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diff --git a/5398-h/5398-h.htm b/5398-h/5398-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce66c02 --- /dev/null +++ b/5398-h/5398-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2653 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + A Traveller in Wartime, by Winston Churchill + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Traveller in War-Time, by Winston Churchill +[The Author is the American Winston Churchill not the British] + +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: A Traveller in War-Time + +Author: Winston Churchill + +Release Date: October 6, 2006 [EBook #5398] +Last Updated: February 26, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRAVELLER IN WAR-TIME *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1> + A TRAVELLER IN WARTIME. + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Winston Churchill + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> <b>A TRAVELLER IN WAR-TIME</b> </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <p> + I am reprinting here, in response to requests, certain recent experiences + in Great Britain and France. These were selected in the hope of conveying + to American readers some idea of the atmosphere, of “what it is like” in + these countries under the immediate shadow of the battle clouds. It was + what I myself most wished to know. My idea was first to send home my + impressions while they were fresh, and to refrain as far as possible from + comment and judgment until I should have had time to make a fuller survey. + Hence I chose as a title for these articles,—intended to be + preliminary, “A Traveller in War-Time.” I tried to banish from my mind all + previous impressions gained from reading. I wished to be free for the + moment to accept and record the chance invitation or adventure, wherever + met with, at the Front, in the streets of Paris, in Ireland, or on the + London omnibus. Later on, I hoped to write a book summarizing the changing + social conditions as I had found them. + </p> + <p> + Unfortunately for me, my stay was unexpectedly cut short. I was able to + avail myself of but few of the many opportunities offered. With this + apology, the articles are presented as they were written. + </p> + <p> + I have given the impression that at the time of my visit there was no lack + of food in England, but I fear that I have not done justice to the + frugality of the people, much of which was self-imposed for the purpose of + helping to win the war. On very, good authority I have been given to + understand that food was less abundant during the winter just past; partly + because of the effect of the severe weather on our American railroads, + which had trouble in getting supplies to the coast, and partly because + more and more ships were required for transporting American troops and + supplies for these troops, to France. This additional curtailment was most + felt by families of small income, whose earners were at the front or away + on other government service. Mothers had great difficulty in getting + adequate nourishment for growing children. But the British people + cheerfully submitted to this further deprivation. Summer is at hand. It is + to be hoped that before another winter sets in, American and British + shipping will have sufficiently increased to remedy the situation. + </p> + <p> + In regard to what I have said of the British army, I was profoundly + struck, as were other visitors to that front, by the health and morale of + the men, by the marvel of organization accomplished in so comparatively + brief a time. It was one of the many proofs of the extent to which the + British nation had been socialized. When one thought of that little band + of regulars sent to France in 1914, who became immortal at Mons, who + shared the glory of the Marne, and in that first dreadful winter held back + the German hosts from the Channel ports, the presence on the battle line + of millions of disciplined and determined men seemed astonishing indeed. + And this had been accomplished by a nation facing the gravest crisis in + its history, under the necessity of sustaining and financing many allies + and of protecting an Empire. Since my return to America a serious reverse + has occurred. + </p> + <p> + After the Russian peace, the Germans attempted to overwhelm the British by + hurling against them vastly superior numbers of highly trained men. It is + for the military critic of the future to analyse any tactical errors that + may have been made at the second battle of the Somme. Apparently there was + an absence of preparation, of specific orders from high sources in the + event of having to cede ground. This much can be said, that the morale of + the British Army remains unimpaired; that the presence of mind and ability + of the great majority of the officers who, flung on their own resources, + conducted the retreat, cannot be questioned; while the accomplishment of + General Carey, in stopping the gap with an improvised force of + non-combatants, will go down in history. In an attempt to bring home to + myself, as well as to my readers, a realization of what American + participation in this war means or should mean. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + A TRAVELLER IN WAR-TIME + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <p> + Toward the end of the summer of 1917 it was very hot in New York, and + hotter still aboard the transatlantic liner thrust between the piers. One + glance at our cabins, at the crowded decks and dining-room, at the little + writing-room above, where the ink had congealed in the ink-wells, sufficed + to bring home to us that the days of luxurious sea travel, of a la carte + restaurants, and Louis Seize bedrooms were gone—at least for a + period. The prospect of a voyage of nearly two weeks was not enticing. The + ship, to be sure, was far from being the best of those still running on a + line which had gained a magic reputation of immunity from submarines; + three years ago she carried only second and third class passengers! But + most of us were in a hurry to get to the countries where war had already + become a grim and terrible reality. In one way or another we had all + enlisted. + </p> + <p> + By “we” I mean the American passengers. The first welcome discovery among + the crowd wandering aimlessly and somewhat disconsolately about the decks + was the cheerful face of a friend whom at first I did not recognize + because of his amazing disguise in uniform. Hitherto he had been + associated in my mind with dinner parties and clubs. + </p> + <p> + That life was past. He had laid up his yacht and joined the Red Cross and, + henceforth, for an indeterminable period, he was to abide amidst the + discomforts and dangers of the Western Front, with five days' leave every + three months. The members of a group similarly attired whom I found + gathered by the after-rail were likewise cheerful. Two well-known + specialists from the Massachusetts General Hospital made significant the + hegira now taking place that threatens to leave our country, like Britain, + almost doctorless. When I reached France it seemed to me that I met all + the celebrated medical men I ever heard of. A third in the group was a + business man from the Middle West who had wound up his affairs and left a + startled family in charge of a trust company. Though his physical + activities had hitherto consisted of an occasional mild game of golf, he + wore his khaki like an old campaigner; and he seemed undaunted by the + prospect—still somewhat remotely ahead of him—of a winter + journey across the Albanian Mountains from the Aegean to the Adriatic. + </p> + <p> + After a restless night, we sailed away in the hot dawn of a Wednesday. The + shores of America faded behind us, and as the days went by, we had the odd + sense of threading uncharted seas; we found it more and more difficult to + believe that this empty, lonesome ocean was the Atlantic in the twentieth + century. Once we saw a four-master; once a shy, silent steamer avoided us, + westward bound; and once in mid-ocean, tossed on a sea sun-silvered under + a rack of clouds, we overtook a gallant little schooner out of New Bedford + or Gloucester—a forthfarer, too. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, amongst the Americans, the socializing process had begun. Many + elements which in a former stratified existence would never have been + brought into contact were fusing by the pressure of a purpose, of a great + adventure common to us all. On the upper deck, high above the waves, was a + little 'fumoir' which, by some odd trick of association, reminded me of + the villa formerly occupied by the Kaiser in Corfu—perhaps because + of the faience plaques set in the walls—although I cannot now recall + whether the villa has faience plaques or not. The room was, of course, on + the order of a French provincial cafe, and as such delighted the + bourgeoisie monopolizing the alcove tables and joking with the fat + steward. Here in this 'fumoir', lawyers, doctors, business men of all + descriptions, newspaper correspondents, movie photographers, and + millionaires who had never crossed save in a 'cabine de luxe', rubbed + elbows and exchanged views and played bridge together. There were Y. M. C. + A. people on their way to the various camps, reconstruction workers + intending to build temporary homes for the homeless French, and youngsters + in the uniform of the American Field Service, going over to drive camions + and ambulances; many of whom, without undue regret, had left college after + a freshman year. They invaded the 'fumoir', undaunted, to practise + atrocious French on the phlegmatic steward; they took possession of a + protesting piano in the banal little salon and sang: “We'll not come back + till it's over over there.” And in the evening, on the darkened decks, we + listened and thrilled to the refrain: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “There's a long, long trail a-winding + Into the land of my dreams.” + </pre> + <p> + We were Argonauts—even the Red Cross ladies on their way to + establish rest camps behind the lines and brave the mud and rains of a + winter in eastern France. None, indeed, were more imbued with the + forthfaring spirit than these women, who were leaving, without regret, + sheltered, comfortable lives to face hardships and brave dangers without a + question. And no sharper proof of the failure of the old social order to + provide for human instincts and needs could be found than the conviction + they gave of new and vitalizing forces released in them. The timidities + with which their sex is supposedly encumbered had disappeared, and even + the possibility of a disaster at sea held no terrors for them. When the + sun fell down into the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and the cabins below + were sealed—and thus become insupportable—they settled + themselves for the night in their steamer-chairs and smiled at the remark + of M. le Commissaire that it was a good “season” for submarines. The + moonlight filtered through the chinks in the burlap shrouding the deck. + About 3 a.m. the khaki-clad lawyer from Milwaukee became communicative, + the Red Cross ladies produced chocolate. It was the genial hour before the + final nap, from which one awoke abruptly at the sound of squeegees and + brooms to find the deck a river of sea water, on whose banks a wild + scramble for slippers and biscuit-boxes invariably ensued. No experience + could have been more socializing. + </p> + <p> + “Well, it's a relief,” one of the ladies exclaimed, “not to be travelling + with half a dozen trunks and a hat-box! Oh, yes, I realize what I'm doing. + I'm going to live in one of those flimsy portable houses with twenty cots + and no privacy and wear the same clothes for months, but it's better than + thrashing around looking for something to do and never finding it, never + getting anything real to spend one's energy-on. I've closed my country + house, I've sublet my apartment, I've done with teas and bridge, and I'm + happier than I've been in my life even if I don't get enough sleep.” + </p> + <p> + Another lady, who looked still young, had two sons in the army. “There was + nothing for me to do but sit around the house and wait, and I want to be + useful. My husband has to stay at home; he can't leave his business.” Be + useful! There she struck the new and aggressive note of emancipation from + the restricted self-sacrifice of the old order, of wider service for the + unnamed and the unknown; and, above all, for the wider self-realization of + which service is but a by-product. I recall particularly among these women + a young widow with an eager look in clear grey eyes that gazed eastward + into the unknown with hope renewed. Had she lived a quarter of a century + ago she might have been doomed to slow desiccation. There are thousands of + such women in France today, and to them the great war has brought + salvation. + </p> + <p> + From what country other than America could so many thousands of pilgrims—even + before our nation had entered the war—have hurried across a wide + ocean to take their part? No matter what religion we profess, whether it + be Calvinism, or Catholicism, we are individualists, pragmatists, + empiricists for ever. Our faces are set toward strange worlds presently to + rise out of the sea and take on form and colour and substance—worlds + of new aspirations, of new ideas and new values. And on this voyage I was + reminded of Josiah Royce's splendid summary of the American philosophy—of + the American religion as set forth by William James: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “The spirit of the frontiers-man, of the gold-seeker or the + home-builder transferred to the metaphysical or to the religious + realm. There is a far-off home, our long lost spiritual fortune. + Experience alone can guide us to the place where these things are, + hence indeed you need experience. You can only win your way on the + frontier unless you are willing to live there.” + </pre> + <p> + Through the pall of horror and tragedy the American sees a vision; for him + it is not merely a material and bloody contest of arms and men, a military + victory to be gained over an aggressive and wrong-minded people. It is a + world calamity, indeed, but a calamity, since it has come, to be + spiritualized and utilized for the benefit of the future society of + mankind. It must be made to serve a purpose in helping to liberate the + world from sentimentalism, ignorance, close-mindedness, and cant. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + One night we entered the danger zone. There had been an entertainment in + the little salon which, packed with passengers, had gradually achieved the + temperature and humidity of a Turkish bath. For the ports had been closed + as tight as gaskets could make them, the electric fans, as usual, + obstinately “refused to march.” After the amateur speechmaking and concert + pieces an Italian violinist, who had thrown over a lucrative contract to + become a soldier, played exquisitely; and one of the French sisters we had + seen walking the deck with the mincing steps of the cloister sang; + somewhat precariously and pathetically, the Ave Maria. Its pathos was of + the past, and after she had finished, as we fled into the open air, we + were conscious of having turned our backs irrevocably yet determinedly + upon an era whose life and convictions the music of the composer so + beautifully expressed. And the sister's sweet withered face was + reminiscent of a missal, one bright with colour, and still shining + faintly. A missal in a library of modern books! + </p> + <p> + On deck a fine rain was blowing through a gap in our burlap shroud, a + phosphorescent fringe of foam hissed along the sides of the ship, giving + the illusory appearance of our deadlights open and ablaze, exaggerating + the sinister blackness of the night. We were, apparently, a beacon in that + sepia waste where modern undersea monsters were lurking. + </p> + <p> + There were on board other elements which in the normal times gone by would + have seemed disquieting enough. The evening after we had left New York, + while we were still off the coast of Long Island, I saw on the poop a + crowd of steerage passengers listening intently to harangues by speakers + addressing them from the top of a pile of life rafts. Armenians, I was + told, on their way to fight the Turks, all recruited in America by one + frenzied woman who had seen her child cut in two by a German officer. + Twilight was gathering as I joined the group, the sea was silvered by the + light of an August moon floating serenely between swaying stays. The + orator's passionate words and gestures evoked wild responses from his + hearers, whom the drag of an ancient hatred had snatched from the peaceful + asylum of the west. This smiling, happy folk, which I had seen in our + manufacturing towns and cities, were now transformed, atavistic—all + save one, a student, who stared wistfully through his spectacles across + the waters. Later, when twilight deepened, when the moon had changed from + silver to gold, the orators gave place to a singer. He had been a + bootblack in America. Now he had become a bard. His plaintive minor chant + evoked, one knew not how, the flavour of that age-long history of + oppression and wrong these were now determined to avenge. Their + conventional costumes were proof that we had harboured them—almost, + indeed, assimilated them. And suddenly they had reverted. They were going + to slaughter the Turks. + </p> + <p> + On a bright Saturday afternoon we steamed into the wide mouth of the + Gironde, a name stirring vague memories of romance and terror. The French + passengers gazed wistfully at the low-lying strip of sand and forest, but + our uniformed pilgrims crowded the rail and hailed it as the promised land + of self-realization. A richly coloured watering-place slid into view, as + in a moving-picture show. There was, indeed, all the reality and unreality + of the cinematograph about our arrival; presently the reel would end + abruptly, and we should find ourselves pushing our way out of the emptying + theatre into a rainy street. The impression of unreality in the face of + visual evidence persisted into the night when, after an afternoon at + anchor, we glided up the river, our decks and ports ablaze across the + land. Silhouettes of tall poplars loomed against the blackness; + occasionally a lamp revealed the milky blue facade of a house. This was + France! War-torn France—at last vividly brought home to us when a + glare appeared on the sky, growing brighter and brighter until, at a turn + of the river, abruptly we came abreast of vomiting furnaces, thousands of + electric lights strung like beads over the crest of a hill, and, below + these, dim rows of houses, all of a sameness, stretching along monotonous + streets. A munitions town in the night. + </p> + <p> + One could have tossed a biscuit on the stone wharfs where the workmen, + crouching over their tasks, straightened up at sight of us and cheered. + And one cried out hoarsely, “Vous venez nous sauver, vous Americains”—“You + come to save us”—an exclamation I was to hear again in the days that + followed. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + All day long, as the 'rapide' hurried us through the smiling wine country + and past the well-remembered chateaux of the Loire, we wondered how we + should find Paris—beautiful Paris, saved from violation as by a + miracle! Our first discovery, after we had pushed our way out of the dim + station into the obscurity of the street, was that of the absence of + taxicabs. The horse-drawn buses ranged along the curb were reserved for + the foresighted and privileged few. Men and women were rushing desperately + about in search of conveyances, and in the midst of this confusion, + undismayed, debonnair, I spied a rugged, slouch-hatted figure standing + under a lamp—the unmistakable American soldier. + </p> + <p> + “Aren't there any cabs in Paris?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, they tell me they're here,” he said. “I've given a man a dollar + to chase one.” + </p> + <p> + Evidently one of our millionaire privates who have aroused such burnings + in the heart of the French poilu, with his five sous a day! We left him + there, and staggered across the Seine with our bags. A French officer + approached us. “You come from America,” he said. “Let me help you.” There + was just enough light in the streets to prevent us from getting utterly + lost, and we recognized the dark mass of the Tuileries as we crossed the + gardens. The hotel we sought was still there, and its menu, save for the + war-bread and the tiny portion of sugar, as irreproachable as ever. + </p> + <p> + The next morning, as if by magic, hundreds of taxis had sprung into + existence, though they were much in demand. And in spite of the soldiers + thronging the sunlit streets, Paris was seemingly the same Paris one had + always known, gay—insouciante, pleasure-bent. The luxury shops + appeared to be thriving, the world-renowned restaurants to be doing + business as usual; to judge from the prices, a little better than usual; + the expensive hotels were full. It is not the real France, of course, yet + it seemed none the less surprising that it should still exist. Oddly + enough the presence of such overwhelming numbers of soldiers should have + failed to strike the note of war, emphasized that of lavishness, of the + casting off of mundane troubles for which the French capital has so long + been known. But so it was. Most of these soldiers were here precisely with + the object of banishing from their minds the degradations and horrors of + the region from which they had come, and which was so unbelievably near; a + few hours in an automobile—less than that in one of those dragon-fly + machines we saw intermittently hovering in the blue above our heads! + </p> + <p> + Paris, to most Americans, means that concentrated little district de luxe + of which the Place Vendome is the centre, and we had always unconsciously + thought of it as in the possession of the Anglo-Saxons. So it seems today. + One saw hundreds of French soldiers, of course, in all sorts of uniforms, + from the new grey blue and visor to the traditional cloth blouse and kepi; + once in a while a smart French officer. The English and Canadians, the + Australians, New Zealanders, and Americans were much in evidence. Set them + down anywhere on the face of the globe, under any conditions conceivable, + and you could not surprise them; such was the impression. The British + officers and even the British Tommies were blase, wearing the air of the + 'semaine Anglaise', and the “five o'clock tea,” as the French delight to + call it. That these could have come direct from the purgatory of the + trenches seemed unbelievable. The Anzacs, with looped-up hats, strolled + about, enjoying themselves, halting before the shops in the Rue de la Paix + to gaze at the priceless jewellery there, or stopping at a sidewalk cafe + to enjoy a drink. Our soldiers had not seen the front; many of them, no + doubt, were on leave from the training-camps, others were on duty in + Paris, but all seemed in a hurry to get somewhere, bound for a definite + destination. They might have been in New York or San Francisco. It was a + novel sight, indeed, to observe them striding across the Place Vendome + with out so much as deigning to cast a glance at the column dedicated to + the great emperor who fought that other world-war a century ago; to see + our square-shouldered officers hustling around corners in Ford and Packard + automobiles. And the atmosphere of our communication headquarters was so + essentially one of “getting things done” as to make one forget the + mediaeval narrowness of the Rue Sainte Anne, and the inconvenient French + private-dwelling arrangements of the house. You were transported back to + America. Such, too, was the air of our Red Cross establishment in the + ancient building facing the Palace de la Concorde, where the unfortunate + Louis lost his head. + </p> + <p> + History had been thrust into the background. I was never more aware of + this than when, shortly after dawn Wednesday, the massive grey pile of the + Palace of Versailles suddenly rose before me. As the motor shot through + the empty Place d'Armes I made a desperate attempt to summon again a vivid + impression, when I had first stood there many years ago, of an angry Paris + mob beating against that grill, of the Swiss guards dying on the stairway + for their Queen. But it was no use. France has undergone some subtle + change, yet I knew I was in France. I knew it when we left Paris and sped + through the dim leafy tunnels of the Bois; when I beheld a touch of + filtered sunlight on the dense blue thatch of the 'marroniers' behind the + walls of a vast estate once dedicated to the sports and pleasures of + Kings; when I caught glimpses of silent chateaux mirrored in still waters. + </p> + <p> + I was on my way, with one of our naval officers, to visit an American + naval base on the western coast. It was France, but the laughter had died + on her lips. A few women and old men and children were to be seen in the + villages, a bent figure in a field, an occasional cart that drew aside as + we hurried at eighty kilometers an hour along deserted routes drawn as + with a ruler across the land. Sometimes the road dipped into a canyon of + poplars, and the sky between their crests was a tiny strip of mottled blue + and white. The sun crept in and out, the clouds cast shadows on the hills; + here and there the tower of lonely church or castle broke the line of a + distant ridge. Morning-glories nodded over lodge walls where the ivy was + turning crimson, and the little gardens were masses of colours—French + colours like that in the beds of the Tuileries, brick-red geraniums and + dahlias, yellow marigolds and purple asters. + </p> + <p> + We lunched at one of the little inns that for generations have been tucked + away in the narrow streets of provincial towns; this time a Cheval Blanc, + with an unimposing front and a blaze of sunshine in its heart. After a + dejeuner fit for the most exacting of bon viveurs we sat in that courtyard + and smoked, while an ancient waiter served us with coffee that dripped + through silver percolators into our glasses. The tourists have fled. “If + happily you should come again, monsieur,” said madame, as she led me with + pardonable pride through her immaculate bedrooms and salons with wavy + floors. And I dwelt upon a future holiday there, on the joys of sharing + with a friend that historic place. The next afternoon I lingered in + another town, built on a little hill ringed about with ancient walls, from + whose battlements tide-veined marshes stretched away to a gleaming sea. A + figure flitting through the cobbled streets, a woman in black who sat + sewing, sewing in a window, only served to heighten the impression of + emptiness, to give birth to the odd fancy that some alchemic quality in + the honeyed sunlight now steeping it must have preserved the place through + the ages. But in the white close surrounding the church were signs that + life still persisted. A peasant was drawing water at the pump, and the + handle made a noise; a priest chatted with three French ladies who had + come over from a neighbouring seaside resort. And then a woman in deep + mourning emerged from a tiny shop and took her bicycle from against the + wall and spoke to me. + </p> + <p> + “Vous etes Americain, monsieur?” + </p> + <p> + I acknowledged it. + </p> + <p> + “Vous venez nous sauver”—the same question I had heard on the lips + of the workman in the night. “I hope so, madame,” I replied, and would + have added, “We come also to save ourselves.” She looked at me with sad, + questioning eyes, and I knew that for her—and alas for many like her—we + were too late. When she had mounted her wheel and ridden away I bought a + 'Matin' and sat down on a doorstep to read about Kerensky and the Russian + Revolution. The thing seemed incredible here—war seemed incredible, + and yet its tentacles had reached out to this peaceful Old World spot and + taken a heavy toll. Once more I sought the ramparts, only to be reminded + by those crumbling, machicolated ruins that I was in a war-ridden land. + Few generations had escaped the pestilence. + </p> + <p> + At no great distance lay the little city which had been handed over to us + by the French Government for a naval base, one of the ports where our + troops and supplies are landed. Those who know provincial France will + visualize its narrow streets and reticent shops, its grey-white and ecru + houses all more or less of the same design, with long French windows + guarded by ornamental balconies of cast iron—a city that has never + experienced such a thing as a real-estate boom. Imagine, against such a + background, the bewildering effect of the dynamic presence of a few + regiments of our new army! It is a curious commentary on this war that one + does not think of these young men as soldiers, but as citizens engaged in + a scientific undertaking of a magnitude unprecedented. You come + unexpectedly upon truck-loads of tanned youngsters, whose features, + despite flannel shirts and campaign hats, summon up memories of Harvard + Square and the Yale Yard, of campuses at Berkeley and Ithaca. The youthful + drivers of these camions are alert, intent, but a hard day's work on the + docks by no means suffices to dampen the spirits of the passengers, who + whistle ragtime airs as they bump over the cobbles. And the note they + strike is presently sustained by a glimpse, on a siding, of an + efficient-looking Baldwin, ranged alongside several of the tiny French + locomotives of yesterday; sustained, too, by an acquaintance with the + young colonel in command of the town. Though an officer of the regular + army, he brings home to one the fact that the days of the military + martinet have gone for ever. He is military, indeed-erect and soldierly—but + fortune has amazingly made him a mayor and an autocrat, a builder, and in + some sense a railway-manager and superintendent of docks. And to these + functions have been added those of police commissioner, of administrator + of social welfare and hygiene. It will be a comfort to those at home to + learn that their sons in our army in France are cared for as no enlisted + men have ever been cared for before. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + By the end of September I had reached England, eager to gain a fresh + impression of conditions there. + </p> + <p> + The weather in London was mild and clear. The third evening after I had + got settled in one of those delightfully English hotels in the heart of + the city, yet removed from the traffic, with letter-boxes that still bear + the initials of Victoria, I went to visit some American naval officers in + their sitting-room on the ground floor. The cloth had not been removed + from the dinner-table, around which we were chatting, when a certain + strange sound reached our ears—a sound not to be identified with the + distant roar of the motor-busses in Pall Mall, nor with the sharp bark of + the taxi-horns, although not unlike them. We sat listening intently, and + heard the sound again. + </p> + <p> + “The Germans have come,” one of the officers remarked, as he finished his + coffee. The other looked at his watch. It was nine o'clock. “They must + have left their lines about seven,” he said. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the fact that our newspapers at home had made me familiar with + these aeroplane raids, as I sat there, amidst those comfortable + surroundings, the thing seemed absolutely incredible. To fly one hundred + and fifty miles across the Channel and southern England, bomb London, and + fly back again by midnight! We were going to be bombed! The anti-aircraft + guns were already searching the sky for the invaders. It is sinister, and + yet you are seized by an overwhelming curiosity that draws you, first to + pull aside the heavy curtains of the window, and then to rush out into the + dark street both proceedings in the worst possible form! The little street + was deserted, but in Pall Mall the dark forms of busses could be made out + scurrying for shelter, one wondered where? Above the roar of London, the + pop pop pop! of the defending guns could be heard now almost continuously, + followed by the shrieks and moans of the shrapnel shells as they passed + close overhead. They sounded like giant rockets, and even as rockets some + of them broke into a cascade of sparks. Star shells they are called, + bursting, it seemed, among the immutable stars themselves that burned + serenely on. And there were other stars like November meteors hurrying + across space—the lights of the British planes scouring the heavens + for their relentless enemies. Everywhere the restless white rays of the + searchlights pierced the darkness, seeking, but seeking in vain. Not a + sign of the intruders was to be seen. I was induced to return to the + sitting-room. + </p> + <p> + “But what are they shooting at?” I asked. + </p> + <p> + “Listen,” said one of the officers. There came a lull in the firing and + then a faint, droning noise like the humming of insects on a still summer + day. “It's all they have to shoot at, that noise.” + </p> + <p> + “But their own planes?” I objected. + </p> + <p> + “The Gotha has two engines, it has a slightly different noise, when you + get used to it. You'd better step out of that window. It's against the law + to show light, and if a bomb falls in the street you'd be filled with + glass.” I overcame my fascination and obeyed. “It isn't only the bombs,” + my friend went on, “it's the falling shrapnel, too.” + </p> + <p> + The noise made by those bombs is unmistakable, unforgetable, and quite + distinct from the chorus of the guns and shrapnel—a crashing note, + reverberating, sustained, like the E minor of some giant calliope. + </p> + <p> + In face of the raids, which coincide with the coming of the moon, London + is calm, but naturally indignant over such methods of warfare. The damage + done is ridiculously small; the percentage of deaths and injuries + insignificant. There exists, in every large city, a riffraff to get + panicky: these are mostly foreigners; they seek the Tubes, and some the + crypt of St. Paul's, for it is wise to get under shelter during the brief + period of the raids, and most citizens obey the warnings of the police. It + is odd, indeed, that more people are not hurt by shrapnel. The Friday + following the raid I have described I went out of town for a week-end, and + returned on Tuesday to be informed that a shell had gone through the roof + outside of the room I had vacated, and the ceiling and floor of the + bedroom of one of the officers who lived below. He was covered with dust + and debris, his lights went out, but he calmly stepped through the window. + “You'd best have your dinner early, sir,” I was told by the waiter on my + return. “Last night a lady had her soup up-stairs, her chicken in the + office, and her coffee in the cellar.” It is worth while noting that she + had all three. Another evening, when I was dining with Sir James Barrie, + he showed me a handful of shrapnel fragments. “I gathered them off the + roof,” he informed me. And a lady next to whom I sat at luncheon told me + in a matter-of-fact tone that a bomb had fallen the night before in the + garden of her town house. “It was quite disagreeable,” she said, “and + broke all our windows on that side.” During the last raids before the moon + disappeared, by a new and ingenious system of barrage fire the Germans + were driven off. The question of the ethics of reprisals is agitating + London. + </p> + <p> + One “raid,” which occurred at midday, is worth recording. I was on my way + to our Embassy when, in the residential quarter through which I passed, I + found all the housemaids in the areas gazing up at the sky, and I was told + by a man in a grocer's cart that the Huns had come again. But the invader + on this occasion turned out to be a British aviator from one of the camps + who was bringing a message to London. The warmth of his reception was all + that could be desired, and he alighted hastily in the first open space + that presented itself. + </p> + <p> + Looking back to the time when I left America, I can recall the expectation + of finding a Britain beginning to show signs of distress. I was prepared + to live on a small ration. And the impression of the scarcity of food was + seemingly confirmed when the table was being set for the first meal at my + hotel; when the waiter, who chanced to be an old friend, pointed to a + little bowl half-full of sugar and exclaimed: “I ought to warn you, sir, + it's all you're to have for a week, and I'm sorry to say you're only + allowed a bit of bread, too.” It is human perversity to want a great deal + of bread when bread becomes scarce; even war bread, which, by the way, is + better than white. But the rest of the luncheon, when it came, proved that + John Bull was under no necessity of stinting himself. Save for wheat and + sugar; he is not in want. Everywhere in London you are confronted by signs + of an incomprehensible prosperity; everywhere, indeed, in Great Britain. + There can be no doubt about that of the wage-earners—nothing like it + has ever been seen before. One sure sign of this is the phenomenal sale of + pianos to households whose occupants had never dreamed of such luxuries. + And not once, but many times, have I read in the newspapers of + workingmen's families of four or five which are gaining collectively more + than five hundred pounds a year. The economic and social significance of + this tendency, the new attitude of the working classes, the ferment it is + causing need not be dwelt upon here. That England will be a changed + England is unquestionable. + </p> + <p> + The London theatres are full, the “movies” crowded, and you have to wait + your turn for a seat at a restaurant. Bond Street and Piccadilly are doing + a thriving business—never so thriving, you are told, and presently + you are willing to believe it. The vendor beggars, so familiar a sight a + few years ago, have all but disappeared, and you may walk from Waterloo + Station to the Haymarket without so much as meeting a needy soul anxious + to carry your bag. Taxicabs are in great demand. And one odd result of the + scarcity of what the English are pleased to call “petrol,” by which they + mean gasoline, is the reappearance of that respectable, but almost + obsolete animal, the family carriage-horse; of that equally obsolete + vehicle, the victoria. The men on the box are invariably in black. In + spite of taxes to make the hair of an American turn grey, in spite of + lavish charities, the wealthy classes still seem wealthy—if the + expression may be allowed. That they are not so wealthy as they were goes + without saying. In the country houses of the old aristocracy the most + rigid economy prevails. There are new fortunes, undoubtedly, munitions and + war fortunes made before certain measures were taken to control profits; + and some establishments, including a few supported by American + accumulations, still exhibit the number of men servants and amount of gold + plate formerly thought adequate. But in most of these great houses maids + have replaced the butlers and footmen; mansions have been given over for + hospitals; gardeners are fighting in the trenches, and courts and drives + of country places are often overgrown with grass and weeds. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we do dine in public quite often,” said a very great lady. “It's + cheaper than keeping servants.” + </p> + <p> + Two of her three sons had been killed in France, but she did not mention + this. The English do not advertise their sorrows. Still another + explanation when husbands and sons and brothers come back across the + Channel for a few days' leave after long months in the trenches, nothing + is too good for them. And when these days have flown, there is always the + possibility that there may never be another leave. Not long ago I read a + heart-rending article about the tragedies of the goodbyes in the stations + and the terminal hotels—tragedies hidden by silence and a smile. + “Well, so long,” says an officer “bring back a V. C.,” cries his sister + from the group on the platform, and he waves his hand in deprecation as + the train pulls out, lights his pipe, and pretends to be reading the + Sphere. + </p> + <p> + Some evening, perchance, you happen to be in the dark street outside of + Charing Cross station. An occasional hooded lamp throws a precarious gleam + on a long line of men carrying—so gently—stretchers on which + lie the silent forms of rich and poor alike. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <p> + For the student of history who is able to place himself within the stream + of evolution the really important events of today are not taking place on + the battle lines, but behind them. The key-note of the new era has been + struck in Russia. And as I write these words, after the Italian retreat, a + second revolution seems possible. For three years one has thought + inevitably of 1789, and of the ensuing world conflict out of which issued + the beginnings of democracy. History does not repeat itself, yet evolution + is fairly consistent. While our attention has been focused on the military + drama enacted before our eyes and recorded in the newspapers, another + drama, unpremeditated but of vastly greater significance, is unfolding + itself behind the stage. Never in the history of the world were generals + and admirals, statesmen and politicians so sensitive to or concerned about + public opinion as they are today. From a military point of view the + situation of the Allies at the present writing is far from reassuring. + Germany and her associates have the advantage of interior lines, of a + single dominating and purposeful leadership, while our five big nations, + democracies or semi-democracies, are stretched in a huge ring with + precarious connections on land, with the submarine alert on the sea. Much + of their territory is occupied. They did not seek the war; they still lack + co-ordination and leadership in waging it. In some of these countries, at + least, politicians and statesmen are so absorbed by administrative duties, + by national rather than international problems, by the effort to sustain + themselves, that they have little time for allied strategy. Governments + rise and fall, familiar names and reputations are juggled about like + numbered balls in a shaker, come to the top to be submerged again in a new + 'emeute'. There are conferences and conferences without end. Meanwhile a + social ferment is at work, in Russia conspicuously, in Italy a little less + so, in Germany and Austria undoubtedly, in France and England, and even in + our own country—once of the most radical in the world, now become + the most conservative. + </p> + <p> + What form will the social revolution take? Will it be unbridled, unguided; + will it run through a long period of anarchy before the fermentation begun + shall have been completed, or shall it be handled, in all the nations + concerned, by leaders who understand and sympathize with the evolutionary + trend, who are capable of controlling it, of taking the necessary + international steps of co-operation in order that it may become secure and + mutually beneficial to all? This is an age of co-operation, and in this at + least, if not in other matters, the United States of America is in an + ideal position to assume the leadership. + </p> + <p> + To a certain extent, one is not prepared to say how far, the military and + social crises are interdependent. And undoubtedly the military problem + rests on the suppression of the submarine. If Germany continues to destroy + shipping on the seas, if we are not able to supply our new armies and the + Allied nations with food and other things, the increasing social ferment + will paralyze the military operations of the Entente. The result of a + German victory under such circumstances is impossible to predict; but the + chances are certainly not worth running. In a sense, therefore, in a great + sense, the situation is “up” to us in more ways than one, not only to + supply wise democratic leadership but to contribute material aid and + brains in suppressing the submarine, and to build ships enough to keep + Britain, France, and Italy from starving. We are looked upon by all the + Allies, and I believe justly, as being a disinterested nation, free from + the age-long jealousies of Europe. And we can do much in bringing together + and making more purposeful the various elements represented by the nations + to whose aid we have come. + </p> + <p> + I had not intended in these early papers to comment, but to confine myself + to such of my experiences abroad as might prove interesting and somewhat + illuminating. So much I cannot refrain from saying. + </p> + <p> + It is a pleasure to praise where praise is due, and too much cannot be + said of the personnel of our naval service—something of which I can + speak from intimate personal experience. In these days, in that part of + London near the Admiralty, you may chance to run across a tall, erect, and + broad-shouldered man in blue uniform with three stars on his collar, + striding rapidly along the sidewalk, and sometimes, in his haste, cutting + across a street. People smile at him—costermongers, clerks, and + shoppers—and whisper among themselves, “There goes the American + admiral!” and he invariably smiles back at them, especially at the + children. He is an admiral, every inch a seaman, commanding a devoted + loyalty from his staff and from the young men who are scouring the seas + with our destroyers. In France as well as in England the name Sims is a + household word, and if he chose he might be feted every day of the week. + He does not choose. He spends long hours instead in the quarters devoted + to his administration in Grosvenor Gardens, or in travelling in France and + Ireland supervising the growing forces under his command. + </p> + <p> + It may not be out of place to relate a characteristic story of Admiral + Sims, whose career in our service, whose notable contributions to naval + gunnery are too well known to need repetition. Several years ago, on a + memorable trip to England, he was designated by the admiral of the fleet + to be present at a banquet given our sailors in the Guildhall. Of course + the lord mayor called upon him for a speech, but Commander Sims insisted + that a bluejacket should make the address. “What, a bluejacket!” exclaimed + the lord mayor in astonishment. “Do bluejackets make speeches in your + country?” “Certainly they do,” said Sims. “Now there's a fine-looking man + over there, a quartermaster on my ship. Let's call on him and see what he + has to say.” The quartermaster, duly summoned, rose with aplomb and + delivered himself of a speech that made the hall ring, that formed the + subject of a puzzled and amazed comment by the newspapers of the British + Capital. Nor was it ever divulged that Commander Sims had foreseen the + occasion and had picked out the impressive quartermaster to make a + reputation for oratory for the enlisted force. + </p> + <p> + As a matter of fact, it is no exaggeration to add that there were and are + other non-commissioned officers and enlisted men in the service who could + have acquitted themselves equally well. One has only to attend some of + their theatrical performances to be assured of it. + </p> + <p> + But to the European mind our bluejacket is still something of an anomaly. + He is a credit to our public schools, a fruit of our system of universal + education. And he belongs to a service in which are reconciled, + paradoxically, democracy and discipline. One moment you may hear a + bluejacket talking to an officer as man to man, and the next you will see + him salute and obey an order implicitly. + </p> + <p> + On a wet and smoky night I went from the London streets into the + brightness and warmth of that refuge for American soldiers and sailors, + the “Eagle Hut,” as the Y. M. C. A. is called. The place was full, as + usual, but my glance was at once