it was reported. When Tsar Nicholas
+succeeded his father on the throne of Russia, the Russian people
+rejoiced and felt certain better days were at hand, and that they
+should love and loyally support the new Tsar. He had his opportunity
+and he threw it aside. Instead of granting larger liberty and a greater
+part in the government to the common people when they petitioned for
+it, he replied, "Let it be known that I shall guard the autocracy as
+firmly as did my father." His father was as autocratic as the German
+Kaiser.
+
+Tsar Nicholas was weak and fickle. He made promises when in trouble and
+refused to keep his promises when trouble seemed avoided. The Russian
+people were much disappointed in him, and every year their
+disappointment grew. Some dreadful massacres of workers at Jaroslav, of
+peasants in Kharkov, and of miners on the Lena changed their
+disappointment to hatred.
+
+As the Tsar grew older he drew away from touch with the people, and
+lived in his palaces, leaving affairs of state to his ministers who
+were chosen from a small and selfish clique. They brought on the war
+with Japan, and its failure was due to them. When Russia was defeated,
+the people were on the brink of a revolution; but the Tsar promised
+them a constitution, and trouble was put off for a while. When the
+people were quiet again, he broke his word and did not give them a
+constitution. Instead, in every way possible, he lessened the power
+and freedom of the people, and took revenge upon those who had caused
+the trouble by having them arrested and exiled, or executed.
+
+He was very much under the influence of his wife. She was even weaker
+in many ways than he was and seemed to be in the power of an ignorant
+and wicked peasant who claimed to be a monk and was called Rasputin,
+the Black Monk. His influence over the weak Tsar and the weaker Tsarina
+so angered and disgusted some of the young Russian leaders that finally
+they had him secretly put to death--but not until he had helped to set
+every one against Tsar Nicholas and his wife.
+
+For a while after the World War broke out, matters seemed to be going
+better. The people wanted the influence of Germany destroyed, and they
+expected the Russian army would soon be in Berlin. But when defeat and
+disaster overwhelmed the armies through the treachery of government
+officials, the people began to turn and to condemn Rasputin, the
+Tsarina, and the Tsar. It is said that Rasputin had one of his friends
+serving as physician to the Tsar and that he kept Nicholas drugged. It
+hardly seems possible that this can be true, but at any rate, the Tsar
+seemed to show no sense in his dealing with the situation. Instead of
+appointing better ministers, he appointed worse ones, suggested by
+Rasputin. Every one became disgusted and felt that only a revolution
+would save Russia. If it had not come from the people, it would have
+come from the nobles. It was looked forward to by all, but not until
+after the war.
+
+There was suffering everywhere in the capital, Petrograd. Living was
+very high. It was difficult to get enough to eat or to get carried from
+place to place. Steam trains and trolleys were few and irregular.
+Though there was plenty of food in Russia, the railroads were in such
+bad shape that it did not reach the capital. But the Russians were
+fighting Germany, and no one expected or seemed to desire a revolution
+until after the war. When it did come, it was not planned, but seemed
+to come as if by accident.
+
+Trouble began in the factory districts, in connection with bread riots.
+Stones were thrown, and some damage was done to property. Then crowds
+gathered and marched up and down the streets crying for bread, singing
+revolutionary songs, and carrying red flags.
+
+The police were not able to handle the situation alone, and the
+soldiers were called upon. These were Cossacks and recently trained.
+There was bad feeling between the police and the Cossacks, and so the
+Cossacks were inclined to listen to the people and to become friendly
+with them.
+
+On Sunday, March 11, the factory hands planned to make a great
+demonstration. The Tsar, learning of it, ordered notices to be posted
+warning the people that if they gathered, the soldiers were ordered to
+fire upon them. A few people did gather, and they were fired upon by
+machine guns and several were killed. The next morning, the officers
+who had ordered the soldiers to fire upon the people were killed by
+their own men. Then notices were posted by the government saying that
+unless the rioters went to work, they would immediately be sent to the
+front.
+
+Other regiments revolted, and there was a battle between these and the
+few who remained loyal to the government. It was not a serious battle;
+but some were killed and the loyal regiments were defeated. Then
+soldiers and people ran through the streets crying, "Down with the
+Government."
+
+The Tsar was at the front. Had he been in Petrograd, he might have
+saved the government by making some new promises; but, as it was, it
+soon fell.
+
+As soon as the government was overthrown and the Tsar taken prisoner,
+those who had long sought for a revolution and had been forced to flee
+from Russia, came rushing back from Switzerland, Greece, France, and
+the United States. They were the real leaders after they arrived.
+
+An American who was in Petrograd at the time gives the following
+account of the revolution:
+
+ Their first demand was that all prison doors should be opened
+ and that the oppressed the world over should be freed.
+
+ The revolution was picturesque and full of color. Nearly every
+ morning one could see regiment after regiment, soldiers,
+ Cossacks, and sailors, with their regimental colors, and bands,
+ and revolutionary flags, marching to the Duma to take the new
+ oath of allegiance. They were cheered; they were blessed;
+ handkerchiefs were waved; hats were raised, as marks of
+ appreciation and gratitude to these men, without whose help
+ there would have been no revolution. The enthusiasm became so
+ contagious that men and women, young and old, high and low, fell
+ in alongside, or behind, joined in the singing of the
+ Marseillaise, and walked to the Duma to take the oath of
+ allegiance, and having taken it, they felt as purified as if
+ they had partaken of the communion.
+
+ Another picturesque sight was the army trucks filled with armed
+ soldiers, red handkerchiefs tied to their bayonets, dashing up
+ and down the streets, ostensibly for the purpose of protecting
+ the citizens, but really for the mere joy of riding about and
+ being cheered. One of these trucks stands out vividly in my
+ mind: it contained about twenty soldiers, having in their midst
+ a beautiful young woman with a red banner, and a young hoodlum
+ astride the engine.
+
+No one knows, at the end of the fourth year of the World War, what the
+result of the Russian revolution will be. It has so far left Russia a
+prey to Germany, but Germany is showing such criminal greed and
+unfairness that she may find her easily gained plunder will be her
+destruction, like the drowning robber with his pockets filled with
+gold.
+
+The Russian _mooshik_ has a motto, or rather a philosophy, which is
+expressed by the word "_nitchevo_." This word has several meanings, one
+of which is "nothing." Just what the _mooshik_ has in mind when he
+says "_nitchevo_" is illustrated by the following story.
+
+When Bismarck was Prussian ambassador at the court of Tsar Alexander
+II, he was invited by the Tsar to take part in a great hunt, a dozen or
+more miles out of the capital.
+
+Bismarck started with his own horses and sledge but soon met with a
+serious accident, and was obliged to call upon the Russian peasants, or
+_mooshiki_, to help him by providing a horse, sledge, and driver. Soon
+a peasant appeared with a very small and raw-boned horse attached to a
+sledge that seemed about ready to fall to pieces.
+
+"That looks more like a rat than a horse," growled Bismarck, but he got
+into the sledge.
+
+The peasant answered but one word, "_Nitchevo._"
+
+Soon the horse was flying over the snow at a great rate of speed. There
+was no road to be seen and the peasant was heading for the woods. "Look
+out!" yelled Bismarck. "You will throw me out!" But the peasant
+replied, "_Nitchevo._"
+
+In a moment they were among the trees and were turning, now this way,
+now that, to avoid hitting them. The raw-boned horse had not lessened
+his speed in the least. Suddenly there was a crash. The sledge had
+skidded and struck a tree. The peasant and his passenger were thrown
+out headlong.
+
+Bismarck was a man of fiery temper. When he had picked himself up, he
+rushed up to the peasant, who was trying to stop his bleeding nose, and
+yelled, "I will kill you." The _mooshik_ did not seem at all frightened
+or troubled, and answered simply, "_Nitchevo._" He drew a piece of rope
+from the sledge and began to tie the broken parts together.
+
+"I shall be late at the hunt," yelled the angry Bismarck.
+
+"_Nitchevo_," replied the peasant.
+
+While the sledge was being repaired, Bismarck noticed a small piece of
+iron broken from the runner and lying on the snow. He picked it up and
+put it in his pocket.
+
+The _mooshik_ soon had the sledge ready for them, and this time he
+reached the hunting lodge with his distinguished passenger without
+further accident or delay.
+
+The Tsar and his companions laughed heartily at the story, as related
+by Bismarck, and then explained to the Prussian that by _nitchevo_ the
+_mooshik_ meant that nothing mattered, that they would get where they
+had started for, if they did not let accidents or circumstances turn
+them from it.
+
+When Bismarck returned to the capital he had a ring made from the piece
+of iron, and on the inside of it he had inscribed the word _nitchevo_.
+
+The Russian _mooshik_ of to-day is the same in character and belief as
+the _mooshik_ that replied "_Nitchevo_" to Bismarck. To Germany, to the
+Kaiser, to the world, the Russians, amid all their sorrows and
+troubles, are saying "_Nitchevo._" They will reach their goal at
+length, for they look upon the dangers and delays as nothing.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The Russian word _Bolsheviki_, used to designate the revolutionary
+party which was in power in Russia in 1918, is composed of two words:
+_bolsh_, meaning many; and _vik_, meaning most. _Bolsheviki_ means the
+greatest number, or the common people, as compared with the few, or the
+aristocracy. _Bolshevik_, with the accent on the first syllable, is the
+singular and means one of the greatest number. _Bolsheviki_, with
+accents on the second and on the last syllables, is the plural.
+Similarly _mooshik_ means a peasant, and _mooshiki_ means peasants.
+
+
+
+
+A BALLAD OF FRENCH RIVERS[6]
+
+
+ Of streams that men take honor in
+ The Frenchman looks to three,
+ And each one has for origin
+ The hills of Burgundy;
+ And each has known the quivers
+ Of blood and tears and pain--
+ O gallant bleeding rivers,
+ The Marne, the Meuse, the Aisne.
+
+ Says Marne: "My poplar fringes
+ Have felt the Prussian tread,
+ The blood of brave men tinges
+ My banks with lasting red;
+ Let others ask due credit,
+ But France has me to thank;
+ Von Kluck himself has said it:
+ I turned the Boche's flank!"
+
+ Says Meuse: "I claim no winning,
+ No glory on the stage;
+ Save that, in the beginning
+ I strove to save Liége.
+ Alas! that Frankish rivers
+ Should share such shame as mine--
+ In spite of all endeavors
+ I flow to join the Rhine!"
+
+ Says Aisne: "My silver shallows
+ Are salter than the sea,
+ The woe of Rheims still hallows
+ My endless tragedy.
+ Of rivers rich in story
+ That run through green Champagne,
+ In agony and glory,
+ The chief am I, the Aisne!"
+
+ Now there are greater waters
+ That Frenchmen all hold dear--
+ The Rhone, with many daughters,
+ That runs so icy clear;
+ There's Moselle, deep and winy,
+ There's Loire, Garonne and Seine.
+ But O the valiant tiny--
+ The Marne, the Meuse, the Aisne!
+
+ CHRISTOPHER MORLEY.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A river is the most human and companionable of all inanimate things. It
+has a life, a character, a voice of its own; and is as full of
+good-fellowship as a sugar-maple is of sap. It can talk in various
+tones, loud or low; and of many subjects, grave or gay.
+
+ HENRY VAN DYKE.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[6] COPYRIGHT BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+BACILLI AND BULLETS
+
+
+Sir William Osler, one of the greatest medical men in the world, told
+the soldiers in the English training camps that he wanted to help them
+to get a true knowledge of their foes. The officers had impressed the
+soldiers with the truth that it was always necessary to find out where
+their enemies were and how many they were. But Sir William Osier told
+them of other invisible enemies which they should most fear, and fight
+against. "While the bullets from your foes are to be dreaded," he said,
+"the bacilli are far more dangerous." Indeed in the wars of the world,
+the two have been as Saul and David,--the one slaying thousands, the
+other tens of thousands.
+
+He continued, "I can never see a group of recruits marching to the
+depot without asking what percentage of these fine fellows will die
+from wounds, and what percentage will perish miserably from neglect of
+ordinary sanitary precautions. It is bitter enough to lose thousands of
+the best of our young men in a hideous war, but it adds terribly to the
+tragedy to think that more than one half of the losses may be due to
+preventable disease. Typhus fever, malaria, cholera, enteric, and
+dysentery have won more victories than powder and shot. Some of the
+diseases need no longer be dreaded. Typhus and malaria, which one
+hundred years ago routed a great English army in the expedition against
+Antwerp, are no longer formidable foes. But enough such foes remain, as
+we found by sad experience in South Africa. Of the 22,000 lives lost in
+that war--can you believe it?--the bullets accounted for only 8000, the
+bacilli for 14,000. In the long, hard campaign before us, more men will
+go into the field than ever before in the history of the Empire. Before
+it is too late, let us take every possible precaution to guard against
+a repetition of such disasters. I am here to warn you soldiers against
+enemies more subtle, more dangerous, and more fatal than the Germans,
+enemies against which no successful battle can be fought without your
+intelligent coöperation. So far the world has only seen one great war
+waged with the weapons of science against these foes. Our allies, the
+Japanese, went into the Russian campaign prepared as fully against
+bacilli as against bullets, with the result that the percentage of
+deaths from disease was the lowest that has ever been attained in a
+great war. Which lesson shall we learn? Which example shall we follow,
+Japan, or South Africa with its sad memories?
+
+"We are not likely to have to fight three scourges, typhus, malaria,
+and cholera, though the possibility of the last has to be considered.
+But there remain dysentery, pneumonia, and enteric.
+
+"Dysentery has been for centuries one of the most terrible of camp
+diseases, killing thousands, and, in its prolonged damage to health, it
+is one of the most fatal of foes to armies. So far as we know, it is
+conveyed by water, and only by carrying out strictly, under all
+circumstances, the directions about boiling water, can it be prevented.
+It is a disease which, even under the best of circumstances, cannot
+always be prevented; but with care there should never again be
+widespread outbreaks in camps themselves.
+
+"Pneumonia is a much more difficult disease to prevent. Many of us,
+unfortunately, carry the germ with us. In these bright days all goes
+well in a holiday camp like this; but when the cold and the rain come,
+and the long marches, the resisting forces of the body are lowered, the
+enemy, always on the watch, overpowers the guards, rushes the defenses,
+and attacks the lungs. Be careful not to neglect coughs and colds. A
+man in good condition should be able to withstand the wettings and
+exposures that lower the system, but in a winter campaign, pneumonia
+causes a large amount of sickness and is one of the serious enemies of
+the soldier.
+
+"Above all others one disease has proved most fatal in modern
+warfare--enteric, or typhoid fever. Over and over again it has killed
+thousands before they ever reached the fighting line. The United States
+troops had a terrible experience in the Spanish-American War. In six
+months, between June and November, among 107,973 officers and men in 92
+volunteer regiments, 20,738, practically one fifth of the entire
+number, had typhoid fever, and 1580 died. The danger is chiefly from
+persons who have already had the disease and who carry the germs in
+their intestines, harmless to them, but capable of infecting barracks
+or camps. It was probably by flies and by dust carrying the germs that
+the bacilli were so fatal in South Africa. Take to heart these figures:
+there were 57,684 cases of typhoid fever, of which 19,454 were
+invalided, and 8022 died. More died from the bacilli of this disease
+than from the bullets of the Boers. Do let this terrible record impress
+upon you the importance of carrying out with religious care the
+sanitary regulations.
+
+"One great advance in connection with typhoid fever has been made of
+late years, and of this I am come specially to ask you to take
+advantage. An attack of an infectious disease so alters the body that
+it is no longer susceptible to another attack of the same disease; once
+a person has had scarlet fever, smallpox, or chicken pox, he is not
+likely to have a second attack. He is immune. When bacilli make a
+successful entry into our bodies, they overcome the forces that
+naturally protect the system, and grow; but the body puts up a strong
+fight, all sorts of anti-bodies are formed in the blood, and if
+recovery takes place, the patient is safe for a few years at least
+against that disease.
+
+"It was an Englishman, Jenner, who, in 1798, found that it was possible
+to produce this immunity by giving a person a mild attack of the
+disease, or of one very much like it. Against smallpox all of you have
+been vaccinated--a harmless, safe, and effective measure. Let me give
+you a war illustration. General Wood of the United States Army told me
+that, when he was at Santiago, reports came that in villages not far
+distant smallpox was raging, and the people were without help of any
+kind. He called for volunteers, all men who showed scars of
+satisfactory vaccination. Groups of these soldiers went into the
+villages, took care of the smallpox patients, cleaned up the houses,
+stayed there until the epidemic was over, and not one of them took the
+disease. Had not those men been vaccinated, at least 99 per cent of
+them would have taken smallpox.
+
+"Now what I wish to ask you is to take advantage of the knowledge that
+the human body can be protected by vaccination against typhoid.
+Discovered through the researches of Sir Almroth Wright, this measure
+has been introduced successfully into our own regular army, into the
+armies of France, the United States, Japan, and Germany. I told you a
+few minutes ago about the great number of cases of typhoid fever in the
+volunteer troops in America during the Spanish-American War. That
+resulted largely from the wide prevalence of the disease in country
+districts, so that the camps became infected; and we did not then know
+the importance of the fly as a carrier. But in the regular army in the
+United States, where inoculation has been practiced now for several
+years, the number of cases has fallen from 3.53 per thousand men to
+practically nil. In a strength of 90,646 there were, in 1913, only
+three cases of typhoid fever. In France the typhoid rate among the
+unvaccinated was 168.44 per thousand, and among the vaccinated .18 per
+thousand. In India, where the disease has been very prevalent, the
+success of the measure has been remarkable.
+
+"In the United States, and in France, and in some other countries, this
+vaccination against the disease is compulsory. It is not a serious
+matter; you may feel badly for twenty-four hours, and the place of
+inoculation will be tender, but I hope I have said enough to convince
+you that, in the interests of the cause, you should gladly put up with
+this temporary inconvenience. If the lessons of past experience count,
+any expeditionary force on the Continent has much more to fear from the
+bacillus of typhoid fever than from bullets and bayonets. Think again
+of South Africa, with its 57,000 cases of typhoid fever! With a million
+of men in the field, their efficiency will be increased one third if we
+can prevent typhoid. It can be prevented, it must be prevented; but
+meanwhile the decision is in your hands, and I know it will be in favor
+of your King and Country."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+The soldiers in the American army are also inoculated against measles,
+scarlet fever, and the pneumonia germ.
+
+Tetanus, or lockjaw, is one of the grave dangers faced by the wounded
+soldiers; for the germ of this disease has its home in the earth, and
+during a battle, soldiers with open wounds often lie for hours in the
+fields and trenches. Antitoxin treatment has reduced the death-rate.
+
+Two new diseases have been produced by the World War,--spotted typhus
+and trench fever; both are carried by vermin. This was proved by
+soldiers who volunteered to permit experiments to be made upon them. By
+preventing and destroying the vermin, these diseases are being
+conquered.
+
+
+
+
+THE TORCH OF VALOR[7]
+
+
+The torch of valor has been passed from one brave hand to another down
+the centuries, to be held to-day by the most valiant in the long line
+of heroes. Deeds have been done in Europe since August, 1914, which
+rival the most stirring feats sung by Homer or Virgil, by the
+minnesingers of Germany, by the troubadours of Provençe, or told in the
+Norse sagas or Celtic ballads. No exploit of Ajax or Achilles excels
+that of the Russian Cossack, wounded in eleven places and slaying as
+many foes. The trio that held the bridge against Lars Porsena and his
+cohorts have been equaled by the three men of Battery L, fighting with
+their single gun in the gray and deathly dawn until the enemy's battery
+was silenced. Private Wilson, who, single-handed, killed seven of the
+enemy and captured a gun, sold newspapers in private life; but he need
+not fear comparison with any of his ancient and radiant line. Who that
+cares for courage can forget that Frenchman, forced to march in front
+of a German battalion stealing to surprise his countrymen at the bridge
+of Three Grietchen, near Ypres? To speak meant death for himself, to
+be silent meant death for his comrades; and still the sentry gave no
+alarm. So he gave it himself. "Fire! For the love of God, fire!" he
+cried, his soul alive with sacrifice; and so died. The ancient hero of
+romance, who gathered to his own heart the lance heads of the foe that
+a gap might be made in their phalanx, did no more than that. Nelson
+conveniently forgot his blind eye at Copenhagen, and even in this he
+has his followers still. Bombardier Havelock was wounded in the thigh
+by fragments of shell. He had his wound dressed at the ambulance and
+was ordered to hospital. Instead of obeying, he returned to his
+battery, to be wounded again in the back within five minutes. Once more
+he was patched up by the doctor and sent to hospital, this time in
+charge of an orderly. He escaped from his guardian, went back to fight,
+and was wounded for the third time. Afraid to face the angry surgeon,
+he lay all day beside the gun. That night he was reprimanded by his
+officers--and received the V.C.! Also there are the airmen, day after
+day facing appalling dangers in their frail, bullet-torn craft. Was
+there ever a stouter heart than that of the aviator, wounded to death
+and still planing downwards, to be found seated in his place and
+grasping the controls, stone-dead? Few eyes were dry that read the
+almost mystic story of that son of France who, struck blind in a storm
+of fire, still navigated his machine, obedient to the instructions of
+his military companion, himself mortally wounded by shrapnel and dying
+even as earth was reached.
