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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d359818 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68895 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68895) diff --git a/old/68895-0.txt b/old/68895-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 567dded..0000000 --- a/old/68895-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7004 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of A soldier's mother in France, by Rheta -Childe Dorr - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: A soldier's mother in France - -Author: Rheta Childe Dorr - -Release Date: September 2, 2022 [eBook #68895] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Fay Dunn, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SOLDIER'S MOTHER IN -FRANCE *** - - - - - - A SOLDIER’S MOTHER - IN FRANCE - - _By_ - RHETA CHILDE DORR - Author of _Inside the Russian Revolution_ - - [Illustration] - - INDIANAPOLIS - THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - - - - COPYRIGHT 1918 - THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY - - PRESS OF - BRAUNWORTH & CO. - BOOK MANUFACTURERS - BROOKLYN, N. Y. - - - - -_To the other mothers; I dedicate this book._ - - _Rheta Childe Dorr._ - -_September, 1918_ - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER PAGE - - I. WHERE THE LONG TRAIL LED 1 - - II. I ADOPT THE AMERICAN ARMY 8 - - III. SEEING AMERICA OVER THERE 16 - - IV. PIONEERS, OH, PIONEERS 25 - - V. WE FINISH WHAT CÆSAR BEGAN 33 - - VI. GOING TO SCHOOL IN THE ARMY 41 - - VII. OUR BOYS DISCOVER THE PAST 49 - - VIII. THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY 57 - - IX. OUR FOREIGN LEGION 66 - - X. THE GENERAL HIMSELF 74 - - XI. GENERAL ALLAIRE’S FINEST 82 - - XII. INTO THE TRENCHES 89 - - XIII. WRITE TO HIM OFTEN--BUT 100 - - XIV. WHEN THEY WIN WOUND STRIPES 108 - - XV. FIGHTING WOUND SHOCK 116 - - XVI. HOW THE WAR AGAINST TRENCH FEVER WAS WON 125 - - XVII. THE GREATEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD 132 - - XVIII. FRANCE APPROVES THE EGREC EM SAY AH 140 - - XIX. BEAUTY AS USUAL 148 - - XX. BLED WHITE 156 - - XXI. THE REPATRIATES 164 - - XXII. FRENCHMEN, NEVER FORGET 172 - - XXIII. THE NEW WOMAN IN FRANCE 180 - - XXIV. POUR LA PATRIE 188 - - XXV. BY WAY OF DIVERSION 196 - - XXVI. WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME 203 - - XXVII. WHAT KIND OF WAR WORK 211 - -XXVIII. THE DARK OCEAN LANES 219 - - XXIX. CLEMENCEAU THE TIGER 227 - - XXX. FROM ALL FOES, FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC 237 - - XXXI. LAFAYETTE, WE’RE HERE 246 - - - - -A Soldier’s Mother in France - - - - -CHAPTER I - -WHERE THE LONG TRAIL LED - - -On the lapel of my coat I wear a little pin, a pin with a single star, -ruby red on a bar of white. My only son is a member of the American -Expeditionary Force in France. More than a million American women wear -pins like mine. Some have two stars, three, even four, and every one -covers a heart heavy with anxiety and foreboding. That little service -pin which mothers wear, fathers, too; sisters, sweethearts, wives, is a -symbol of sacrifice. It should be something more than that. - -My star has come to mean love of country far surpassing the mild -patriotism of other days. It means confidence and courage for whatever -in these tragic times I shall need courage. It means pride in the young -manhood of America and hope unbounded for the future of America, which -lies in their hands. Before I went to France I wore my service pin for -one soldier--my son. I wear it now for the American army. If I can, -by writing of that army as I have just seen it in France, lessen a -little for other women the burden of anxiety and dread I shall count my -journey worth while. - -I went to France as a correspondent, a reporter, to write about the -war. I was sent, not because I am a woman, but in spite of the fact, -and merely because my editors believed that I could handle that -particular job. My letter of credentials to the French Foreign Office -said that I had reported the Russian revolution for my paper and that -I was now assigned to France with the view of informing readers in the -United States as to participation of United States troops in war and -the political situations of the allied countries in the war. - -I hope that my editors’ confidence in me was not entirely misplaced -and that I did not quite fall down on my job. But what I experienced -in France and what I brought out with me were not exactly what I had -expected. I went to France as a correspondent, deeply interested in my -work, but very soon after I arrived and almost with my first contact -with our marvelous new army I forgot all about my work. I forgot that I -was in France after military and political facts. - -I forgot that I was a correspondent. I was conscious only that I was -a mother. The mother of a boy in France. I was one in heart with a -million other American women I have never seen and will never see; one -with every woman in the land who wears a service pin. - -_I discovered that try as I might to think of armies, strategies and -diplomacies, the only thing that vitally concerned me in France was to -find out how my son was faring, and in doing so I was finding out the -things that other mothers wanted to know about their boys._ - -Where they are, how they live, who their comrades are, how they work -and play, what they are learning, how they get along with their strange -new neighbors, the French people, and what the war is doing to their -minds and souls, as well as their bodies. I wanted, fervently, to know -all this about one soldier, and I believed that the other women would -like to know about their own. - -Our soldiers are more than three thousand miles away from home, and -they have gone on a terrible errand. We know less about war than any -other women in the world, but we know that it is a brutal, pitiless, -bloodthirsty business. We know that bodies perish in war, and sometimes -souls, which is worse. Going over in the steamer a horrible story was -told me, a story which turned out to be quite untrue, but which when -I heard it cost me a sleepless night. It was to the effect that vice -was so rampant in all the armies that a whole shipload of hopelessly -diseased Australian soldiers had recently sailed from England. The -hospitals had salvaged many, it was said, but these men, who had left -home clean, wholesome, decent boys, were now being sent back to die, -physical and moral wrecks. Some, it was certain, would commit suicide -during the voyage. - -That tale filled me with such terror that I went to some lengths to -investigate it. It was quite untrue, and I repeat it here only because -it is representative of stories that are current everywhere and add -greatly to the sufferings of the women at home. _The first thing I want -to say about our army is that the men are morally as safe in France as -they could possibly be at home. I made it my particular business to -know it._ - -I spent three months in France, traveling over most of the considerable -territory occupied by the American forces. I visited something like -twenty-five camps, small ones, large ones and immense ones, where the -men are training, where they are being made into experts in special -lines of fighting; where they are at work building miles of wharves, -warehouses, cold storage plants, barracks and hospitals; where they are -laying railroads and dredging rivers; where they are performing marvels -of constructive work necessary to the life of an army far removed from -its base. - -I met and talked with thousands of soldiers in their camps, in the -Y. M. C. A. and Red Cross canteens, in many ancient towns of central -France. I saw our men disembarking from their transports, and I saw -them tramping through ice-cold mud to the front-line trenches. I talked -with them in their billets in lonely little villages of the north, and -in vacation cities of the azure south. I have visited American soldiers -in hospitals and I have knelt beside their graves. _Our soldiers have -only one enemy, and that is the Germans._ That enemy they must fight -and conquer, and we over here must steel our hearts to the sacrifices -of life, the suffering and maiming that are absolutely inevitable and -will have to be borne. The casualty lists, every day growing a little -longer, are bound to grow even longer. What English mothers and French -mothers, what all the people of all the warring nations have endured, -we shall have to endure. It is the world’s pain and we can not escape -it. - -What we Americans have to help us bear what is coming in the next -few months is the knowledge that our losses are going to be as few -as possible. Life is to be safeguarded as far as human agencies can -devise. Our army is organized for that. Men are not to be sacrificed -unnecessarily. The best science in the world is being mobilized to save -suffering and to heal wounds. Sickness and accident are being guarded -against. Drunkenness and immorality are under strictest ban. - -Some of this I was privileged to hear from the man who perhaps more -than any other individual is responsible for the lives and the souls of -our men in France, General Pershing. I saw him twice, once briefly in -Paris, where he talked to me five minutes before leaving for an allied -war council at Versailles, and once at length in his headquarters in a -quaint old town which is the general headquarters of the staff of our -army in France. - -General Pershing is the least formal of any great officer I have ever -seen, with the notable exception of “Papa” Joffre, but generals are all -very important personages and have to be addressed with circumspection. -I wanted very much to say to General Pershing, but of course I didn’t, -that after seeing him I felt a whole lot easier about my especial -soldier. A more human commanding officer, one more concerned about the -last detail of the life of the enlisted man, I am sure never lived. He -spoke of the soldiers as a father speaks of his sons, with pride and -passionate concern. - -_“They are the best in the world,” he said, and he added that although -our talk was private and that he could not be quoted, I was at liberty -to repeat those words: “Our soldiers are fine men, clean, strong, -intelligent, and they will make magnificent fighters. Tell the people -at home, especially the mothers, that they can be proud of their men. -Tell them that almost without exception their behavior is beyond -criticism. Tell them that for me.”_ - -Proud of their commander also may the American people be, and over and -above all, proud of the cause for which the American soldiers fight and -for which they are ready to die. Not in the whole history of the world -has a more righteous war been fought. I do not think the majority of -Americans yet dream of the depth of depravity contemplated by the men -who brought about the war. We have heard of German atrocities and we -have shuddered at the recital. - -But the plan and object of this war on the part of those Prussians who -are responsible for it constitute the worst atrocity of all, for the -plan was the murder of Christian civilization and the object was the -enslavement of mankind. - -I have seen some of the effects of a partial success of the German war -lords’ plan, and I, the mother of a soldier on the French front, say -to the mothers of other soldiers that I would be ashamed to have him -anywhere else. Not long before leaving France I saw him for a short -hour, a simple enlisted man in a humble post of duty. The spring wind -blowing over the devastated and ravished plains bore the roaring of -artillery plainly to our ears. Every day since then those guns have -roared nearer, and now that part of France is closed to civilians. - -The next message that came out of the sector where the Americans hold -the line brought mourning and tears to many women. And yet I can -truthfully say that I would be happier to have my son dead in France, -sleeping in a soldier’s grave beyond the sea, than to have him alive -and safe, shirking his duty in a bullet-proof job at home. - -I do not believe that in the years to come there is going to be much -happiness for the men who are shirking, nor for the women who may -be encouraging them to shirk. The shirkers are going to play a very -pitiful part in the national life of this country after the war. The -men who come home will be the rulers of America’s future destiny. They -will be the strong builders of our greatness. They are learning in this -war how to build. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -I ADOPT THE AMERICAN ARMY - - -Looking back over my three months in France, most of the time spent in -visiting American military camps, some experiences stand out above all -others. One, a precious personal experience, gave me my first insight -into the splendid idealism and individual worth of the enlisted men -of our army. I had gone to France a newspaper correspondent, without -a single plan, without even a hope of seeing my soldier son. I had no -intention of using my privileged position to seek him out. I did not -know where he was, nor did I ask. - -The American soldier abroad is theoretically still in America. He gets -his letters through an American branch post-office in Paris, and they -are sent to him in care of his regiment and his company, with no more -definite address than “American Expeditionary Force.” My son knew my -Paris address, but he could not, even had he wished to do so, tell me -his. - -With a few thousand more impatient youngsters my boy had enlisted -before the draft, fearing that he might draw a late number. He signed -up on the day when I sailed for Russia, and he was in France nearly -two months before I returned to the United States. Thus our separation -had been a longer one than was usual in this war. So when he wrote me -in February that he had been given a week’s leave and hoped to be sent -to Aix-les-Bains, I hoped so too most fervently, because I had been -ordered to Aix-les-Bains to write the story of the first vacation of -our soldiers. - -I arrived two days after the first contingent of men, the dried mud of -the trenches caking their uniforms and their worn boots, had marched -to music and cheers through the flag-draped streets of Aix. I drove -directly from the station to the headquarters of the provost marshal, -and asked if a certain private soldier was in town, and if so where. -He was there, and a sympathetic young man in uniform of the military -police searched the lists for the record of his hotel. It is part of -the intelligent care taken of our soldiers overseas that even on their -permissions, or leaves from duty, the highest authorities know exactly -where they live and how. No mother need worry lest her son get lost in -France. He can’t get lost. - -In two minutes I had my son’s address and was on my way to the -hotel. He was not there, but the black-eyed little _patronne_, also -sympathetic, found me a room on his floor. It was near the luncheon -hour and I sat down at the window nearest the street, eagerly -scrutinizing every soldier who passed, especially those who turned in -at the hotel gate. Finally a soldier came swinging down the street, -and it seemed to me that he looked familiar. Yet I was not sure. Could -nine months make such a difference in a boy of twenty? This one, with -the absurd little tooth-brush mustache and the cap on the side of -his head, was taller, broader, straighter than my son. He was more -intensely alive. Yet he walked like my Julian. - -I waited for him to come up-stairs, but he did not come. I decided that -he had gone directly to the dining-room, so I went down-stairs and -into the big room, every table of which was filled with uniformed men, -eating, laughing and talking. - -It was the boy. I was so overwhelmed at the sight of him that I could -not take more than a step into the room. I could not speak. Something -of my intense emotion must have reached him, for he looked up, saw -me, and in one bound was beside me with his arms wide, just as when I -used to visit him unexpectedly at school. “Mother, mother!” he cried. -Instantly at the word the noisy talk and laughter stopped dead, and -every man in the room sprang to his feet. It was not a tribute to me, -but to their own mothers at home. Right there I adopted the American -army. - -I am proud to say that a small section of the American army, all of -it in that hotel, adopted me. Some were too shy to come up and be -introduced, but I had broad smiles whenever I met any of them, and -always, when I entered the dining-room, the same chivalric greeting. - -I talked with hundreds of soldiers during that week in Aix-les-Bains, -and in the little town of Chambéry, two miles distant, also a vacation -center for our men. It is not mere boasting to say that they are, man -for man, the most amazingly fine-looking soldiers in the world. They -average rather larger than the English, and broader and more muscular -than either English or French. - -“_Regardez donc, les épaules!_” Look at the shoulders, I have heard -dozens of Frenchmen exclaim. And they might as well exclaim, look at -their pink and healthy skins, their clear eyes and splendid teeth. -A generation ago we were known as a nation of dyspeptics. No one in -France or England will ever call us that again. Our soldiers are as -nearly perfect physical specimens as any men alive. - -They are remarkably intelligent. Their eyes and ears are wide open to -learn all they can of the wonderful land of France, and especially -of the historic past which lives in old châteaus, ruined castles and -Roman remains all over France. Aix-les-Bains, as every one probably -knows, is in Savoy, which was once an Italian state, but which voted -itself French sometime in the eighteen-fifties. In Chambéry is an -ancient château which was the seat of the former dukes of Savoy. It -is a picturesque old pile, built in the thirteenth century and still -habitable. - -Those American soldiers overran the château, climbed the corkscrew -stone staircase to the top of the tallest watch tower, swarming -over the ivy-clad walls, exploring every corner of the place. They -speculated on probable methods of warfare and defense in the thirteenth -century, and quarreled cheerfully as to how long their regiment could -have held the château against the assaults of the other fellows’ -regiment. They had more fun with that château than any of its original -owners ever had. - -They climbed mountains around Aix, taking delight in all-day hikes -above the early spring snow line. They seemed thrilled at the thought -that they, fresh from Iowa, North Dakota, Georgia, Texas, were -actually looking across the valleys and hills at Mont Blanc and the -Alps. Bicycles could be rented for about fifteen cents an hour, and -hundreds of men spent their time exploring the country around. In the -late afternoons and evenings they gathered in the big magnificent -casino, now under lease to the Y. M. C. A., and delightfully swapped -experiences. - -During the entire week I never once saw a drunken or a disorderly -soldier. One day at luncheon one youth who had imbibed a little too -freely of _vin ordinaire_, perfectly accessible to all, and very -cheap, suddenly became inspired to sing. The only thing he could think -of was the doxology, and he sang one whole line of it before he was -pulled back into his seat and his vocal efforts extinguished in a roar -of laughter. That was the sole and only approach to rough-house I -witnessed in Aix. - -The healthy enjoyment and the consistent good behavior of the Americans -seemed to impress the French as miraculous. Half a dozen French -officers on leave in the famous watering place spent hours in the Y. -M. C. A. headquarters, and townspeople brought their families to see -the Americans, hear them sing _Over There_, and _Joan of Arc_, and -stag dance to the music of Lieutenant Europe’s famous regimental -band. Europe, who used to play for idle New York to tango, has a band -of colored soldiers who are going to be known all over the continent -before the war ends. The men all sing as well as play, and their music -is really remarkable. Whenever a colored soldier appeared on the street -the French children followed him in a rapt procession. They followed -all the Americans, but Europe’s men had them hypnotized. - -In Aix I saw the beginning of what I believe is going to be a -never-ending friendship and understanding between the American people -and the French. You have heard, no doubt, about how the French double -the prices of everything as soon as an American soldier enters a town. -Some French shopkeepers have done this, of course. The American soldier -seems to be rolling in wealth, and he rarely even counts his change. -The temptation to overcharge a man who throws down a fifty franc note -in payment for an apple, carelessly inquiring “Is that enough,” must -be pretty strong. But let me tell you that avarice is not the ruling -passion of the French, and their dealings with the American soldier are -often marked with consideration most extraordinary. - -Vacations do not come cheaply to the American soldier in France, at -least the stay at Aix-les-Bains was not cheap. Every man who went -there was supposed to have a minimum of one hundred and fifty francs, -or twenty-seven dollars, in his possession. When he registered at the -office of the provost marshal he drew a slip of paper with the name of -a hotel on it. To that hotel he was obliged to go. The tariff varied -from ninety-three to one hundred and twenty-eight francs for the week, -and this sum, seventeen dollars and sixty-four cents to twenty-three -dollars and four cents, had to be paid in advance. - -A few of the soldiers failed to get this into their heads before -coming, and there was considerable borrowing in the first few days. -Lucky were they who had friends from whom to borrow. One tall shy -youth from Georgia, I think it was Georgia, came to the Y. M. C. A. -with a pathetic tale of tragedy based on the fact that he had arrived -in Aix with only eighty francs in his pocket. He had probably never -been twenty miles from his home village before he went to France with -his regiment, and here he found himself shut out from his hotel in a -strange European town, with thirteen dollars and sixty cents less than -he needed to support existence. - -The Y. M. C. A. secretary suggested that he go back and ask permission -to stay as long as his money lasted, but the boy was too frightened -and forlorn to make the venture. Besides, he spoke no French and could -never explain himself to that terrible _patronne_. In France it is -always the women who hold the cash-box and manage the business end of -hotel keeping. - -The Y. M. C. A. secretary put on his hat and went back with the -drooping Georgian to plead with the _patronne_. She had not previously -understood the case, and now was all kindness and sympathy. - -“The poor infant!” she exclaimed. “So far away from home and only -eighty francs. Wait, monsieur, until I consult my husband.” - -Soon she came back smiling. “It is all right, monsieur,” she said. “The -big infant may stay the week for eighty francs. We also have a son -under the colors. May some one be a little kind to him when he needs -it.” - -This story, I believe, is more truly typical of the spirit of the -French people toward our men than any tale of extortion, however true. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -SEEING AMERICA OVER THERE - - -Vacation days are always swift flying, but that vacation week I spent -in Aix-les-Bains with my soldier son broke all the records for brevity. -The day of departure came almost before I realized that we had been -fortunate enough to meet. We left Aix within a few hours of each other, -my train first. I had a last glimpse of the boy standing on the station -platform waving his cap and smiling. How is it that we can smile at -such moments? Perhaps only because we are a little something more than -dust, because we have aspirations, dim and dreaming though they may be, -beyond mortal life and love. So we went our ways toward our separate -duties, he to the front, I to the rear. His task was to fight, mine to -write. If he could go to his work with a smile, then I could too. And I -did. - -I want to visualize to the American people who have sons and brothers -and husbands in this war the immensity of the work the men have -undertaken. Not only the work of fighting, but of building and -preparation. Fighting furnishes the most spectacular and tragic aspect -of war. But that is not all there is to the great game. War is a -stupendous business enterprise. It is a feat of engineering beside -which the building of the Panama Canal looks like a mere pastime. When -I started out to see America, as it had established itself in France, -I did not dream of the greatness I was to encounter, a greatness which -has fairly staggered and inspired those of our allies who have seen it. - -The first anniversary of the American entrance into the world war was -the occasion of what almost might be called special American editions -of most of the large English and French newspapers. Columns of space -in these papers were devoted to encomiums of praise of our enterprise, -our ingenuity, our manifold and miraculous accomplishments in the space -of twelve short months. Miraculous was a word most frequently used, -miraculous and astounding. - -It is too bad that the people of the United States can not at -present be told all of the amazing feats of building, engineering, -transportation and railroad construction which have so impressed -the allies abroad. It would inspire and encourage them to know it, -but unfortunately it is necessary to keep as many of the details as -possible a secret from Germany. Before the fateful August day in 1914, -when the vast German army started on its march across doomed Belgium, -the war lords knew the French railroad system as well as they knew -their own. They had maps of every foot of railroad in the French -republic. They had an accurate catalogue of French rolling stock, and -they knew exactly the number and capacity of railroad manufacturing and -repair shops. They probably knew the railroad men of the country down -to the last patch on an engineer’s overalls. - -But the Germans do not know what has happened to the French railroad -system since April 6, 1917, the date of our entrance into the war. Of -course we do not want them to know, but I don’t mind telling them that -what has happened deserves the adjectives lavished on us by the English -and French newspapers. I have been over hundreds of miles of that part -of the French railroad system which moves our men and their supplies -from ocean ports to the fighting front, and I agree with Secretary -Baker when he said, on his departure from France, that what had been -accomplished was inspiring to behold. - -I shall never forget a Sunday that I spent at a railroad station in -a town in central France. The town, which can not be named, is a -small and not very important manufacturing city, but it is now one of -the important junctions in the chain of railroads leading from the -southwestern and northwestern seaports to the battle-front of the -northeast. - -The day was Sunday, just three days after the great push of March -twenty-first began. I was returning to Paris after a visit to certain -large aviation fields in the neighborhood, and got off at this junction -for luncheon and a change of cars. Few French trains now carry -restaurant wagons, and travelers, except on express trains, have to -carry luncheon baskets or depend on station buffets. - -I arrived at the junction at eleven o’clock, but I did not take the -two o’clock Paris express, as I had planned. I stayed in the station -all day and all evening watching the breath-taking procession of trains -tearing northward to the fight, and the equally amazing procession -of trains rolling southward and bearing the flotsam and jetsam of -battle--wounded and dying men, despairing refugees, damaged guns, -broken airplanes. French trains, including our own over there, move -methodically in blocks called _marches_. They never have any traffic -tie-ups, because all the trains move at exactly the same speed, and -every train has its prescribed place in the _marche_, just so far ahead -or behind the next train. It is an excellent system. But it seemed to -me that day that the trains would certainly telescope one another, they -came on and on so unceasingly and so close together. - -The trains moving northward were laden with soldiers, horses, guns, -airplanes, ammunition wagons, food, supplies of every conceivable -description. Trainload after trainload of horses, eight to a car -with four men, generally asleep on the hay in the middle space of -the car. The horses, beautiful, tragic creatures, going to almost -certain destruction wrung the heart to see. They gazed out at the -flying landscape and the cheering station crowds with big, soft, -uncomprehending eyes. How I wish we did not have to use horses in war. -Of course the lives of men are far more valuable, but the men at least -know why they fight and die. - -Trainloads of men, so many that within an hour I had ceased to count -them, rolled through that junction. Men from England, Frenchmen -hurriedly recalled from leave in their southern homes. All ages. I saw -French boys who must have been eighteen, but who looked younger by two -years, and I saw men who might have been grandfathers. These older