attracted by three strapping, + intelligent-looking men in sailor blouses playing pool in a corner. “I + simply can't get used to the fact that people like that are ordinary + sailors,” said the lady in charge to me as we leaned against the + soda-fountain. “They're a continual pride and delight to us Americans here—always + so willing to help when there's anything to be done, and so interesting to + talk to.” When I suggested that her ideas of the navy must have been + derived from Pinafore she laughed. “I can't imagine using a + cat-o'-nine-tails on them!” she exclaimed—and neither could I. I + heard many similar comments. They are indubitably American, these sailors, + youngsters with the stamp of our environment on their features, keen and + self-reliant. I am not speaking now only of those who have enlisted since + the war, but of those others, largely from the small towns and villages of + our Middle West, who in the past dozen years or so have been recruited by + an interesting and scientific system which is the result of the genius of + our naval recruiting officers. In the files at Washington may be seen, + carefully tabulated, the several reasons for their enlisting. Some have + “friends in the service”; others wish to “perfect themselves in a trade,” + to “complete their education” or “see the world”—our adventurous + spirit. And they are seeing it. They are also engaged in the most exciting + and adventurous sport—with the exception of aerial warfare ever + devised or developed—that of hunting down in all weathers over the + wide spaces of the Atlantic those modern sea monsters that prey upon the + Allied shipping. For the superdreadnought is reposing behind the nets, the + battle-cruiser ignominiously laying mines; and for the present at least, + until some wizard shall invent a more effective method of annihilation, + victory over Germany depends primarily on the airplane and the destroyer. + At three o'clock one morning I stood on the crowded deck of an Irish + mail-boat watching the full moon riding over Holyhead Mountain and + shimmering on the Irish Sea. A few hours later, in the early light, I saw + the green hills of Killarney against a washed and clearing sky, the + mud-flats beside the railway shining like purple enamel. All the forenoon, + in the train, I travelled through a country bathed in translucent colours, + a country of green pastures dotted over with white sheep, of banked hedges + and perfect trees, of shadowy blue hills in the high distance. It reminded + one of nothing so much as a stained-glass-window depicting some delectable + land of plenty and peace. And it was Ireland! When at length I arrived at + the station of the port for which I was bound, and which the censor does + not permit me to name, I caught sight of the figure of our Admiral on the + platform; and the fact that I was in Ireland and not in Emmanuel's Land + was brought home to me by the jolting drive we took on an “outside car,” + the admiral perched precariously over one wheel and I over the other. + Winding up the hill by narrow roads, we reached the gates of the Admiralty + House. + </p> + <p> + The house sits, as it were, in the emperor's seat of the amphitheatre of + the town, overlooking the panorama of a perfect harbour. A ring of emerald + hills is broken by a little gap to seaward, and in the centre is a + miniature emerald isle. The ships lying at anchor seemed like children's + boats in a pond. To the right, where a river empties in, were scattered + groups of queer, rakish craft, each with four slanting pipes and a tiny + flag floating from her halyards; a flag—as the binoculars revealed—of + crimson bars and stars on a field of blue. These were our American + destroyers. And in the midst of them, swinging to the tide, were the big + “mother ships” we have sent over to nurse them when, after many days and + nights of hazardous work at sea, they have brought their flock of + transports and merchantmen safely to port. This “mothering” by + repair-ships which are merely huge machine-shops afloat—this trick + of keeping destroyers tuned up and constantly ready for service has + inspired much favourable comment from our allies in the British service. + It is an instance of our national adaptability, learned from an experience + on long coasts where navy-yards are not too handy. Few landsmen understand + how delicate an instrument the destroyer is. + </p> + <p> + A service so hazardous, demanding as it does such qualities as the ability + to make instantaneous decisions and powers of mental and physical + endurance, a service so irresistibly attractive to the young and + adventurous, produces a type of officer quite unmistakable. The day I + arrived in London from France, seeking a characteristically English meal, + I went to Simpson's in the Strand, where I found myself seated by the side + of two very junior officers of the British navy. It appeared that they + were celebrating what was left of a precious leave. At a neighbouring + table they spied two of our officers, almost equally youthful. “Let's have + 'em over,” suggested one of the Britishers; and they were “had” over; he + raised his glass. “Here's how—as you say in America!” he exclaimed. + “You destroyer chaps are certainly top hole.” And then he added, with a + blush, “I say, I hope you don't think I'm cheeking you!” + </p> + <p> + I saw them afloat, I saw them coming ashore in that Irish port, these + young destroyer captains, after five wakeful nights at sea, + weather-bitten, clear-eyed, trained down to the last ounce. One, with whom + I had played golf on the New England hills, carried his clubs in his hand + and invited me to have a game with him. Another, who apologized for not + being dressed at noon on Sunday—he had made the harbour at three + that morning!—was taking his racquet out of its case, preparing to + spend the afternoon on the hospitable courts of Admiralty House with a + fellow captain and two British officers. He was ashamed of his late + rising, but when it was suggested that some sleep was necessary he + explained that, on the trip just ended, it wasn't only the submarines that + kept him awake. “When these craft get jumping about in a seaway you can't + sleep even if you want to.” He who has had experience with them knows the + truth of this remark. Incidentally, though he did not mention it, this + young captain was one of three who had been recommended by the British + admiral to his government for the Distinguished Service Order. The + captain's report, which I read, is terse, and needs to be visualized. + There is simply a statement of the latitude and longitude, the time of + day, the fact that the wave of a periscope was sighted at 1,500 yards by + the quartermaster first class on duty; general quarters rung, the + executive officer signals full speed ahead, the commanding officer takes + charge and manoeuvres for position—and then something happens which + the censor may be fussy about mentioning. At any rate, oil and other + things rise to the surface of the sea, and the Germans are minus another + submarine. The chief machinist's mate, however, comes in for special + mention. It seems that he ignored the ladder and literally fell down the + hatch, dislocating his shoulder but getting the throttle wide open within + five seconds! + </p> + <p> + In this town, facing the sea, is a street lined with quaint houses painted + in yellows and browns and greens, and under each house the kind of a shop + that brings back to the middleaged delectable memories of extreme youth + and nickels to spend. Up and down that street on a bright Saturday + afternoon may be seen our Middle-Western jackies chumming with the British + sailors and Tommies, or flirting with the Irish girls, or gazing through + the little panes of the show-windows, whose enterprising proprietors have + imported from the States a popular brand of chewing-gum to make us feel + more at home. In one of these shops, where I went to choose a picture + post-card, I caught sight of an artistic display of a delicacy I had + thought long obsolete—the everlasting gum-drop. But when I produced + a shilling the shopkeeper shook his head. “Sure, every day the sailors are + wanting to buy them of me, but it's for ornament I'm keeping them,” he + said. “There's no more to be had till the war will be over. Eight years + they're here now, and you wouldn't get a tooth in them, sir!” So I + wandered out again, joined the admiral, and inspected the Bluejackets' + Club by the water's edge. Nothing one sees, perhaps, is so eloquent of the + change that has taken place in the life and fabric of our navy. If you are + an enlisted man, here in this commodious group of buildings you can get a + good shore meal and entertain your friends among the Allies, you may sleep + in a real bed, instead of a hammock, you may play pool, or see a + moving-picture show, or witness a vaudeville worthy of professionals, like + that recently given in honour of the visit of the admiral of our Atlantic + fleet. A band of thirty pieces furnished the music, and in the opinion of + the jackies one feature alone was lacking to make the entertainment a + complete success—the new drop-curtain had failed to arrive from + London. I happened to be present when this curtain was first unrolled, and + beheld spread out before me a most realistic presentation of “little old + New York,” seen from the North River, towering against blue American + skies. And though I have never been overfond of New York, that curtain in + that place gave me a sensation! + </p> + <p> + Such is the life of our officers and sailors in these strange times that + have descended upon us. Five to eight days of vigilance, of hardship and + danger—in short, of war—and then three days of relaxation and + enjoyment in clubs, on golf-courses and tennis-courts, barring the time it + takes to clean ship and paint. There need be no fear that the war will be + neglected. It is eminently safe to declare that our service will be true + to its traditions. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + “Dogged does it” ought to be added to “Dieu et mon droit” and other + devices of England. On a day when I was lunching with Mr. Lloyd George in + the dining-room at 10 Downing Street that looks out over the Horse Guards' + Parade, the present premier, with a characteristic gesture, flung out his + hand toward the portrait of a young man in the panel over the mantel. It + was of the younger Pitt, who had taken his meals and drunk his port in + this very room in that other great war a hundred years ago. The news of + Austerlitz, brought to him during his illness, is said to have killed him. + But England, undismayed, fought on for a decade, and won. Mr. Lloyd + George, in spite of burdens even heavier than Pitt's, happily retains his + health; and his is the indomitable spirit characteristic of the new + Britain as well as of the old. For it is a new Britain one sees. Mr. Lloyd + George is prime minister of a transformed Britain, a Britain modernized + and democratized. Like the Englishman who, when he first witnessed a + performance of “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” cried out, “How very unlike the home + life of our dear Queen!” the American who lunches in Downing Street is + inclined to exclaim: “How different from Lord North and Palmerston!” We + have, I fear, been too long accustomed to interpret Britain in terms of + these two ministers and of what they represented to us of the rule of a + George the Third or of an inimical aristocracy. Three out of the five men + who form the war cabinet of an empire are of what would once have been + termed an “humble origin.” One was, if I am not mistaken, born in Nova + Scotia. General Smuts, unofficially associated with this council, not many + years ago was in arms against Britain in South Africa, and the prime + minister himself is the son of a Welsh tailor. A situation that should + mollify the most exacting and implacable of our anti-British democrats! + </p> + <p> + I listened to many speeches and explanations of the prejudice that existed + in the mind of the dyed-in-the-wool American against England, and the + reason most frequently given was the “school-book” reason; our histories + kept the feeling alive. Now; there is no doubt that the histories out of + which we were taught made what psychologists would call “action patterns,” + or “complexes,” in our brains, just as the school-books have made similar + complexes in the brains of German children and prepared them for this war. + But, after all, there was a certain animus behind the histories. Boiled + down, the sentiment was one against the rule of a hereditary aristocracy, + and our forefathers had it long before the separation took place. The + Middle-Western farmer has no prejudice against France, because France is a + republic. The French are lovable, and worthy of all the sympathy and + affection we can give them. But Britain is still nominally a monarchy; and + our patriot thinks of its people very much as the cowboy used to regard + citizens of New York. They all lived on Fifth Avenue. For the cowboy, the + residents of the dreary side streets simply did not exist. We have been + wont to think of all the British as aristocrats, while they have returned + the compliment by visualizing all Americans as plutocrats—despite + the fact that one-tenth of our population is said to own nine-tenths of + all our wealth! + </p> + <p> + But the war will change that, is already changing it. + </p> + <p> + 'Tout comprendre c'est tout pardonner'. We have been soaked in the same + common law, literature, and traditions of liberty—or of chaos, as + one likes. Whether we all be of British origin or not, it is the mind that + makes the true patriot; and there is no American so dead as not to feel a + thrill when he first sets foot on British soil. Our school-teachers felt + it when they began to travel some twenty years ago, and the thousands of + our soldiers who pass through on their way to France are feeling it today, + and writing home about it. Our soldiers and sailors are being cared for + and entertained in England just as they would be cared for and entertained + at home. So are their officers. Not long ago one of the finest town houses + in London was donated by the owner for an American officers' club, the + funds were raised by contributions from British officers, and the club was + inaugurated by the King and Queen—and Admiral Sims. Hospitality and + good-will have gone much further than this. Any one who knows London will + understand the sacredness of those private squares, surrounded by + proprietary residences, where every tree and every blade of grass has been + jealously guarded from intrusion for a century or more. And of all these + squares that of St. James's is perhaps the most exclusive, and yet it is + precisely in St. James's there is to be built the first of those hotels + designed primarily for the benefit of American officers, where they can + get a good room for five shillings a night and breakfast at a reasonable + price. One has only to sample the war-time prices of certain hostelries to + appreciate the value of this. + </p> + <p> + On the first of four unforgettable days during which I was a guest behind + the British lines in France the officer who was my guide stopped the motor + in the street of an old village, beside a courtyard surrounded by ancient + barns. + </p> + <p> + “There are some of your Americans,” he remarked. + </p> + <p> + I had recognized them, not by their uniforms but by their type. Despite + their costumes, which were negligible, they were eloquent of college + campuses in every one of our eight and forty States, lean, thin-hipped, + alert. The persistent rains had ceased, a dazzling sunlight made that + beautiful countryside as bright as a coloured picture post-card, but a + riotous cold gale was blowing; yet all wore cotton trousers that left + their knees as bare as Highlanders' kilts. Above these some had an + sweaters, others brown khaki tunics, from which I gathered that they + belonged to the officers' training corps. They were drawn up on two lines + facing each other with fixed bayonets, a grim look on their faces that + would certainly have put any Hun to flight. Between the files stood an + unmistakable gipling sergeant with a crimson face and a bristling little + chestnut moustache, talking like a machine gun. + </p> + <p> + “Now, then, not too lidylike!