+
+There is no need to worship the past with a too-abject devotion,
+whatever in the way of glory it has been to us and done for us. Chandos
+and Du Guesclin, Leonidas and De Bussy have worthy compeers to-day.
+Beside them may stand Lance-Corporal O'Leary, the Irish peasant's son.
+Of his own deed he merely says that he led some men to an important
+position, and took it from the Huns, "killing some of their gunners and
+taking a few prisoners." History will tell the tale otherwise: how this
+modest soldier, outstripping his eager comrades, coolly selected a
+machine gun for attack, and killed the five men tending it before they
+could slew round; how he then sped onwards alone to another barricade,
+which he captured, after killing three of the enemy, and making
+prisoners of two more. Even officialism burst its bonds for a moment as
+it records the deed:
+
+ Lance-Corporal O'Leary thus practically captured the enemy's
+ position by himself, and prevented the rest of the attacking
+ party from being fired on.
+
+The epic of Lieutenant Leach and Sergeant Hogan, who volunteered to
+recapture a trench taken by the Germans, after two failures of their
+comrades, is reading to give one at once a gulp in the throat and a
+song in the heart. With consummate daring they undertook the venture;
+with irresistible skill they succeeded, killing eight of the enemy,
+wounding two, and taking sixteen prisoners. In the words of the veteran
+of Waterloo, "It was as good fighting as Boney himself would have made
+a man a gineral for."
+
+There are isolated incidents of this kind in every war; but in a
+thousand different places in France and Belgium the dauntless,
+nonchalant valor of Irishmen, Englishmen, Scotsmen, and Welshmen has
+shown itself. Did ever the gay Gordons do a gayer or more gallant thing
+than was done on the 29th of September, 1914, on the western front?
+Thirty gunners of a British field battery had just been killed or
+wounded. Thirty others were ordered to take their place. They knew that
+they were going to certain death, and they went with a cheery "Good-by,
+you fellows!" to their comrades of the reserve. Two minutes later every
+man had fallen, and another thirty stepped to the front with the same
+farewell, smoking their cigarettes as they went out to die--like that
+"very gallant gentleman," Oates, who went forth from Scott's tent into
+the blizzard and immortality. Englishmen can lift up their heads with
+pride, human nature can take heart and salute the future with hope,
+when the Charge of the Five Hundred at Gheluvelt is recalled. There, on
+the Ypres road to Calais, 2400 British soldiers, Scots Guards, South
+Wales Borderers, and the Welsh and Queen's Regiments held up 24,000
+Germans in a position terribly exposed. On that glorious and bloody day
+the Worcesters, 500 strong, charged the hordes of Germans, twenty times
+their number, through the streets of Gheluvelt and up and beyond to the
+very trenches of the foe; and in the end the ravishers of Belgium,
+under the stress and storm of their valor, turned and fled. On that day
+300 out of 500 of the Worcesters failed to answer the roll call when
+the fight was over, and out of 2400 only 800 lived of all the remnants
+of regiments engaged; but the road to Calais was blocked against the
+Huns; and it remains so even to this day. Who shall say that greatness
+of soul is not the possession of the modern world? Did men die better
+in the days before the Cæsars?
+
+Not any one branch of the service, not any one class of men alone has
+done these deeds of valor; but in the splendid democracy of heroism,
+the colonel and the private, the corporal and the lieutenant--one was
+going to say, have thrown away, but no!--have offered up their lives on
+the altars of sacrifice, heedless of all save that duty must be done.
+
+But greater than such deeds, of which there have been inspiring
+hundreds, is the patient endurance shown by men whose world has
+narrowed down to that little corner of a great war which they are
+fighting for their country. To fight on night and day in the trenches,
+under avalanches of murdering metal and storms of rending shrapnel,
+calls for higher qualities than those short, sharp gusts of conflict
+which in former days were called battles. Then men faced death in the
+open, weapon in hand, cheered by color and music and the personal
+contest, man upon man outright, greatly daring for a few sharp hours.
+Now all the pageantry is gone; the fight rages without ceasing; men
+must eat and sleep in the line of fire; death and mutilation ravage
+over them even while they rest. Nerves have given way, men have gone
+mad under this prolonged strain, and the marvel is that any have borne
+it; yet they have not only borne it, they have triumphed over it. These
+have known the exaltation of stripping life of its impedimenta to do a
+thing set for them to do; giving up all for an idea. The great
+obsession is on them; they are swayed and possessed by something
+greater than themselves; they live in an atmosphere which, breathing,
+inflames them to the utmost of their being.
+
+There was a corner in the British lines where men had fought for days,
+until the place was a shambles; where food could only rarely reach
+them; where they stood up to their knees in mud and water, where men
+endured, but where Death was the companion of their fortitude. Yet
+after a lull in the firing there came from some point in the battered
+trench the new British battle-cry, "Are we downhearted?" And then, as
+we are told, one blood-stained specter feebly raised himself above the
+broken parapet, shouted "No!" and fell back dead. There spoke a spirit
+of high endurance, of a shining defiance, of a courage which wants no
+pity, which exalts as it wends its way hence.
+
+ SIR GILBERT PARKER.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ Mother Earth! Are thy heroes dead?
+ Do they thrill the soul of the years no more?
+ Are the gleaming snows and the poppies red
+ All that is left of the brave of yore?
+ Are there none to fight as Theseus fought,
+ Far in the young world's misty dawn?
+ Or to teach as the gray-haired Nestor taught?
+ Mother Earth! Are the heroes gone?
+
+ Gone?--in a grander form they rise;
+ Dead?--we may clasp their hands in ours,
+ And catch the light of their clearer eyes,
+ And wreathe their brows with immortal flowers.
+ Wherever a noble deed is done,
+ 'Tis the pulse of a hero's heart is stirred;
+ Wherever right has a triumph won
+ There are the heroes' voices heard.
+
+ EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] FROM "THE WORLD IN THE CRUCIBLE." COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY DODD, MEAD
+AND COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+MARSHAL FOCH
+
+
+A Great German philosopher said many years ago that history was the
+story of the struggle of the human race for freedom. Would the Huns
+conquer Europe and put back human liberty for hundreds of years? This
+was the question that was answered at the battle of the Marne in
+September, 1914, and the answer depended upon what General Foch was
+able to do with his army. It was necessary that he should attack, and
+General Joffre ordered him to do so.
+
+General Foch did not reply that he was having all he could do to hold
+his own and to prevent his army from being captured or destroyed,
+although this was really the situation. He sent back to his commanding
+general a message that will never be forgotten, one that was in keeping
+with the maxim he had always taught his students in the military
+school, that the best defense is an offense: "My left has been forced
+back; my right has been routed; I shall attack with my center."
+
+ [Illustration: MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH
+ _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+Foch is a man of medium height. His face is an especially striking one.
+He has the forehead of a thinker, with two deep folds between the
+eyebrows; he has deep-set eyes, a large nose, a strong mouth slightly
+hidden under a gray mustache, and a chin which shows decision and
+force. His whole face expresses great power of thought and will.
+
+Before the war, he was a professor of military history. He was
+accustomed to outline to the young officers in his class a clear
+statement of a military situation, and the orders which had been
+followed. He would then call upon his pupils to decide what
+difficulties would arise and what the results would be. In this way,
+they learned to discover for themselves the solutions of many kinds of
+military problems.
+
+Since Foch has been accustomed to this clear reasoning on all war
+problems, no military situation can surprise him. As a commander, he
+selects the goal to be reached, and the most skillful way of reaching
+it, and his men have confidence that he is right. This is what gives a
+commander the power to do things.
+
+Marshal Joffre realized General Foch's ability and quickly advanced
+him.
+
+After the First Battle of the Marne, it was necessary to appoint a
+commander for the French forces north of Paris, and it was very
+important to select one who had the initiative and the ability to check
+the German attempt to capture the Channel ports. The new commander must
+also be a man of great tact, for he would have to work with the British
+and the Belgians. General Foch was selected, and has proved to be the
+right man in the right place.
+
+The race for the Channel ports was an exciting one. Although the
+Germans lost, it seemed at times as if they would win, and be able to
+establish submarine bases within a very short distance of England. In
+fact, if they had captured Calais, they could have fired with their
+long-range guns across the Channel and have bombarded English coast
+towns, and perhaps London itself.
+
+Foch's decision and strength of purpose are well illustrated by an
+incident which is told by the French officers working under his
+command. He had sent some cavalry to protect the British army from
+being outflanked and disastrously defeated. At the close of the day,
+the cavalry commander reported to General Foch that he had been obliged
+to withdraw, as the Germans had been reënforced. "Did you throw all the
+forces possible into the fight?" asked General Foch. "No," answered the
+cavalry commander. "You will at once take up your old position and hold
+the enemy there until you have lost every gun," directed the general.
+"Then you will report to headquarters for further orders."
+
+Foch is a leader who plans well, who knows how to command, and how to
+make others obey. His orders always end with the words, "Without
+delay!" Because the enemy has usually had larger numbers and more
+ammunition, time has been everything to the Allies. Foch saved time and
+so saved the Allies.
+
+After his great victory at the Second Battle of the Marne, Foch was
+made a Marshal of France.
+
+The Allies, in 1918, through the influence of President Wilson, it is
+said, decided to appoint a generalissimo, that is, one who should have
+direction of all the Allied forces on the west front, including those
+in Italy. Foch was appointed to this command, and from this time the
+German plans and campaigns began to go wrong. To this one man, who
+entered the French army in his teens, and who commanded at sixty-six
+the largest forces ever under one general, the successes of the Allies
+were due, more than to any other single individual, unless it be
+President Wilson.
+
+Between July 15 and October, he had regained all the territory taken by
+the Germans in their great drives of 1918 and had driven the enemy out
+of the St. Mihiel salient which they had held since 1914. These
+victories were won not by hammer blows of greatly superior numbers but
+by generalship of the highest order and far superior to that of the
+German leaders.
+
+
+
+
+THE MEXICAN PLOT
+
+
+It is true that Germany does not know the meaning of honesty and fair
+play. Most Americans, in everything, want "a square deal." They demand
+it for themselves, and a true American feels that the harshest thing
+that can be said of him is that he is not fair and square in his
+dealings. In any American school, a pupil who is deceitful is at once
+shunned by all the other boys and girls as a "cheat" and a "sneak." He
+has no place among them, least of all in their games and sports, for
+not to play according to the rules of the game is to upset and spoil
+the sport entirely.
+
+In playing some of our great national games, like baseball and
+football, where the players are divided into teams, one player, by
+cheating, does not suffer for it himself alone, but his whole team has
+to pay the penalty. Indeed, if he persisted in being unfair, he would
+soon lose his place in the team for all time.
+
+The Germans would not understand this, and they would not understand
+that the last half of the ninth inning in a ball game is seldom played
+because the winners do not wish to "rub in" the defeat of their
+opponents. Some think that it is because German children have had few
+sports and games that the German nation has so little sense of honesty
+and fair play.
+
+In German schools, the pupils at one time were allowed to engage in
+certain sports, but later these were officially forbidden.
+
+The rulers of Germany have for years forbidden anything taught in their
+schools which did not praise Germany and make the children believe
+their Emperor to be a god. The pupils are taught in history, geography,
+and even in reading, only those facts about other countries which show
+how much inferior they are to Germany.
+
+So the pupils have never learned the true and the interesting things
+about other countries in the great wide world. German history tells
+only about Germany's great war victories. The pupils never learn of
+Germany's defeats in war. The teacher makes the history class the
+liveliest of the day, often seeming to be more of a Fourth of July
+orator than a school teacher. The children are taught that Germany is
+the one civilized country in the world; that there was never anything
+good that did not come from Germany; that even the victory of the
+North, in the Civil War in America, was due to there being such a large
+majority of German-born men on the Northern side.
+
+Their geography tells only about Germany's political divisions, its
+civilization, and its commerce. Their readers contain stories of German
+military "heroes." The two great school holidays are the Emperor's
+Birthday and Sedan Day, the anniversary of the great defeat of the
+French in the Franco-Prussian War.
+
+The walls of the schoolrooms are covered with pictures of the Emperor,
+the Empress, and of battle scenes, especially those showing German
+soldiers bringing in French prisoners. The singing of "Deutschland über
+Alles" occurs several times a day.
+
+A German boy is trained into a soldier, hard-hearted and deceitful. The
+pupils in school are made to spy on one another, and the teachers, too,
+spy on one another. An American boy was expelled from a German
+gymnasium in Berlin, because he refused to "tattle-tale" on the pupils
+in his class.
+
+The Germans have not been taught to respect the rights of others,--no
+one apparently has any personal rights except the Kaiser and certain
+high officials; and so great has been their power that they have been
+able to cheat the whole German nation, and they have attempted to cheat
+the other nations of the world.
+
+Some years before the Spanish-American War, Germany began to show an
+unfair spirit toward the United States. Much ill-feeling existed
+between the two countries in their commercial relationships. There
+grew up among the aristocracy of Germany, especially among the
+landowners, an extremely hostile attitude toward the government in
+Washington. This hostility was first publicly shown by a remark
+reported to have been made by the Emperor at mess with a company of
+officers, to the effect that "it would not be too bad if America should
+very soon require Europe to teach her the proper place for her." This
+remark was afterward officially denied, with the addition that the
+Emperor's feeling for the United States was not hostile.
+
+When, however, Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of the German Emperor,
+arrived on a government mission in Hongkong, it is said he gave a
+banquet to representatives from all the fleets in port. Commodore Dewey
+of the American fleet was present. After the dinner, Prince Henry
+called for the usual national toasts. There is a custom in the navy of
+calling upon the representatives of the different nations in a certain
+regulated and well-understood order. But when the time came to call for
+the toast to the United States, the Prince passed it by; he did this
+several times. Commodore Dewey, realizing that this was intentional on
+the part of Prince Henry, left the banquet. The next morning a
+messenger from the German prince brought the explanation that the act
+had been committed wholly by mistake, and was not meant as a
+discourtesy to the United States or her commander. Dewey thanked the
+messenger for his courteous manner in delivering his Admiral's word,
+but sent back the statement that such an incident called for a personal
+apology from the Prince. Very soon Prince Henry called in person and
+apologized, saying that the name of the United States had not been
+written in its proper order on the list which he followed in giving the
+toasts.
+
+When war had been declared between the United States and Spain, and
+Commodore Dewey had received orders to "seek the Spanish fleet and
+destroy it," he set sail from Hongkong for Manila. Germany, according
+to announcements from Spain, was determined to prevent the bombardment
+of the city, because of German interests and German subjects there.
+After capturing the Spanish fortress which guarded Manila, it was
+necessary for Dewey to maintain a strict blockade against the city,
+lest Spanish reënforcements should arrive. No American troops or ships
+could reach him in less than six weeks.
+
+In Manila Bay were warships of Great Britain, Russia, France, Japan,
+and Austria. These nations were content to send only one or two
+vessels, while from Germany there were five and sometimes seven. One of
+them, the _Deutschland_, was commanded by Prince Henry, and was heavily
+armed. In fact, in numbers and guns, the Germans were stronger than the
+Americans with their six small vessels.
+
+There was one regulation common to all blockade codes, one which was
+always followed by the officers on every ship. It was that no foreign
+boats should move about the bay after sunset, without the permission of
+the blockade commander.
+
+But the Germans sent launches out at night and in many ways violated
+the rules. When Dewey protested, they only sent them off later at
+night. They even gave the Spaniards many supplies. Then Dewey had to
+turn the searchlights on them and keep their vessels covered, to
+prevent any boat leaving at night without his knowledge.
+
+This is particularly offensive to any naval commander, and the German
+Admiral, Von Diederichs, objected. The American commander was courteous
+but firm, and said that the United States, and not Germany, was holding
+the blockade.
+
+Still the Germans persisted in moving their vessels so mysteriously
+that an American ship was sent to meet every incoming vessel to demand
+its nationality, its last port, and its destination. To the German flag
+lieutenant, who brought a strong protest against this order, Dewey
+said: "Tell Admiral von Diederichs that there are some acts that mean
+war, and his fleet is dangerously near those acts. If he wants war, he
+may have it here, now, or at the time that best suits him."
+
+Von Diederichs answered that his actions were not intended to violate
+the rules, but he then went to the British commander, Captain
+Chichester, and asked whether he intended to follow such strict orders.
+The English captain suspected the German and answered, "Admiral Dewey
+and I have a perfect understanding in the matter." Then he added, "He
+has asked us to do just what he has asked of you, and we have been
+directed to follow his orders to the letter."
+
+The English commander then sent a dispatch to Admiral Dewey, saying
+that his orders were just, his regulations fair, and that if the
+American commander felt unable to enforce them alone, he could depend
+upon the British fleet to assist him. It is understood that the British
+officer afterward informed Von Diederichs of what he had done, and the
+Germans strictly obeyed the rules and gave no further trouble.
+
+Not many years ago, in 1911 in fact, while the United States was doing
+her best by Germany, the German government tried to injure and deceive
+her.
+
+At that time Germany was also plotting against France, to make war upon
+her and to seize the whole country. Perhaps Germany knew that America
+would not allow such horrible crimes to succeed, and so sooner or later
+she would find herself at war with the United States.
+
+Therefore Germany must think ahead, and plan some means of making the
+United States keep her ideas of justice to herself and let Germany do
+as she chose. German officials consulted together and said, "Mexico is
+a little country at the very southern tip of the United States,
+conveniently near the new waterway at Panama. We could do some damage
+there, with Mexico's help, and as a reward, Mexico might get back some
+of the states just over the border--New Mexico, Texas, and
+Arizona--which formerly belonged to her.
+
+"Then Japan is across the sea from Mexico and the gold coast of the
+United States. Japan needs more land for her millions of people. She
+might as well take California and some of the islands near Panama. All
+this would keep America busy so that she could not hinder us from doing
+our will in France."
+
+A press correspondent in Berlin, as early as February, 1911, sent the
+following word by cablegram:
+
+ The story was told here last night that Japan and Mexico have
+ come to an understanding with each other against America, and
+ that the United States, therefore, is secretly favoring the
+ Mexican revolutionists led by Madero. To-day the report is
+ published in several newspapers, even in the most trustworthy of
+ them. The report says: "Since America obtained the Panama Canal,
+ she has had an increasing interest in robbing Mexico and the
+ Central American states of their independence."
+
+ According to the story, the present trouble has arisen because
+ of Mexico's refusal to allow the United States to use Magdalena
+ Bay as a coaling station. There must be some reason for
+ publishing the story so widely. It is made much of by the jingo
+ press, which warns the Central and the South American states to
+ beware of ambitious political plans of the United States.
+
+As this word was sent in time of peace, it was not censored, and while
+it did not at that time appear to be of great importance, it really
+meant that Germany was taking advantage of the civil war in Mexico to
+stir up antagonism between that country and the United States.
+
+In American and German newspapers, stories were also printed hinting at
+bad feelings between the United States and the Japanese government,
+though no one seemed to know from whom the stories came. It was said
+that, before long, an American fleet would be forcing its way into
+Japanese waters, or the Japanese fleet would form in battle line
+somewhere along the coast of California.
+
+In that same year, stories were publicly printed in American papers,
+intended to spread the belief that Japan and Mexico were especially
+friendly to Germany, and that they were interested in plotting together
+against the United States. These stories were so mysterious and
+mischievous that explanations from the different governments became
+necessary.
+
+During the last week of February, 1917, there came into the hands of
+the State Department in America, a note from Alfred Zimmermann, German
+Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the German Minister in Mexico City. The
+American government had already urged the German government to cease
+submarine warfare, as it was not at all a fair method of fighting, but
+was, instead, entirely barbarous and contrary to international law.
+Germany, however, determined to wage unrestricted submarine warfare
+against England and her allies. Twelve days before the plan was finally
+announced, this note was sent to the German Minister in Mexico:
+
+ BERLIN, Jan. 19, 1917.
+
+ On the 1st of February we intend to begin submarine warfare
+ unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor
+ to keep neutral with the United States of America.
+
+ If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the
+ following basis with Mexico:
+
+ That we shall make war together and together make peace. We
+ shall give general financial support, and it is understood that
+ Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas,
+ and Arizona. The details are left to you for settlement.
+
+ You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico of the
+ above in the greatest confidence, as soon as it is certain that
+ there will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and
+ suggest that the President of Mexico, on his own initiative,
+ should communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to
+ this plan; at the same time offer to mediate between Germany and
+ Japan.
+
+ Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the
+ employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel
+ England to make peace in a few months.
+
+ ZIMMERMANN.
+
+When all this became known to the American people, at first it was
+almost impossible for them to believe that Germany had been plotting
+against the United States, and for so long. Only the word of the
+President of the United States, saying that clear and sufficient
+evidence to prove it beyond dispute was in the hands of the government,
+could persuade them that Germany had been for years acting the "cheat"
+and the "sneak."