men -do not often fight. They serve meals in the trenches and perform other -non-combatant services. All France--all--is mobilized for some kind of -service. - -Sometimes these troop trains made brief stops at our station. Of -course, there was a Red Cross canteen there, and I worked with the fine -French women who were in charge of it, ladling hot coffee into mugs, -and handing thick sandwiches to the crowding, hungry _poilus_. Some -of the trains had their own kitchens, portable affairs on flat cars, -and when the train stopped the men fairly boiled out of the carriages, -pails and bowls in hand, to get the delicious soup prepared by the -cooks. The Red Cross women supplemented the meal with sandwiches and -coffee, at least when time permitted, which was not often. Those troop -trains were on their way north with no unnecessary stops. - -More often than not the trains did not stop. Once as a train was -rolling through the station a soldier called to me asking for the -newspaper I held in my hand. Of course I gave it to him, sprinting -along the platform at a lively rate. The next time I saw a train coming -I ran to the newsstand and bought three francs’ worth of papers, about -as many as I could carry, and had them ready for rapid distribution to -the effusive and laughing soldiers. - -But right in the middle of that exciting procession of trains came -something that brought my heart to my throat. It was an immensely long -train of all new cars, painted olive drab, with U. S. A. in white -letters on the side. And the cars, dozens and dozens of them, were -loaded with railroad building material. Portable tracks, switches, -signals, exactly like the expensive and fascinating toy railroads which -children delight in. Steel rails, wooden ties, machinery for laying -them, flat cars, wheels, tools and nails, and last of all tiny little -locomotives, two of them to a flat car, all American, going up to the -front with the French and the English soldiers. - -Right behind that train of cars came another, a shorter one, and this -was full of brown-clad American engineers, going up to the front with -the allied soldiers, to lay those tracks and operate that little -narrow-gauge railroad under gun-fire. Our own sons. - -That was not all. In the middle of the afternoon another train went -northward, olive drab, with U. S. A. in white letters. This was a -hospital train of entirely new cars, the finest and most complete I had -ever seen. It was a palace on wheels, with every conceivable appliance -for the comfort of wounded soldiers. There were kitchen cars, operating -cars, X-ray compartments, cars with beds, cars with couches for the -sitting cases. Cars for doctors and nurses as well as patients. -Nothing I had seen, not even men going into the trenches, brought -home to me so sharply the fact that we were in the war and were fully -determined to hold our end up. - -We could not have done it so well had we not, in the last fifty years, -developed such extraordinary railroad builders and operators. The -French had a railroad system adequate for peace-time uses, but when war -came, and especially after the tide of Americans began to pour into the -country, the system had to be enormously enlarged. It had to be planned -and organized also, in order not to disturb unduly the life of the -country. And it had to be done quickly. - -It is not going beyond the permissible line to say that our railroad -experts have worked out a wonderful system for the transportation of -men and supplies. Several big seaports in the northwest now receive -most of the men who in larger and larger units are being transported -to France. One very large port in the southwest is the receiving -station of most of the supplies sent over. A network of railroads, some -of which we have double-tracked, convey these men and the supplies -eastward and northward to their destinations. There is never any -confusion of freight and passenger trains, because they do not start -from the same ports, and most of the time they are not even on the same -lines. - -All through central France along this railroad system the Americans -have taken over old towns and cities as bases for war work. Outside -of the towns are great camps, with army bakeries, quartermasters’ -depots, hospitals, shops and factories. In one of these camps, near a -railroad junction, is a supply station which is preparing to feed a -million men at the front. At another camp I saw a distribution depot -for medical and surgical supplies for the whole army. At both of these -camps railroad building was going on at a lively rate, miles and miles -of spurs and switches. - -At a lovely old town which was once the stronghold of feudal barons, -whose hoary old château rises over the place like a watch tower, I saw -an immense factory for repairing locomotives and rolling stock. It was -no flimsy wooden structure built for a few months, but an enormous mass -of brick and concrete such as we build in Pittsburgh and Gary. I saw in -the woods outside this town gangs of American foresters. I saw American -sawmills. I saw logging trains manned by Americans. - -I have seen American workmen making wagons, portable houses, trucks, -locomotives. I have seen them building cold storage warehouses and -ice-making plants. Building them substantially, as though we had moved -to Europe to stay, as indeed we have until we put the war out of the -world, together with the militarism that made it. - -Do the Germans know it? Their leaders do, of course, but I doubt very -much whether the mass of the people do. Working under guard in many of -our camps in France are gangs of German prisoners. Watching several -hundred of these men, in fierce green uniforms and shapeless boots, -I asked the young officer who was my escort what they thought of the -American activities. - -“I was curious about that, too,” he replied, “and I took pains to find -out. Would you believe it, that most of the prisoners refuse to credit -the fact that we are here at all? They say, ‘Before we were taken -prisoner our officers told us that we would see soldiers who would -claim to be Americans, but they aren’t. They are Canadians or English. -The Americans can not get over here. Our kaiser has said so.’” - -In another camp I asked the same question. What did the Germans -think about us? They say, I was told, that they didn’t mind building -railroads in France. The kaiser would be glad to have them when he -came. What will happen to the kaiser when the German people learn the -truth? - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -PIONEERS, OH, PIONEERS - - -The man on sentry duty on that section of the huge unfinished wharf was -in a bad humor. He was in a very bad humor. If a stray cat or dog had -appeared on the wharf at that moment he would probably have kicked it. -As it was a woman in the khaki-colored uniform of a war correspondent, -the sentry contented himself with roaring a challenge that brought her -up standing. Having produced her pass, he stood aside with a scowl, -shouldered the rifle which had been pointed at her most menacingly, and -made a gesture with his head which meant, “Well, then, move on.” - -But the correspondent--I was the correspondent--did not move on. I -stopped and said, mildly: “You don’t seem to be enjoying yourself -to-day. What’s the matter?” - -“What’s the matter?” he repeated furiously. “Every darn thing is the -matter. What did I leave my business for, what did I leave my wife and -kids for? Why, to come over here and fight the boche. And what am I -doing? Roustabout work on a blasted line of docks, miles away from the -front. Been here five months in this hole, working like a subway digger. - -“Look at the town back there where we go for a bit of amusement when -the day’s over. Worse than any slum back home. Talk about the horrors -of the trenches. I’d swap the mud we live in for any trench. Talk about -Fritz’s poison gas. When the wind’s right the fumes from that picric -acid factory up the river blow down and choke the lungs out of us.” - -“Do you get these spells often?” I asked. Whereupon he grinned a little -and relaxed his scowl. I asked him where he lived and he named a -thriving town in western Kansas. He had a real estate business in town, -but his folks still lived on the big farm which his father had proved -up on forty years ago. It was a fine place, yielding a big income, -enough to keep the old people in comfort for the rest of their lives, -and to support his young family while he was at the war. - -I came from the prairies myself, and I could just see that farm and -the old folks who had gone out to Kansas in their lusty youth to take -up government land. They had built a sod house, turned up the tough -prairie grass, plowed and sowed and cultivated under the burning sun, -performed the terrible labor to get their first meager corn crops. - -They had fought drought and grasshoppers, lived through blizzards and -cyclones, endured poverty and privations untold. They were pioneers. Of -such is the greatness and the virtue of our America. - -I sat down on a nail keg and talked to that lonely, homesick, aggrieved -soldier about the pioneers. From England first, and later from every -other country in the world they had come, moved by the divine unrest -of ambitious spirits, to the United States. - -They had crossed the plains in rough wagons, daring weather, starvation -and thirst, hostile Indians. They had leveled forests, they had built -homes with no tools but axes and hand saws. They had farmed arid lands. -They had lived in caves and dugouts. They had raised corn that some -years they had been forced to burn for fuel because there was no market -for it. But they lived, and won out, and built homes for their children. - -And now, once more the Americans are pioneering. They are pioneering -in France. They are building an army and doing it, as their fathers -before them, from the ground up. “If you were not building these miles -of docks and warehouses, if we didn’t have hundreds of thousands of -men constructing ice plants, storage warehouses, railroads, barracks, -bakeries, hangars, hospitals, how would the men in the trenches get -food and ammunition and clothes and medical supplies and everything -else they have to have before they can win the war?” I put it to him -straight, and he turned an uncomfortable pink. - -“Of course, you are right,” he said. “But we have to blow off once in a -while. You see we didn’t know anything about it before we came. We drew -our numbers in the draft, and most of us were mighty glad of it. We had -the time of our lives in training camp, and we thought we were going -right into the big show. - -“We thought the engineers would be right up at the front building -railroads for the artillery. Instead of that we are kept down here, -hundreds of miles from the fighting, doing the kind of hard labor some -of us have money enough to hire done at home. - -“Why, do you know,” he continued, “that in----,” naming a near-by -engineering camp, where immense seaplane hangars were being built, -“there is one company of two hundred and fifty men, every one a -graduate of a university or a technical school? All of those men are in -overalls, doing day labor.” - -I did know those men. I had seen them, or some of them, the day before -at the noon hour smoking short pipes and cigarettes, sitting or -sprawling on their backs beside the road. And a fine, husky, happy lot -they were, too. Nothing in their university careers ever did for them -what this rough job of pioneering was doing. - -There was one man there who had put in a magnificent water system in -his home town. When he went to France the newspapers gave him a great -send-off, described his work, and said that no doubt he would be called -on to take charge of the water system in one of the large French -cities. When I met him he was acting as water boy to a railroad tie -carrying squad. - -The engineers in this part of France publish a monthly magazine called -_The Spiker_. They love to get hold of these newspapers notices and to -publish them with comments. From a San Francisco paper they gleaned -that “Willie ----, the cotillion leader of last season’s younger set, -leaves for France shortly with the Blankth Engineers to take charge, it -is understood, of the construction of a telephone system contemplated -by the government to facilitate the hauling of troops to the front.” - -The comment records that the erstwhile cotillion leader, Private ----, -is now on the business end of a No. 2 shovel. - -Well, what of it? The shovel work has to be done just as the prairie -sod had to be turned. The men growl about it sometimes, but mostly -they grin. They chalk “P. G.” on the backs of their jumpers, the same -letters appearing in white on the vivid green uniforms of the German -captives at work in many camps. - -They mean _Prisonnier de Guerre_, war prisoner, and when the weather is -cold and rainy and letters from home are delayed, and spirits sink, you -can hardly blame the men from feeling at times a little like prisoners. -They had expected excitement and perhaps some glory, and hard work and -isolation is their lot. - -But what they are doing, tedious enough day by day, is in the aggregate -splendid and invaluable to the success of our army. The like of it was -never done before by any army in the world. When the Germans see it, as -they will some day through their newspapers, they will be aghast at the -hugeness of it. - -They had sneered at the idea of the Americans sending a large army to -France. How could they send an army? An army can’t swim, nor can it -fly, and the Americans had no ships. Even if they found ships and sent -men enough, how could they feed, clothe and equip them? How could they -keep up their supplies? - -The Americans could and did perform all these miracles because they had -in them the blood of pioneers, of men and women whom no difficulties -could afright, no obstacles turn back. Our soldiers have proved -themselves in countless army camps abroad to be worthy sons of the -breed. - -I remember one big aviation camp which was built in a few months out -of short lengths of boards because the colonel and his staff couldn’t -get any better lumber. They were told that they couldn’t buy any lumber -at all, that there was none available in that part of France. But they -did get it, and they built the camp. The men lived in tents during the -coldest weeks of winter with icy winds blowing over the barren plain. -All aviation camps are built on big plains. - -In spite of the cold the men had no stoves furnished them. No doubt -stoves were contemplated, but they did not reach the camp. But you -can’t freeze pioneers. Those boys just went to work and built stoves, -built them out of mud, brick and stones, oil