—there's a Bosch in front of you! Run + 'im through! Now, then!” + </p> + <p> + The lines surged forward, out went the bayonets, first the long thrust and + then the short, and then a man's gun was seized and by a swift backward + twist of the arm he was made helpless. + </p> + <p> + “Do you feel it?” asked the officer, as he turned to me. I did. “Up and + down your spine,” he added, and I nodded. “Those chaps will do,” he said. + He had been through that terrible battle of the Somme, and he knew. So had + the sergeant. + </p> + <p> + Presently came a resting-spell. One of the squad approached me, whom I + recognized as a young man I had met in the Harvard Union. + </p> + <p> + “If you write about this,” he said, “just tell our people that we're going + to take that sergeant home with us when the war's over. He's too good to + lose.” + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + It is trite to observe that democracies are organized—if, indeed, + they are organized at all—not for war but for peace. And nowhere is + this fact more apparent than in Britain. Even while the war is in progress + has that internal democratic process of evolution been going on, presaging + profound changes in the social fabric. And these changes must be dealt + with by statesmen, must be guided with one hand while the war is being + prosecuted with the other. The task is colossal. In no previous war have + the British given more striking proof of their inherent quality of + doggedness. Greatness, as Confucius said, does not consist in never + falling, but in rising every time you fall. The British speak with + appalling frankness of their blunders. They are fighting, indeed, for the + privilege of making blunders—since out of blunders arise new truths + and discoveries not contemplated in German philosophy. + </p> + <p> + America must now contribute what Britain and France, with all their + energies and resources and determination, have hitherto been unable to + contribute. It must not be men, money, and material alone, but some + quality that America has had in herself during her century and a half of + independent self-realization. Mr. Chesterton, in writing about the + American Revolution, observes that the real case for the colonists is that + they felt that they could be something which England would not help them + to be. It is, in fact, the only case for separation. What may be called + the English tradition of democracy, which we inherit, grows through + conflicts and differences, through experiments and failures and successes, + toward an intellectualized unity,—experiments by states, experiments + by individuals, a widely spread development, and new contributions to the + whole. + </p> + <p> + Democracy has arrived at the stage when it is ceasing to be national and + selfish. + </p> + <p> + It must be said of England, in her treatment of her colonies subsequent to + our Revolution, that she took this greatest of all her national blunders + to heart. As a result, Canada and Australia and New Zealand have sent + their sons across the seas to fight for an empire that refrains from + coercion; while, thanks to the policy of the British Liberals—which + was the expression of the sentiment of the British nation—we have + the spectacle today of a Botha and a Smuts fighting under the Union Jack. + </p> + <p> + And how about Ireland? England has blundered there, and she admits it + freely. They exist in England who cry out for the coercion of Ireland, and + who at times have almost had their way. But to do this, of course, would + be a surrender to the German contentions, an acknowledgment of the wisdom + of the German methods against which she is protesting with all her might. + Democracy, apparently, must blunder on until that question too, is solved. + </p> + <p> + V + </p> + <p> + Many of those picturesque features of the older England, that stir us by + their beauty and by the sense of stability and permanence they convey, + will no doubt disappear or be transformed. I am thinking of the great + estates, some of which date from Norman times; I am thinking of the + aristocracy, which we Americans repudiated in order to set up a plutocracy + instead. Let us hope that what is fine in it will be preserved, for there + is much. By the theory of the British constitution—that unwritten + but very real document—in return for honours, emoluments, and + titles, the burden of government has hitherto been thrown on a class. Nor + can it be said that they have been untrue to their responsibility. That + class developed a tradition and held fast to it; and they had a foreign + policy that guided England through centuries of greatness. Democracy too + must have a foreign policy, a tradition of service; a trained if not + hereditary group to guide it through troubled waters. Even in an + intelligent community there must be leadership. And, if the world will no + longer tolerate the old theories, a tribute may at least be paid to those + who from conviction upheld them; who ruled, perhaps in affluence, yet were + also willing to toil and, if need be, to die for the privilege. + </p> + <p> + One Saturday afternoon, after watching for a while the boys playing fives + and football and romping over the green lawns at Eton, on my way to the + head master's rooms I paused in one of the ancient quads. My eye had been + caught by a long column of names posted there, printed in heavy black + letters. 'Etona non, immemora'! Every week many new names are added to + those columns. On the walls of the chapel and in other quads and passages + may be found tablets and inscriptions in memory of those who have died for + England and the empire in by-gone wars. I am told that the proportion of + Etonians of killed to wounded is greater than that of any other public + school—which is saying a great deal. They go back across the channel + and back again until their names appear on the last and highest honour + list of the school and nation. + </p> + <p> + In one of the hospitals I visited lay a wounded giant who had once been a + truckman in a little town in Kent. Incidentally, in common with his + neighbours, he had taken no interest in the war, which had seemed as + remote to him as though he had lived in North Dakota. One day a Zeppelin + dropped a bomb on that village, whereupon the able-bodied males enlisted + to a man, and he with them. A subaltern in his company was an Eton boy. + “We just couldn't think of 'im as an orficer, sir; in the camps 'e used to + play with us like a child. And then we went to France. And one night when + we was wet to the skin and the Boschs was droppin' shell all around us we + got the word. It was him leaped over the top first of all, shouting back + at us to come on. He tumbled right back and died in my arms, 'e did, as I + was climbin' up after 'im. I shan't ever forget 'im.” + </p> + <p> + As you travel about in these days you become conscious, among the people + you meet, of a certain bewilderment. A static world and a static order are + dissolving; and in England that order was so static as to make the present + spectacle the more surprising. Signs of the disintegration of the old + social strata were not lacking, indeed, in the earlier years of the + twentieth century, when labour members and north-country radicals began to + invade parliament; but the cataclysm of this war has accelerated the + process. In the muddy trenches of Flanders and France a new comradeship + has sprung up between officers and Tommies, while time-honoured precedent + has been broken by the necessity of giving thousands of commissions to men + of merit who do not belong to the “officer caste.” At the Haymarket + Theatre I saw a fashionable audience wildly applaud a play in which the + local tailor becomes a major-general and returns home to marry the + daughter of the lord of a mayor whose clothes he used to cut before the + war. + </p> + <p> + “The age of great adventure,” were the words used by Mr. H. G. Wells to + describe this epoch as we discussed it. And a large proportion of the + descendants of those who have governed England for centuries are + apparently imbued with the spirit of this adventure, even though it may + spell the end of their exclusive rule. As significant of the social + mingling of elements which in the past never exchanged ideas or points of + view I shall describe a week-end party at a large country house of Liberal + complexion; on the Thames. I have reason to believe it fairly typical. The + owner of this estate holds an important position in the Foreign Office, + and the hostess has, by her wit and intelligent grasp of affairs, made an + enviable place for herself. On her right, at luncheon on Sunday, was a + labour leader, the head of one of the most powerful unions in Britain, and + next him sat a member of one of the oldest of England's titled families. + The two were on terms of Christian names. The group included two or three + women, a sculptor and an educator, another Foreign Office official who has + made a reputation since the beginning of the war, and finally an employer + of labour, the chairman of the biggest shipbuilding company in England. + </p> + <p> + That a company presenting such a variety of interests should have been + brought together in the frescoed dining-room of that particular house is + noteworthy. + </p> + <p> + The thing could happen nowhere save in the England of today. At first the + talk was general, ranging over a number of subjects from that of the + personality of certain politicians to the conduct of the war and the + disturbing problem raised by the “conscientious objector”; little by + little, however, the rest of us became silent, to listen to a debate which + had begun between the labour leader and the ship-builder on the “labour + question.” It is not my purpose here to record what they said. Needless to + add that they did not wholly agree, but they were much nearer to agreement + than one would have thought possible. What was interesting was the + open-mindedness with which, on both sides, the argument was conducted, and + the fact that it could seriously take place then and there. For the + subject of it had long been the supreme problem in the lives of both these + men, their feelings concerning it must at times have been tinged with + bitterness, yet they spoke with courtesy and restraint, and though each + maintained his contentions he was quick to acknowledge a point made by the + other. As one listened one was led to hope that a happier day is perhaps + at hand when such things as “complexes” and convictions will disappear. + </p> + <p> + The types of these two were in striking contrast. The labour leader was + stocky, chestnut-coloured, vital, possessing the bulldog quality of the + British self-made man combined with a natural wit, sharpened in the arena, + that often startled the company into an appreciative laughter. The + ship-builder, on the other hand, was one of those spare and hard + Englishmen whom no amount of business cares will induce to neglect the + exercise of his body, the obligation at all times to keep “fit”; + square-rigged, as it were, with a lean face and a wide moustache + accentuating a square chin. Occasionally a gleam of humour, a ray of + idealism, lighted his practical grey eyes. Each of these two had managed + rather marvellously to triumph over early training by self-education: the + labour leader, who had had his first lessons in life from injustices and + hard knocks; and the ship-builder, who had overcome the handicap of the + public-school tradition and of Manchester economics. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, titles and fortunes must go,” remarked our hostess with a smile as + she rose from the table and led the way out on the sunny, stone-flagged + terrace. Below us was a wide parterre whose flower-beds, laid out by a + celebrated landscape-gardener in the days of the Stuarts, were filled with + vegetables. The day was like our New England Indian summerthough the trees + were still heavy with leaves—and a gossamer-blue veil of haze + stained the hills between which the shining river ran. If the social + revolution, or evolution, takes place, one wonders what will become of + this long-cherished beauty. + </p> + <p> + I venture to dwell upon one more experience of that week-end party. The + Friday evening of my arrival I was met at the station, not by a limousine + with a chauffeur and footman, but by a young woman with a taxicab—one + of the many reminders that a war is going on. London had been reeking in a + green-yellow fog, but here the mist was white, and through it I caught + glimpses of the silhouettes of stately trees in a park, and presently saw + the great house with its clock-tower looming up before me. A fire was + crackling in the hall, and before it my hostess was conversing amusedly + with a well-known sculptor—a sculptor typical of these renaissance + times, large, full-blooded, with vigorous opinions on all sorts of + matters. + </p> + <p> + “A lecturer is coming down from London to talk to the wounded in the + amusement-hall of the hospital,” our hostess informed us. “And you both + must come and speak too.” + </p> + <p> + The three of us got into the only motor of which the establishment now + boasts, a little runabout using a minimum of “petrol,” and she guided us + rapidly by devious roads through the fog until a blur of light proclaimed + the presence of a building, one of some score or more built on the + golf-course by the British Government. I have not space hereto describe + that hospital, which is one of the best in England; but it must be + observed that its excellence and the happiness of its inmates are almost + wholly due to the efforts of the lady who now conducted us across the + stage of the amusement-hall, where all the convalescents who could walk or + who could be rolled thither in chairs were gathered. The lecturer had not + arrived. But the lady of the manor seated herself at the speaker's table, + singling out Scotch wits in the audience—for whom she was more than + a match—while the sculptor and I looked on and grinned and resisted + her blandishments to make speeches. When at last the lecturer came he sat + down informally on the table with one foot hanging in the air and grinned, + too, at her bantering but complimentary introduction. It was then I + discovered for the first time that he was one of the best educational + experts of that interesting branch of the British Government, the + Department of Reconstruction, whose business it is to teach the + convalescents the elements of social and political science. This was not + to be a lecture, he told them, but a debate in which every man must take a + part. And his first startling question was this: + </p> + <p> + “Why should Mr. Lloyd George, instead of getting five thousand pounds a + year for his services as prime minister, receive any more than a common + labourer?” + </p> + <p> + The question was a poser. The speaker folded his hands and beamed down at + them; he seemed fairly to radiate benignity. + </p> + <p> + “Now we mustn't be afraid of him, just because he seems to be + intelligent,” declared our hostess. This sally was greeted with spasmodic + laughter. Her eyes flitted from bench to bench, yet met nothing save + averted glances. “Jock! Where are you, Jock? Why don't you speak up?