+
+The first step taken by the American government was to ask Mexico and
+Japan to explain the many stories that had been circulated, and to tell
+whether they had agreed with Germany to war against the United States.
+
+The people in this country waited anxiously to hear from Japan, for it
+would be denying the truth to say that the stories had not aroused
+suspicion. Japan answered just as the United States would have answered
+in her place, an answer that left no room for doubt. Not only did the
+Japanese Foreign Minister deny that Japan had been asked by Mexico or
+Germany to join against the United States, but he added more than is
+absolutely necessary in diplomatic circles; he added that even if such
+a proposal had come, it would have been rejected at once.
+
+This is exactly such an answer as the United States would have given to
+any friendly country. The answer did more to bind the friendship
+between the two countries than many years of official visits and formal
+expressions of goodwill could possibly have done. The Japanese people
+were glad that such an answer had been sent by their government. In
+fact, the Japanese Ambassador in this country, in speaking of the
+matter said, "We cannot condemn the plot too strongly. Our Foreign
+Minister and Premier have expressed the feeling of the Japanese
+Government and the Japanese people. And it is not alone the government;
+but the people are back of the government in denouncing the intrigue.
+In one way it is unfortunate, because we do not feel flattered at the
+thought of being approached for such an object; but the incident, on
+the other hand, is certain to have the good effect of putting us in a
+true light before the world, and of binding our friendship with
+America. We have a treaty alliance with Great Britain, and owe
+allegiance to the Allied cause. In Japan we place above everything else
+our national honor, which involves faithfulness to our treaties."
+
+Germany never supposed that she would be the means by which Japan and
+the United States, instead of being thrust further apart, would be
+drawn closer together. Germany dreamed a different sort of dream.
+Judging other nations by herself, she did not expect England to come to
+the aid of Belgium and France, and now she had made another mistake.
+She had set both Japan and Mexico down as the natural foes of the
+United States, waiting only for a favorable opportunity to strike.
+
+The answer from Mexico was not so satisfactory as that from Japan.
+Villa, the famous Mexican bandit chief, when he conferred on the border
+with Major-General Scott as to the firing at Naco, it is said, had
+whispered to the American General a story of Japanese conspiracy in
+Mexico City. He claimed that the captain of a Japanese vessel in a
+Mexican port had spoken of the natural ties of friendship that should
+exist between Mexico and Japan, and had also spoken of the United
+States as the natural enemy to both countries. Villa had boasted loudly
+that, if war came between Japan and the United States, Mexico would be
+found fighting for her American neighbor. But later, when the United
+States recognized Carranza as ruler of Mexico and turned against Villa,
+the bandit chief hastened to seek aid against his "neighbor," from
+Tokio. Needless to say, he failed.
+
+General Huerta's effort to start a new revolution in Mexico, after he
+returned to the United States from Spain, has been traced directly to
+the Germans. He, too, looked hopefully for aid from Japan, but was
+disappointed.
+
+Before the United States had recognized the Carranza government, the
+Carranza officials displayed great affection for the Japanese Minister
+who had been sent to their country, and for Japan. But the government
+at Tokio knew that the display was merely made for American eyes, and
+carefully avoided any warm response. Thus has Zimmermann's scheme come
+to be called his "back-stairs policy" and "the plot that failed."
+
+Thanks to the discovery of the Zimmermann plot, Japan and the United
+States understand each other better, and are growing more and more
+friendly. Mexico is keeping her troubles to herself and has all she can
+do in straightening out her own affairs. The boys and girls in America
+will hope, if baseball and football will teach the Mexicans to play
+fair, that these games and others like them will become as popular
+there as they are in the United States.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+A man is a father, a brother, a German, a Roman, an American; but
+beneath all these relations, he is a man. The end of his human destiny
+is not to be the best German, or the best Roman, or the best father,
+but the best man he can be....
+
+Though darkness sometimes shadows our national sky, though confusion
+comes from error, and success breeds corruption, yet will the storm
+pass in God's good time; and in clearer sky and purer atmosphere, our
+national life grow stronger and nobler, sanctified more and more,
+consecrated to God and liberty by the martyrs who fall in the strife
+for the just and true.
+
+ GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS.
+
+
+
+
+WHY WE FIGHT GERMANY
+
+
+Because of Belgium, invaded, outraged, enslaved, impoverished Belgium.
+We cannot forget Liége, Louvain, and Cardinal Mercier. Translated into
+terms of American history, these names stand for Bunker Hill,
+Lexington, and Patrick Henry.
+
+Because of France, invaded, desecrated France, a million of whose
+heroic sons have died to save the land of Lafayette. Glorious, golden
+France, the preserver of the arts, the land of noble spirit, the first
+land to follow our lead into republican liberty.
+
+Because of England, from whom came the laws, traditions, standards of
+life, and inherent love of liberty which we call Anglo-Saxon
+civilization. We defeated her once upon the land and once upon the sea.
+But Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Canada are free because of what
+we did. And they are with us in the fight for the freedom of the seas.
+
+Because of Russia--new Russia. She must not be overwhelmed now. Not
+now, surely, when she is just born into freedom. Her peasants must have
+their chance; they must go to school to Washington, to Jefferson, and
+to Lincoln, until they know their way about in this new, strange world
+of government by the popular will.
+
+Because of other peoples, with their rising hope that the world may be
+freed from government by the soldier.
+
+We are fighting Germany because she sought to terrorize us and then to
+fool us. We could not believe that Germany would do what she said she
+would do upon the seas.
+
+We still hear the piteous cries of children coming up out of the sea
+where the _Lusitania_ went down. And Germany has never asked the
+forgiveness of the world.
+
+We saw the _Sussex_ sunk, crowded with the sons and daughters of
+neutral nations.
+
+We saw ship after ship sent to the bottom--ships of mercy bound out of
+America for the Belgian starving, ships carrying the Red Cross and
+laden with the wounded of all nations, ships carrying food and clothing
+to friendly, harmless, terrorized peoples, ships flying the Stars and
+Stripes--sent to the bottom hundreds of miles from shore, manned by
+American seamen, murdered against all law, without warning.
+
+We believed Germany's promise that she would respect the neutral flag
+and the rights of neutrals, and we held our anger and outrage in check.
+But now we see that she was holding us off with fair promises until she
+could build her huge fleet of submarines. For when spring came, she
+blew her promise into the air, just as at the beginning she had torn up
+that "scrap of paper." Then we saw clearly that there was but one law
+for Germany, her will to rule.
+
+We are fighting Germany because in this war feudalism is making its
+last stand against on-coming democracy. We see it now. This is a war
+against an old spirit, an ancient, outworn spirit. It is a war against
+feudalism--the right of the castle on the hill to rule the village
+below. It is a war for democracy--the right of all to be their own
+masters. Let Germany be feudal if she will. But she must not spread her
+system over a world that has outgrown it.
+
+We fight with the world for an honest world in which nations keep their
+word, for a world in which nations do not live by swagger or by threat,
+for a world in which men think of the ways in which they can conquer
+the common cruelties of nature instead of inventing more horrible
+cruelties to inflict upon the spirit and body of man, for a world in
+which the ambition of the philosophy of a few shall not make miserable
+all mankind, for a world in which the man is held more precious than
+the machine, the system, or the State.
+
+ SECRETARY FRANKLIN K. LANE, June 4, 1917.
+
+
+
+
+GENERAL PERSHING
+
+
+In April, 1917, a small group of men in civilian dress climbed up the
+side of the ocean liner, the _Baltic_, just outside of New York harbor.
+Each one carried a suitcase or a hand-bag, which was his only baggage.
+They had come down the harbor through the fog and mist on a tugboat.
+These men were officers in the United States army, and among them were
+General Pershing and his staff--"Black Jack Pershing," as his men
+affectionately called him.
+
+They were given no farewell at the dock, in fact their going was kept a
+profound secret; for should the Germans learn upon what liner the chief
+officers of the American army that was soon to gather in France, took
+passage, all their submarines would neglect everything else in
+attempting to sink this one vessel.
+
+The officers reached England in safety, and made preparations for the
+great American armies that were soon to follow them. General Pershing
+was appointed commander of these armies. He had just come from service
+in Mexico, where he had led American troops in search of the outlaw,
+Villa.
+
+ [Illustration: GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING
+ _Photograph from Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+General Pershing is a West Point graduate; but he narrowly escaped
+following another career, for he gained his appointment to West Point
+by only one point over his nearest competitor. He has made fighting his
+life work. We are all beginning to see that in the world as it is made
+up at present, some men must prepare for fighting and make fighting
+their life work. Universal peace must come through war, and many are
+hoping that it will come as a result of the World War. William Jennings
+Bryan and Henry Ford are among the world's leading advocates of
+universal peace. When the United States declared war, Bryan said, "The
+quickest road to peace is through the war to victory"; and Henry Ford
+turned over to the government his great automobile factories and gave
+his own services on one of the war boards, to make the war more quickly
+successful.
+
+An interesting story is told us in the _Dallas News_ of Pershing's
+school days at normal school, before he went to West Point. It shows
+that he never shunned a fight, if the rights of others needed to be
+defended.
+
+ An incident of the boyhood days of General John J. Pershing,
+ illustrating how the principle for which the American general is
+ leading this nation's armies against the hordes of
+ autocracy--the square deal for every one--has always
+ predominated in the American leader, was related yesterday by
+ Dr. James L. Holloway of Dallas, who went to school with
+ Pershing in Kirksville, Missouri, many years ago, and who
+ during that period was an intimate friend of the General.
+
+ "When I arrived at Kirksville to attend the Normal School there,
+ I was a green country boy," Dr. Holloway said, "and carried my
+ belongings in a very frail trunk. The baggageman who was on the
+ station platform was handling my trunk roughly, and when I
+ remonstrated with him in my timid way, he merely pitched the
+ trunk off the baggage wagon and laughed at me. When the trunk
+ fell on the ground it broke open and scattered my things around
+ on the platform. I indignantly told him that I would report the
+ matter to the headquarters of the railroad in St. Louis, and
+ again he laughed at me.
+
+ "I wrote the head of the baggage department, as I said I would,
+ and later learned that the offending baggageman had been
+ severely censured. Meanwhile I had struck up a strong
+ acquaintance with Jack Pershing, who was a big, husky boy from a
+ Missouri country town. I will always remember his broad
+ forehead, his determined-looking jaw, and his steel gray eyes.
+ He was a favorite among the boys at the Normal School, not so
+ much on account of his mental brilliancy but because of his
+ personal stamina.
+
+ "Two weeks after my encounter with the baggageman, Pershing and
+ I walked down to the railroad station. It was on Sunday and the
+ baggage office was closed. Pershing left me for a moment, and as
+ I walked around a corner of the station I met the baggageman,
+ who approached threateningly. 'You're the fellow who reported me
+ to headquarters,' he said, bullying me. I admitted that I had.
+ 'Well,' said the baggageman, 'I'm going to lick you good for
+ it.' With these words he started toward me. At this juncture
+ Pershing's big frame rounded the corner of the station.
+
+ "'What's the trouble, Holloway?' he asked. I told him the
+ baggageman was threatening me with violence. 'He is, is he?'
+ said Pershing. 'Well, we'll clean his plowshare for him right
+ now.'
+
+ "I shall never forget this expression. The baggageman, seeing
+ that he was no match for Pershing--let alone the two of us--left
+ the scene of action. We didn't even have a chance to lay our
+ hands on him.
+
+ "Six months after this occurred, Pershing was appointed to West
+ Point. I have never seen him since."
+
+For several years after his graduation from West Point, no promotion
+came to Pershing; but he was not idle nor soured by disappointment. He
+continued to study, especially military tactics. He became so well
+versed in this branch that he was sent to West Point to teach it.
+
+When the Spanish-American War broke out, Pershing asked for a command,
+and was appointed first lieutenant with a troop of colored cavalry, and
+sent to Cuba. At the battle of El Caney he led his troops with such
+bravery and success that he was at once promoted and made a captain
+"for gallantry in action."
+
+Then he went to the Philippines with General Chaffee. He performed much
+valuable service there. Perhaps the single deed by which his work there
+is best known is the lesson he taught the Sultan of Mindanao. The
+Sultan was a Mohammedan, and ruled over many thousand Malays. To kill a
+Christian was thought to be a good deed by the Sultan, and he was
+always glad of an opportunity to show his goodness. For three hundred
+years, he and his predecessors had escaped punishment by the Spaniards,
+who owned and ruled the islands.
+
+The Sultan's chief village and stronghold could be reached only by
+passing through the dense and dangerous tropical jungles; and when it
+was reached, it was found to be surrounded by a wall of earth and
+bamboo, forty feet thick, and outside the wall by a moat fifty feet
+wide. It does not seem so strange that the Spaniards had done nothing.
+
+But Pershing cut a path through the jungles and reached the Sultan's
+village, and informed him that there must be no more murders of
+Christians. The Sultan was very pleasant, in fact he laughed at the
+young American captain.
+
+Soon word came to American headquarters that the Sultan had caused the
+death of another Christian missionary. In forty-eight hours most of the
+earth and bamboo wall was in the moat, and the Sultan's village was
+destroyed. In less than two years, Pershing established law and order
+in all of western Mindanao.
+
+He was also in command of the troops sent to the Border and into Mexico
+after the outlaw, Villa. The soldiers with him there always recall his
+constant advice, "Shoulders back, chin up, and do your best."
+
+General Pershing is a man who has never feared obstacles, and has
+never hesitated to give the time and labor necessary to overcome them.
+That there is no easy path to greatness and success, but that both will
+come to him who prepares himself, who works, who sticks at it, who is
+brave and sacrificing--this is the lesson of General Pershing's life
+and work.
+
+Shortly after General Pershing reached France, the French people
+celebrated the birthday of Lafayette; and General Pershing visited the
+tomb of the great French patriot, to place there a wreath in token of
+America's gratitude. A large number of French people were gathered
+there, and every one supposed General Pershing would make a
+speech--that is, every one except General Pershing. When he was called
+upon, he was dumfounded, but at last he said, "Well, Lafayette, we are
+here." That was all.
+
+Could he have said more if he had talked an hour? He said, "Lafayette,
+your people now need us. We have not forgotten. Here we are, and behind
+us are all the resources of the wealthiest and most enterprising nation
+in the world, billions of dollars and millions of men. We are only the
+first to arrive to pay the debt we have owed to you for one hundred and
+forty years, but here we are at last."
+
+It is said that men and women wept aloud as the full significance of
+the words and all they meant for France became clear to them.
+
+
+
+
+THE MELTING POT
+
+
+America has been called the "crucible" or the "melting pot" of nations,
+because many peoples of many races and many countries come together
+here, and in the heat of life and struggle are molded into Americans.
+President Wilson said, in a speech at Cincinnati in 1916, "America is
+not made out of a single stock. Here we have a great melting pot."
+
+As soon as we entered the war against Germany, the question arose in
+the minds of most people as to how the large number of Germans in the
+United States would act. Germany had taught them that even though they
+became naturalized and took the oath of allegiance as American
+citizens, such action was not binding, but was like "a scrap of paper"
+to be destroyed and forgotten whenever necessity demanded, and that
+"once a German" meant "always a German." It seems now that Germany
+actually expected the Germans, who had left their native land to seek
+opportunity, freedom, and citizenship under the Stars and Stripes, to
+fight against their new and adopted home; but events have proved that
+most German-Americans have higher ideals of right. A leading
+German-American has written a book entitled "Right before Peace"; its
+title carries the thought that has guided most of his fellow-countrymen
+and their children in the United States during the World War.
+
+A few months after the United States had declared that a state of war
+existed with Germany, many leading men of this country of foreign birth
+and parentage, signed, with others, a declaration drawn up by Theodore
+Roosevelt. This declaration, somewhat abbreviated but not altered in
+thought, is as follows. It makes very clear what America should mean to
+her adopted children.
+
+ We Americans are the children of the crucible. We have boasted
+ that out of the crucible, the melting pot of life, in this free
+ land, all the men and all the women who have come here from all
+ the nations come forth as Americans, and as nothing else, like
+ all other Americans, equal to them, and holding no allegiance to
+ any other land or nation. We hold it then to be our duty, as it
+ is of every American, always to stand together for the honor and
+ interest of America, even if such a stand brings us into
+ conflict with our fatherland. If an American does not so act, he
+ is false to the teachings and the lives of Washington and
+ Lincoln; he has no right in our country, and he should be sent
+ out of it; for he has shown that the crucible has failed to do
+ its work. The crucible must melt all who are cast into it, and
+ it must turn them out in one American mold, the mold shaped one
+ hundred and forty years ago by the men who, under Washington,
+ founded this as a free nation, separate from all others. Even at
+ that time, these true Americans were of different races; Paul
+ Revere and Charles Carroll, Marion, Herkimer, Sullivan,
+ Schuyler, and Muhlenberg were equals in service and respect
+ with Lighthorse Harry Lee and Israel Putnam. Most of them,
+ however, were of English blood, but they did not hesitate to
+ fight Great Britain when she was in the wrong. They stood for
+ liberty and for the eternal rule of right and justice, and they
+ stood as Americans and as nothing else.
+
+ So must all Americans of whatever race act to-day; otherwise
+ they are traitors to America. This applies, especially to-day,
+ to all Americans of German blood who, in any manner, support
+ Germany against the United States and her Allies.
+
+ Many pacifists have during the last three years proved
+ themselves the evil enemies of their country. They now seek an
+ inconclusive peace. In so doing they show themselves to be the
+ spiritual heirs of the Tories, who, in the name of peace,
+ opposed Washington, and of the Copperheads, who, in the name of
+ peace, opposed Lincoln. We look upon them as traitors to the
+ Republic and to the great cause of justice and humanity. This
+ war is a war for the vital interests of America. When we fight
+ for America abroad, we save our children from fighting for
+ America at home beside their own ruined hearthstones. To accept
+ any peace, except one based on the complete overthrow of Germany
+ as she is under the ideals of Prussia and the Hohenzollerns, we
+ believe would be an act of baseness and cowardice, and a
+ betrayal of this country and of mankind.
+
+ The test of an American to-day is service against Germany. We
+ should put forth as speedily as possible every particle of our
+ vast, lazy strength to win the triumph over Germany. The
+ government should at once deal with the greatest severity with
+ traitors at home.
+
+ We must have but one flag. We must also have but one language.
+ This must be the language of the Declaration of Independence, of
+ Washington's Farewell Address, and of Lincoln's Gettysburg
+ Speech.
+
+ Of us who sign, some are Protestants, some are Catholics, some
+ are Jews. Most of us were born in this country of parents born
+ in various countries of the Old World--in Germany, France,
+ England, Ireland, Italy, the Slavonic and the Scandinavian
+ lands; some of us were born abroad; some of us are of
+ Revolutionary stock. All of us are Americans, and nothing but
+ Americans.
+
+
+THE AMERICAN'S CREED[8]
+
+I believe in the United States of America as a government of the
+people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived
+from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a
+sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect Union, one and
+inseparable, established upon those principles of freedom, equality,
+justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their
+lives and fortunes.
+
+I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it; to support
+its Constitution; to obey its laws; to respect its flag; and to defend
+it against all enemies.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY E.J. WYATT, BALTIMORE.
+
+
+
+
+BIRDMEN
+
+
+Although I am an American, I am still in the French aviation corps, in
+which I enlisted when the war broke out. I am too old for service under
+the Stars and Stripes, but not too old to risk my life under the French
+flag for the freedom of the world.
+
+I was trained in a French aviation school. Flyers were needed
+immediately; and so I did not go through "a ground school," or any
+teaching like that given for eight weeks in the American ground
+schools. I was sent directly to the flying field and given a machine at
+once. I did not, as they do at American flying fields, go up first with
+an instructor who might be tempted to "scare me to death" by "looping
+the loop" or doing "tail spins." I took my own machine at the very
+start and, after being given the simplest directions, away I went in
+it; but I did not break any records for altitude.
+
+It was a small monoplane with a 20-horse-power motor, and its wings had
+been clipped; so all it could do was to roll along the ground. It was,
+however, some time before I could guide it in a straight line. I was
+discouraged at first, but felt better when I learned that it was very
+difficult even for an experienced flyer.
+
+Such machines are called "penguins" and have a trick of turning
+suddenly in a short half circle and smashing the end of a wing against
+the ground. The queer antics of beginners in them furnish fun for every
+one on the flying fields.
+
+After I had mastered this machine, I was given one with a motor of
+greater horse power, and in this I could fly along the ground at nearly
+sixty miles an hour; but I could not rise into the air, for the wings
+were clipped and did not have sufficient sustaining power to hold the
+machine in the air.
+
+Then at last I was given a plane with full-sized wings; but, as its
+motor generated only about 25-horse power, I could get only from three
+to six feet above the ground, and went skimming along now on the ground
+and now a few feet in the air.