cans and biscuit tins and -any other old junk they could find lying around. They made stovepipes -out of condensed milk cans, and they kept warm. - -I met and talked with half a dozen of those engineers who were caught -in that German counter-drive near Cambrai in November, 1917. The -men, it will be remembered, were engaged in peaceful labor behind -the British front, linking up railroad communications and forwarding -supplies needed by the English soldiers farther up the line. No one -supposed that the engineers were in any danger, and the squads went out -without any firearms. - -But unexpectedly the Germans swept over the British lines and the -American engineers suddenly found themselves in the middle of a battle. -Some of them seized arms from fallen men and sailed in to the fight -like seasoned soldiers. Others had no chance to get hold of guns, but -did they retreat? Not so that you could notice it. They went for the -Germans with their picks and shovels, and what they did to them was -epic. In describing their work the British general in command said it -was futile to bestow praise on the Americans. What they did was beyond -praise. - -When I met these men they were just finishing up a piece of -construction work at a camp in central France. It was not an especially -interesting work, just day labor. But when the big push began in March -these men, being free to move, were sent up to the front to build more -railroads. - -“Aren’t they the lucky stiffs?” groaned a man in another labor group. -“But our turn will come, I’ll bet you.” - -The lucky stiffs agreed that they were lucky, but they refrained out of -politeness from saying too much about it. Of course, every man hopes -to get up into the big show. But the work behind the lines has to be -done. That is the spirit of the army, except on occasions when the men -have to blow off steam. - -Bidding the lucky ones good-by, I expressed a hope that they would be -allowed to carry weapons when next they went near a fighting line. They -said that they were going to carry side arms, but one man said: - -“What’s the matter with a good sharp pick when you meet up with Heinie? -He knows what a gun will do to him and he is game. But a Yankee guy -with a pick has got him backed off of the map. Jim here killed two and -chased two more with nothing in his hands but a shovel. I had a pick -and I was better off than him.” - -Which was his modest way of telling that he and his pick had accounted -for three German soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets. Thus had his -grandfather fought wolves in some western forest, or killed rattlers in -prairie grass. Pioneers! You can’t beat them. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -WE FINISH WHAT CÆSAR BEGAN - - -A standard joke, used with several variations in French music-halls, -is to the effect that “the English only leased their trenches for -three years, but the Americans have bought theirs.” This witticism is -a tribute to the amount of solid preparation the Americans have made -and are making and to the marvelous feats of engineering which are -progressing rapidly from southern and western France clear up to the -battle lines. - -We own, temporarily at least, seven miles of docks and wharves in one -great seaport alone. Most of these we have built, and the work is still -going on. For forty miles around this seaport the sound of hammer -and ax rings day after day as one after another camp and cantonment -is established. Some of these camps are really small cities. In one, -for example, a hospital camp will house thirty-five thousand people. -Provision for twenty thousand beds is being made. It will be, when -completed, the largest hospital in the world. - -A few months ago that hospital site was a barren waste of prairie. As -for water, there was one solitary well. Sewers there were none, and, of -course, no streets. Now there is a model drainage and sewer system. -There are a dozen miles of paved streets. There is a good water supply, -electric lights and telephones. When I visited this camp some fifty -hospital buildings were wholly or partially completed, and since then -many more must have been built. - -Most of the materials used in this vast piece of construction came -overseas from the United States, but no small amount of lumber was -purchased in France. Now France is very short of lumber and sells as -little of it as she can. I asked the colonel in command of the work -where he got his building material, and he replied with a broad smile: -“Well, I really stole it. I had to have the lumber, so when I found out -where it was, I went over there and just insisted. You see,” he added, -“over here no excuses are ever accepted from anybody. You simply have -to make good on any job they assign you to. If for any reason you don’t -make good, you get sent home.” - -If we could make up our minds to apply this inexorable method to some -of the people who are doing war work on this side of the water we might -get better results. At one of the camps in the neighborhood of this -same seaport in France they are building a naval aviation station. When -it is complete there will be provision for one thousand to fifteen -hundred giant seaplanes, great white birds that can sail three days out -to sea, that will possess power to sink more submarines than any armed -vessels. The submarine is visible from the air at a much greater depth -than it is from a ship’s deck, and the seaplanes will carry plenty of -deadly depth bombs. Moreover, they will fly safely. The submarine can -not fight back at them. - -When this camp is completed and equipped--don’t forget that it has to -be equipped--those planes will do more than convoy vessels into the -harbor, they will be used to train flyers for a dozen other ports into -which our ships and our allies’ ships now steal precariously. There -were no seaplanes there when I saw the place. The hangars were soon -to be ready, though, and so were the big repair shops, the bunkhouses -for the men, the ammunition warehouses, and all the other necessary -buildings. There is absolutely no inefficiency over there. - -The man who is in charge of most of the mammoth undertaking in and -around this seaport now bears the title of colonel. Before he entered -his country’s service for the duration of the war he was known as one -of the greatest engineers in America. His largest feat was the canal -which connects Lake Washington with Puget Sound. To build this canal, -which flows through the heart of the city of Seattle, the waters of the -big lake, which is nearly twenty miles long, had to be lowered nine -feet. To a man who could do that without difficulty or serious accident -the work undertaken by our army forces in France was a mere matter of -taking one step after another. The first step was getting men, and -there was no difficulty about that. The draft furnished the men, or -at least the mass of them. Voluntary enlistment furnished experts in -various lines. And splendid men they are, those American builders in -France. Of one regiment of engineers working for the most part as day -laborers there fully sixty per cent. are college graduates. - -This seaport lies at one end of a vast railroad system which is -carrying our men and all the army supplies from the ocean to the -fighting front. It is a good harbor and a famous one from the time of -the Romans and even further back than the Romans. But for present-day -war needs it is not good enough. It has sandbars and shallows, so one -of the engineering feats our men are doing is the deepening of that -harbor to admit the largest ships. - -Another feat is the enlarging of docking facilities so that supplies -for an army of three or four million men may be quickly unloaded. -Another still is the building of a five-track spur from the docks to -the main line of railroad. It would take many chapters to describe -adequately all the construction work that is being done in and around -this one city in southern France. - -Perhaps it is nobody’s fault on this side of the Atlantic that a great -deal of the work has been delayed for lack of tools and machinery, -but delayed it has been. For example, pile drivers that were urgently -needed came slowly, and when they came were found to be relics of the -past and practically useless. Locomotives of the vintage of 1868 were -grudgingly furnished, and important work was held up while they were -put into shape. Steam shovels came a piece at a time. But no matter. -The engineers hustled while they waited and built with what material -they had on hand. - -If Germany has spies in those camps, and if they have contrived to make -reports on what is happening there, the knowledge will bring no comfort -to Emperor William and his junkers. The Potsdam fire department which -was to dispose of all the army that the United States could send to -Europe will be assigned to a simpler task. The mere personnel of that -working force of engineers in southern France is enough to make the -Germans turn pale. - -The man in charge of repairs and equipment of naval aviation, with -headquarters in this southern port made a fortune in the automobile -manufacturing business and just before the war he retired from -business. He is still young, but he had all the money he needed and -he wanted to enjoy life in other ways than business. Now he draws the -pay of a lieutenant-commander in the navy and devotes what time he has -free from his duties to inducing other successful business men to enter -army service. This man was on the boat with me coming home from France. -He was going back to get three thousand more expert mechanics, and -incidentally to persuade one of the biggest millionaire railroad men in -the country to put on a uniform. - -A captain of engineers who is bossing part of the work of building -warehouses was drawing a salary of fifteen thousand a year in the -contracting business in New York. Working under him in overalls are -master mechanics, machinists, bridge carpenters, skilled men of many -trades. They may seem to be wasted on these laboring jobs, but the -work has to be done, and there are not enough men of lesser skill to -go around. Later these men will be found and the skilled ones will be -overseers. - -To this end the world is being scoured for laborers. We have Chinese -coolies working for us, Japanese, Spaniards, Dutch, Scandinavians. -In one camp I saw a large detachment of Africans from Algeria, -Mohammedans. They were under the command of French non-commissioned -officers, men who had spent years in North Africa and know the -language. The colonel in command took me to their quarters and into the -cook house, where the noon meal was in preparation. A giant African in -a white cotton robe and turban, the sweat running in streams down his -face, was making soup in a great copper caldron. Other men, similarly -attired and equally hot, were slicing vegetables, cutting bread into -big chunks, opening cans of tomatoes and pouring the contents into the -stew which formed the basis of the meal. - -“I can’t get used to this job of mine,” said the colonel. “A year ago -I filled a little army department job at home and was getting old and -fat. Now I am responsible for a regiment of engineers and nine hundred -workmen, most of whom can’t speak a word of English. - -“These Africans, for instance. I have to leave them to their French -sergeants, and look how they manage them.” I looked. The squad that -was laying bricks for a drain outside the cook house had apparently -committed a slight breach of discipline, for the lithe little French -sergeant in charge was administering punishment. He was bounding around -in a series of catlike jumps, at each jump landing an amazing kick on -exactly the same portion of each man’s anatomy. He never said a word, -he just leaped and kicked. - -“Now, what ought I to do about that?” demanded the colonel. “It’s -against every rule and procedure of the American army.” - -I suggested that the American army was in process of upheaval in a good -many directions, and he agreed with me. - -I ought not to leave the Africans without paying a tribute to the -American negroes who by thousands are helping to build camps and -railroads and docks in southern France. And in many other parts of -France as well. They are doing splendid work and behaving wonderfully -well. France is bewildering to these men, and one of the most -bewildering things is the fact that it has a dark-skinned population -which does not speak United States. It is enough to rattle any -good-natured black man from a Louisiana rice field to speak to a -brother laborer and have him answer back in French or Arabic. - -“Go ’way with tha’ talk,” he exclaims. “You ain’t no real colored man -nohow. Cain’t speak your own language.” - -But if the colored American is short on language in a foreign land he -is all there when it comes to imagination. Some of the men from the -far South are illiterate, but the majority can read and write, and -according to the regimental censors some of the letters they write home -to the folks must keep Georgia and Mississippi neighborhoods keyed up -to the boiling point of excitement. Hundreds of miles removed from the -fighting lines does not prevent the letters from dripping gore. - -“Just back from a hard day in the trenches,” writes a man whose job -is working on a slag heap. “I tell you we done some bloody work. I -tell you. We killed a hundred Germans in one trench and cut um up like -sausage meat. I cut a officer’s head clean off with my bayonet. I cuts -Germans ears off when I kills um. I got a whole string of ears in my -bunkhouse. Write soon, ’cause I might get hit with one of them big guns -and killed.” - -These lurid recitals emanate from the gentlest and most childlike of -all our enlisted forces. They sit around evenings in the Y. M. C. A. -huts reserved for them, eat candy, look at illustrated papers and sing -their plantation and campmeeting songs in voices sweet and lonely. The -French children creep up to the doors and windows of the huts to look -and listen in wonder. Of all the queer and fascinating Americans in -their land the colored men are the queerest and most fascinating. If it -were not for the children and their shy friendliness I don’t know what -the colored fellow would do, for he is very, very far from home. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -GOING TO SCHOOL IN THE ARMY - - -Ridiculing and belittling the American army in France is no longer the -great indoor sport of the German government. It was the last one the -government has left and until lately it was played desperately with the -view of diverting the minds of the people, and keeping hope alive in -their sinking hearts. - -The German newspapers, of course, are rigidly censored. Not a word -of war news is ever published except that which emanates from -headquarters. Nevertheless, the German people, who are not fools, now -know full well that the kaiser’s war promises are not being fulfilled. -He promised in the beginning that their victorious troops would be home -by Christmas of 1914. They know now that Christmas, 1918, will see the -world still at war. - -The kaiser promised his people Verdun, but he could not deliver Verdun. -He promised them the annihilation of the British army before this -year’s summer. But the British army still fights on and even the German -newspapers dare not claim that the British show signs of weakness or -surrender. - -The German people were promised, above all, that their -commander-in-chief would end the war victoriously before the Americans -could raise and transport overseas any army worthy of the name. This -supreme promise the government, until Pershing annihilated the St. -Michiel salient, tried to make the people believe was being kept. -Because they knew that unless the war was won before the Americans come -in in great numbers, it never could be won. - -Secretary of War Baker, quoting from the semi-official _Norddeutsche -Allgemeine Zeitung_ of Berlin, gives a sample of the sedative stuff -with which the German authorities kept the people’s nerves quiet. -Admitting that a country of one hundred million population might -conceivably raise an army of one million five hundred thousand men, the -article goes to great pains to prove that such an army will never cross -the seas. “The American political situation” is such that the greater -part of the army will have to be kept at home. At best only four to -five hundred thousand men can be put into the European battle-field. - -“There is an American army in France,” concedes the article, with an -air of being quite candid on the subject, “but it consists entirely of -woodcutters, railroad men and doctors, except two or three divisions -whose precious lives are being spared in quiet places far behind the -front.” - -When I read those words I laughed. Because I have been in a good many -of those quiet places behind the front, and I know that what was being -done there was not coddling American soldiers, nor yet keeping them -safe from battle. What was and is being done there is making them one -hundred per cent. efficient fighters. Not mass fighters alone, not men -who at the word of command go forward to be mown down by machine-gun -fire. But individual fighters, men who can move together in a mass, -yes, but men who also know how to fight alone, who have initiative, -resourcefulness, responsibility. Men who know every trick in the game. - -While we were building ships; while we were drafting and drilling -men over here; while the despised woodcutters and railroad men and -the vigorous young engineers were laying the basis for a long war if -necessary, but a clean victory in the end, our soldiers, waiting in -scores of camps to take their places in the lines, were being given an -intensive training, which I think would astonish even the war-efficient -Germans. - -We have also special schools for officers, and they are still in full -blast, and will be continued as long as they are needed. Our supply of -officers will never run short, for the schools will continue to turn -them out. The schools give the superior enlisted men a chance to earn -commissions. Officers in every regiment are on a constant watch for men -who show signs of leadership and military intelligence. Such men are -officer material, and on the recommendation of their superiors they are -sent to one or another of the schools which have been established over -there. - -When our men go to France from the cantonments here their training is -by no means complete. They have been licked into soldier shape, they -are in good physical and mental condition, they have learned to march, -to drill, and to shoot. They can use the bayonet, they know something -about artillery, about grenades and bombs. But they still have much to -learn. They begin to learn soon after they arrive in France. They learn -in camps and schools, but the German government doesn’t tell its people -about that. - -It was a cold, drizzly day in March that I visited a school where -infantry, artillery, sanitary and gas lore was being instilled into -the intelligence of nearly two thousand hot-blooded young Americans. -Some of them were being trained for non-commissioned officers who would -be in direct command of squads of soldiers in battle. There were also -large classes for lieutenants and captains of infantry, artillery, -engineering and aviation. - -I can not in one chapter or in two give anything more than an outline -of the courses studied. The schedules announcing the classes lie on my -desk as I write. They cover eighteen closely typewritten pages. - -Take a class of enlisted infantry men who were expected to command -squads. These are some of the things they did in school the week of -March 4 to March 9, 1918: On Monday and Tuesday they had inspection and -drill from 7:50 to 8:45. From 9 until 11:45 they had instruction in -musketry, grenade and bayonet work. They went to their noon dinner, and -from 1:15 to 4:30 they had more of the same kind of drill. - -They repeated this during the rest of the week, and on Wednesday -they had besides a lecture on some theoretical problem of their -work by a veteran colonel, a West Point man. They also studied a -map problem, and in the evening they saw in the engineers’ school a -night demonstration of wiring in the field. They finished on Saturday -afternoon with a “tactical walk.” Quite a busy week. - -It was just as busy with the class in automatic weapons. On Monday -they had close order drill, barrage drill, a lecture on direct fire, -another on indirect fire, practise in range firing and the use of range -finders. Finally they had an hour’s pistol practise. - -They had a great deal of artillery target practise that week, also -a lecture on trench routing, a conference on indirect fire tables, -whatever they may be, and two days’ hard work in the gas school. You -can not, you know, just pick up a gas mask, put it on and successfully -fight. You have to learn how. I tried on a gas mask and couldn’t breath -in it five minutes. So the soldiers have to learn how to wear their -masks, and a great deal besides before they can safely face a gas -attack. - -They hear lectures on how gas is used, preparation for the attacks, -on the mechanics of the box respirator used by our army, and on the -effects of gas. They learn the history of gas warfare and the German -orders and reports concerning it. They learn what to do during and -after an attack. They drill in actual gas chambers. - -The officers in this school had much more technical work. A tactical -course for field officers interested me greatly. The men studied the -technique of grenade, trench mortar and one pound cannon firing. -Trench fighting, when I visited the school, was being vigorously -studied, and I heard part of an intensely interesting lecture on “The -Attack in Trench Warfare,” from a lieutenant-colonel of the British -army who had led many such attacks himself since 1915. - -It seems odd to hear of seminars in war wisdom, but they have them -there, officers who had experienced trench fighting sitting around a -table and discussing nice questions of tactics, just as a short time -ago some of them were sitting around university tables and discussing -political economy or English literature. - -They had a course for signal men which was very valuable. Field -telegraphs and telephones play an exciting part in modern battles, and -the students in this course devoted much time to buzzer telegraph work. -They learned how to string field telephones, and to use them. They had -lectures on ciphers and signals, endless and intricate. They learned to -read maps. - -In the aero school they were training aerial photographers and teaching -them how to interpret photographs taken in the skies. The flyers were -being taught to signal troops from above and to read army signals -thousands of feet below. What the soldiers on the ground seemed to be -doing was spreading freshly washed towels and sheets on the grass, but -what they were really doing, it appeared, was asking questions of the -aviators about the enemy’s maneuvers. - -A little later I visited another army school, or rather an army -college, for there line and staff officers of superior rank were under -instruction. Our army authorities do not intend to repeat the mistakes -of the Civil War in regard to superior officers. It has been said that -it took only a year to teach the rank and file of our men to fight, but -that we fought for two years to train lieutenants and captains, and -three years to train generals. The war was ended in one more year. - -This war college in France, where some great general may now be in -training, perhaps for the highest command of all, is located in a -medieval town which must have seen a lot of fighting in the distant -past. Its stout city walls still stand, and it is plain that a long -battle would have to be fought before the besieging army reached the -walls. The town stands on a rocky height little accessible in the old -days. Below stretches a level plain where all the enemy’s movements -would have been visible for miles. - -It is an appropriate place in which to train future American generals, -for this war is being fought, not only with all modern weapons, but -with many of the weapons of the past. One can easily fancy the ghosts -of the great Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon, Richard Lion Heart, Sir -John Chandos, hovering in the shadows of the classrooms, and listening -delightedly to familiar things, talk of liquid fire, hand grenades, -storming positions with bayonets and long knives. - -But the ghostly warriors would hear other talk, and when final -examination time came, I imagine that they might thank their stars that -they were safely dead, for this war makes demands on the intelligence -of commanding officers that the middle ages wotted nothing of. - -I took a brief survey of one examination paper in which it was put up -to a commander to move several divisions of men from one district in -France to the fighting front. He had a railroad map of France before -him and he was required to state at length and in detail exactly how -and when and where he would entrain his one hundred and twenty-five -thousand men; when and where he would stop each unit for meals; what he -would do with his men when they left the railroad; what villages and -towns he would occupy; where he would billet the soldiers; how and with -what he would feed and supply them; how he would move supplies. It made -my head swim, but it also made my heart swell with proud confidence in -our army. - -Efficiency! There is only one real and permanent efficiency. It is not -possible to achieve it under a slave system. It can only be achieved by -freemen, willing to follow their chosen leaders into the valley of the -shadow of death if that is the road through which more freedom, freedom -of all the world, is to be gained. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -OUR BOYS DISCOVER THE PAST - - -“Voilà,” said the old French general who sat opposite me in the -Bordeaux express, “behold the prettiest sight in France.” He pointed -through the open door of the compartment to two soldiers who were -standing in the corridor smoking their after-luncheon cigarettes. - -One of the soldiers wore a horizon blue uniform, a little worn and -stained with hard usage, although the boy was barely twenty-one. The -other soldier’s uniform was brand new O. D. cloth, made in America. The -two stood beside the window, their arms entwined, looking at the lovely -valley of the Loire and teaching each other their respective languages. - -“Sammee,” said the French soldier, “how you say ‘_donnes moi une -allumette_’?” - -“You say ‘gimme a match.’ But listen here, Gaston, cut out the Sammie. -Forget it.” - -“What you mean ‘forget it,’ Sammee?” persisted the _poilu_, accepting -the match. The lesson went on, and I agreed with the old general that -the sight of French and American youths associating on affectionate -terms and learning each other’s familiar argot was indeed agreeable. - -One of the stock arguments of the pacifists in trying to make war -out an unmixed evil is that it sets back education. I am sure that -many American mothers have had misgivings on this point, and have -deplored the necessity of interrupting their sons’ college life. But I -want to assure them that their sons are learning more in France than -any college could have taught them. They are learning French, for -one thing, at least all the enterprising ones are. Not the foolish, -academic sort of thing they study in high school and college, the -object being to read Molière and the classics, but the living language. - -A striking illustration of the difference in the two methods was -afforded me during a trip into the war zone. In the party was one of -our intelligence officers and a French woman writer of unusually broad -education. The American officer spoke very little French, the woman -writer spoke only a few broken sentences of English, and they had to -be constantly interpreted to each other. One day, in the course of the -conversation, it transpired that the officer before joining the colors -had been a high-school professor of French, and that the woman had for -five years drawn a good salary as a teacher of English. - -The American soldier in a few months can, if he wants to, gets a -practical knowledge of the French language that will be a business -asset to him all his life. Most of the soldiers appreciate this, and -the free classes offered in all the Y. M. C. A. centers are well -attended. They learn in the classes, and they learn even more by -association with French soldiers and civilians. - -My soldier son knew not a word of the language when he enlisted, but -when I saw him in France he was using it fairly well. I congratulated -him on his new acquisition, and he laughed and said: “There’s an -awfully pretty girl in a café the fellows up our way patronize, and she -doesn’t know any English.” - -It is not only the French language that our soldiers are learning, -but French history as well. The part of central France occupied by -our army is a storied treasure house of history. No part of France is -more French. It abounds in castles, châteaux, museums, pointed towers, -dungeon cells and torture chambers, ancient churches and crumbling city -walls. Even the farms, centuries old, some of them, show the remains of -past defenses. - -To our boys, fresh from the new prairies of Iowa and Dakota, or the -still virgin