—you've + never been downed before.” + </p> + <p> + More laughter, and craning of necks for the Jocks. This appeared to be her + generic name for the vita. But the Jocks remained obdurately modest. The + prolonged silence did not seem in the least painful to the lecturer, who + thrust his hand in his pocket and continued to beam. He had learned how to + wait. And at last his patience was rewarded. A middleaged soldier with a + very serious manner arose hesitatingly, with encouraging noises from his + comrades. + </p> + <p> + “It's not Mr. Lloyd George I'm worrying about, sir,” he said, “all I wants + is enough for the missus and me. I had trouble to get that before the + war.” + </p> + <p> + Cries of “Hear! Hear!” + </p> + <p> + “Why did you have trouble?” inquired the lecturer mildly. + </p> + <p> + “The wages was too low.” + </p> + <p> + “And why were the wages too low?” + </p> + <p> + “You've got me there. I hadn't thought.” + </p> + <p> + “But isn't it your business as a voter to think?” asked the lecturer. + “That's why the government is sending me here, to start you to thinking, + to remind you that it is you soldiers who will have to take charge of this + country and run it after the war is over. And you won't be able to do that + unless you think, and think straight.” + </p> + <p> + “We've never been taught to think,” was the illuminating reply. + </p> + <p> + “And if we do think we've never been educated to express ourselves, same + as you!” shouted another man, in whom excitement had overcome timidity. + </p> + <p> + “I'm here to help you educate yourselves,” said the lecturer. “But first + let's hear any ideas you may have on the question I asked you.” + </p> + <p> + There turned out to be plenty of ideas, after all. An opinion was ventured + that Mr. Lloyd George served the nation, not for money but from public + spirit; a conservative insisted that ability should be rewarded and + rewarded well; whereupon ensued one of the most enlightening discussions, + not only as a revelation of intelligence, but of complexes and obsessions + pervading many of the minds in whose power lies the ultimate control of + democracies. One, for instance, declared that—“if every man went to + church proper of a Sunday and minded his own business the country would + get along well enough.” He was evidently of the opinion that there was too + much thinking and not enough of what he would have termed “religion.” + Gradually that audience split up into liberals and conservatives; and the + liberals noticeably were the younger men who had had the advantages of + better board schools, who had formed fewer complexes and had had less time + in which to get them set. Of these, a Canadian made a plea for the + American system of universal education, whereupon a combative + “stand-patter” declared that every man wasn't fit to be educated, that the + American plan made only for discontent. “Look at them,” he exclaimed, + “They're never satisfied to stay in their places.” This provoked laughter, + but it was too much for the sculptor—and for me. We both broke our + vows and made speeches in favour of equality and mental opportunity, while + the lecturer looked on and smiled. Mr. Lloyd George and his salary were + forgotten. By some subtle art of the chairman the debate had been guided + to the very point where he had from the first intended to guide it—to + the burning question of our day—education as the true foundation of + democracy! Perhaps, after all, this may be our American contribution to + the world's advance. + </p> + <p> + As we walked homeward through the fog I talked to him of Professor Dewey's + work and its results, while he explained to me the methods of the + Reconstruction Department. “Out of every audience like that we get a group + and form a class,” he said. “They're always a bit backward at first, just + as they were tonight, but they grow very keen. We have a great many + classes already started, and we see to it that they are provided with + text-books and teachers. Oh, no, it's not propaganda,” he added, in answer + to my query; “all we do is to try to give them facts in such a way as to + make them able to draw their own conclusions and join any political party + they choose—just so they join one intelligently.” I must add that + before Sunday was over he had organized his class and arranged for their + future instruction. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <p> + I would speak first of a contrast—and yet I have come to recognize + how impossible it is to convey to the dweller in America the difference in + atmosphere between England and France on the one hand and our country on + the other. And when I use the word “atmosphere” I mean the mental state of + the peoples as well as the weather and the aspect of the skies. I have + referred in another article to the anxious, feverish prosperity one + beholds in London and Paris, to that apparent indifference, despite the + presence on the streets of crowds of soldiers to the existence of a war of + which one is ever aware. Yet, along with this, one is ever conscious of + pressure. The air is heavy; there is a corresponding lack of the buoyancy + of mind which is the normal American condition. Perhaps, if German troops + occupied New England and New York, our own mental barometer might be + lower. It is difficult to say. At any rate, after an ocean voyage of nine + days one's spirits rise perceptibly as the ship nears Nantucket; and the + icy-bright sunlight of New York harbour, the sight of the buildings + aspiring to blue skies restore the throbbing optimism which with us is + normal; and it was with an effort, when I talked to the reporters on + landing, that I was able to achieve and express the pessimism and darkness + out of which I had come. Pessimism is perhaps too strong a word, and takes + no account of the continued unimpaired morale and determination of the + greater part of the British and French peoples. They expect much from us. + Yet the impression was instantaneous, when I set forth in the streets of + New York, that we had not fully measured the magnitude of our task—an + impression that has been amply confirmed as the weeks have passed. + </p> + <p> + The sense of relief I felt was not only the result of bright skies and a + high barometer, of the palpable self-confidence of the pedestrians, of the + white bread on the table and the knowledge that there was more, but also + of the ease of accomplishing things. I called for a telephone number and + got it cheerfully and instantly. I sent several telegrams, and did not + have to wait twenty minutes before a wicket while a painstaking official + multiplied and added and subtracted and paused to talk with a friend; the + speed of the express in which I flew down-town seemed emblematic of + America itself. I had been transported, in fact, into another world—my + world; and in order to realize again that from which I had come I turned + to a diary recording a London filled with the sulphur fumes of fog, + through which the lamps of the taxis and buses shone as yellow blots + reflected on glistening streets; or, for some reason a still greater + contrast, a blue, blue November Sunday afternoon in parts, the Esplanade + of the Invalides black with people—sad people—and the + Invalides itself all etched in blue as seen through the wide vista from + the Seine. + </p> + <p> + A few days later, with some children, I went to the Hippodrome. And it + remained for the Hippodrome, of all places, to give me the thrill I had + not achieved abroad, the thrill I had not experienced since the first + months of the war. Mr. George Cohan accomplished it. The transport with + steam up, is ready to leave the wharf, the khaki-clad regiment of erect + and vigorous young Americans marches across the great stage, and the + audience strains forward and begins to sing, under its breath, the words + that proclaim, as nothing else perhaps proclaims, how America feels. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Send the word, send the word over there... + We'll be o-ver, we're coming o-ver, + And we won't come back till it's o-ver, over there!” + </pre> + <p> + Is it the prelude of a tragedy? We have always been so successful, we + Americans. Are we to fail now? I am an American, and I do not believe we + are to fail. But I am soberer, somehow a different American than he who + sailed away in August. Shall we learn other things than those that have + hitherto been contained in our philosophy? + </p> + <p> + Of one thing I am convinced. It is the first war of the world that is not + a miltary war, although miltary genius is demanded, although it is the + bloodiest war in history. But other qualities are required; men and women + who are not professional soldiers are fighting in it and will aid in + victory. The pomp and circumstance of other wars are lacking in this, the + greatest of all. We had the thrills, even in America, three years ago, + when Britain and France and Canada went in. We tingled when we read of the + mobilizing of the huge armies, of the leave-takings of the soldiers. We + bought every extra for news of those first battles on Belgian soil. And I + remember my sensations when in the province of Quebec in the autumn of + 1914, looking out of the car-window at the troops gathering on the + platforms who were to go across the seas to fight for the empire and + liberty. They were singing “Tipperary!” “Tipperary!” One seldoms hears it + now, and the way has proved long—longer than we reckoned. And we are + singing “Over There!” + </p> + <p> + In those first months of the war there was, we were told, in England and + France a revival of “religion,” and indeed many of the books then written + gave evidence of having been composed in exalted, mystic moods. I remember + one in particular, called “En Campagne,” by a young French officer. And + then, somehow, the note of mystic exaltation died away, to be succeeded by + a period of realism. Read “Le Feu,” which is most typical, which has sold + in numberless editions. Here is a picture of that other aspect—the + grimness, the monotony, and the frequent bestiality of trench life, the + horror of slaughtering millions of men by highly specialized machinery. + And yet, as an American, I strike inevitably the note of optimism once + more. Even now the truer spiritual goal is glimpsed through the battle + clouds, and has been hailed in world-reverberating phrases by our American + President. Day by day the real issue is clearer, while the “religion” it + implies embraces not one nation, wills not one patriotism, but humanity + itself. I heard a Frenchwoman who had been deeply “religious” in the old + sense exclaim: “I no longer have any faith in God; he is on the side of + the Germans.” When the war began there were many evidences of a survival + of that faith that God fights for nations, interferes in behalf of the + “righteous” cause. When General Joffre was in America he was asked by one + of our countrywomen how the battle of the Marne was won. “Madame,” he is + reported to have said, “it was won by me, by my generals and soldiers.” + The tendency to regard this victory, which we hope saved France and the + Western humanitarian civilization we cherish, as a special interposition + of Providence, as a miracle, has given place to the realization that the + battle was won by the resourcefulness, science, and coolness of the French + commander-in-chief. Science preserves armies, since killing, if it has to + be done, is now wholly within that realm; science heals the wounded, + transports them rapidly to the hospitals, gives the shattered something + still to live for; and, if we are able to abandon the sentimental view and + look facts in the face—as many anointed chaplains in Europe are + doing—science not only eliminates typhoid but is able to prevent + those terrible diseases that devastate armies and nations. And science is + no longer confined to the physical but has invaded the social kingdom, is + able to weave a juster fabric into the government of peoples. On all sides + we are beginning to embrace the religion of self-reliance, a faith that + God is on the side of intelligence—intelligence with a broader + meaning than the Germans have given it, for it includes charity. + </p> + <p> + II + </p> + <p> + It seems to me that I remember, somewhere in the realistic novel I have + mentioned “Le Feu”—reading of singing soldiers, and an assumption on + the part of their hearers that such songs are prompted only by a + devil-may-care lightness of heart which the soldier achieves. A shallow + psychology (as the author points out), especially in these days of trench + warfare! The soldier sings to hide his real feelings, perhaps to give vent + to them. I am reminded of all this in connection with my trip to the + British front. I left London after lunch on one of those dreary, grey days + to which I have referred; the rain had begun to splash angrily against the + panes of the car windows before we reached the coast. At five o'clock the + boat pushed off into a black channel, whipped by a gale that drove the + rain across the decks and into every passage and gangway. The steamer was + literally loaded with human beings, officers and men returning from a + brief glimpse of home. There was nothing of the glory of war in the + embarkation, and, to add to the sad and sinister effect of it, each man as + he came aboard mounted the ladder and chose, from a pile on the hatch + combing, a sodden life-preserver, which he flung around his shoulders as + he went in search of a shelter. The saloon below, where we had our tea, + was lighted indeed, but sealed so tight as to be insupportable; and the + cabin above, stifling too, was dark as a pocket. One stumbled over unseen + passengers on the lounges, or sitting on kits on the floor. Even the steps + up which I groped my way to the deck above were filled, while on the deck + there was standing-room only and not much of that. Mal de mer added to the + discomforts of many. At length I found an uncertain refuge in a gangway + amidships, hedged in between unseen companions; but even here the rain + stung our faces and the spray of an occasional comber drenched our feet, + while through the gloom of the night only a few yards of white water were + to be discerned. For three hours I stood there, trying to imagine what was + in the minds of these men with whose bodies I was in such intimate + contact. They were going to a foreign land to fight, many of them to die, + not in one of those adventurous campaigns of times gone by, but in the wet + trenches or the hideous No Man's Land between. What were the images they + summoned up in the darkness? Visions of long-familiar homes and + long-familiar friends? And just how were they facing the future? Even as I + wondered, voices rose in a song, English voices, soldier voices. It was + not “Tipperary,” the song that thrilled us a few years ago. I strove to + catch the words: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “I want to go home! + I don't want to go back to the trenches no more, + Where there are bullets and shrapnel galore, + I want to go home!” + </pre> + <p> + It was sung boisterously, in a defiant tone of mockery of the desire it + expressed, and thus tremendously gained in pathos. They did want to go + home—naturally. It was sung with the same spirit our men sing “We + won't come back till it's over, over there!” The difference is that these + Britishers have been over there, have seen the horrors face to face, have + tasted the sweets of home, and in spite of heartsickness and seasickness + are resolved to see it through. Such is the morale of the British army. I + have not the slightest doubt that it will be the morale of our own army + also, but at present the British are holding the fort. Tommy would never + give up the war, but he has had a realistic taste of it, and his songs + reflect his experience. Other songs reached my ears each night, above the + hissing and pounding of the Channel seas, but the unseen group returned + always to this. One thought of Agincourt and Crecy, of Waterloo, of the + countless journeys across this same stormy strip of water the ancestors of + these man had made in the past, and one wondered whether war were eternal + and inevitable, after all. + </p> + <p> + And what does Tommy think about it—this war? My own limited + experience thoroughly indorses Mr. Galsworthy's splendid analysis of + British-soldier psychology that appeared in the December North American. + The average man, with native doggedness, is fighting for the defence of + England. The British Government itself, in its reconstruction department + for the political education