+
+In these machines, we learned only how to manage the tail of the
+machine. As we skimmed along the ground, we tipped the tail at an angle
+slightly above a straight line. In a few moments we were off the
+ground, and the roar of the motor sounded softer and smoother. It
+seemed as if we were very far from the earth, and that something might
+break and dash us to our death--in reality, we had not risen six feet.
+To get back to earth, we must push the lever that lowers the tail--but
+this must be done very slightly and very carefully. A little push too
+much, and the machine will suddenly dive into the ground.
+
+After my experience with the first two machines, I found it easy to
+handle this one, and was soon given one that would take me up about
+fifty feet and give me a chance to learn the "feel of the air." All my
+flying was still in straight lines, or as nearly straight as I could
+make it. We were not yet allowed to try to turn.
+
+In the next machine I could rise two or three hundred feet and began to
+learn to turn, although most of the flying was still in straight lines.
+
+I was beginning to make good landings, which is the hardest part of the
+game. We have to let the ship down on two wheels and let the tail skid
+at a speed of thirty-five miles an hour and not break the landing gear.
+
+The machines often bound three or four times when landing and that is
+hard on the landing gear. My last landing was so soft that I was not
+sure when I touched the ground. To take off is quite easy. The ship is
+controlled by an upright stick which is between one's knees and just
+right for the left hand. The rudder is controlled by the feet, and the
+throttle is on the right side. To take off, we get up a speed of about
+forty-six miles per hour and raise the tail up until the ship is level,
+and then when she starts to rise, lift the nose just a little and climb
+slowly.
+
+On turns, the ship has to be banked, tipped up with the inside wing
+low, and turned with the rudder. It is quite a hard thing to do when it
+is rough, as just about the time we bank, we get a puff of wind which
+will hit one wing and she will roll and rock so that we have to get her
+straightened out. It is a fight all the time until you get about 3000
+feet up, when the air gets steady.
+
+To land, we slow the engine down to idling speed and come down in a
+steep glide until five or six feet from the ground, then level off and
+glide along until she begins to settle, then jerk the tail down until
+she stops. We always have to take off and come down against the wind.
+
+I was obliged to follow the directions of my instructor, much against
+my own wishes. It seemed to me that I could now do anything in the air
+and that there was not the slightest danger. This too early feeling of
+mastery is the cause of many beginners' being injured or killed, by
+trying "stunts" too difficult for them.
+
+I did not spend much time in flying at first, after I had learned how
+to handle the airplane. It is not difficult to stay in the air and to
+fly, but it is difficult to land safely without breaking the machine.
+So I was kept practicing landing.
+
+To secure my license I was required to fly 50 miles in a straight line
+to a named place, and then back; then to fly 200 miles in a triangle,
+passing through two named places; and last of all to stay one hour in
+the air at an altitude higher than 7000 feet.
+
+Now the French schools require only a 30-mile flight with three
+successful landings, before sending the flyer to the finishing school,
+where he learns to do all the "stunts" that a fighter must be able to
+do in order to succeed. I learned the tail wing slip, the tail spin and
+dive, the _vrille_, to loop the loop, and many other fancy flying
+tricks. They have saved my life more than once.
+
+I was interested in reading the other day James Norman Hall's funny
+description of how he learned at last to master the penguin. He felt
+triumphant, but he says, "But no one had seen my splendid sortie. Now
+that I had arrived, no one paid the least attention to me. All eyes
+were turned upward, and following them with my own, I saw an airplane
+outlined against a heaped-up pile of snow-white cloud. It was moving at
+tremendous speed, when suddenly it darted straight upward, wavered for
+a second or two, turned slowly on one wing, and fell, nose-down,
+turning round and round as it fell, like a scrap of paper. It was the
+_vrille_, the prettiest piece of aërial acrobatics that one could wish
+to see. It was a wonderful, an incredible sight.
+
+"Some one was counting the turns of the _vrille_. Six, seven, eight;
+then the airman came out of it on an even keel, and, nosing down to
+gather speed, looped twice in quick succession. Afterward he did the
+_retournement_, turning completely over in the air and going back in
+the opposite direction; then spiraled down and passed over our heads at
+about fifty meters, landing at the opposite side of the field so
+beautifully that it was impossible to know when the machine touched the
+ground."
+
+There is nothing in all the experiences of life like what one feels in
+flying through the air, especially at a great height and with no other
+machines in sight. There is a loneliness, unlike any other kind of
+loneliness; there is a feeling of smallness and weakness; a sense of
+the immensity of things and of the presence and nearness of God. It is
+surprising that in doing that in which man has shown his greatest power
+over the forces of Nature, he feels most his littleness and how easily
+he could be destroyed by the very forces he has conquered.
+
+Lieutenant Roberts, an American flying in France, described not long
+ago an experience that came just after his first flight. He was up in
+the air, higher than anybody had ever been before, when the machine
+suddenly broke into little pieces, which, as he was tumbling down
+through the air, he vainly tried to catch. Just as he hit the ground
+and broke every bone in his body, he woke up on the floor beside his
+bunk.
+
+The Englishmen are the most daring of all the flyers, take the most
+risks, and do the most dangerous "stunts." Not so much is heard of them
+because their exploits and their scores are not announced by the
+British army. Bishop, who has just been ordered from the flying field
+to safer work, is said to have brought down nearly eighty German
+planes, and on the day he learned of his recall, went up and brought
+down two.
+
+The Americans are daredevils, too. I took one of them one night as a
+"guest," when I went over Metz on a bombing expedition. One of the
+bombs stuck. He thought it might cause us trouble when we landed,
+possibly explode and kill us, so he crawled out over the fusilage and
+released it. He certainly earned his passage.
+
+With several other Americans we formed what we called the American
+Escadrille; but as the United States was neutral at that time, we were
+obliged to change the name to the Lafayette Escadrille.
+
+Since joining the squadron, I have used all sorts of machines, and
+there are many of them, from the heavy bombing machine to the swift
+little swallow-like scouts.
+
+My first important work was reconnoissance, in which I carried an
+observer. I managed the machine, and he did the reconnoitering. We went
+out twice a day and flew over into German territory, sometimes as far
+in as fifty miles, observing all that was going on, the movements of
+troops and supplies, and the building of railroads and defensive works.
+We also took photographs of the country over which we flew.
+
+Reconnoissance is dangerous work, and is constantly growing more so, as
+anti-aircraft guns are improved. These guns are mounted on a revolving
+table, upon which is a mirror in which the airplane shows as soon as it
+comes within range of the gun. With an instrument designed for the
+purpose, the crew get the flyer's altitude; and with another, the rate
+at which he is traveling. They aim the gun for the proper altitude,
+make the correct allowance for the time it will take the shell to reach
+him, and as they have an effective range of over 30,000 feet, there is
+reason to worry. Yet by zig-zagging and other devices, the aviators are
+rarely brought down by anti-aircraft guns. The small scout machines
+with a wing spread of not more than thirty feet are not visible to the
+naked eye when at an altitude of over 10,000 feet, and are therefore
+safe from these guns at this height.
+
+But reconnoissance, to be effective, must be done at a much lower
+altitude, and sometimes the machine must remain under fire for a
+considerable period of time. Poiret, the French aviator, fighting with
+the Russians, with a captain of the General Staff for an observer, was
+under rifle and shell fire for about twenty minutes. His machine was
+up about 4000 feet. Ten bullets and two pieces of shell hit his
+airplane, but he never lost control. The captain was shot through the
+heel, the bullet coming out of his calf; but he continued taking notes.
+They returned in safety to their lines.
+
+I also did some work in directing artillery fire. For this my machine
+was equipped with a wireless apparatus for sending. No method has yet
+been devised whereby an airplane in flight can receive wireless
+messages. In directing the fire of the big guns, the aviator seeks to
+get directly over the object that is under fire, and to signal or send
+wireless messages in regard to where the shells land. After the aviator
+is in position, the third shot usually reaches the target.
+
+I am not yet one of the great aces, and will not, therefore, tell you
+about any of my air battles. I hope some day you may read of them and
+that I may come to have the honor of being named with Lufbery,
+Guynemer, Nungesser, Fonk, Bishop, Ball, Genét, Chapman, McConnell,
+Prince, Putnam, and other heroes of the air.
+
+Lieutenant R.A.J. Warneford, who won the Victoria Cross for destroying
+a giant Zeppelin, is one of the greatest of these; at least, he
+performed a feat never accomplished before and never since.
+
+At three o'clock one morning in June, 1915, he discovered a Zeppelin
+returning from bombing towns along the east coast of England. The Huns
+shot Captain Fryatt because, as they said, he was a non-combatant and
+tried to defend himself. The rule that non-combatants should not attack
+military forces was made with the understanding that military forces
+would not war on non-combatants. But law, or justice, or agreements
+never are allowed by the Huns to stand in their way. This Zeppelin was
+returning from a raid in which twenty-four were killed and sixty
+seriously injured, nearly all women and children, and all
+non-combatants.
+
+Lieutenant Warneford well knew of the dastardly deeds of the Zeppelins,
+and he immediately gave chase, firing as he approached. The Zeppelin
+returned his shots. He mounted as rapidly as possible so as to get the
+great gas-bag below him, until he reached over 6000 feet and the
+Zeppelin was about 150 feet directly below him. Both were moving very
+rapidly, and to hit was exceedingly difficult, but he dropped six
+bombs, one after the other. One of them hit the Zeppelin squarely,
+exploded the gas-bag, and set it afire its entire length. The explosion
+turned Lieutenant Warneford's airplane upside down, and although he
+soon righted it, he was obliged to land. He was over territory occupied
+by the Germans and he landed behind the German lines, but he succeeded
+in rising again before being captured, and returned to his hangar in
+safety, to tell his marvelous story. The Zeppelin and its crew were
+completely destroyed. A few days later Lieutenant Warneford was killed.
+
+One of the greatest air duels, between airplanes, was during the Battle
+of Vimy Ridge. At that time Immelman was as great a German ace as were
+Boelke and Richthofen later, and Ball was the greatest of the English.
+
+One morning Ball learned that Immelman was stationed with the Germans
+on the opposite line, and carried him a challenge which read:
+
+ CAPTAIN IMMELMAN: I challenge you to a man-to-man fight to take
+ place this afternoon at two o'clock. I will meet you over the
+ German lines. Have your anti-aircraft guns withhold their fire
+ while we decide which is the better man. The British guns will
+ be silent.
+
+ BALL.
+
+Ball dropped this from his airplane behind the German lines, and soon
+afterward Immelman dropped his answer behind the British lines:
+
+ CAPTAIN BALL:
+
+ Your challenge is accepted. The German guns will not interfere.
+ I will meet you promptly at two.
+
+ IMMELMAN.
+
+A few minutes before two, the guns ceased firing, and all on both sides
+fixed their eyes in the air to witness a contest between two knights
+that would make the contests of the days of chivalry seem tame.
+
+ [Illustration: A BATTLE IN THE AIR
+ The French plane at the top is maneuvering for position
+ preparatory to swooping down on its German adversary.
+ _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N.Y._]
+
+In an air battle, the machine that is higher up is thought to have the
+advantage. Both Ball and Immelman went up very high, but Ball was below
+and seemed uncertain what to do. The British were afraid that he had
+lost his nerve and courage when he found himself below, for he made no
+effort to get above his opponent, but was flying now this way and now
+that, as if "rattled."
+
+Immelman did not delay, but went into a nose dive directly towards the
+machine below, which he would be able to rake with his machine gun as
+he approached; but just at the proper moment, Ball suddenly looped the
+loop and was directly above the German, and in position to fire. As the
+shower of bullets struck Immelman and his machine, it burst into flames
+and dropped like a blazing comet.
+
+Ball returned to his hangar, got a wreath of flowers, and went into the
+air again to drop them upon the spot where Immelman had fallen dead.
+
+Four days later Ball was killed in a fight with four German planes, but
+not until he had brought down three of them.
+
+But the fighting planes do not get all the thrills in the air. A young
+English aviator and his observer who were directing artillery fire in
+September, 1918, showed as great devotion and courage as any ace and
+lived through as exciting an adventure as ever befell a fighting
+plane.
+
+They were flying over No Man's Land to get the proper range for a
+battery which was to destroy a bridge of great value to the Huns. Their
+engine had been running badly and back-firing. They would have returned
+home had their work been of less importance.
+
+Suddenly the pilot smelled burning wood, and looking down, saw the
+framework near his feet blackened and smoldering. It had caught fire
+from the backfire of the engine and the exhaust, but was not yet in a
+decided blaze. He turned off the gas and opened the throttle. Then he
+made a steep, swift dive, and the powerful rush of the air put the fire
+out.
+
+Then he hesitated, trying to decide whether to "play safe" and go home
+or whether to continue their work until the battery had secured the
+exact range. He knew that in a very short time and with a little more
+observation, their work would be completely successful. So he turned to
+the observer and asked him what he thought. The observer leaned over
+and examined the damage near the pilot's feet. It did not look very
+bad; so he shouted, "Let's carry on."
+
+Up they went again and in a short time had shells from the battery
+falling all about the bridge, which was soon destroyed. Their work was
+done, and well done. In the excitement they had forgotten the bad
+engine until they heard it give one last sputter and stop.
+
+Then they perceived the woodwork was on fire again and really blazing
+this time. To dive now would only fan the flames about the pilot's
+feet, but they must get to the ground, and get there quickly, too.
+
+The pilot put the machine into a side slip toward the British line.
+This fanned the flames away from his feet. The observer squirted the
+fire extinguisher on the burning wood near the pilot's feet, and thus
+enabled him to keep control of the rudder bar.
+
+They were now within fifteen hundred feet of the ground, but the heat
+was almost unbearable. The right wing was beginning to burn. Down,
+down, they went, and luckily towards a fairly good landing place. One
+landing wheel struck the ground with such force that it was broken off,
+and the airplane bumped along on the other for a short distance until
+it finally crashed on its nose and left wing.
+
+Both pilot and observer were unhurt. They sprang to the ground and
+hurried away from the burning wreck just in time, for a few seconds
+later the gasoline tank exploded. They looked at each other without a
+word, but neither of them regretted that he had stayed up until the job
+had been finished.
+
+Such is the life and the danger of the flyers; but thousands of the
+finest young men of all the nations at war eagerly seek the service,
+for the aviators are the eyes of the armies and will determine always
+more than any other branch which side shall be finally victorious.
+
+
+
+
+ALAN SEEGER[9]
+
+
+As England and the world lost Rupert Brooke, so America and the world
+lost Alan Seeger. English poetry and lovers of beauty expressed in
+verse are losers to a greater extent than we can ever know.
+
+It is not strange that these two young poets should have enlisted at
+the very beginning of the war, for they recognized what high-minded men
+mean by _noblesse oblige_. Much having been given you, much is expected
+from you. Those of the highest education should show the way to those
+less favored. So Rupert Brooke enlisted in the English navy, and Alan
+Seeger enlisted in the French army as one of the Foreign Legion.
+
+He felt he owed a debt to France that could only be paid by helping her
+in her struggle for life and liberty. He gave his life, at the age of
+twenty-eight, to pay the debt.
+
+Alan Seeger lived a life like that of many other American boys. At
+Staten Island where he passed his first years, he could see every day
+the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, the skyscrapers of New York,
+the ferry boats to the Jersey shore, the great ocean liners inward
+bound and outward bound,--all the great and significant things that say
+"America" to one landing for the first time at the greatest seaport of
+the world. Later he lived in New York and attended the Horace Mann
+School. His vacations were spent among the hills and mountains of New
+Hampshire and in southern California. He fitted for college at a famous
+preparatory school at Tarrytown on the Hudson, attended Harvard
+College, and after graduation lived for two years in New York City. All
+this is American, and thousands of other American boys have passed
+through the same or a similar experience.
+
+Alan Seeger was romantic. So are most boys. But with most boys, romance
+goes no further than books and dreams. "Robinson Crusoe," "Huckleberry
+Finn," "Treasure Island," and other tales of adventure and of foreign
+lands are all the romance that many know. But, like Rupert Brooke, Alan
+Seeger had the opportunity to live romance, as he always declared he
+would do. He found it in his life as a boy in Mexico, as a young man in
+Paris, and in the Foreign Legion of the French army. The Foreign Legion
+was made up of foreigners in France who volunteered to fight with the
+French army. Its story is a stirring one of brave deeds and tremendous
+losses. To have belonged to it is a great glory.
+
+Alan Seeger enjoyed life and found the world exceedingly beautiful. He
+says,
+
+ From a boy
+ I gloated on existence. Earth to me
+ Seemed all sufficient, and my sojourn there
+ One trembling opportunity for joy.
+
+Like Rupert Brooke, he thought often of Death, which he feared not at
+all. In his beautiful poem entitled, "I Have a Rendezvous with Death,"
+he looked forward to his own death in the spring of 1916. He lost his
+life on July 4 of that year while storming the village of
+Belloy-en-Santerre. The first two stanzas are as follows:
+
+ I have a rendezvous with Death
+ At some disputed barricade,
+ When Spring comes back with rustling shade
+ And apple blossoms fill the air--
+ I have a rendezvous with Death
+ When Spring brings back blue days and fair
+
+ It may be he shall take my hand
+ And lead me into his dark land
+ And close my eyes and quench my breath--
+ It may be I shall pass him still.
+ I have a rendezvous with Death
+ On some scarred slope of battered hill,
+ When Spring comes round again this year
+ And the first meadow flowers appear.
+
+Alan Seeger has written two poems that all Americans should know. One
+is entitled "Ode in Memory of the American Volunteers Fallen for
+France." It was to have been read before the statue of Lafayette and
+Washington in Paris, on Memorial Day, 1916; but permission to go to
+Paris to read it did not reach Seeger in time, to the disappointment of
+him and many others. It is perhaps the best long poem Seeger has
+written, although "Champagne, 1914-15" is by many ranked ahead of it.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"A man is judged and ranked by that which he considers to be of the
+greatest value. Some men believe it is knowledge, and spend their lives
+in study and research; some think it is beauty, and vainly seek to
+capture it and hold it in song, poem, statue, or painting; some say it
+is goodness, and devote their lives to service, self-denial, and
+sacrifice; some declare it is life itself, and therefore never kill any
+creature and always carefully protect their own lives from disease and
+danger; and some are sure it is being true to the best knowledge, the
+greatest beauty, the highest good that one can know and feel and
+realize; for this alone is life, and times come when the only way to
+save one's life is to lose it."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[9] BASED ON POEMS OF ALAN SEEGER, COPYRIGHT HELD BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S
+SONS.
+
+
+
+
+CAN WAR EVER BE RIGHT?
+
+
+After England had entered the war against the Central Powers, Gilbert
+Murray, an English writer, asked this question and answered it by
+saying "Yes," and giving his reasons.
+
+He had always favored peace. He hated war, not merely for its own
+cruelty and folly, but because it was an enemy of good government, of
+friendship and gentleness, and of art, learning, and literature.
+
+Yet he believed firmly that England was right in declaring war against
+Germany on August 4, 1914, and that she would have failed in her duty
+if she had remained neutral. France, Russia, Belgium, and Serbia had no
+choice. They were obliged to fight, for the war was forced upon them.
+Germany did not wish to fight England; but after carefully looking over
+the whole matter, England, of her own free will, declared war. She took
+upon her shoulders a great responsibility. But she was right.
+
+With a few changes in the wording and some omissions, the argument of
+Gilbert Murray is as follows:
+
+"How can such a thing be? It is easy enough to see that our cause is
+right, and that the German cause is wrong. It is hardly possible to
+study the official papers issued by the British, the German, and the
+Russian governments, without seeing that Germany--or some party in
+Germany--had plotted this war beforehand; that she chose a moment when
+she thought her neighbors were at a disadvantage; that she prevented
+Austria from making a settlement even at the last moment; that in order
+to get more quickly at France she violated her treaty with Belgium.
+Evidence shows that she has carried out the violation with a cruelty
+that has no equal in the wars of modern and civilized nations. Yet
+there may be some people who still feel doubtful. Germany's wrong-doing
+they think is no reason for us to do likewise. We did our best to keep
+the general peace; there we were right. We failed; the German
+government made war in spite of us. There we were unfortunate. It was a
+war already on an enormous scale and we decided to make it larger
+still. There we were wrong. Could we not have stood aside, as the
+United States did, ready to help refugees and sufferers, anxious to
+heal wounds and not make them, watchful for the first chance of putting
+an end to this time of horror?