forests of Oregon and Washington, this past they are -surrounded by is the most romantic and wonderful thing that ever came -into their lives. They can hardly believe it is real. - -Even to those soldiers who come from the older sections of the United -States the sight is thrilling. In the gardens of the Luxembourg Palace, -in Paris, built by Henry of Navarre for his second wife, Marie de -Medici, stands a stately marble fountain, moss-grown and mellow with -time. The date cut in the marble is 1620. - -I had this pointed out to me by a soldier from Massachusetts. “Think -of it,” he exclaimed, “the very year when our oldest aristocracy, the -Pilgrim fathers, were cutting down trees for their first log huts and -their rude stockades, these French people were making beautiful things -like that fountain.” - -Long before that they were building beautiful things. Down in the -southernmost part of our territory in France stand the ruins of -a magnificent castle, the one where Edward the Black Prince took -refuge when he was being pursued by that French king with whom he was -contesting the crown of France in thirteen hundred and something. With -two young naval officers I explored the place one warm spring day, and -we were actually awed by the achievement of those builders of olden -days. - -The castle was not only strong, it was noble and fine in all its -masses. “It makes you proud of your Norman ancestors,” said one of the -American officers, a Virginian. - -You can not go into one of the old Gothic churches or cathedrals on -Sunday or week-days without meeting American soldiers, caps in hand, -gazing silently at twelfth century Madonnas and saints, or tombs of -medieval bishops. The miracle and charm of Gothic architecture is not -all that draws our boys to the old churches. The sense of time and -antiquity possesses them. It is something entirely new and wonderful -to them to realize that the world went on, that people lived and loved -and thought about themselves as modern and up-to-date centuries before -Columbus discovered America. - -In a certain French city, where I made friends with many American -soldiers, a group of university professors are making it their business -to escort our soldiers over the place, giving them historical talks. -This is a very old city, one in which the Romans had a considerable -occupation. The ruins of an immense circus built by them still stands -in the midst of modern houses and shops. Its masonry is so solid that a -ton of dynamite would be required to dislodge it. - -At the time of the French revolution it was practically intact, but its -use as a fortress and the pounding of cannon against it turned it into -the picturesque ruin it is to-day. Our soldiers are exploring that old -circus and realizing the grandeur that was Rome more keenly than if -they were cramming Latin back home. - -“You positively mustn’t miss the mummies,” I was told by my soldier -friends in this same city. So one day I went with two boys to see the -mummies. There is an ancient church built, centuries ago, outside the -city walls, when the town was just beginning to outgrow its walls. The -excuse for the walls had not disappeared, however, and local wars and -forays among the feudal gentry beat hard on that church. Several times -during the years the church was burned to the ground, but it was always -rebuilt according to its original plans. - -The last time it was rebuilt was about a hundred and fifty years ago, -and it was when the excavations were being made that the famous mummies -were discovered. They were dug up out of one of the oldest corners of -the churchyard and must have passed from life in the fourteenth or the -fifteenth century. Something in the chalky nature of the soil preserved -them from disintegration, and they remain still rather disagreeable and -grewsome likenesses of their original selves. - -To see them we descended a flight of worn stone steps into the inky -darkness of a crypt. An old, old crone of a woman, herself half a -mummy, led the way, a sort of a dark lantern in her hand. She has told -the story of the mummies several times a day for so many years that -she could probably recite it without troubling herself to wake out of -a nap. She can even recite it in a jargon which remotely resembles -English. - -The mummies, about twenty of them, are hung up like so many old -clothes, around the walls of the crypt. Some are mere parchment shells -of bodies, others retain rags of clothing, and even rings. The old, old -crone turned her lantern on the mummies, one by one. Here was a priest, -she said, you could tell by his soutaine. Here was a woman who had died -in childbirth, her tiny baby buried with her. Here was a whole family, -mother and four children, who had died of poison, perhaps mushrooms. -This man was hanged. You could tell--“Ugh! Let’s look at the next one, -_ma mère_,” we implored. The next one was worse, a cataleptic, buried -alive. - -“What in the world makes you want to look at such things?” I asked when -we emerged, in time to meet another group of soldiers bent on the same -errand. - -“Why,” they said, “don’t you think it is terribly interesting to look -at people who actually lived five hundred years ago? Those mummies are -worth a franc any day.” - -Two Sundays before I left France I spent the afternoon in the Hotel -des Invalides, where Napoleon lies in his granite tomb, now completely -buried in sandbags. In spite of that fact, however, the chapel was -filled with American soldiers gazing raptly at the tomb they could not -see, but which they knew held the ashes of the great conqueror. - -More soldiers were in the large courtyard, now a museum of captured -Germans guns, cannon, “minnies” and shattered airplanes. There are -the burned and charred skeletons of several Zeppelins, and in the -very center of the collection, as if its captor, the remains, nearly -intact, of Guynemer’s favorite fighting plane, his “Old Charles” which -brought so many German flyers to earth. This plane, white, with a -scarlet symbolic bird in flight painted on its body, is decorated like -a shrine, with a constantly renewed tribute of fresh flowers. - -The American boys who wandered through the courtyard and long galleries -of the Invalides that day were on their way to the front, and were -spending every precious minute of their stay in Paris storing up -impressions. I watched them studying with intent faces the marvelous -collection of armor, some of it restoration work, but most of it the -actual harness of kings and knights of old. Soldiers of all the ages, -Greek, Roman, Gaul, Frenchmen of the age of chivalry, are represented -in the collection. The whole history of warfare. - -“When they are giving us tin hats why didn’t they give us things like -these?” sagely remarked one soldier. “These protect the eyes.” - -“But, gee!” exclaimed another, pausing in front of a “tin hat” the size -of a garbage bucket and several times as heavy, “wouldn’t you like to -catch a Hun with one of them things on?” - -Where the American soldiers lingered longest that day was in the -gallery sacred to the relics of Napoleon. His camp bed is there, and -they exclaimed at the smallness of the great soldier. There were -also his camp chair, his writing table and books, scores of personal -belongings, uniforms and decorations. The walls are covered with -paintings of his battles and the stirring events of his life. - -You’ll never get those soldiers to agree that war sets education back. -Our soldiers are learning at first-hand in France what they would never -have learned so well at home, the great, big thing we are fighting for -in this war, what in all ages the flower of manhood have fought and -died for--better life, and more freedom for the generations next to -come. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY - - -There is one thing our soldier sons are learning in France that is more -valuable than the French language or history or any mere knowledge -acquisition. Our men are learning the true meaning of nationalism, love -of country and the flag. - -Of late years we have had in the United States such a deluge of talk -about “internationalism” that our young men had almost reached the -point of being ashamed to feel patriotism. An insidious propaganda -of pacifism, beginning in elementary schools all over the country, -had undermined the old American pride in the flag. The children went -through the motions of saluting the flag, true, but in too many -schoolrooms the poisonous suggestion was given them that it was much -nobler to love all flags and all countries equally with their own. - -A young Jewish soldier from the east side of New York told me that, -when he learned that he had been drafted, he actually contemplated -suicide. It seemed to him a crime for him to become a soldier. His -parents had fled from Russia to escape death at the hands of soldiers, -but that was not why he was opposed to all war. It was because in his -school, and afterward in the city college, he had imbibed what is -miscalled internationalism. - -“I went to training camp because I was afraid to resist,” said this -young man. “I stayed and I worked hard because I liked it, liked my -officers, and because, being assigned to the aviation service as a -ground man, I knew I would not be obliged to kill Germans. I still -believed that it was my duty to be international at heart.” - -And then he told me how the conviction came to him that men can not -love all countries unless they love their own first and best. “You see -that work gang over there,” he said. “Those fellows are Russians. They -are part of the Russian division that was sent to fight in France two -or three years ago. You remember what a fine impression they made then. -Well, after the revolution in Russia, or rather after the Bolshevist -soldiers began running away from the fight, murdering their officers -and clamoring for a separate peace, there was the question what to do -with the Russian regiments in France. - -“Some of the Russians it was impossible to trust. Some, at least, I -don’t know how many, were bitten with the German propaganda. They did -what they could to demoralize the French soldiers. Nobody knew but that -they might betray the allies in the middle of a battle. The upshot of -the whole thing was that they sent the Russian troops back from the -front, and now they work in labor gangs. They don’t want to go back to -their own country. Things are too bad there. - -“Among our flyers was a young lieutenant who was born a Russian. Not -a Jew, a Russian. He was finishing his training in this camp. It was -partly the monotony and the lack of work that made him melancholy. You -know we haven’t enough practise planes and the flying men are idle half -the time. But mainly it was the sight of those Russian laborers that -got on his nerves. He used sometimes to talk to them, and they were -pathetically glad to have him, because nobody else spoke their language -and they were lonesome. - -“He said to me once: ‘When those poor devils landed in France the -houses were decked with flags to greet them. The streets were full of -cheering crowds and children threw flowers in their path. Now nobody -trusts them to fight. They are outcasts. They have no country, and no -country wants to adopt them.’ I tried to tell him that he was wrong, -that the allies wanted to help Russia to get back, but it was no good. - -“By and by this man took it into his head that he was distrusted -because he had been born a Russian. It wasn’t true. But he thought -it was. He said so. One day he went up in an altitude test with an -observer. He was acting as pilot, but the machine had a double control -and the man with him was a cool and capable flyer. Otherwise the -thing might have been even worse than it was. For when they were six -thousand feet up and still climbing, the Russian suddenly unbuckled the -belt that secured him in his seat, and before the observer could even -guess what he was about to do, he stepped over the side of the machine -into space. - -“That settled me. I said to myself that I would rather be dead than -be a man without a country. That’s what that poor fellow figured -that he was, and all other Russians. But I’m not a Russian, nor an -internationalist, nor anything else but a one hundred per cent. -American, and if they want me to kill boches, I’m ready to begin any -minute.” - -A man without a country. Is there any sentence in the language, -any combination of words more dreadful? Yet what the German -propagandists, which is the real name of many of the pacifists and -“internationalists,” have been trying to do to American youth is to -take their country away from them. They nearly succeeded, and the proof -of that was the three years of indifference we loitered through before -we woke up to the fact that this war was ours, as well as England’s, -France’s and Belgium’s. - -We failed to realize that our country was in immediate peril, because -we had almost forgotten that we had a country. Are we all awake to the -fact yet? No, because, if we were, there would not be left anywhere -from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific one single disloyal citizen, one -single copperhead or so-called internationalist. No community would -tolerate them. There would be no corner where they could hide. - -Some of the Socialist party leaders are beginning to see a great -light on the subject of loyalty to the government, and are advocating -a new policy toward the war. Their last party platform read like -one of Trotzky’s messages to the Petrograd Soviet, but now even the -late Socialist candidate for mayor of New York, who appealed for the -pacifist vote, and got it, is beginning to talk about revising the -platform. - -Unless it is revised, the Socialists are going to lose their adherents -at present serving in France. The Jewish boys who, a little over a -year ago, were orating from soap boxes against the draft and against -what they called “this profiteers’ war,” are among the hottest young -patriots and keenest fighters in the American army. - -I saw some of those boys at Camp Upton last autumn. I saw one who -was sitting in a corner blubbering like a small child because he was -being sent to Spartanburg. He was being transferred because he was -continually begging to be allowed to go home. His captain told me that -the only thing to do with him was to send him so far away from New York -that week-end visits home would be impossible. - -I saw other Jewish boys who were unwilling soldiers then, but every -one I saw in France was enthusiastic about his work, and as little of -an internationalist as the young man in the aviation camp. The Jewish -soldier has made good. I was told so by many officers, and I saw it for -myself. - -Our soldiers