of the wounded, has given partial denial to + the old maxim that it is the soldier's business not to think but to obey; + and the British army is leavened with men who read and reflect in the long + nights of watching in the rain, who are gaining ideas about conditions in + the past and resolutions concerning those of the future. The very army + itself has had a miracle happen to it: it has been democratized—and + with the cheerful consent of the class to which formerly the possession of + commissions was largely confined. Gradually, to these soldier-thinkers, as + well as to the mass of others at home, is unfolding the vision of a new + social order which is indeed worth fighting for and dying for. + </p> + <p> + III + </p> + <p> + At last, our knees cramped and our feet soaked, we saw the lights of the + French port dancing across the veil of rain, like thistledowns of fire, + and presently we were at rest at a stone quay. As I stood waiting on the + deck to have my passport vised, I tried to reconstruct the features of + this little seaport as I had seen it, many years before, on a bright + summer's day when I had motored from Paris on my way to London. The gay + line of hotels facing the water was hidden in the darkness. Suddenly I + heard my name called, and I was rescued from the group of civilians by a + British officer who introduced himself as my host. It was after nine + o'clock, and he had been on the lookout for me since half past seven. The + effect of his welcome at that time and place was electrical, and I was + further immensely cheered by the news he gave me, as we hurried along the + street, that two friends of mine were here and quite hungry, having + delayed dinner for my arrival. One of them was a young member of Congress + who had been making exhaustive studies of the situation in Italy, France + and England, and the other one of our best-known writers, both bound for + London. We sat around the table until nearly eleven, exchanging + impressions and experiences. Then my officer declared that it was time to + go home. + </p> + <p> + “Home” proved to be the big chateau which the British Government has + leased for the kindly purpose of entertaining such American guests as they + choose to invite. It is known as the “American Chateau,” and in the early + morning hours we reached it after a long drive through the gale. We + crossed a bridge over a moat and traversed a huge stone hall to the Gothic + drawing-room. Here a fire was crackling on the hearth, refreshments were + laid out, and the major in command rose from his book to greet me. + Hospitality, with these people, has attained to art, and, though I had + come here at the invitation of his government, I had the feeling of being + his personal guest in his own house. Presently he led the way up the stone + stairs and showed me the room I was to occupy. + </p> + <p> + I awoke to the sound of the wind whistling through the open lattice, and + looking down on the ruffled blue waters of the moat I saw a great white + swan at his morning toilet, his feathers dazzling in the sun. It was one + of those rare crisp and sparkling days that remind one of our American + autumn. A green stretch of lawn made a vista through the woods. Following + the example of the swan, I plunged into the tin tub the orderly had placed + beside my bed and went down to porridge in a glow. Porridge, for the major + was Scotch, and had taught his French cook to make it as the Scotch make + it. Then, going out into the hall, from a table on which lay a contour map + of the battle region, the major picked up a hideous mask that seemed to + have been made for some barbaric revelries. + </p> + <p> + “We may not strike any gas,” he said, “but it's as well to be on the safe + side,” whereupon he made me practise inserting the tube in my mouth, + pinching the nostrils instantly with the wire-covered nippers. He also + presented me with a steel helmet. Thus equipped for any untoward + occurrence, putting on sweaters and heavy overcoats, and wrapping + ourselves in the fur rugs of the waiting automobile, we started off, with + the gale on our quarter, for the front. + </p> + <p> + Picardy, on whose soil has been shed so much English blood, never was more + beautiful than on that October day. The trees were still in full leaf, the + fields green, though the crops had been gathered, and the crystal air gave + vivid value to every colour in the landscape. From time to time we wound + through the cobble-stoned streets of historic villages, each having its + stone church end the bodki-shaped steeple of blue slate so characteristic + of that country. And, as though we were still in the pastoral times of + peace, in the square of one of these villages a horse-fair was in + progress, blue-smocked peasants were trotting chunky ponies over the + stones. It was like a picture from one of De Maupassant's tales. In other + villages the shawled women sat knitting behind piles of beets and cabbages + and apples, their farm-carts atilt in the sun. Again and again I tried to + grasp the fact that the greatest of world wars was being fought only a few + miles away—and failed. + </p> + <p> + We had met, indeed, an occasional officer or orderly, huddled in a + greatcoat and head against the wind, exercising those wonderful animals + that are the pride of the British cavalry and which General Sir Douglas + Haig, himself a cavalryman, some day hopes to bring into service. We had + overtaken an artillery train rumbling along toward the east, the men + laughing and joking as they rode, as though they were going to manoeuvres. + Farther on, as the soldiers along the highroads and in the towns grew more + and more numerous, they seemed so harmoniously part of the peaceful scene + that war was as difficult to visualize as ever. Many sat about smoking + their pipes and playing with the village children, others were in squads + going to drill or exercise—something the Briton never neglects. The + amazing thing to a visitor who has seen the trenches awash on a typical + wet day, who knows that even billeting in cold farms and barns behind the + lines can scarcely be compared to the comforts of home, is how these men + keep well under the conditions. To say that they are well is to understate + the fact: the ruddy faces and clear eyes and hard muscles—even of + those who once were pale London clerks—proclaim a triumph for the + system of hygiene of their army. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly we came upon a house with a great round hole in its wall, and + then upon several in ruins beside the village street. Meanwhile, at work + under the windswept trees of the highway, were strange, dark men from the + uttermost parts of the earth, physiognomies as old as the tombs of + Pharaoh. It was, indeed, not so much the graven red profiles of priests + and soldiers that came tome at sight of these Egyptians, but the singing + fellaheen of the water-buckets of the Nile. And here, too, shovelling the + crushed rock, were East Indians oddly clad in European garb, careless of + the cold. That sense of the vastness of the British Empire, which at times + is so profound, was mingled now with a knowledge that it was fighting for + its life, marshalling all its resources for Armageddon. + </p> + <p> + Saint Eloi is named after the good bishop who ventured to advise King + Dagobert about his costume. And the church stands—what is left of it—all + alone on the greenest of terraces jutting out toward the east; and the + tower, ruggedly picturesque against the sky, resembles that of some + crumbled abbey. As a matter of fact, it has been a target for German + gunners. Dodging an army-truck and rounding one of those military traffic + policemen one meets at every important corner we climbed the hill and left + the motor among the great trees, which are still fortunately preserved. + And we stood for a few minutes, gazing over miles and miles of + devastation. Then, taking the motor once more, we passed through wrecked + and empty villages until we came to the foot of Vimy Ridge. Notre Dame de + Lorette rose against the sky-line to the north. + </p> + <p> + Vimy and Notre Dame de Lorette—sweet but terrible names! Only a + summer had passed since Vimy was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles + of the war. From a distance the prevailing colour of the steep slope is + ochre; it gives the effect of having been scraped bare in preparation for + some gigantic enterprise. A nearer view reveals a flush of green; nature + is already striving to heal. From top to bottom it is pockmarked by shells + and scarred by trenches—trenches every few feet, and between them + tangled masses of barbed wire still clinging to the “knife rests” and + corkscrew stanchions to which it had been strung. The huge shell-holes, + revealing the chalk subsoil, were half-filled with water. And even though + the field had been cleaned by those East Indians I had seen on the road, + and the thousands who had died here buried, bits of uniform, shoes, and + accoutrements and shattered rifles were sticking in the clay—and + once we came across a portion of a bedstead, doubtless taken by some + officer from a ruined and now vanished village to his dugout. Painfully, + pausing frequently to ponder over these remnants, so eloquent of the fury + of the struggle, slipping backward at every step and despite our care + getting tangled in the wire, we made our way up the slope. Buttercups and + daisies were blooming around the edges of the craters. + </p> + <p> + As we drew near the crest the major warned me not to expose myself. “It + isn't because there is much chance of our being shot,” he explained, “but + a matter of drawing the German fire upon others.” And yet I found it hard + to believe—despite the evidence at my feet—that war existed + here. The brightness of the day, the emptiness of the place, the silence—save + for the humming of the gale—denied it. And then, when we had + cautiously rounded a hummock at the top, my steel helmet was blown off—not + by a shrapnel, but by the wind! I had neglected to tighten the chin-strap. + </p> + <p> + Immediately below us I could make out scars like earthquake cracks running + across the meadows—the front trenches. Both armies were buried like + moles in these furrows. The country was spread out before us, like a map, + with occasionally the black contour of a coal mound rising against the + green, or a deserted shaft-head. I was gazing at the famous battlefield of + Lens. Villages, woods, whose names came back to me as the major repeated + them, lay like cloud shadows on the sunny plain, and the faintest shadow + of all, far to the eastward, was Lens itself. I marked it by a single + white tower. And suddenly another white tower, loftier than the first, had + risen up! But even as I stared its substance seemed to change, to + dissolve, and the tower was no longer to be seen. Not until then did I + realize that a monster shell had burst beside the trenches in front of the + city. Occasionally after that there came to my ears the muffed report of + some hidden gun, and a ball like a powder-puff lay lightly on the plain, + and vanished. But even the presence of these, oddly enough, did not rob + the landscape of its air of Sunday peace. + </p> + <p> + We ate our sandwiches and drank our bottle of white wine in a sheltered + cut of the road that runs up that other ridge which the French gained at + such an appalling price, Notre Dame de Lorette, while the major described + to me some features of the Lens battle, in which he had taken part. I + discovered incidentally that he had been severely wounded at the Somme. + Though he had been a soldier all his life, and a good soldier, his true + passion was painting, and he drew my attention to the rare greens and + silver-greys of the stones above us, steeped in sunlight—all that + remained of the little church of Notre Dame—more beautiful, more + significant, perhaps, as a ruin. It reminded the major of the Turners he + had admired in his youth. After lunch we lingered in the cemetery, where + the graves and vaults had been harrowed by shells; the trenches ran right + through them. And here, in this desecrated resting-place of the village + dead, where the shattered gravestones were mingled with barbed wire, + death-dealing fragments of iron, and rusting stick-bombs that had failed + to explode, was a wooden cross, on which was rudely written the name of + Hans Siebert. Mouldering at the foot of the cross was a grey woollen + German tunic from which the buttons had been cut. + </p> + <p> + We kept the road to the top, for Notre Dame de Lorette is as steep as + Vimy. There we looked upon the panorama of the Lens battle-field once + more, and started down the eastern slope, an apparently smooth expanse + covered now with prairie grasses, in reality a labyrinth of deep ditches, + dugouts, and pits; gruesome remnants of the battle lay half-concealed + under the grass. We walked slowly, making desperate leaps over the + trenches, sometimes perforce going through them, treading gingerly on the + “duck board” at the bottom. We stumbled over stick-bombs and unexploded + shells. No plough can be put here—the only solution for the land for + years to come is forest. Just before we gained the road at the bottom, + where the car was awaiting us, we were startled by the sudden flight of a + covey of partridges. + </p> + <p> + The skies were grey when we reached the banal outskirts of a town where + the bourgeoise houses were modern, commonplace, save those which had been + ennobled by ruin. It was Arras, one of those few magic names, eloquent + with suggestions of mediaeval romance and art, intrigue and chivalry; + while upon their significance, since the war began, has been superimposed + still another, no less eloquent but charged with pathos. We halted for a + moment in the open space before the railroad station, a comparatively new + structure of steel and glass, designed on geometrical curves, with an + uninspiring, cheaply ornamented front. It had been, undoubtedly, the pride + of the little city. Yet finding it here had at first something of the + effect of the discovery of an office-building—let us say—on + the site of the Reims Cathedral. Presently, however, its emptiness, its + silence began to have their effects—these and the rents one began to + perceive in the roof. For it was still the object of the intermittent yet + persistent fire of the German artillery. One began to realize that by + these wounds it had achieved a dignity that transcended the mediocre + imagination of its provincial designer. A fine rain had set in before we + found the square, and here indeed one felt a certain desolate + satisfaction; despite the wreckage there the spirit of the ancient town + still poignantly haunted it. Although the Hotel de Ville, which had + expressed adequately the longings and aspirations, the civic pride of + those bygone burghers, was razed to the ground, on three sides were still + standing the varied yet harmonious facades of Flemish houses made familiar + by photographs. Of some of these the plaster between the carved beams had + been shot away, the roofs blown off, and the tiny hewn rafters were bared + to the sky. The place was empty in the gathering gloom of the twilight. + The gaiety and warmth of the hut erected in the Public Gardens which + houses the British Officers' Club were a relief. + </p> + <p> + The experiences of the next day will remain for ever in my memory etched, + as it were, in sepia. My guide was a younger officer who had seen heroic + service, and I wondered constantly how his delicate frame had survived in + the trenches the constant hardship of such weather as now, warmly wrapped + and with the car-curtains drawn, we faced. The inevitable, relentless rain + of that region had set in again, the rain in which our own soldiers will + have to fight, and the skies were of a darkness seldom known in America. + The countryside was no longer smiling. After some two hours of progress we + came, in that devastated district near the front, to an expanse where many + monsters were clumsily cavorting like dinosaurs in