+
+"'Try for a moment,' they say, 'to realize the suffering in one small
+corner of a battlefield. You have seen a man here and there badly hurt
+in an accident; you have seen perhaps a horse with its back broken, and
+you can remember how dreadful it seemed to you. In that one corner how
+many men, how many horses, will be lying, hurt far worse, and just
+waiting to die? Terrible wounds, extreme torment; and all, further than
+any eye can see, multiplied and multiplied! And, for all your just
+anger against Germany, what have these wounded done? The horses are not
+to blame for anybody's foreign policy. They have only come where their
+masters took them. And the masters themselves ... though certain German
+rulers and leaders are wicked, these soldiers, peasants, working-men,
+shop-keepers, and schoolmasters, have really done nothing in
+particular; at least, perhaps they have now, but they had not up to the
+time when you, seeing they were in war and misery already, decided to
+make war on them also and increase their sufferings. You say that
+justice must be done on such wrong-doers. But as far as the rights and
+wrongs of the war go, you are simply condemning to death and torture
+innocent men, by thousands and thousands; is that the best way to
+satisfy your sense of justice? These innocent people, you say, are
+fighting to protect the guilty parties whom you are determined to
+reach. Well, perhaps, at the end of the war, after millions of innocent
+people have suffered, you may at last, if all goes well with your arms,
+get at the "guilty parties." You will hold an inquiry, you will decide
+that certain Prussians with long titles are the guilty parties, and
+even then you will not know what to do with them. You will probably
+try, and almost certainly fail, to make them somehow feel ashamed. It
+is likely enough that they will instead become great national heroes.
+
+"'And after all, this is supposed to be a war in which one party is
+wrong and the other right, and the right wins. Suppose both are wrong;
+or suppose the wrong party wins? It is as likely as not; for, if the
+right party is helped by his good conscience, the wrong has probably
+taken pains to have the odds on his side before he began quarreling. In
+that case, all the wild waste of blood and treasure, all the suffering
+of innocent people and dumb animals, all the tears of women and
+children have not set up the right, but established the wrong. To do a
+little evil that great or certain good may come is all very well; but
+to do great evil for only a chance of getting something which half the
+people may think good and the other half think bad ... that is neither
+good morals nor good sense. Anybody not in a passion must see that it
+is insanity,' So they say who think war always wrong.
+
+"Their argument is wrong. It is judging war as a profit-and-loss
+account. It leaves out of sight the fact that in some causes it is
+better to fight and be broken than to yield peacefully; that sometimes
+the mere act of resisting to the death is in itself a victory.
+
+"Let us try to understand this. The Greeks who fought and died at
+Thermopylæ had no doubt that they were doing right to fight and die,
+and we all agree with them. They probably knew they would be defeated.
+They probably expected that, after their defeat, the Persians would
+easily conquer the rest of Greece, and would treat it much more harshly
+because it had resisted. But such thoughts did not affect them. They
+would not consent to their country's dishonor.
+
+"Take again a very clear modern case: the fine story of the French
+tourist who was captured, together with a priest and some other white
+people, by Moorish robbers. The Moors gave their prisoners the choice
+either to trample on the Cross or to be killed. The Frenchman was not a
+Christian. He disliked Christianity. But he was not going to trample on
+the Cross at the orders of a robber. He stuck to his companions and
+died with them.
+
+"Honor and dishonor are real things. I will not try to define them; but
+will only notice that, like religion, they admit no bargaining. Indeed,
+we can almost think of honor as being simply that which a free man
+values more than life, and dishonor as that which he avoids more than
+suffering or death. And the important point for us is that there are
+such things as honor and dishonor.
+
+"There are some people, followers of Tolstoy, who accept this as far as
+dying is concerned, but will have nothing to do with killing. Passive
+resistance, they say, is right; martyrdom is right; but to resist
+violence by violence is sin.
+
+"I was once walking with a friend of Tolstoy's in a country lane, and a
+little girl was running in front of us. I put to him the well-known
+question: 'Suppose you saw a man, wicked or drunk or mad, run out and
+attack that child. You are a big man, and carry a big stick: would you
+not stop him and, if necessary, knock him down?' 'No,' he said, 'why
+should I commit a sin. I would try to persuade him, I would stand in
+his way, I would let him kill me, but I would not strike him,' Some few
+people will always be found, less than one in a thousand, to take this
+view. They will say: 'Let the little girl be killed or carried off; let
+the wicked man commit another wickedness; I, at any rate, will not add
+to the mass of useless violence that I see all around me.'
+
+"With such persons one cannot reason, though one can often respect
+them. Nearly every normal man will feel that the real sin, the real
+dishonor, lies in allowing such an act to be committed under your eyes
+while you have the strength to prevent it. And the stronger you are,
+the greater your chance of success, by so much the more are you bound
+to interfere. If the robbers are overpoweringly strong and there is no
+chance of beating them, then and only then should you think of
+martyrdom. Martyrdom is not the best possibility. It is almost the
+worst. It is the last resort when there is no hope of successful
+resistance. The best thing--suppose once the robbers are there and
+intent on crime--the best thing is to overawe them at once; the next
+best, to defeat them after a hard struggle; the third best, to resist
+vainly and be martyred; the worst of all, the one evil that need never
+be endured, is to let them have their own will without protest.
+
+"We have noticed that in all these cases of honor there seems to be no
+counting of cost, no balancing of good and evil. Ordinarily we are
+always balancing results, but when honor or religion come on the scene,
+all such balancing ceases. The point of honor is the point at which a
+man says to some wrong proposal, 'I will not do it. I will rather die.'
+
+"These things are far easier to see where one man is concerned than
+where it is a whole nation. But they arise with nations, too. In the
+case of a nation the material consequences are much larger, and the
+point of honor is apt to be less clear. But, in general, whenever one
+nation in dealing with another relies simply on force or fraud, and
+denies to its neighbor the common consideration due to human beings, a
+point of honor must arise.
+
+"Austria says suddenly to Serbia: 'You are a wicked little state. I
+have annexed and governed against their will some millions of your
+countrymen, yet you are still full of anti-Austrian feeling, which I
+do not intend to allow. You will dismiss from your service all
+officials, politicians, and soldiers who do not love Austria, and I
+will further send you from time to time lists of persons whom you are
+to dismiss or put to death. And if you do not agree to this within
+forty-eight hours, I, being vastly stronger than you, will make you. As
+a matter of fact, Serbia did her very best to comply with Austria's
+demands; she accepted about two thirds of them, and asked for
+arbitration on the remaining third. But it is clear that she could not
+accept them all without being dishonored. That is, Serbia would have
+given up her freedom at the threat of force; the Serbs would no longer
+be a free people, and every individual Serb would have been humiliated.
+He would have confessed himself to be the kind of man who will yield
+when an Austrian bullies him. And if it is urged that under good
+Austrian government Serbia would become richer and safer, and the
+Serbian peasants get better markets, such pleas cannot be listened to.
+They are a price offered for slavery; and a free man will not accept
+slavery at any price.
+
+"Germany, again, says to Belgium: 'We have no quarrel with you, but we
+intend for certain reasons to march across your territory and perhaps
+fight a battle or two there. We know that you are pledged by treaty not
+to allow any such thing, but we cannot help that. Consent, and we will
+pay you afterwards; refuse, and we shall make you wish you had never
+been born.' At that moment Belgium was a free, self-governing state. If
+it had yielded to Germany's demand, it would have ceased to be either
+free or self-governing. It is possible that, if Germany had been
+completely victorious, Belgium would have suffered no great material
+injury; but she would have taken orders from a stranger who had no
+right to give them, simply because he was strong. Belgium refused. She
+has had some of her towns destroyed, some thousands of her soldiers
+killed, many more thousands of her women, children, and non-combatants
+outraged and beggared; but she is still free. She still has her honor.
+
+"Let us think this matter out more closely. The follower of Tolstoy
+will say: 'We speak of Belgium's honor and Serbia's honor; but who is
+Serbia and who is Belgium? There is no such person as either. There are
+only great numbers of people who happen to be Serbians and Belgians,
+and who mostly have had nothing to do with questions at issue. Some of
+them are honorable people, some dishonorable. The honor of each one of
+them depends very much on whether he pays his debts and tells the
+truth, but not in the least on whether a number of foreigners walk
+through his country or interfere with his government. King Albert and
+his ministers might feel humiliated if the German government compelled
+them to give way against their will; but would the ordinary
+population? Would the ordinary peasant or shop-keeper or artisan in the
+districts of Vise and Liége and Louvain have felt particularly
+disgraced or ashamed? He would probably have made a little money and
+been greatly amused by the sight of the troops passing. He would not
+have suffered any injury that can for a moment be compared with what he
+has suffered now, in order that his government might feel proud of
+itself.'
+
+"I will not raise the point that, as a matter of fact, to grant a right
+of way to Germany would have been to declare war against France, so
+that Belgium would not, by giving up her independence, have been spared
+the danger of war. I will assume that it was simply a question of
+honor. And I believe that our follower of Tolstoy is very wrong.
+
+"Is it true, in a healthy and well-governed state, that the average
+citizen is indifferent to the honor of his country? We know that it is
+not. True, the average citizen may often not understand what is going
+on, but as soon as he knows, he cares. Suppose for a moment that the
+King, or the Prime Minister, or the President of the United States,
+were found to be in the pay of a foreign state, can any one pretend
+that the ordinary citizens of Great Britain or America would take it
+quietly? That any normal man would be found saying: 'Well, the King, or
+the President, or the Prime Minister, is behaving dishonorably, but
+that is a matter for him, not for me. I am an honest and honorable man,
+and my government can do what it likes.' The notion is absurd. The
+ordinary citizen would feel instantly and without question that his
+country's honor involved his own. And woe to the society in which it
+were otherwise! We know of such societies in history. They are the kind
+which is called 'corrupt,' and which generally has not long to live.
+Belgium has proved that she is not that kind of society.
+
+"But what about Great Britain herself? At the present moment a very
+clear case has arisen, and we can test our own feelings. Great Britain
+had, by a solemn treaty, pledged herself to help keep the neutrality of
+Belgium. Belgium is a little state lying between two very strong
+states, France and Germany, and in danger of being overrun or abused by
+one of them unless the Great Powers guaranteed her safety. The treaty,
+signed by Prussia, Russia, Austria, France, and Great Britain, bound
+all these Powers not to attack Belgium, move troops into it, or annex
+any part of it; and further, to resist by armed force any Power which
+should try to do any of these things. Belgium, on her part, was bound
+to maintain her own neutrality to the best of her power, and not to
+side with any state which was at war with another.
+
+"At the end of July, 1914, the exact case arose in which we had
+pledged ourselves to act. Germany, suddenly and without excuse, invaded
+Belgium, and Belgium appealed to us and France to defend her. Meantime
+she fought alone, desperately, against overwhelming odds. The issue was
+clear. The German Chancellor, Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, in his speech
+of August 6, admitted that Germany had no grievance against Belgium,
+and no excuse except 'necessity.' She could not get to France quick
+enough by the direct road. Germany put her case to us, roughly, on
+these grounds. 'True, you did sign a treaty, but what is a treaty? We
+ourselves signed the same treaty, and see what we are doing! Anyhow,
+treaty or no treaty, we have Belgium in our power. If she had done what
+we wanted, we would have treated her kindly; as it is we shall show her
+no mercy. If you will now do what we want and stay quiet, later on we
+will consider a friendly deal with you. If you interfere, you must take
+the consequences. We trust you will not be so insane as to plunge your
+whole empire into danger for the sake of "a scrap of paper."' Our
+answer was: 'Evacuate Belgium within twelve hours or we fight you.'
+
+"I think that answer was right. Consider the situation carefully. No
+question arises of overhaste or lack of patience on our part. From the
+first moment of the crisis, we had labored night and day in every court
+of Europe for any possible means of peace. We had carefully and
+sincerely explained to Germany beforehand what attitude she might
+expect from us. We did not send our ultimatum till Belgium was already
+invaded. It is just the plain question put to the British government,
+and, I think, to every one who feels himself a British citizen: 'The
+exact case contemplated in your treaty has arisen: the people you swore
+to protect is being massacred; will you keep your word at a gigantic
+cost, or will you break it at the bidding of Germany?' For my own part,
+weighing the whole question, I would rather die than submit; and I
+believe that the government, in deciding to keep its word at the cost
+of war, has expressed the feeling of the average British citizen.
+
+"War is not all evil. It is a true tragedy, which must have nobleness
+and triumph in it as well as disaster, but we must not begin to praise
+war without stopping to reflect on the hundreds of thousands of human
+beings involved in such horrors of pain that, if here in our ordinary
+hours we saw one man so treated, the memory would sicken us to the end
+of our lives; we must remember the horses and dogs, remember the gentle
+natures brutalized by hardship and filth, and the once decent persons
+transformed by rage and fear into devils of cruelty. But, when we have
+realized that, we may begin to see in this desert of evil some oases of
+good.
+
+"Do the fighting men become degraded? Day after day come streams of
+letters from the front, odd stories, fragments of diaries, and the
+like; full of the small intimate facts which reveal character, and
+almost with one accord they show that these men have not fallen, but
+risen. No doubt there has been some selection in the letters; to some
+extent the writers repeat what they wish to have remembered, and say
+nothing of what they wish to forget. But, when all allowances are made,
+one cannot read the letters and the dispatches without a feeling of
+admiration for the men about whom they tell. They were not originally a
+set of chosen men. They were just our ordinary fellow citizens, the men
+you meet on a crowded pavement. There was nothing to suggest that their
+conduct in common life was better than that of their neighbors. Yet
+now, under the stress of war, having a duty before them that is clear
+and unquestioned and terrible, they are daily doing nobler things than
+we most of us have ever had the chance of doing, things which we hardly
+dare hope that we might be able to do. I am not thinking of the rare
+achievements that win a V.C. or a Cross of the Legion of Honor, but of
+the common necessary heroism of the average man; the long endurance,
+the devoted obedience, the close-banded life in which self-sacrifice is
+the normal rule, and all men may be forgiven except the man who saves
+himself at the expense of his comrade. I think of the men who share
+their last biscuit with a starving peasant, who help wounded comrades
+through days and nights of horrible retreat, who give their lives to
+save mates or officers.
+
+"For example, to take these two stories:
+
+"Relating his experiences to a pressman, Lance-Corporal Edmondson, of
+the Royal Irish Lancers, said: 'There is absolutely no doubt that our
+men are still animated by the spirit of old. I came on a couple of men
+of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who had been cut off at Mons.
+One was badly wounded, but his companion had stuck by him all the time
+in a country swarming with Germans, and, though they had only a few
+biscuit between them, they managed to pull through until we picked them
+up. I pressed the unwounded man to tell me how they managed to get
+through the four days on six biscuit, but he always got angry and told
+me to shut up. I fancy he went without anything, and gave the biscuit
+to the wounded man. They were offered shelter many times by French
+peasants, but they were so afraid of bringing trouble on these kind
+folk that they would never accept shelter. One night they lay out in
+the open all through a heavy downpour, though there was a house at hand
+where they could have had shelter. Uhlans were on the prowl, and they
+would not think of compromising the French people, who would have been
+glad to help them.'
+
+"The following story of an unidentified private of the Royal Irish
+Regiment, who deliberately threw away his life in order to warn his
+comrades of an ambush, is told by a wounded corporal of the West
+Yorkshire Regiment now in hospital in Woolwich:
+
+"'The fight in which I got hit was in a little French village near to
+Rheims. We were working in touch with the French corps on our left, and
+early one morning we were sent ahead to this village, which we had
+reason to believe was clear of the enemy. On the outskirts we
+questioned a French lad, but he seemed scared and ran away. We went on
+through the long narrow street, and just as we were in sight of the
+end, the figure of a man dashed out from a farmhouse on the right.
+Immediately the rifles began to crack in front, and the poor chap fell
+dead before he reached us.
+
+"'He was one of our men, a private of the Royal Irish Regiment. We
+learned that he had been captured the previous day by a party of German
+cavalry, and had been held a prisoner at the farm, where the Germans
+were in ambush for us. He tumbled to their game, and though he knew
+that if he made the slightest sound they would kill him, he decided to
+make a dash to warn us of what was in store. He had more than a dozen
+bullets in him and there was not the slightest hope for him. We carried
+him into a house until the fight was over, and then we buried him next
+day with military honors. His identification disk and everything else
+was missing, so that we could only put over his grave the tribute that
+was paid to a greater: "He saved others; himself he could not save."
+There wasn't a dry eye among us when we laid him to rest in that little
+village.'
+
+"Or I think again of the expressions on faces that I have seen or read
+about, something alert and glad and self-respecting in the eyes of
+those who are going to the front, and even of the wounded who are
+returning. 'Never once,' writes one correspondent, 'not once since I
+came to France have I seen among the soldiers an angry face or heard an
+angry word.... They are always quiet, orderly, and wonderfully
+cheerful.' And no one who has followed the war need be told of their
+heroism. I do not forget the thousands left on the battlefield to die,
+or the groaning of the wounded sounding all day between the crashes of
+the guns. But there is a strange, deep gladness as well. 'One feels an
+extraordinary freedom,' says a young Russian officer, 'in the midst of
+death, with the bullets whistling round. The same with all the
+soldiers. The wounded all want to get well and return to the fight.
+They fight with tears of joy in their eyes.'
+
+"Human nature is a mysterious thing, and man finds his weal and woe not
+in the obvious places. To have something before you, clearly seen,
+which you know you must do, and can do, and will spend your utmost
+strength and perhaps your life in doing, that is one form at least of
+very high happiness, and one that appeals--the facts prove it--not only
+to saints and heroes but to average men. Doubtless the few who are wise
+enough and have enough imagination, may find opportunity for that same
+happiness in everyday life, but in war ordinary men find it. This is
+the inward triumph which lies at the heart of the great tragedy."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+ O yet we trust that somehow good
+ Will be the final goal of ill,
+ To pangs of nature, sins of will,
+ Defects of doubt, and taints of blood;
+
+ That nothing walks with aimless feet;
+ That not one life shall be destroyed,
+ Or cast as rubbish to the void,
+ When God hath made the pile complete;
+
+ That not a worm is cloven in vain;
+ That not a moth with vain desire
+ Is shrivelled in a fruitless fire,
+ Or but subserves another's gain.
+
+ Behold, we know not anything;
+ I can but trust that good shall fall
+ At last--far off--at last, to all,
+ And every winter change to spring.
+
+ ALFRED TENNYSON.
+
+
+
+
+WHAT ONE AMERICAN DID[10]
+
+
+If a person had been standing one night beside the railroad tracks in
+Germany in the fall of 1917, he would have seen a train speeding along
+through the darkness at about thirty-five miles an hour. He would have
+noticed through an open window a tall soldier in the uniform of an
+English flyer, a lieutenant in the R.F.C. (Royal Flying Corps), stand
+up on the seat as if to get something out of the rack; and then he
+would have been astounded to see the same tall English flyer come
+flying out feet first through the window, to land on the side of his
+head on the stone ballast of the opposite track.
+
+Few persons could do this and come through alive. This English flyer a
+few weeks before had fallen eight thousand feet, with a bullet in his
+neck, when his airplane had been shot down in a fight with four German
+machines. When picked up within the German lines, he was enough alive
+to be taken to a hospital. The bullet was removed, and he recovered. He
+was a British flyer, simply because America did not enter the war soon
+enough for him, and like many other young Americans, he was eager to
+fight the German beast and "save the world for democracy."
+
+He was being taken with six other officers from a prison in Belgium to
+a prison camp in Germany. He knew that, once there, his chances for
+escape would be very small; and he felt he preferred death to life in a
+German prison camp. He knew that, if he were not killed in his leap
+from the train, the Germans would doubtless shoot him as a spy, should
+they succeed in recapturing him. Some Germans wanted all Americans who
+enlisted in the Allied armies to be shot, as they had shot Captain
+Fryatt, on the ground that they were non-combatants attacking war
+forces; for this was before America entered the war against Germany.
+Besides, prisoners were not allowed to know what was going on in
+Germany. An escaped prisoner who could find out was, therefore, likely
+to be treated as a spy.
+
+Pat O'Brien's cheek was cut open, and his left eye badly injured and
+swollen so that he could not open it. He had scratched his hands and
+wrists, and sprained his ankle. But he was hard to kill. In the
+excitement caused by his jump through the car window, the Germans did
+not stop the train immediately, and so did not reach the spot where he
+had fallen, until he had recovered consciousness and had got away from
+the track. He was careful in walking away to hold the tail of his coat
+so that the blood dropping from his cheek would not fall upon the
+ground and show which way he went. Before daylight he had been able to
+put more than five miles between him and the tracks. He then hid in a
+deep woods, knowing that he must travel by night and keep out of sight
+by day, for he was wearing the uniform of a British flyer.
+
+The story of his adventures is one of the most interesting of all the
+strange and interesting stories of the World War. When he reached
+England, King George sent for him to come to Buckingham Palace and
+spent nearly an hour listening to it. Lieutenant O'Brien has published
+it in a book which he calls "Outwitting the Hun." Boys and girls who
+like an exciting story of adventure, a true story, will want to read
+this book.
+
+He knew the North Star, and by this he set his course west, in order to
+reach Belgium, and then go north from Belgium to Holland. It rained a
+great share of the time, but this did not make much difference, for he
+had to swim so many canals and rivers that his clothes were always wet.
+At first he had taken off his clothes when he had to swim and had tied
+them in a bundle to his head to keep them from getting wet; but after
+he lost one of his shoes in the water in this way and had to spend
+nearly two hours diving before he recovered it, he swam with his
+clothes and shoes on. He never could have gone on without shoes. Had
+he not been a good diver, he could not have found the shoe in the mud
+under eight feet of water; had he not been a good swimmer, he could not
+have crossed the Meuse River, nearly half a mile wide, after many days
+and nights of traveling almost without food (as it was, he dropped in a
+dead faint when he reached the farther side); and had he not known the
+North Star, he would have had no idea at night whether he was going in
+the right direction or going in, a circle. Rainy and cloudy nights
+delayed him greatly.
+
+He did not dare ask for food at the houses in Germany, for he would
+have been immediately turned over to the authorities. So he lived on
+raw carrots, turnips, cabbages, sugar beets, and potatoes, which he
+found in the fields. He knew he must not make a fire even if he could
+do so in the Indian's way, by rubbing sticks together. He had no
+matches. He found some celery one night and ate so much of it that it
+made him sick. He had only the water in the canals and rivers to drink,
+and most of this was really unfit for human beings. He lay for an hour
+one night in a cabbage field lapping the dew from the cabbage leaves,
+he was so thirsty for pure, fresh water.
+
+One day before he reached Belgium, he was awakened from his sleep in
+the woods by voices near him. He kept very quiet, and soon heard the
+sound of axes and saw a great tree, not far from him, tremble. He was
+lying in a clump of thick bushes and could not move without making a
+noise. He knew that if the great tree with its huge branches fell in
+his direction, he would surely be killed or at least pinned to the
+earth and badly injured--and his capture meant that he would be shot as
+a spy. But there was nothing for him to do but wait, and hope. At last
+the tree began to sway, and then fell away from him instead of towards
+him. He had again escaped death.
+
+When he reached Belgium, which he did in eighteen days after his escape
+through the car window, he followed the North Star, for he knew Holland
+was to the north, and once in Holland he would be free. His feet were
+sore and bleeding, his knees badly swollen, and he was sick from
+exposure and starvation. For a while, he had a severe fever and raved
+and talked all night long in his half sleeping state. He feared some
+one would hear him and that he would be taken. He was weary and tired
+of struggling and fighting, and ready to give up; but his will, his
+soul, would not let him. He tells us how he raved when the fever was on
+him, and called on the North Star to save him from the coward, Pat
+O'Brien, who wanted him to quit.
+
+He says he cried aloud, "There you are, you old North Star! You want me
+to get to Holland, don't you? But this Pat O'Brien--this Pat O'Brien
+who calls himself a soldier--he's got a yellow streak--North Star--and
+he says it can't be done! He wants me to quit--to lie down here for
+the Huns to find me and take me back to Courtrai--after all you've
+done, North Star, to lead me to liberty. Won't you make this coward
+leave me, North Star? I don't want to follow him--I just want to follow
+you--because you--you are taking me away from the Huns and this Pat
+O'Brien--this fellow who keeps after me all the time and leans on my
+neck and wants me to lie down--this yellow Pat O'Brien who wants me to
+go back to the Huns!"
+
+In Belgium, he had a somewhat easier time, as far as food went, for he
+found he could go to the Belgian houses and ask for it. As he could not
+speak the language, and did not want them to know he was an English
+soldier, he pretended he was deaf and dumb. He had finally succeeded in
+getting some overalls and discarding his uniform.
+
+Belgium was full of German soldiers, many of them living in the houses
+of the Belgians, so he was obliged to use extreme care in approaching a
+house to ask for food or help. Every Belgian was supposed to carry a
+card, called in German an _Ausweiss_. It identified the bearer when
+stopped by a German sentinel or soldier. Lieutenant O'Brien knew that
+without this card he would be arrested and that his looks made him a
+suspicious character. His eye had hardly healed, his face was covered
+with a three weeks' beard, and altogether he was a disreputable looking
+creature.
+
+After very many interesting and exciting experiences, he succeeded in
+reaching the boundary line. To prevent Belgians taking refuge in
+Holland and to prevent escaped prisoners, and even German soldiers,
+from crossing the line into this neutral country, where, if they were
+in uniform, they would be interned for the rest of the war, the Germans
+had built all along the line three barbed wire fences, six feet apart.
+The center fence was charged with electricity of such a voltage that
+any human being coming in contact with it would be instantly
+electrocuted. This triple barrier of wire was guarded by German
+sentinels day and night.
+
+Lieutenant O'Brien reached the barrier in the night, and hid himself
+when he heard the tramp of the German sentinel. He waited until the
+sentinel returned and noted carefully how long he was gone, in order to
+learn how much time he had in which to work.
+
+He thought he could build a ladder out of two fallen trees by tying
+branches across them, and in this way get over the ten-foot center
+fence. He succeeded in getting his ladder together, by working all
+night, and with it he hid in the woods all the next day. When night
+came, he shoved the ladder under the first barbed wire fence and
+crawled in after it. He placed it carefully up against one of the posts
+to which the charged electric wires were fastened and began to climb up
+it, when all of a sudden it slipped and came in contact with the live
+wires. The trees out of which he had constructed it were so soaked with
+water that they made good conductors of electricity, and he received
+such a charge that he was thrown to the ground unconscious, where he
+lay while the sentinel passed within seven feet of him.
+
+He gave up the ladder and decided to dig under the live wires. He had
+only his hands to dig with, but the ground was fairly soft. After some
+hours, he had a hole deep enough and wide enough to crawl through
+without touching the live wire. He found a wire running along under the
+ground. He knew this could not be alive, for the ground would discharge
+any electricity there might be in it. So he took hold of it and, after
+much struggling, was able to get it out of the way. Then he crawled
+carefully under the live wires and was a free man in Holland, for he
+wore no uniform and would not be interned.
+
+At the first village he came to, some of the Dutch people loaned him
+enough money to ride third-class to Rotterdam. He said he was glad he
+was not riding first-class, for he would have looked as much out of
+place in a first-class compartment as a Hun would in heaven.
+
+The English consul at Rotterdam gave him money and a passport to
+England, and from there he came to see his mother, in a little town in
+Illinois, called Momence.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] BY COURTESY OF HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
+
+
+
+
+RAEMAEKERS
+
+
+There are many ways of fighting, and the Germans, in their forty-four
+years of planning to conquer the world, thought of them all. The only
+forces they neglected were the mighty forces of fairness, justice,
+innocence, pity, purity, friendship, love, and other similar spiritual
+forces that Americans have been taught to look upon as the greatest of
+all.
+
+There is a force called Rumor which sometimes speaks the truth, but
+which usually lies, that is a great power for evil and rarely for good.
+The Germans used this with the Italian troops in Italy, sending into
+their lines, by dropping them from airplanes and in other ways, all
+sorts of rumors about Austria and Italy, about the coming collapse of
+the Allies, about what great friends the Russians and Germans had
+become when the Russians realized that it was foolish and wrong to
+fight,--until the Italian soldiers lost the spirit which had carried
+them over the Alps and very near to the conquest of Austria, and were
+then easily defeated in the next powerful Austrian attack.
+
+German agents spread stories through the papers of the United States to
+help Germany in the eyes and minds of the American people. They bought
+leading papers in Paris and one in New York to use in misleading people
+as to Germany's actions and aims. They printed lies for their own
+people to make them believe the war was forced on Germany, and that
+they were fighting against the whole world, for their lives and for
+liberty. They published cartoons in German papers in great numbers to
+carry, even to those who could not read, the ideas about the war and
+about her enemies that German rulers wished the people to believe.
+
+The German leaders, in all lines, realize the power of advertising, and
+they tried to fill men's eyes and ears with false statements of the
+German cause. Not long ago almost any kind of advertisement was allowed
+in the papers published in the United States. Pictures of a man
+perfectly bald were printed side by side with others of a man with
+flowing locks, all the result of a few applications of Dr. Quack's
+Wonderful Hair Restorer, or some other equally good. Letters were
+published, bought and paid for, often from prominent people, declaring
+that two bottles (or more) of some patent medicine had made them over
+from hopeless invalids to vigorous, joyous manhood or womanhood.
+Falsehoods, or at least misleading statements, were given about
+foodstuffs, either on the packages or in advertisements about them.
+
+But the United States government soon put a stop to this
+misrepresentation and compelled advertisers and food manufacturers not
+only to stop lying, but even to print the truth; and the manufacture
+and sale of things injurious to the public health were controlled. The
+American people want honesty, frankness, and fair dealing in all
+things.
+
+The Germans seem to be a different kind of people in every way. It is
+to be hoped that sometime they will cease to act as manufacturers of
+patent medicines and adulterated foods were accustomed to act; but as
+long as Germany is after material gain, as these manufacturers were
+after money, it is very likely that she will seek to get it by deceit
+and lying, until the governments of the earth oblige her to be honest,
+or quit business.
+
+It is said that it takes a long time to catch a lie. It depends,
+however, upon how many get after it and how swift and powerful they
+are. German lies have been counted upon as a considerable part of her
+fighting forces. She has spent millions of dollars and used thousands
+of men in this service. Is it not strange that one little, almost
+insignificant looking Dutchman, hardly heard of before the war, has
+been able almost alone to defeat the money and the men used by Germany
+to hoodwink the world? But this Dutchman, Louis Raemaekers, working for
+the _Amsterdam Telegraf_, had for years seen through German ideas and
+aims. He says, "Germany has never made any secret of her ideas or her
+intentions, She has always been frank, as selfish people often are. I
+have seen through the German idea for more than twenty years. A
+generation ago, I saw, as every one who cared to see did, what it was
+leading us to; in fact, Germany told us."
+
+And he adds about the German people: "There is only one way to reach
+the modern German. Beat him over the head. He understands nothing else.
+The world must go on beating him over the head until he cries 'Enough';
+or the world can never live with him."
+
+Knowing Germany, and that German victory meant the loss of all that is
+really worth while in this world, the loss of liberty, and the
+destruction of any government that is what Lincoln said all governments
+should be, "of the people, for the people, and by the people"--Louis
+Raemaekers fought Germany with his pen and his brush, and fought her so
+well that the German government offered a large reward for him dead or
+alive, and a leading German writer said he had done more harm to the
+Prussian cause than an armed division of Allied troops.
+
+The _Cologne Gazette_, in a furious article dealing with Raemaekers,
+declared that after the war Germany would settle accounts with Holland
+and would demand payment with interest for the damage done Germany by
+his cartoons.
+
+ [Illustration: CIVILIZATION UNDER THE LASH
+ Taken from "Raemaekers' Cartoon History of the War," by
+ permission of The Century Company.]
+
+Some of the Dutch people feared Germany so greatly that they succeeded
+in bringing Raemaekers to trial for having violated the neutrality of
+Holland. German influence was strong in Holland, and Raemaekers was
+hated by many of his own people; but the better sense of the Dutch
+triumphed, and he was acquitted.
+
+One of his first cartoons represented Germany in the form of the
+Kaiser, wearing a German uniform and spiked helmet, with a foot upon
+the body of Luxemburg and a knee upon the prostrate form of Belgium,
+whom he was choking to death. He holds an uplifted sword in his hand
+and is saying, "This is how I deal with the small fry."
+
+Another shows with almost sickening force the heart-breaking suffering
+of Belgian mothers, as contrasted with the cruelty and hard-heartedness
+of the Huns. A Belgian woman is kneeling beside a pile of dead from her
+village, with an expression of almost insane suffering upon her face. A
+German officer is passing, with one hand thrust into his coat front and
+a cigar in his mouth. He stops to say, "Ah! was your boy among the
+twelve this morning? Then you'll find him among this lot."
+
+A third shows a German looting a house and carrying away everything
+that he thinks is of value to him. The furniture is smashed and a woman
+and child lie dead on the floor. The Hun is saying, "It's all right. If
+I had not done it some one else might."
+
+A fourth shows a line of hostages standing in front of a wall to be
+shot for an offense that the German officer in command claims some one
+in the village committed. Those taken as hostages are innocent of wrong
+doing. The cartoon shows the ends of the barrels of the German muskets
+pointed at the hearts of the hostages and a German officer with his
+sword raised and his lips parted to give the order to fire. It shows
+but four of the hostages: an old man, probably the mayor of the town; a
+white-haired priest; a well-to-do man, and his son, about fourteen
+years of age. The boy is asking, "Father, what have we done?"--the cry
+that went up to their Heavenly Father from thousands of martyrs in
+Belgium.
+
+It is no wonder that the German rulers fear this Dutch artist more than
+they do a division of soldiers. His fighting against the Huns and their
+atrocities and against the German nature and teaching that made these
+atrocities possible will continue in every nation of the earth, as long
+as printing presses furnish pictures and people look at them.
+
+His pen or pencil wrote a language that all could read, and they spoke
+the truth so that it turned all who read it against the modern Hun.
+
+When he visited England, one of the leading papers declared that he was
+a genius, probably the only genius produced by the war; and that long
+after the most exciting and interesting articles in newspapers and
+magazines were forgotten, and the great number of books on the war had
+been lost or stowed away in dusty garrets, his cartoons would live and
+stir the indignation of men yet unborn; and that Louis Raemaekers had
+nailed the Kaiser to a cross of immortal infamy.
+
+France has honored him as one of the great heroes of the war, and has
+given him the Legion of Honor.
+
+George Creel says, "He is a voice, a sword, a flame. His cartoons are
+the tears of women, the battle shout of indomitable defenders, the
+indignation of humanity, the sob of civilization. They will go down in
+history."
+
+One of the wonderful painters of old Japan put so much of himself, of
+his soul and heart, into every stroke of his brush that it was said,
+"If a swift and keen sword should cut through his brush at work, it
+would bleed."
+
+Through the pen and brush of Louis Raemaekers has pulsed the heart
+blood of suffering Belgium and horrified humanity; and for this reason,
+his cartoons are inspired and move the hearts and minds of all men to
+despise and condemn those who could commit such inhuman deeds.
+
+
+
+
+THE GOD IN MAN
+
+
+A soldier on the firing step, aiming at the enemy, is suddenly struck;
+and he drops down to the bottom of the trench. His nearest comrade must
+keep on firing, but two stretcher-bearers are ready at their posts.
+They rush forward, take the first-aid packet from the soldier's pocket,
+cut his clothes away from the wound, and quickly dress it. They carry
+him to the trench doctor, who treats the wound again. Then they take
+the soldier from the trenches to the nearest field ambulance, where his
+wound is again cared for.
+
+He is so badly hurt that he needs to recover far from the sound of the
+thundering cannon. But he is not so seriously injured that he cannot
+stand a short journey. So he is placed, as comfortably as possible, in
+an ambulance train, with skilled Red Cross nurses to attend to him. The
+train arrives just in time to meet the hospital ship at the port. The
+soldier is carried on board, and soon finds himself in a quiet hospital
+in London--all in little more than twenty-four hours, a day and a
+night.
+
+So thousands of men have been cared for each week, by a never-ending
+line of devoted Red Cross stretcher-bearers, doctors, and nurses, on
+the battlefield, on the trains, on hospital ships, and in the home
+hospitals, in London, and in every fighting country in the world.
+
+Somewhat back from the lines are the stationary hospitals, where many
+soldiers are left who cannot be carried farther, but must be treated
+there. "Mushroom hospitals" they are called; for, although they have
+the appearance of having been there before, they really have sprung up
+only since the war started. The wards are spotlessly clean, filled with
+rows and rows of beds, also spotlessly clean. Beyond are the operating
+rooms, baths, kitchens, and gardens filled with flowers, where the
+wounded men may breathe fresh air and get back the strength which they
+have so willingly lost in service. All the time, hundreds of new
+patients are arriving, hundreds are leaving, either to go to more
+distant hospitals, or to go back to the lines to fight.
+
+In comes one soldier who does not see or know where he is, nor who it
+was that brought him. But when at last he opens his eyes, he finds
+himself in a spotlessly clean white bed for the first time in months.
+He looks about, and yes, there is Bobby, his own pet collie, sitting
+beside him. He had lost him when he went over the top in the fight; but
+somehow Bobby had followed him here, and somebody had been kind enough
+to let him stay beside his master in this clean and pleasant room.
+
+By and by the wounded soldier grows well enough to be carried out into
+the garden. There he and Bobby sit and watch the men caring for the
+flowers. These men are not hired; they are wounded soldiers helping
+about the hospital. The garden itself was made by a soldier who was a
+gardener before the war. Every man helps with his knowledge of some
+trade. The napkin rings and salt cellars used in the hospital were made
+by a soldier tinsmith out of old biscuit boxes.
+
+One day our wounded soldier becomes so well that he may walk away with
+Bobby, and a nurse brings him his suit, his rifle, and all his
+equipment, nicely cleansed and put in order.
+
+So everybody does his bit in the hospitals. Dentists and
+eye-specialists, surgeons and nurses, wearing the Red Cross, work
+tirelessly from morning till night and sometimes both day and night, to
+save the brave wounded men. They do their work as best they can,
+sweetly and cheerfully, caring for the German soldiers as well as for
+their own Allied soldiers. To know of them, to watch them in their work
+of mercy, is to realize that there is something different from the
+beast in man--there is the God in man, the spirit of love and tender,
+skillful care, which they dare to give in the face of awful danger.
+
+One of the brave nurses wrote home to America something of all she was
+doing. Among many things, she said: "The Huns were pouring down in
+streams to attack our men. I immediately began to get the hospital
+ready to receive the wounded.
+
+"Our surgeon was away on leave, but another equally good arrived. On
+Tuesday, the wounded men began to come in. Wednesday and Thursday I
+served from early morning until midnight. Bombs were bursting in the
+distance, and news came that the Huns were within a few miles of us.
+
+"A Red Cross unit came, and one English nurse arrived to help us. She
+had lost the others in her party, and had walked miles to get here. It
+seemed as if God had sent them all from heaven!
+
+"All the surgical supplies that I could save from those you sent me
+from the Red Cross, I had put away for emergency. I don't know what we
+would have done without them!
+
+"I had to see that the surgeons had whatever they needed, and from all
+sides every one was calling for help. Through it all, I was up every
+morning at four and never went to bed till midnight. The cannon were
+roaring, star shells exploding, bombs dropping around us,--but nothing
+touching us!
+
+"For eight days our men fought gloriously. They were a wonder and such
+a surprise to the Huns. Now perhaps they know what they have to face!
+
+"The little hospital was able to save many, many lives. We have sent
+away most of our wounded to-day, and are now waiting in suspense for
+what may come next--but we are ready to do our best, whatever comes.
+
+"We do not dare keep the seriously wounded now for any length of time,
+for no one knows when the Huns may fight their way through. We know
+what the 'front line' really means. No one goes in or out except by
+military or Red Cross camion. No private telegrams can be sent, and to
+our joy, we do not have to bother with food-ration cards, for a while
+at least. _Boches_ are over our heads all day, and cannons booming. I
+am so used to it now that I don't mind it.
+
+"I am so homesick to see you all, but I will not leave my work until
+the end of this horrible war, if God will give me health and strength.
+Don't worry. I intend to stick to my post to the end, and if the Huns
+come down upon us, the Red Cross will get us out."
+
+Nor are these all of the ways in which the Red Cross shows the God in
+man. From the beginning of the war until March, 1918, over $36,000,000
+of American money alone was spent in the following ways:
+
+ FRANCE, $30,936,103.
+
+ Established rest stations along all routes followed by the
+ American troops in France.
+
+ Built canteens for use of French and American soldiers at the
+ front, also at railroad junctions and in Paris.
+
+ Supplied American troops with comfort kits and sent them
+ Christmas gifts.
+
+ Established a hospital-distributing service that supplies 3423
+ French military hospitals, and a surgical dressing service that
+ supplies 2000.
+
+ Provided an artificial-limb factory and special plants for the
+ manufacture of splints and nitrous oxide gas.
+
+ Established a casualty service for gathering information in
+ regard to wounded and missing, this information to be sent to
+ relatives.
+
+ Opened a children's refuge hospital in the war zone and
+ established a medical and traveling center to accommodate 1200
+ children in the reconquered sections of France. Fifty thousand
+ children throughout France are being cared for in some measure
+ by the Red Cross.
+
+ Planned extensive reclamation work in the invaded sections of
+ France from which the enemy has been driven; this work is now
+ being carried out with the coöperation of the Society of Friends
+ and alumnæ units from Smith College and other colleges.
+
+ Established a large central warehouse in Paris and numerous
+ warehouses at important points from the sea to the Swiss border,
+ for storing of hospital supplies, food, soldiers' comforts,
+ tobacco, blankets, clothing, beds, and other articles of relief.
+
+ Secured and operated 400 motor cars for the distribution of
+ supplies.
+
+ Opened a hospital and convalescent home for children; also
+ established an ambulance service for the adult refugees, who are
+ now returning from points within the German lines at the rate of
+ 1000 a day.
+
+ Improved health conditions in the American war zone before the
+ coming of American troops.
+
+
+ BELGIUM, .,086,131.
+
+ Started reconstruction work in reconquered territory, supplying
+ returned refugees with temporary dwellings, tools, furniture,
+ farm animals, and supplies essential to giving them a fresh
+ start in life.
+
+ Appropriated $600,000 for the relief of Belgian children,
+ covering their removal from territories under bombardment and
+ the establishment and maintenance of them in colonies.