primeval slime. At some + distance from the road others stood apparently tethered in line, awaiting + their turn for exercise. These were the far-famed tanks. Their commander, + or chief mahout—as I was inclined to call him—was a cheerful + young giant of colonial origin, who has often driven them serenely across + No Man's Land and into the German trenches. He had been expecting us, and + led me along a duck board over the morass, to where one of these + leviathans was awaiting us. You crawl through a greasy hole in the bottom, + and the inside is as full of machinery as the turret of the Pennsylvania, + and you grope your way to the seat in front beside that of the captain and + conductor, looking out through a slot in the armour over a waste of water + and mud. From here you are supposed to operate a machine gun. Behind you + two mechanics have started the engines with a deafening roar, above which + are heard the hoarse commands of the captain as he grinds in his gears. + Then you realize that the thing is actually moving, that the bosses on the + belt have managed to find a grip on the slime—and presently you come + to the brink of what appears, to your exaggerated sense of perception, a + bottomless chasm, with distant steep banks on the farther side that look + unattainable and insurmountable. It is an old German trench which the + rains have worn and widened. You brace yourself, you grip desperately a + pair of brass handles in front of you, while leviathan hesitates, seems to + sit up on his haunches, and then gently buries his nose in the pasty clay + and paws his way upward into the field beyond. It was like sitting in a + huge rocking-chair. That we might have had a bump, and a bone-breaking + one, I was informed after I had left the scene of the adventure. It all + depends upon the skill of the driver. The monsters are not as tractable as + they seem. + </p> + <p> + That field in which the tanks manoeuvre is characteristic of the whole of + this district of levelled villages and vanished woods. Imagine a + continuous clay vacant lot in one of our Middle Western cities on the + rainiest day you can recall; and further imagine, on this limitless lot, a + network of narrow-gauge tracks and wagon roads, a scattering of + contractors' shanties, and you will have some idea of the daily life and + surroundings of one of oar American engineer regiments, which is running a + railroad behind the British front. Yet one has only to see these men and + talk with them to be convinced of the truth that human happiness and even + human health thanks to modern science—are not dependent upon an + existence in a Garden of Eden. I do not mean exactly that these men would + choose to spend the rest of their existences in this waste, but they are + happy in the consciousness of a job well done. It was really inspiring to + encounter here the familiar conductors and brakemen, engineers and + firemen, who had voluntarily, and for an ideal, left their homes in a + remote and peaceful republic three thousand miles away, to find + contentment and a new vitality, a wider vision, in the difficult and + dangerous task they were performing. They were frequently under fire—when + they brought back the wounded or fetched car-loads of munitions to the + great guns on the ridiculous little trains of flat cars with open-work + wheels, which they named—with American humour—the Federal + Express and the Twentieth Century Limited. And their officers were equally + happy. Their colonel, of our regular Army Engineer Corps, was one of those + broad-shouldered six-footers who, when they walk the streets of Paris, + compel pedestrians to turn admiringly and give one a new pride in the + manhood of our nation. Hospitably he drew us out of the wind and rain into + his little hut, and sat us down beside the stove, cheerfully informing us + that, only the night before, the gale had blown his door in, and his roof + had started for the German lines. In a neighbouring hut, reached by a duck + board, we had lunch with him and his officers baked beans and pickles, + cakes and maple syrup. The American food, the American jokes and voices in + that environment seemed strange indeed! But as we smoked and chatted about + the friends we had in common, about political events at home and the + changes that were taking place there, it seemed as if we were in America + once more. The English officer listened and smiled in sympathy, and he + remarked, after our reluctant departure, that America was an extraordinary + land. + </p> + <p> + He directed our chauffeur to Bapaume, across that wilderness which the + Germans had so wantonly made in their retreat to the Hindenburg line. + Nothing could have been more dismal than our slow progress in the steady + rain, through the deserted streets of this town. Home after home had been + blasted—their intimate yet harrowing interiors were revealed. The + shops and cafes, which had been thoroughly looted, had their walls blown + out, but in many cases the signs of the vanished and homeless proprietors + still hung above the doors. I wondered how we should feel in New England + if such an outrage had been done to Boston, for instance, or little + Concord! The church, the great cathedral on its terrace, the bishop's + house, all dynamited, all cold and wet and filthy ruins! It was dismal, + indeed, but scarcely more dismal than that which followed; for at Bapaume + we were on the edge of the battle-field of the Somme. And I chanced to + remember that the name had first been indelibly impressed on my + consciousness at a comfortable breakfast-table at home, where I sat + looking out on a bright New England garden. In the headlines and columns + of my morning newspaper I had read again and again, during the summer of + 1916, of Thiepval and La Boisselle, of Fricourt and Mametz and the Bois + des Trones. Then they had had a sinister but remote significance; now I + was to see them, or what was left of them! + </p> + <p> + As an appropriate and characteristic setting for the tragedy which had + happened here, the indigo afternoon could not have been better chosen. + Description fails to do justice to the abomination of desolation of that + vast battle-field in the rain, and the imagination, refuses to reconstruct + the scene of peace—the chateaux and happy villages, the forests and + pastures, that flourished here so brief a time ago. In my fancy the long, + low swells of land, like those of some dreary sea, were for the moment the + subsiding waves of the cataclysm that had rolled here and extinguished all + life. Beside the road only the blood-red soil betrayed the sites of + powdered villages; and through it, in every direction, trenches had been + cut. Between the trenches the earth was torn and tortured, as though some + sudden fossilizing process, in its moment of supreme agony, had fixed it + thus. On the hummocks were graves, graves marked by wooden crosses, others + by broken rifles thrust in the ground. Shattered gun-carriages lay in the + ditches, modern cannon that had cost priceless hours of skilled labour; + and once we were confronted by one of those monsters, wounded to the + death, I had seen that morning. The sight of this huge, helpless thing + oddly recalled the emotions I had felt, as a child, when contemplating + dead elephants in a battle picture of the army of a Persian king. + </p> + <p> + Presently, like the peak of some submerged land, we saw lifted out of that + rolling waste the “Butt” of Warlencourt—the burial-mound of this + modern Marathon. It is honeycombed with dugouts in which the Germans who + clung to it found their graves, while the victorious British army swept + around it toward Bapaume. Everywhere along that road, which runs like an + arrow across the battle-field to Albert, were graves. Repetition seems the + only method of giving an adequate impression of their numbers; and near + what was once the village of Pozieres was the biggest grave of all, a + crater fifty feet deep and a hundred feet across. Seven months the British + sappers had toiled far below in the chalk, digging the passage and + chamber; and one summer dawn, like some tropical volcano, it had burst + directly under the German trench. Long we stood on the slippery edge of + it, gazing down at the tangled wire and litter of battle that strewed the + bottom, while the rain fell pitilessly. Just such rain, said my + officer-guide, as had drenched this country through the long winter months + of preparation. “We never got dry,” he told me; and added with a smile, in + answer to my query: “Perhaps that was the reason we never caught colds.” + </p> + <p> + When we entered Albert, the starting point of the British advance, there + was just light enough to see the statue of the Virgin leaning far above us + over the street. The church-tower on which it had once stood erect had + been struck by a German shell, but its steel rod had bent and not broken. + Local superstition declares that when the Virgin of Albert falls the war + will be ended. + </p> + <p> + IV + </p> + <p> + I come home impressed with the fact that Britain has learned more from + this war than any other nation, and will probably gain more by that + knowledge. We are all wanting, of course, to know what we shall get out of + it, since it was forced upon us; and of course the only gain worth + considering—as many of those to whom its coming has brought home the + first glimmerings of social science are beginning to see—is + precisely a newly acquired vision of the art of self-government. It has + been unfortunately necessary—or perhaps fortunately necessary—for + the great democracies to turn their energies and resources and the + inventive ingenuity of their citizens to the organization of armies and + indeed of entire populations to the purpose of killing enough Germans to + remove democracy's exterior menace. The price we pay in human life is + appallingly unfortunate. But the necessity for national organization + socializes the nation capable of it; or, to put the matter more truly, if + the socializing process had anticipated the war—as it had in Great + Britain—the ability to complete it under stress is the test of a + democratic nation; and hence the test of democracy, since the socializing + process becomes international. Britain has stood the test, even from the + old-fashioned militarist point of view, since it is apparent that no + democracy can wage a sustained great war unless it is socialized. After + the war she will probably lead all other countries in a sane and + scientific liberalization. The encouraging fact is that not in spite of + her liberalism, but because of it, she has met military Germany on her own + ground and, to use a vigorous expression, gone her one better. In 1914, as + armies go today, the British Army was a mere handful of men whose officers + belonged to a military caste. Brave men and brave officers, indeed! But at + present it is a war organization of an excellence which the Germans never + surpassed. I have no space to enter into a description of the amazing + system, of the network of arteries converging at the channel ports and + spreading out until it feeds and clothes every man of those millions, + furnishes him with newspapers and tobacco, and gives him the greatest + contentment compatible with the conditions under which he has to live. The + number of shells flung at the enemy is only limited by the lives of the + guns that fire them. I should like to tell with what swiftness, under the + stress of battle, the wounded are hurried back to the coast and even to + England itself. I may not state the thousands carried on leave every day + across the channel and back again—in spite of submarines. But I went + one day through Saint Omer, with its beautiful church and little blue + chateau, past the rest-camps of the big regiments of guards to a seaport + on the downs, formerly a quiet little French town, transformed now into an + ordered Babel. The term is paradoxical, but I let it stand. English, + Irish, and Scotch from the British Isles and the ends of the earth mingle + there with Indians, Egyptians, and the chattering Mongolians in queer fur + caps who work in the bakeries. + </p> + <p> + I went through one of these bakeries, almost as large as an automobile + factory, fragrant with the aroma of two hundred thousand loaves of bread. + This bakery alone sends every day to the trenches two hundred thousand + loaves made from the wheat of western Canada! Of all sights to be seen in + this place, however, the reclamation “plant” is the most wonderful. It + covers acres. Everything which is broken in war, from a pair of officer's + field-glasses to a nine-inch howitzer carriage is mended here—if it + can be mended. Here, when a battle-field is cleared, every article that + can possibly be used again is brought; and the manager pointed with pride + to the furnaces in his power-house, which formerly burned coal and now are + fed with refuse—broken wheels of gun-carriages, sawdust, and even + old shoes. Hundreds of French girls and even German prisoners are resoling + and patching shoes with the aid of American machinery, and even the uppers + of such as are otherwise hopeless are cut in spirals into laces. Tunics, + breeches, and overcoats are mended by tailors; rusty camp cookers are + retinned, and in the foundries the precious scraps of cast iron are melted + into braziers to keep Tommy in the trenches warm. In the machine-shops the + injured guns and cannon are repaired. German prisoners are working there, + too. At a distance, in their homely grey tunics, with their bullet-shaped + heads close-cropped and the hairs standing out like the needles of a + cylinder of a music-box, they had the appearance of hard citizens who had + become rather sullen convicts. Some wore spectacles. A closer view + revealed that most of them were contented, and some actually cheerful. + None, indeed, seemed more cheerful than a recently captured group I saw + later, who were actually building the barbed-wire fence that was to + confine them. + </p> + <p> + My last visit in this town was to the tiny but on a “corner lot,” in which + the Duchess of Sutherland has lived now for some years. As we had tea she + told me she was going on a fortnight's leave to England; and no Tommy in + the trenches could have been more excited over the prospect. Her own + hospital, which occupies the rest of the lot, is one of those marvels + which individual initiative and a strong social sense such as hers has + produced in this war. Special enterprise was required to save such + desperate cases as are made a specialty of here, and all that medical and + surgical science can do has been concentrated, with extraordinary success, + on the shattered men who are brought to her wards. That most of the + horrible fractures I saw are healed, and healed quickly—thanks + largely to the drainage system of our own Doctor Carrel—is not the + least of the wonders of the remarkable times in which we live. + </p> + <p> + The next day, Sunday, I left for Paris, bidding farewell regretfully to + the last of my British-officer hosts. He seemed like an old, old friend—though + I had known him but a few days. I can see him now as he waved me a + good-bye from the platform in his Glengarry cap and short tunic and plaid + trousers. He is the owner of a castle and some seventy square miles of + land in Scotland alone. For the comfort of his nation's guests, he toils + like a hired courier. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + + American religion as set forth by William James + Be useful! + Privilege of making blunders + Rising every time you fall (Confucius on greatness) + Sentimentalism, ignorance, close-mindedness, and cant + The English do not advertise their sorrows +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Traveller in War-Time, by Winston Churchill + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRAVELLER IN WAR-TIME *** + +***** This file should be named 5398-h.htm or 5398-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/9/5398/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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