+
+ Provided funds for the operation of a hospital for wounded
+ Belgian soldiers and for part of the equipment of a typhoid
+ hospital.
+
+
+ ITALY, $3,588,826.
+
+ Provided the Italian army with 60 ambulances, 40 trucks, and 100
+ American drivers.
+
+ Contracted for 10 field hospitals complete for use by the Sanita
+ Militaire and the Italian Red Cross.
+
+ Supplied 1,000,000 surgical dressings. Opened relief
+ headquarters in 9 districts of Italy.
+
+ Established a hospital for refugees at Rimini.
+
+ Planned and made appropriations for extensive work among the
+ refugees in all parts of Italy.
+
+
+ ROUMANIA, .,676,368.
+
+ Rushed more than $100,000 worth of medical supplies and
+ foodstuffs into Roumania immediately after the retreat to Jassy.
+
+ Carried general relief work into every part of the stricken
+ country not invaded by the Teuton and Bulgarian forces.
+
+
+ UNITED STATES, $8,589,899.
+
+ Organized and trained 45 ambulance companies, totaling 5580 men,
+ for service with American soldiers and sailors.
+
+ Built and maintained four laboratory cars for emergency use in
+ stamping out epidemics at cantonments and training camps.
+
+ Started work of bettering sanitary conditions in the zones
+ immediately surrounding the cantonments.
+
+ Established camp service bureaus to look out for comfort and
+ welfare of soldiers in training.
+
+ Supplied 2,000,000 sweaters to soldiers and sailors.
+
+ Mobilized 14,000 trained nurses for care of our men.
+
+ Established a department of Home Service and opened training
+ schools for workers.
+
+ Planned convalescent houses at all cantonments and training
+ camps. Increased membership from scant half million to
+ approximately 22,000,000.
+
+ For War Relief in other countries, including
+ Great Britain, Russia, and Serbia $7,581,075
+ To supply food to American prisoners in
+ Germany $343,304
+ For supplies purchased for shipment abroad $15,000,000
+
+The Jewish Relief Societies of this country have also forwarded large
+sums of money to relieve the terrible suffering among their people in
+Russia, Poland, Turkey, Palestine, and others of the war-stricken
+countries. Approximately $24,000,000 was sent abroad for this purpose
+during the first four years of the war.
+
+One evening the train drew into the station of a little town in France.
+It stopped long enough for half a hundred tired, dusty soldiers to gain
+the platform, then puffed away out of sight. They were not the fighting
+soldiers--they were engineers. The men looked about in a bewildered way
+for the train with which they were supposed to connect. But it was
+nowhere in sight; it had gone. They were sorry not to meet the rest of
+their company, but there was nothing for them to do but remain in the
+town overnight. They walked the streets, and found that every hotel,
+boarding house, and private home was filled to the last cot. Thousands
+of American troops were in the town, on their way to the front. The
+engineers had ridden for many hours and were very hungry, but their
+pockets were nearly empty.
+
+Suddenly they stopped before a large building painted a deep blue, and
+bearing the sign,
+
+ Knights of Columbus
+ Everybody Welcome.
+
+The half a hundred men walked in, passed group after group of soldiers
+and sailors, and found the secretary. Soon they were dining on Knights
+of Columbus ham and eggs, without money and without price! The
+secretary himself served them.
+
+They entered the large lounging room, found tables covered with good
+reading books, easy chairs and writing benches set about the room, and
+a stage at the back with piano, victrola, and a moving picture screen.
+
+So when they least expected it, but most wanted it, they found a place
+that seemed like home. Knights of Comfort, the Knights of Columbus have
+been called, and comfort they have given to thousands of soldiers and
+sailors. About $50,000,000 has been raised by the society for one year
+of such good work.
+
+Almost on the very battleground is another source of comfort to the
+fighting men,--the little huts with the sign of the Red Triangle,--the
+Y.M.C.A. There is hardly one American home which has not received from
+some soldier a letter on paper marked with the little red triangle.
+Thousands have been written at the benches inside the huts, and
+thousands of books and magazines found in the huts have been read in
+spare time by the soldier lads.
+
+Usually only the paper for letter writing is furnished at the huts, and
+the men buy their postage stamps. Often fifty to a hundred men are in
+line to purchase stamps, so that at times the secretary heaves a sigh
+of relief when at last he has to hang up the sign "Stamps All Out." In
+one hut as many as three thousand letters have been handled in one day,
+besides parcel-post packages, registered letters, and money-orders.
+
+The United States government has realized the valuable services of the
+society and recognized it officially, permitting its men to wear the
+uniform, and to accompany the soldiers right into the trenches.
+
+Often before and always after the men go into battle, the "Y" workers
+bring up great kettles of hot chocolate and a store of biscuit. This is
+a godsend to the men who have been fighting for hours with little, if
+anything, to eat.
+
+Passing over the battlefield, the workers write down messages from
+wounded and dying men, to be sent to their relatives. They learn all
+they can about those who have been taken prisoners, and so bring
+comfort to the people at home.
+
+The secretaries send to the United States free of charge money from
+the soldiers to their home folks. In one month, a million dollars was
+brought to the Y.M.C.A. with the simple instructions that it be
+delivered to addresses given by the soldiers. The controller of the New
+York Life Insurance Company in France has had charge of this.
+
+The association has nearly 400 motor trucks engaged in various kinds of
+transport work. It aids greatly in caring for and entertaining the
+soldiers, as many as 4000 of them at a time. It has opened many hotels
+in France, four of them in Paris, and owns several factories for the
+making of chocolate. It holds religious services for the men, providing
+preachers of all the different faiths. So it, too, shares in the
+godlike services of the Red Cross and Knights of Columbus.
+
+Near the trenches and at training camps, other work has been done
+similar to that of the Y.M.C.A. and Knights of Columbus, by the
+Salvation Army. The soldier boys have especially enjoyed the doughnuts
+and pies furnished them by this society.
+
+It has, it is said, placed 153 comfort and refreshment huts at the
+front in Europe, and is building many more. It maintains about 80
+military homes, caring for about 100,000 men each week. It operates
+nearly 50 ambulances. Over 700 of its members are devoting their lives
+to war work in the trenches and at the camps. It was the first, it is
+said, of the societies of mercy at the front, and spent for the work
+mentioned $1,000,000, all made up of nickels and dimes of small givers,
+before the society made any "drive" for funds.
+
+Letters from officials, friends, and soldier boys tell what glorious
+work these and other similar societies have done and are doing. They
+bring a little touch of heaven into the very worst places and
+conditions, and show the God in man.
+
+
+IN FLANDERS FIELDS
+
+ In Flanders fields the poppies blow
+ Between the crosses, row on row,
+ That mark our place; and in the sky
+ The larks still bravely singing, fly
+ Scarce heard amid the guns below.
+
+ We are the Dead. Short days ago
+ We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
+ Loved and were loved, and now we lie
+ In Flanders fields.
+
+ Take up our quarrel with the foe:
+ To you from failing hands we throw
+ The torch; be yours to hold it high.
+ If ye break faith with us who die
+ We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
+ In Flanders fields.
+
+ LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MCCRAE.
+
+
+
+
+THE WORLD WAR
+
+
+The story of the World War is the story of the control of the sea by
+the Allies, of land fighting on two fronts, the western and the
+eastern, and of separate scattered campaigns in Africa and Asia.
+
+
+THE WESTERN FRONT
+
+Here the war really began and here it seems likely to be decided and
+ended. The Germans who planned the war were ready and, using their
+railroads built for that purpose, rushed their armies to the Belgian
+border before France had hardly begun to mobilize. Luxemburg was
+overrun at once and Belgium invaded. The brave Belgians under General
+Leman held up the advance for several days at Liége and saved France
+and western civilization. The Huns soon occupied nearly all of Belgium,
+taking Brussels on August 20 and Antwerp on October 9.
+
+They pushed on directly toward Paris, driving the British who had been
+landed, the Belgians, and the French, before them. They advanced to
+within twenty miles of Paris, near Meaux on the Marne, and were there
+defeated September 5-10, 1914, and forced to retreat to the Aisne,
+where they entrenched themselves.
+
+The Germans had driven the British south by constantly threatening to
+outflank them, and there had been a race to the gates of Paris. Now the
+British turned the tables and, in attempting to outflank the Germans,
+there was a race away from Paris to the North Sea, with the final
+result that the enemies were lined up opposite each other, from
+Switzerland near the German border to the coast between Dunkirk and
+Ostend.
+
+Until 1918 trench warfare continued. The Germans sought to drive the
+English out of Ypres, but did not succeed. In one of these attacks on
+April 22, 1915, gas was used for the first time.
+
+The British and French won a great victory on the Somme, July, 1916,
+taking nearly 75,000 prisoners. This battle is recognized as one of the
+turning points of the war, for it caused the extensive retreat of the
+Germans the following spring. The Huns devastated the territory from
+which they retreated more completely and mercilessly than any army,
+even barbarians, had ever done before in the history of the world. The
+British attempted to capture Lille and the bases of the German
+submarines on the Belgian coast at Ostend and Zeebrugge, but were
+unsuccessful.
+
+In November, 1917, General Byng, in a surprise attack in which for the
+first time a large number of tanks were used, broke the famous
+Hindenburg line of trenches and captured 8000 Germans. He soon lost
+all the territory he had gained and many men, through being surprised
+himself by attacks on both sides of the pocket or salient which he had
+pushed into the German lines.
+
+The Battle of the Somme referred to above was intended to relieve the
+terrible pressure of the Germans on the French forts at Verdun. The
+German Crown Prince had attacked these in July, 1916, determined to
+break through at whatever cost. But the soul of France rose to the
+occasion and declared, "They shall not pass!" The Battle of Verdun
+lasted from July until December, 1916. The Germans lost half a million
+men, _but they did not pass_. Before many months every vantage point
+which the Germans had won was back in French hands.
+
+In 1917, the French pushed the Germans back between Rheims and Soissons
+to the Ailette River, where they remained until the Second Battle of
+the Marne, July, 1918.
+
+Little of importance happened during the winter of 1917 and 1918, and
+Germany, with Russia out of the way, prepared to deliver a final blow
+and win the war, before American troops should arrive in force. The
+Germans, with large numbers of troops from the eastern front, were so
+confident, that great fear was felt among the Allies that America would
+be too late.
+
+The German plan as it unfolded itself was to attack, wave after wave,
+with tremendous numbers of men; to use great quantities of a new and
+more terrible gas; to pay no attention to losses, but to break through
+where the French and English lines joined; then to push the French
+south towards Paris and the English north towards the sea. They
+expected to take Amiens, forty miles from the mouth of the Somme, and
+to push down the river to the sea. With the broad river between them
+and the French, a small force could keep the French from crossing,
+while the great German army captured or destroyed the British, who
+would be hemmed in by the sea.
+
+The attack was launched on March 21 over a front of fifty miles and it
+nearly succeeded. It brought the Germans to within six miles of Amiens,
+which would have been captured if the English on Vimy Ridge had not
+prevented them by holding the German line from advancing. The Germans
+waited a month, planning an attack which should capture Vimy Ridge and
+prepare the way for the capture of Amiens. In this they were
+unsuccessful.
+
+Not being able to divide the armies of the French and English or to
+take the Channel ports, they turned in May toward Paris. They attacked
+in tremendous force between Rheims and Soissons and pushed forward
+thirty-two miles to the Marne. On July 15 they launched another great
+offensive over a front of fifty miles from east of Rheims to west of
+Château-Thierry. They crossed the Marne and were making some progress
+when, on July 18, the French and Americans struck them on the flank
+between Soissons and Château-Thierry. The Germans were forced to
+retreat, having lost 220,000 men, hundreds of guns, and vast stores.
+
+At this time over 1,000,000 American soldiers were in France. They
+arrived in time and showed themselves "the bravest of the brave." One
+of the American units was granted, for its bravery in the Second Battle
+of the Marne, the only regimental decoration ever awarded by France to
+a foreign regiment; and the French commander bestowed upon one division
+the most thrilling praise. "They showed," he said, "discipline that
+filled the Germans with surprise. They marched with officers at the
+sides and with closed ranks exactly like veteran French troops."
+
+Italy began operations against Austria in May, 1915. For more than two
+years, she advanced over almost impassable mountain ranges to the
+reconquest of the territory Austria had stolen from her. Then, in
+October, 1917, Italy met with a terrible disaster; she lost 180,000 men
+and was driven back to the river Piave and to within fifteen miles of
+Venice. This costly defeat was due partly to lack of supplies which her
+allies should have furnished her; partly to printed lies dropped from
+Austrian airplanes among the Italian soldiers telling of the wonderful
+peace and liberty that had come to Russia, where Germans and Russians
+were like brothers; and partly to the mistake of Italy and her
+commanders. It resulted in making all the Allies realize that they
+could not succeed separately but must work together as one, if they
+were going to win; and in the appointment of General Ferdinand Foch as
+commander in chief of all the allied forces in the West, including
+European Russia.
+
+In the spring of 1918, the Austrians, at Germany's command, renewed
+their attack and succeeded in crossing the Piave, which in its upper
+reaches towards the mountains was almost a dry river bed. They waited
+until, as they supposed, the mountain snows had melted. After many of
+them were across and after they had been checked on the western bank by
+the Italians, they attempted to recross the river. In the meantime
+floods had poured down from the mountains changing the dry bed into a
+rushing river, deep and broad, in which thousands of the Austrians were
+lost. Austria was able to make no further effort.
+
+
+THE EASTERN FRONT
+
+Russia was the first of the Great Powers among the Allies to enter the
+war, but Germany did not count upon her remaining in it long. German
+influence, especially that of the German Socialists with the uneducated
+Russians, was so strong that the Kaiser expected a revolution long
+before it happened. The Russian leaders were self-seeking, and the Tsar
+and his advisers were lacking in ability and force. The Germans
+thought Russia would collapse very soon, and thus leave Germany free to
+turn and conquer France; after which they could settle with England,
+and then with the United States.
+
+Until the close of 1916, the Russian armies gave the Germans fierce
+opposition except when, through treachery of the officers of the
+government, supplies and ammunition were withheld and the soldiers had
+to fight cannon, machine guns, and rifles with the butts of their
+muskets. Of course the Russians were driven back, but not until they
+had come within one hundred and eighty-five miles of Berlin, which was
+the nearest approach of an enemy army during the first four years of
+the war.
+
+In the fall of 1914, the Russian armies suffered through treachery a
+terrible defeat near Tannenberg in the Masurian Lake region of East
+Prussia, but the great leader of their armies farther south, Grand Duke
+Nicholas, invaded Austria, capturing stronghold after stronghold until
+treachery of Russian officials forced him to retreat. The retreat of
+his armies was conducted in so masterly a manner that it has ranked him
+as one of the great generals of the World War.
+
+As soon as German money and German lies had undermined the directing
+forces at the Russian capital, it was an easy matter for German armies
+to overrun Russian Poland, to capture Warsaw and the great Russian
+fortresses, and to advance as far north as Riga.
+
+Then in the spring of 1917 came the revolution, when the Duma refused
+to obey the order of the Tsar. The soldiers sided with the people; the
+Tsar was thrown into prison, to be shot more than a year later. Germany
+made a "peace drive," and soon had the entire Russian army ready to
+quit. Leaders in the service of Germany, like Lenine, used dreamers
+like Trotsky to help on the breaking up of Russia. Kerensky, who had
+been chosen to lead the government after the first revolution, was
+deposed and obliged to flee the country as the result of a second
+revolution by soldiers, sailors, and workmen. Lenine became Prime
+Minister and Trotsky, Foreign Minister. Then the way was clear for
+Germany to work her will. Agreeing to all proposals, she led the
+_Bolsheviki_, which means "the majority," into such a situation that
+they were powerless. Then throwing aside all her agreements, she forced
+them to sign the disgraceful treaty of peace at Brest-Litovsk. It broke
+up a portion of the old Russia into several nations or independent
+provinces, which separated the Russia that remained entirely from the
+rest of Europe. The provinces, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Esthonia,
+Livonia, Courland, and Lithuania were really dependencies of Germany.
+Turkey was also rewarded by receiving a part of Transcaucasia, which
+Germany later attempted to take from her.
+
+The Germans promised not to use soldiers from the eastern front against
+Russia's former allies in the West; but this promise was only another
+"scrap of paper," and she transferred vast numbers to the front in
+Italy and in France and, by their help, nearly won her great drives of
+1918.
+
+When Russia collapsed and made peace with the Central Powers, Roumania,
+who entered the war on the side of the Allies, August 27, 1916, was
+left entirely surrounded by enemies and, to save herself from the fate
+of Belgium and Serbia, was obliged to consent to peace terms offered by
+Germany. She ceded a large part of her territory south of the Danube to
+Bulgaria, who had joined the Central Powers "for what she could get out
+of it," on October 4, 1915. Bulgaria's king is called "The Fox of the
+Balkans" and looks upon agreements, treaties, and honesty in the German
+manner. Like the Germans, all his acts show that he believes "might is
+right" and that any act is justified if necessary to his success.
+
+
+THE DARDANELLES AND FARTHER EAST
+
+In the spring of 1915, English and French fleets attempted to force the
+Dardanelles, but failed. Had the straits been opened and Constantinople
+taken, Russia would probably have been saved and the war shortened.
+Many believe now that a mistake was made in not sacrificing the ships
+necessary to force the straits and to capture Constantinople, but at
+the time the French and British leaders were unwilling to make the
+sacrifice. Troops had been landed at Gallipoli to assist the fleets,
+but they were withdrawn in January, 1916.
+
+England sent an expedition from the Persian Gulf to capture Bagdad in
+the fall of 1914. It was small in numbers and suffered some reverses,
+but succeeded in capturing the city on March 11, 1917.
+
+When Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, the
+Germans hoped to stir up a religious war, uniting all the Mohammedans
+in the East under the lead of Turkey, against the Christian nations.
+All Mohammedans, however, do not recognize the Sultan of Turkey as
+their leader, and the King of Hedjaz revolted against Turkey in June,
+1916. Hedjaz includes all the Arab tribes between the Tigris on the
+east and Syria on the west. Arabia forms the largest part of the
+territory of this kingdom.
+
+With the assistance of the King of Hedjaz, the English have been able,
+by advancing across the Sinai Desert, to capture Jerusalem. Jerusalem,
+the Holy City of the Christians, has been in Mohammedan hands, except
+for two short periods, for seven hundred and thirty years. The Crusades
+were fought to take it from them, and ever since, Christians have
+mourned that it had to be left in the hands of the Moslems. It probably
+will never again pass from the control of Christian nations.
+
+Japan entered the war early, August 23, 1914, as an ally of Great
+Britain and, on November 7, had taken the only German colony in China,
+Tsingtau. Germany had forced this from China, as punishment for the
+murder of two German missionaries. Japan and Australia soon captured
+all the German possessions in the Pacific, and Great Britain all the
+German colonies in Africa, leaving Germany without a single colonial
+possession.
+
+
+THE SEA
+
+The Kaiser is reported to have said, "Germany's future lies on the
+sea"; and it seems as if the control of the sea by the Allies has
+really determined her future, for had the Central Powers controlled the
+sea, they would have won the war.
+
+By the wise foresight of those directing the movements of the British
+navy, the Grand Fleet, numbering about four hundred vessels, had been
+assembled for inspection just before the war broke out, and they were
+ready, when England entered the war, to move to ports from which they
+could attack the Germans, if the latter should decide to send out their
+fleet. The Grand Fleet has all through the war remained hidden, and,
+like some invisible power, is protecting the freedom of the world.
+Hundreds of swift scout ships keep watch ready to report every move of
+the enemy. Only once has Germany come out in force, to be driven back
+to shelter, defeated, in the Battle of Jutland, May 31, and June 1,
+1916.
+
+Germany placed her hopes in the submarine, but she has had little
+chance to use it against English war vessels. She also scattered mines
+upon the high seas in violation of the laws of war and of nations. One
+of these mines on June 5, 1916, sank the British cruiser _Hampshire_,
+which was carrying Lord Kitchener to Russia. Lord Kitchener and his
+staff were lost.
+
+Germany used every power in her hands to win, never hesitating to set
+aside the laws of nations or the opinions of civilized men. So she
+turned her submarines against merchant ships in violation of
+international law. The sinking of the _Lusitania_ was the first great
+shock to the United States. President Wilson protested on behalf of the
+American people, and after other merchant vessels had been sunk and
+more American lives lost, Germany was given her choice of a break with
+America or of promising that she would give up her submarine attacks
+without warning upon merchant ships. Germany promised to do so, but
+made this promise, as the United States learned later, only to give her
+time to build enough submarines to starve out England in a year or less
+by using them against merchant ships in violation of her agreement with
+the United States. It was only another "scrap of paper."
+
+So America entered the war April 6, 1917, and at once the danger from
+submarines began to grow less, for American destroyers, combined with
+those of the other Allies, soon were sinking submarines faster than
+Germany could build them, and American shipyards began to turn out
+merchant ships in such unheard-of numbers that the sinking of a few
+ships each month became a minor matter. At the close of the fourth year
+of the war, an English writer said of what America had done in one
+year:
+
+ It would be idle to recount here what America has done. But for
+ what she has done the heart of every Briton beats with
+ gratitude. There is physical evidence of it over here. American
+ soldiers throng the streets. American sailors gather in our
+ ports. American naval vessels are scouring our home waters in
+ fullest coöperation with the British and French and have reduced
+ the destruction by submarine pirates by more than half what it
+ was one year ago. On land they are fighting with the Allies the
+ battles of civilization and dying for its ideals, and the
+ fondest wish of every patriot both here and in France is that
+ the community of feeling thus cemented in blood will never pass
+ away.
+
+In October, 1918, there were about two million American soldiers in
+France. They had made possible the great victories, beginning with the
+Second Battle of the Marne, by which all the German gains of 1918 were
+wiped out and the St. Mihiel salient recovered. The Huns had held this
+salient since 1914. Its capture was a brilliant victory for the
+American army under General Pershing. It was accomplished in
+twenty-seven hours.
+
+King George of England wired President Wilson as follows:
+
+ London, Sept. 14, 1918.
+
+ On behalf of the British Empire, I heartily congratulate you on
+ the brilliant achievement of the American and Allied troops
+ under the leadership of General Pershing in the St. Mihiel
+ salient.
+
+ The far-reaching results secured by these successful operations,
+ which have marked the active intervention of the American army
+ on a great scale under its own administration, are the happiest
+ augury for the complete, and, I hope, not far-distant triumph of
+ the Allied cause.
+
+President Wilson cabled to General Pershing:
+
+ Please accept my warmest congratulations on the brilliant
+ achievements of the army under your command. The boys have done
+ what we expected of them and done it in the way we most admire.
+
+ We are deeply proud of them and of their chief. Please convey to
+ all concerned my grateful and affectionate thanks.
+
+Frank H. Simonds, the famous military critic, says:
+
+ In our own national history, therefore, as in world history, the
+ Battle of St. Mihiel will have an enduring place. To the world
+ it announced the arrival of America in her appointed place in
+ the battle line of civilization.... The road from Concord Bridge
+ to the heights above the Meuse is long, but it runs straight,
+ and along it men are still led by the same love of liberty and
+ service of democracy which was revealed in our first battle
+ morning nearly a century and a half ago.
+
+At the beginning of October, 1918, the Allies were everywhere
+successful, in Palestine, in the Balkans, in northern Russia, in
+Siberia, and on the western front. The world was proving again that
+deceit and violence always lose in the long run.
+
+
+THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE WAR
+
+In July, 1918, the western battle line, running from the North Sea to
+Switzerland, was, in general, a huge curve bending into France. Germany
+had been working on interior lines on this western front--that is, as
+her forces were needed to defend or to attack, she moved them from
+place to place on the inside of the circle. The Allies were obliged to
+work on the outside of the circle and were therefore at a considerable
+disadvantage.
+
+Then, too, the Germans had the initiative, that is, they could
+determine when and where to attack, while the Allies in 1918, up to
+July 18, were having all they could attend to in defending themselves
+and preventing a serious break in their lines.
+
+With July 18, 1918, all this was changed. The Allied forces were now
+under the direction of a single commander, Marshal Foch, one of the
+great military geniuses of all time. His plan was to strike at a
+weakened point; then, when the Germans had rushed reinforcements to
+ward off the danger, to strike at some other point in the line and thus
+use up the German reserves; and to give the German commanders no time
+to prepare an offensive on a large scale. The German by nature seems to
+think that size determines victory. The big things seem to him the
+things that are effective and that win. So his offensives were planned
+on a great scale and required months of preparation; and after one
+offensive had been stopped, he required more months of comparative rest
+to plan and prepare another. The French nature is different; it is
+subtle, deft, and skillful, and by repeated strokes of less force,
+often accomplishes what the German fails to do with one mighty blow. In
+riveting the plates on a ship, or in joining the framework of a steel
+skyscraper, a riveting machine is used which, by very rapidly repeated
+blows, does the work quickly and well. Somewhat in this way did Marshal
+Foch strike the German line, now in this spot, now in that, capturing
+or putting out of action large numbers of German troops, outflanking
+first one strategic point and then another. As a consequence, the
+German line was obliged to draw back and back to prevent the Allies
+from breaking through and attacking the German supply trains coming up
+in the rear with food and munitions.
+
+West of Verdun the Germans had come into Belgium and France along the
+line of the Meuse through Liége and Namur, and across Luxemburg by the
+main railway through Sedan. Could either of these great lines of
+communication be captured, the Germans would be unable to withdraw to
+their own territory without terrible losses, if at all; for between
+their armies and Germany lay the great forest region of Ardennes with
+but few roads. Two millions of men could not retreat through this
+region without leaving guns and munitions behind and their retreat
+becoming a rout.
+
+From Verdun the Meuse River runs north and west to Sedan and to the
+railroad which extended from the German lines through Luxemburg to
+Germany. Marshal Foch honored General Pershing and the American troops
+by assigning to them the difficult task of advancing from Verdun
+through the valley of the Meuse to Sedan. The story of the fighting of
+the Americans in this advance is a story glowing with deeds of heroism
+and of reckless daring, a story of the overcoming of almost impossible
+difficulties and of final victory. At Sedan in 1870, the Germans
+humbled the French and decided the Franco-Prussian War. It is a strange
+turn of history that, with the capture of Sedan from the Germans in
+1918, the World War was practically decided and ended.
+
+The Allied army from Salonica, with the help of the Serbians, had
+conquered Bulgaria late in September, and she had surrendered
+unconditionally, thus cutting off Germany and Austria from
+communication with their ally, Turkey. General Allenby's conquest of
+Palestine and occupation of Aleppo brought Turkey to realize that she
+was helpless. She surrendered the last of October. Then the
+strengthened and refreshed Italian army attacked the Austrians on the
+Piave in Italy and won perhaps the most complete victory of the war on
+the western front, capturing over five hundred thousand prisoners and
+completely breaking Austria's power for further resistance. Austria
+surrendered on November 4.
+
+Thus Germany was left alone, open to attack on her southern and eastern
+fronts, while being hopelessly beaten in the west. She asked President
+Wilson to secure an armistice from the Allied nations. The President
+had declared earlier in the war that we would never deal with the
+Kaiser and the autocratic rulers of Germany who had repeatedly broken
+their word to us and to other nations. The German people, aware of this
+fact, were taking things into their own hands, and the German
+Revolution had really begun.
+
+The German Chancellor informed President Wilson that Germany had
+changed its form of government and was now being ruled by those
+responsible to the German people, and that the German government was
+willing to make peace on the basis of President Wilson's Fourteen
+Points, as stated on January 8, 1918, and of his later declarations,
+particularly that of September 27, 1918.
+
+After some correspondence, the President referred the German government
+to Marshal Foch. Envoys were sent from Spa, the German headquarters,
+under flag of truce to the headquarters of Marshal Foch in a railroad
+car near Senlis. The terms of the armistice made it absolutely
+impossible for Germany to renew the war after the cessation of
+hostilities, for she was obliged to evacuate all invaded territory, to
+remove all her troops twenty miles back from the Rhine, and to give the
+control of the river and its crossings to the Allies. She was also
+forced to surrender vast quantities of large and small guns, two
+thousand air-planes, all her submarines, and the greater part of her
+navy. She was practically to give over the control of her railways and
+shipping to the Allies and to renounce the unfair treaties with Russia
+and Roumania. Alsace-Lorraine was to be returned to France, and Belgium
+and northern France restored. The armistice was signed by the Germans
+on November 11, 1918. It has been called the most complete surrender
+ever known, but Germany had no choice, for her armies were defeated and
+her navy had no hope in a battle against the overwhelming odds of the
+Allies.
+
+_Der Tag_ or "The Day" for which haughty Germans had hoped, had come,
+but how different from the day they had imagined! When the white flag
+of truce was raised on the German battle line, the red flag of
+revolution was unfurled in Berlin and other German cities. The Kaiser
+had abdicated, the Crown Prince had renounced his right to the throne,
+and both had taken refuge in Holland. Other German kings were
+abdicating and royal princes were fleeing for safety.
+
+Great celebrations were held in the Allied countries. It seemed as if
+the people in the great cities of America had gone wild with joy.
+President Wilson appeared in the hall of the national House of
+Representatives at one o'clock on the afternoon of Monday, November 11,
+and announced the signing of the armistice and its terms and the
+conclusion of the war. He asked America to show a spirit of helpfulness
+rather than one of revenge toward the conquered Germans, concluding his
+message as follows:
+
+ The present and all that it holds belongs to the nations and the
+ peoples who preserve their self-control and the orderly
+ processes of their governments; the future to those who prove
+ themselves the true friends of mankind. To conquer with arms is
+ to make only a temporary conquest. I am confident that the
+ nations that have learned the discipline of freedom and that
+ have settled with self-possession to its ordered practice are
+ now about to make conquest of the world by the sheer power of
+ example and of friendly helpfulness.
+
+ The peoples who have but just come out from under the yoke of
+ arbitrary government and who are now coming at last into their
+ freedom, will never find the treasures of liberty they are in
+ search of if they look for them by the light of the torch. They
+ will find that every pathway that is stained with blood of their
+ own brothers leads to the wilderness, not to the seat of their
+ hope. They are now face to face with their initial test. We must
+ hold the light steady until they find themselves. And in the
+ meantime, if it be possible, we must establish a peace that will
+ justly define their place among the nations, remove all fear of
+ their neighbors and of their former masters, and enable them to
+ live in security and contentment when they have set their own
+ affairs in order. I, for one, do not doubt their purpose or
+ their capacity. There are some happy signs that they know and
+ will choose the way of self-control and peaceful accommodation.
+ If they do, we shall put our aid at their disposal in every way
+ that we can. If they do not, we must await with patience and
+ sympathy the awakening and recovery that will assuredly come at
+ last.
+
+To the people of the United States he sent the following message:
+
+ My Fellow Countrymen: The armistice was signed this morning.
+ Everything for which America fought has been accomplished. It
+ will now be our fortunate duty to assist, by example, by sober,
+ friendly council, and by material aid, in the establishment of
+ just democracy throughout the world.
+
+ WOODROW WILSON.
+
+No one can foretell all that this victory, won through the most
+terrible suffering and sacrifice the world has ever been called upon to
+bear, means to mankind; but we know it means a new day and a new
+opportunity for millions of down-trodden men and women in all parts of
+the world. It means giving a new world of democracy and equality of
+opportunity to those who never dreamed this possible, except by leaving
+their native lands and coming to America. It means bringing all that
+America means to us to races that for centuries have lived without
+hope. It means the downfall and the punishment of those who would
+selfishly rise by the persecution and suffering of others. It means
+that in the end right must always conquer might.
+
+
+
+
+NATIONS AND THE MORAL LAW
+
+
+I believe there is no permanent greatness to a nation except it be
+based upon morality. I do not care for military greatness or military
+renown. I care for the condition of the people among whom I live.
+Crowns, coronets, mitres, military display, the pomp of war, wide
+colonies, and a huge empire are in my view all trifles, light as air
+and not worth considering, unless with them you can have a fair share
+of comfort, contentment, and happiness among the great body of the
+people. Palaces, baronial castles, great halls, stately mansions, do
+not make a nation. The nation in every country dwells in the cottage.
+
+I ask you then to believe, as I do most devoutly believe, that the
+moral law was not written for men alone in their individual character,
+but that it was written as well for nations.
+
+If nations reject and deride that moral law, there is a penalty which
+will inevitably follow. It may not come at once, it may not come in our
+life-time; but rely upon it, the great Italian is not a poet only, but
+a prophet, when he says:
+
+ The sword of heaven is not in haste to smite,
+ Nor yet doth linger.
+
+ JOHN BRIGHT.
+
+
+
+
+PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY
+
+Foreign sounds which cannot be exactly reproduced in English are
+represented by their nearest English equivalents.
+
+
+ +Aerschot+ (är´skŏt)
+ +Ailette+ (ail ĕt´)
+ +Aisne+ (ain)
+ +Aix-la-Chapelle+ (aiks´-lȧ-shȧ pel´)
+ +Alsace+ (ȧl säss´)
+ +Amiens+ (ȧ mee ăng´)
+ +Ancre+ (äng´kr)
+ +Andenne+ (äng dĕn´)
+ +Aonzo+ (ä ōn´zō)
+ +Arras+ (ȧ räss´)
+ +Ausweiss+ (ows´vīz)
+ +Auteuil+ (ō ter´yẽ)
+
+ +Battice+ (bat tees´)
+ +Belfort+ (bĕl fōr´)
+ +Belloy-en-Santerre+ (bel wä´-äng-säng tair´)
+ +Bernstorff+ (berns´torf)
+ +Bethmann-Hollweg+ (bait´man-holl´vaik)
+ +Boche+ (bŏsh)
+ +Boelke+ (bāl´kẽ)
+ +Boers+ (bo͞ors)
+ +Bolsheviki+ (bol shay´vee kee´)
+ +Bonnier+ (bon ee ay´)
+ +Bordeaux+ (bor dō´)
+ +Bouée+ (bo͞o ay´)
+ +Boulogne+ (bo͞o lōn´)
+ +Brest-Litovsk+ (brĕst´-lyĕ tŏfsk´)
+ +Bruges+ (breezh)
+ +Brussels+ (brŭs´elz)
+ +Buccari+ (bo͝ok kä´ree)
+ +Bueken+ (bee´kĕn)
+ +Bülow+ (bee´lō)
+
+ +Calais+ (kȧ lay´)
+ +Cambrai+ (kam bray´)
+ +Carnegie+ (kär nĕg´ĭ)
+ +Castelnau+ (kȧs tel nō´)
+ +Celle+ (tsel´ẽ)
+ +Châlons+ (shä long´)
+ +Champagne+ (sham pain´)
+ +Chandos+ (chan´dŏs)
+ +Charleroi+ (shär lẽ rwä´)
+ +Château-Thierry+ (shä tō´-tee ẽ ree´)
+ +Chaudfontaine+ (shōd fong tain´)
+ +Chillon+ (shee yŏng´)
+ +Cologne+ (kō lōn´)
+ +Courtrai+ (ko͞or tray´)
+
+ +D'Annunzio+ (dȧ no͝on´tsiō)
+ +De Bussy+ (dẽ bee´see)
+ +Deutschland über Alles+ (doich´lant ee´ber äl´ẽs)
+ +Devon+ (dĕv´ŭn)
+ +Dinant+ (dee näng´)
+ +Dixmude+ (diks meed´)
+ +Dniester+ (nees´ter)
+ +Douaumont+ (do͞o ȧ mong´)
+ +Du Guesclin+ (dee gay klăng´)
+ +Dunajec+ (do͞on´ȧ yeck)
+ +Dürer+ (dee´rer)
+ +Duruy+ (dee ree ee´)
+
+ +École+ (ay kol´)
+ +Embourg+ (em bo͝ork´)
+ +Épinal+ (ay pee näl´)
+ +Evegnée+ (ĕ vain yay´)
+
+ +Foch+ (fŏsh)
+ +franc-tireur+ (fräng-tee rer´)
+
+ +Gallipoli+ (gal lip´o lee)
+ +Gemmenich+ (ḡĕm men´ik)
+ +Genet+ (zhĕ nay´)
+ +Gheluvelt+ (hay lee´velt)
+ +Ghent+ (ḡĕnt)
+ +Grietchen+ (greet´shĕn)
+ +Guynemer+ (gwee nay may´)
+
+ +Hague+ (haig)
+ +Havre+ (äv´r')
+ +Hedjaz+ (hej äz´)
+ +Herve+ (herv)
+ +Hotel de Ville+ (o tel´dẽ veel´)
+ +Huerta+ (wair´tä)
+
+ +Jagow+ (yä´gow)
+ +Jaroslav+ (yä rō släv´)
+ +Jassy+ (yäs´sy)
+ +Jeanne d'Arc+ (zhän dark´)
+ +Jeanniot+ (zhän nee ō´)
+ +Joffre+ (zhōff)
+ +Junkers+ (yo͞ong´kers)
+
+ +Kharkov+ (kär´kŏf)
+ +Kiaochau+ (kee ow´chow)
+ +Krupp+ (kro͝op)
+ +Kultur+ (ko͝ol to͞or´)
+
+ +Leman+ (lee´man)
+ +Lens+ (läng)
+ +Lichnowsky+ (lish nov´skee)
+ +Liége+ (lee aizh´)
+ +Lille+ (leel)
+ +Loire+ (lwär)
+ +Loncin+ (long săng´)
+ +Lorraine+ (lō rain´)
+ +Loti, Pierre+ (lō tee´, pee air´)
+ +Louvain+ (lo͞o văng´)
+ +Lycée+ (lee say´)
+
+ +Maas+ (mäs)
+ +Madero+ (mä day´rō)
+ +Magdeburg+ (mäg´dĕ bo͝ork)
+ +Malines+ (mȧ leen´)
+ +Manoury+ (mȧ no͞o´ry)
+ +Marne+ (märn)
+ +Marseillaise+ (mär sĕ lāz´)
+ +Meaux+ (mō)
+ +Mercier+ (mer seeay´)
+ +Meuse+ (merz)
+ +Mignon+ (meen yong´)
+ +Millerand+ (meel räng´)
+ +Mindanao+ (meen dä nä´ō)
+ +Mons+ (mongs)
+ +mooshiki+ (mo͞o shee kee´)
+ +Moselle+ (mō zĕl´)
+ +Munsterlagen+ (mun ster lä´gen)
+
+ +Namur+ (nȧ meer´)
+ +noblesse oblige+ (no blĕs´ ō bleezh´)
+ +Notre Dame+ (nō tr' dȧm´)
+
+ +Ostend+ (ŏs tend´)
+ +Ourcq+ (o͞ork)
+
+ +Pau+ (pō)
+ +Piave+ (pee ä´vay)
+ +poilu+ (pwä lee´)
+ +Poincaré+ (pwäng´kȧ ray´)
+ +Poiret+ (pwȧ ray´)
+ +Provençe+ (prō vängs´)
+
+ +Raemaekers+ (rä mä´kers)
+ +Rasputin+ (rȧs pū´tin)
+ +Reichstag+ (rīchs´täk)
+ +retournment+ (rĕ to͝orn mäng´)
+ +Rheims+ (reemz)
+ +Richthofen+ (rikt´hō fen)
+ +Rivesaltes+ (reev sȧlt´)
+ +Rizzo, Luigi+ (reet´so, lo͞o ee´jee)
+
+ +St. Mihiel+ (săng´mee yĕl´)
+ +Saint Pierre+ (săng pee air´)
+ +Saint Quentin+ (săng käng tăng´)
+ +Sarrail+ (sȧr rȧ´yẽ)
+ +Scyros+ (sī´rŏs)
+ +Seine+ (sain)
+ +Seraing+ (ser răng´)
+ +Soissons+ (swä sŏng´)
+ +Somme+ (sŏm)
+
+ +Tamines+ (tȧ meen´)
+ +Toul+ (to͞ol)
+ +Tours+ (to͞or)
+ +Tsingchau+ (tsing´chow)
+
+ +Uhlan+ (o͞o´län)
+
+ +Vaux+ (vō)
+ +Verdun+ (vĕr dŭng´)
+ +Vesle+ (vail)
+ +Villa+ (veel´yä)
+ +Vimy+ (vee´mee)
+ +Vise+ (vees)
+ +Viva l'Italia+ (vee´vȧ lee tȧ´lee ȧ)
+ +Vive la France+ (veev´lȧ fränts´)
+ +Vladivostok+ (vlä dee väs tŏk´)
+ +Von Diederichs+ (fōn dee´der iks)
+ +Von Kluck+ (fōn klo͞ok)
+ +vrille+ (vree´yẽ)
+
+ +Wackerzeel+ (vȧk´er tsail´)
+ +Werchter+ (verk´ter)
+
+ +Ypres+ (ee´pr')
+ +Yser+ (ee say´)
+
+ +Zeebrugge+ (tsay bro͝og´ẽ)
+
+
+
+
+THE RECKONING
+
+
+ What do they reck who sit aloof on thrones,
+ Or in the chambered chancelleries apart,
+ Playing the game of state with subtle art,
+ If so be they may win, what wretched groans
+ Rise from red fields, what unrecorded bones
+ Bleach within shallow graves, what bitter smart
+ Pierces the widowed or the orphaned heart--
+ The unhooded horror for which naught atones!
+
+ A word, a pen-stroke, and this might not be!
+ But vengeance, power-lust, festering jealousy
+ Triumph, and grim carnage stalks abroad.
+ Hark! Hear that ominous bugle on the wind!
+ And they who might have stayed it, shall they find
+ No reckoning within the courts of God?
+
+ CLINTON SCOLLARD
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lest We Forget, by
+John Gilbert Thompson and Inez Bigwood
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEST WE FORGET ***
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