have not been taught to hate the Germans, and I don’t -think they do hate them. It is certain that the French people with whom -our men associate do not. But they scorn and loathe the Hindenburg -method of making war, and this attitude our men share. They regard the -Germans with horror rather than hatred, and so must all Americans who -even faintly realize what is going on every day and hour in the invaded -districts of Belgium and France. - -Our soldiers, many of them, have seen this terrible thing, and it has -made their blood run hot in their arteries, it has set their jaws hard, -and caused their eyes to blaze. What theories they have ever had about -internationalism have been dissipated by the facts with which they are -faced. - -The submarine war has come home to our men, sometimes as a bitter -personal experience. - -In a Y. M. C. A. canteen I came upon a young corporal who had found -a seat behind the piano, and he was sitting there weeping his heart -out over a letter from home, a letter telling him how his brother had -died when the Germans torpedoed the _Tuscania_. I sat down beside this -soldier. He seemed to need somebody, and I was the only woman near. In -a few minutes he was himself again, outwardly at least, and he read me -the letter. - -It was from his sister, because, she said, mother was taking it very -hard and could not write yet. When the ship went down brother managed -to get on a raft which was very much overcrowded. There were so many -men on the raft that the brother’s chum, who was in bad shape with a -broken leg, was pushed off into the water. - -Brother was a good swimmer and he managed to rescue his chum and to get -him back on the raft. But while he was in the water two more men, half -drowned and desperate, had climbed aboard, and the raft was now several -inches under seas. So this heroic young American soldier, unwilling to -jeopardize his comrades’ life, gave up his own. - -“Tell my mother and the family that I am sorry I didn’t have a chance -to fight for America,” he said, and sank into the black and icy ocean. - -“Well, I can fight,” said the soldier who read me that letter. “And -every time I am allowed to go over the top I shall remember how they -killed my kid brother in the dark.” - -American men are accustomed from their childhood to see women -treated with respect and children with tenderness. They see with -horror-stricken eyes the women and children refugees from the war -invaded districts flying before a foe that knows no pity, that treats -combatant and non-combatant with equal cruelty and wrath. - -I have told of a Sunday I spent in a railroad station in the first -days of the great spring offensive, and of the southward bound trains -bearing the wounded and the homeless. With me on that platform were -several American soldiers, two or three members of the military police. -They were there primarily to look after our soldiers passing up and -down the line, but they worked hard to help the stricken refugees, -hundreds of whom were fed and ministered to that day by the French Red -Cross. - -They were mostly women and children and old men, and their plight -was pitiful. This was the second time that they had fled before the -German hordes. Last November, after the “victorious retreat,” they -had crept back to their ruined and desolated villages and farms, and -with the aid of their government and the American societies for French -reconstruction had begun life again. - -In their shells of houses and in their shattered little farms they -gladly took up the work of gaining a little bread. Then, without any -warning, the awful flood of war swept over them again. - -They fled, half clad, never pausing to collect their poor belongings. -Without the blessed help of the Red Cross they would have died of -starvation on the road. Everything they ever had was gone. They -stumbled off the trains, dazed, with white blank faces and staring -empty eyes. - -I saw those American soldiers carrying old women and little children -into the Red Cross canteen, feeding them, ministering to them, all the -time muttering curses on the fiends who had brought them to this bitter -pass. - -“Oh, we have work to do over here,” one of these men said to me. -“God help the kaiser when we get fairly into this war.” And then he -exclaimed: “Are there really any pacifists left in America? If there -are I wish they could see what we have seen to-day.” - -I wish so, too. I wish I could show the theorists, the -“internationalists,” what I saw of those French refugees, the poor, -despoiled working people and farmers who fled, as the hordes of old -fled before Attila, another scourge of God, but one not less tigerish -or void of soul. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -OUR FOREIGN LEGION - - -“Do they really call you Sammies?” I asked one of the first soldiers I -met in France. - -“They call us the foreign legion,” he laughed. “I don’t blame them, -either. They expected American soldiers to be American, and we handed -them an army made up of forty different nationalities. Come to think of -it, that is America.” - -“I never realized it before,” joined in a young sergeant sitting near. -“My family has lived in Massachusetts for nearly three hundred years, -and I always thought of myself and others like me as the only real -Americans. The Italians, Greeks, Russians, and even the Irish, seemed -to me to be grafted stock. But I am in charge of a bunch of fellows, -not one of whom was born in the U. S. A., and I would back them as -straight Americans against any man in the ‘Descendants of John and -Priscilla Alden’ society. - -“I’ve got two Czechs who ran away from their native land to avoid army -service in Austria. That was five years before we got into the war, -before there was a war. These boys hated army life and wouldn’t stay -in a country that had compulsory military service. But along comes a -chance to fight for the U. S. A. and these same fellows just pant for -it.” - -The first soldier spoke again. “But what do you think of a Russian -who ran away from Russia during the war, and yet wanted to join the -American army? By the way, he wants to meet you. May I introduce him?” - -“Yes, indeed,” I replied, whereupon the youth stood up and called out: -“Oh, Trotzky! Come on over, Trotzky!” And the Russian soldier thus -libeled came rather diffidently from an adjoining room. We were sitting -before an open fire in a Y. M. C. A. headquarters. - -“Trotzky,” whose other name was Jeff Bramfford, turned out to be a -typical Russian in spite of his English name. His father, he said, was -English, but he had lived many years in Russia, first as an engineer -in an English-owned munitions factory in Petrograd, and later in Riga. -Jeff’s mother was a Russian. - -The strange adventures of this young man began when he was twenty-one -years old, a date which corresponds with the outbreak of the world war. -Jeff was counted as a Russian citizen and was forced to join the army. -He saw service in the tragic campaign which ended in the Masurian Lakes -catastrophe. He escaped drowning in the swamps and also lived through -the disastrous retreat across East Prussia. - -The Russians, he told me, fought well, their cavalry, one hundred -thousand strong, breaking the German line and taking many prisoners. -But the supporting artillery failed them; never came up at all. Mutiny -broke out, many of the men charging that their higher officers had -sold them out to the Germans. If this was so, then the Germans behaved -toward their friends with their customary treachery. At one halt these -Russian officers took possession of a German country house, obligingly -left open and well furnished. Very soon after they were installed, the -house blew up and killed every man in it. The place had been mined by -the Germans. - -In the Russian retreat, Jeff was taken prisoner, and with many others -was sent first to Germany, where he was forced to slave at menial -labor. Later he was sent to Belgium. - -“I never let them know that I was a skilled mechanic,” said he. “I -didn’t want to be set at munitions work, or to help them in any other -way to win the war.” - -In Antwerp, Jeff, because he has a strong personality, was placed over -a gang of Russians who were repairing streets. This was at a time when -the British flyers were bombing Antwerp, and on one of their visits -some of the bombs fell in a quarter of the town where this labor group -was at work. - -The German guards, to quote Jeff’s exact words, “beat it to hell” for -the nearest cellar, yelling to the prisoners to do the same. But Jeff -and fifteen other Russians seized their chance and beat it to the water -front. In the terror and excitement of the raid they were not stopped -anywhere, and they managed to get hold of a fishing boat and beat it -some more for the English Channel. - -They had no food or water, but they thought they might be picked up, -and after twelve anxious hours they were picked up by a Norwegian -steamer. They were taken to London, and for a week or ten days were -lionized and made much of. But of course they were Russian soldiers and -had to be returned to their army. Jeff showed me the “paper” given him -by the Russian consul in London, a safe conduct to the port where he -was to embark for Norway and go from thence by rail to Russia. - -Jeff kept the paper as a souvenir, but he had no intention of going -home. Instead, with the aid of a Russian whom he had met in London, -he went to quite another port and got a job as a stoker on a British -merchant vessel bound for Marseilles, and from there to New York. By -the time he reached New York he had eighty-five dollars in wages in his -pocket. - -He knew some English, and with true Russian facility, soon picked up -more. He went to Coney Island one day, and there he scraped up an -acquaintance with two soldiers of our regular army. - -“Why not enlist?” they suggested, and Jeff, who was tired enough by -this time to be tempted by an easy life and plenty to eat, consented. -This was before we entered the war. - -When the war came, however, Jeff was quite rested and perfectly game. -He went to France with one of the first divisions, and is now in the -artillery, which is showing the Huns something new and interesting, -and is thereby earning the admiration of France and England. - -As a matter of fact, when I met him he was acting as instructor in one -of our big artillery camps. But he ached to get to the front, and by -this time he must be there. - -“Why were you willing to fight for America when you were not ready to -go on fighting for Russia?” I asked him. - -“In Russia the soldiers never get a square deal. In the American army -they do,” was the reply. “But that is not the only reason. There’s -something about America that makes you willing to do anything that is -necessary. I guess it’s because everybody feels free.” - -“But our army was drafted,” I suggested. “Some people think that was an -offense against individual freedom.” - -“Drafted, yes,” said this real American, “but drafted to defend their -individual freedom. Can’t they see that?” - -Jeff would be perfectly happy fighting for freedom if he only knew what -fate had befallen his father and mother since the Russian upheaval. He -has had no word from them since then, and he fears they have fallen -victims to the bloody-handed Bolsheviki. His fine gray eyes filled with -tears when he spoke of his mother, whom he left when he was little more -than a boy. The chances are that he will never see her again. - -We have thousands of Italian youths in our army. I talked with a -handsome Italian sergeant, a well educated young man who had been a -teller in an Italian bank in New York. - -“You know what would make me the happiest man in the world?” he asked -me. “It would be to be transferred to the Italian front with my whole -company. I am a great admirer of the French and English, but of course -I love Italy, and it would be great if we could go there, and in -American uniforms, under the American flag, help to win back our Italia -Irredenta, our Alsace-Lorraine. - -“There are only four men in my company who were not born in Italy. -Some of them were born in the lost provinces, and were naturalized as -Austrians. But they hate Austria even more than they hate Germany. -Think what it would mean to Italy to see her sons, who left her because -they were poor, come back with the American army to fight for freedom -on her soil.” - -I sincerely hope that these soldiers will be given a chance to fight in -the land of their birth, under the flag that means freedom wherever it -waves. Nothing would put more enthusiasm into the Italian army, in my -opinion. Rightly or wrongly, the Italians, or some of them, have felt -that the allies have neglected them a bit. Of course, German propaganda -has worked overtime to make them feel that way, but there was, at one -time, a slight basis for the feeling. I want to see American troops in -Italy. - -I want to see American troops on every front, and I particularly want -to see the Czechs, the Bohemians, of whom we have great numbers in our -army, fighting the Austrians. I saw some of these men, and they were -magnificent soldiers. - -I think the most uproariously happy men I saw in France were the Poles -in our army. On the night I embarked at “a port in France” an American -transport came in carrying, besides our khaki clad men, the Polish -regiment recruited here last winter. They looked like the chorus of a -musical comedy, but if they can fight as well as they can yell, they -will add a chapter to the history of the war. They began to howl for -joy when the ship came into the harbor, and they streamed down the -gangplank singing and cheering like mad. I suppose their blue and -scarlet uniforms have been put in moth balls by now. - -We have often called America the melting pot, but, seeing this great -multitude of foreign-born American soldiers, it occurred to me that -we had not, in former years, kept a good enough fire burning under -that pot. We didn’t try hard enough to melt that mass, to amalgamate -it with our Mayflower and Puritan descendants. Why is it that so many -naturalized American citizens, fighting under the Stars and Stripes, -speak no English, or very little? What have our public schools been -doing all these years? Why haven’t they extended their night school -work to include these young men? - -Russians, Austrians, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, Syrians, Turks, -Africans (the American negro is just another immigrant), we have no -right to keep America away from them. We do wrong to consider them only -as “labor.” They are American citizens, and for many of them the draft -was the first time Uncle Sam ever called them son. The training camp -was the real melting pot for them. In coin more precious than gold, -those immigrant sons of America are paying us for our indifference. -They are giving their lives for American ideals. - -Read the names in the casualty lists: Killed in action, Private -Alexandro Cassealeno, Private Mike Grba, Private Ole K. Arneson; -severely wounded, Constantine Poniaros, Tony Kaczor, Alexander -Mashewsky. - -Many of these men were alone in America at the time of the draft. Their -families were behind in the old home, and from some of those villages, -those in the Austrian empire especially, no letters have come for more -than a year. When the rest of the regiment gets letters and packages -from home they get nothing. Remember that the next time they ask you to -subscribe to the Red Cross, the Library War Service or the Salvation -Army. You may think you haven’t anybody in the war, no near relatives. -But you are wrong, you have our foreign legion and you owe them -everything you can possibly afford to give. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE GENERAL HIMSELF - - -If you talk with the American soldiers, as I did both in their rest -billets and their camps, you will find they have the clearest and most -definite understanding as to their business in Europe. It is to win -the war. I never met a man who had the slightest doubt or hesitation -about it. They know it will happen. They say to you: “Why, the general -himself says so. ‘Germany can and must be beaten.’ The general himself -said that.” - -“The general himself,” of course, means General Pershing. He is to -the American soldier what Foch is to the French _poilu_, the supreme -authority who can not be mistaken. And to the French _poilu_, and to -the French public at large, General Pershing, perhaps next to General -Foch, is the commanding figure of the war. This in spite of the fact -that they know nothing whatever of him as a fighting man. They believe -in him, and in my opinion their faith is going to be justified. - -“Character,” said General Pershing, “other things being equal, will -decide the last battle.” - -The basis of my confidence in General Pershing is that he has -character, strong, original, dynamic. Every word and gesture reveals -personality. He is absolutely straightforward and sincere, and his -manner is simple and natural. Yet underneath that quiet simplicity you -can easily perceive a will of steel and a capacity for great sternness. -His first appearance won Paris completely, and before he has had time -to fight a battle he has become a military hero in the eyes of the -French. - -I saw General Pershing first in the reception room of the beautiful -Louis XVI mansion in the Rue de Varennes which has been loaned him for -a town house when he goes to Paris. That is seldom. Most of the time -he lives in a picturesque town in eastern France, which is the general -headquarters of our army. The name of the town is almost never spoken. -It is simply alluded to as G. H. Q. (General headquarters.) - -Since the advent of the American forces in France there has been a much -closer co-operation among the allies, a co-operation which reached its -natural climax in the appointment of General Foch as generalissimo of -the allied armies. France has long desired this arrangement, President -Wilson desired it and so did Premier Lloyd George. General Pershing, -in his swift, clear-minded judgment, declared it inevitable. But -difficulties stood in the way of its accomplishment, and it was not -until after several meetings of the allied war council at Versailles -that the thing began to seem remotely possible. - -In the interest of stronger co-operation and as commander-in-chief of -the American army, General Pershing has been a constant attendant of -the allied war councils. In a ten-minute interval between luncheon -and departure for an afternoon session of the council, I had my first -conversation with him. As he came into the room it occurred to me -instantly that here was the very embodiment of the American army. The -composite, the perfect type. No wonder the French like him. He _looks_ -right. - -No Greek of old Sparta was ever a more perfect physical specimen. At -fifty-four, General Pershing is as straight and slender of waist as -when he left West Point. He is tall, powerful of frame, without an -ounce of fat anywhere on his body, and as hard as bronze. His eyes are -keen and young, although his hair is gray. His face is marked with a -few deep, scar-like lines, for tragedy has entered his life, as all the -world knows. The lines do not suggest age, however. General Pershing -looks younger than his years, much younger than most of his published -photographs. His voice is that of a young man, and he speaks crisply, -without ever hesitating for a word. - -There is not a particle of pose about Pershing. He has been called -cold, but I did not find him so. When I told him that I had a -son in the army he became decidedly cordial. What was the boy’s -name? His regiment? When did he reach France? Had I seen him? The -commander-in-chief of the American army, on his way to an allied -council with men who have the fate of civilization in their hands, had -time to ask questions about an enlisted man. Lincoln used to do things -like that. - -Weeks later I was the guest, with several other correspondents, of the -intelligence department of the army in a motor journey into our war -zone. Our passes were for three days only and three districts were -to be visited. One stopping place was the town alluded to as G. H. -Q., the heart of the American expeditionary force in France. We were -to meet the commander-in-chief informally, but there was to be no -interview. The prospect was pleasing, but not particularly exciting, -and in that it matched up pretty well with the rest of the trip. When -the intelligence department invites correspondents, especially women -correspondents, to a party you can be sure that it is a very staid and -conservative affair. - -We traveled by train from Paris to our first point, a big camp where -our engineers had done some wonders of construction, and which was now -a completely equipped school, where thousands of soldiers were being -trained in bombing, trench mortar work and other skilled branches. At -the station we were met by a handsome and diplomatic young intelligence -officer in a big limousine. Under his chaperonage we were to see as -much of the war zone as was considered good for us. The second day -brought us to G. H. Q. and General Pershing. - -Then was I glad that I had seen him in the palace in the Rue de -Varennes. Because now I knew something about him. I knew he liked -candor and straight talk. I knew also that with an inflexible will he -possessed a reasonable mind. You can argue with a man like that. I did -argue with General Pershing on the subject of what women correspondents -ought to be permitted to see and to know. I told him what I wanted to -take back to the mothers of American soldiers. - -I can not repeat our conversation, because it was confidential. I will -simply say that General Pershing proved the reasonableness of his mind -by greatly extending our facilities on that trip, and turning our prim -little party into an experience wholly worth while from the reporter’s -point of view. Later I shall go into details about that trip up the -line. This chapter is concerned with General Pershing. - -In the plain bare room, which is the commander’s private headquarters, -and in which the great campaigns which our men will fight are being -planned, General Pershing appears even more dynamic and forceful than -in his luxurious Parisian home. I have seen generals who wore their -uniforms as if they were business clothes, but not so General Pershing. -If he wore business clothes he would contrive to make them look like -a uniform. His uniform is the most immaculate, the most correct, the -most military thing in the way of garments that I have ever beheld. His -boots look as though he never wore the same pair a second time. Yet -there is nothing stiff or rigid in his appearance. He puts his clothes -on a perfect masculine figure, that is all. He holds himself like an -absolutely fit and athletic man. - -General Pershing exalts health. He takes daily cold baths, one of his -young aides told me, and often in the dead of winter runs and exercises -in the open air clad only in a thin bathrobe. To bring every man in the -army up to his physical standard is the commander’s expressed ambition. -To make them supremely healthy, efficient fighting men, and to return -them to their mothers morally as well as physically sound, is General -Pershing’s conception of his responsibility as head of the American -army. - -It is always interesting to know how we appear in the eyes of -strangers, and an article published in a well-known French magazine -shows the strong appeal that General Pershing has made to the -imagination of our allies. According to the French writer, there are -two men in the American commander-in-chief, one of them Anglo-Saxon, -the other a Frenchman. In 1749 the ancestors of General Pershing -emigrated from Alsace to America, and Alsace in the eyes of all -Frenchmen is and always will be France. - -If by rare favor you are received by General Pershing in his Paris -home you meet the Anglo-Saxon, says the reporter. There his coldness -is positively British. “Tall, slender as a sublieutenant, well set up -in his khaki brown uniform, four stars on the shoulders and on the -collar the golden eagle of his supreme rank. General Pershing receives -you in a manner courteous but glacial. He is entirely the official, -conscious of his great responsibilities, and determined to keep silence -concerning official matters. His blue eyes are clear and cold, even -hard. Above his strong jaw, indicative of implacable energy, his lips, -saber-straight, wear no smile. - -“Do not attempt to get from him any details of his mission in France, -or try to induce him to give you any personal souvenirs or anecdotes -of his tour of the French front. His aide-de-camp and interpreter has -an invariable reply to all such questions: ‘The general has nothing to -say.’ Above all, never venture to ask a question concerning his private -life, his joys or sorrows. Immediately the look in his cold eyes -becomes hostile. Before the question is fairly out the answer comes: -‘The general does not think that would interest the public.’ - -“But if by happy circumstance you are privileged to enter the small -circle of General Pershing’s friends, what a delightful metamorphosis! -The man reveals himself simple, charming, pliant, spontaneous. He is -the Frenchman, cordial and communicative, ready to lend himself to -that juvenile gaiety which so much amuses the Anglo-Saxon. The blue -eyes that we have seen flash so coldly are now at once mischievous and -tender. His features are animated, his smile ready. - -“Everything interests him, science, art, literature. Music he loves -almost as well as paintings, and he tells you with what new pleasure -every time he visited the Paris of pre-war days he went each day to -the Louvre galleries. Above all, he tells you how profoundly happy he -is to be in the war on our side. Certainly that joy is rooted in the -satisfaction of a soldier fulfilling his duty, but General Pershing is -more than a soldier. He is an idealist called to accomplish a high -mission, to serve an unselfish cause, to help humanity to a secure and -happy future.” - -General Pershing never appeared a bigger man than when he offered to -brigade the American forces in with the English and the French, and -himself take the subordinate position of a commander without a real -command. The offer was made and accepted in the dark and panic-ridden -early days of the March German offensive, when it looked as though the -allied lines might be broken, and all the man power available had to be -mobilized. - -That danger is happily past. The Germans have struck and the blow has -proved utterly futile. The Americans are to be allowed to fight under -their own flag and their own officers. They will get full credit for -what they do. But the French and English will never forget that General -Pershing was unselfishly willing, when necessary, to forego both for -himself and the American army every particle of credit, letting the -honors go to the allies. From a man of that character great fighting, -splendid victories may be expected. Under such a commander our sons are -well secured. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -GENERAL ALLAIRE’S FINEST - - -“I know that my boy is being well cared for in his regiment, and I’m -not afraid of what may happen to him as long as he is on duty. But -what about his off hours? What is to prevent him from falling into bad -company?” - -I know that this thought has troubled the minds of many mothers of -soldiers now in France. And no wonder. Ever since the first training -camps were set up in this country the most lurid tales have been spread -abroad about the alleged immorality of the soldiers’ off hours. Some of -these tales were spread by pro-Germans, pacifists and cowards who hoped -to defeat the draft laws. Others were the result of a certain kind of -imagination. The vast majority of them were untrue. - -But even if any of them were true, if boys of twenty-one, away from -the restraining influences of home, found unusual opportunities for -immorality right here in the United States, what must it be in France? -Many American women have it firmly fixed in their minds that France is -a shocking immoral country. It isn’t, but I do not hope to be able to -unsettle the conviction. - -I will content myself with saying that even if France were a second -Sodom or Gomorrah, our soldiers would be safe there. As safe, or safer, -than they would be at home. The reason is that they are under military -discipline and military supervision every hour of their lives. In their -off hours they are supervised by the most efficient and powerful police -force in the world, the military police of the American army. - -Military police is what we call them for short. They are really -assistant provost marshals. They are everywhere in France where there -are American soldiers. They police Paris and all other cities, towns -and villages in our zone. They are found sitting at a little table in -all the railroad stations, and every traveling American soldier, be he -officer, non-com or private, has to report the minute he arrives to the -station marshal. This applies to all holders of military passes, Red -Cross and Y. M. C. A. workers, and war correspondents. - -The marshal examines the papers of the traveling officer or soldier, -stamps them and enters the name and destination of the traveler in -his book. This happens when the soldier leaves his base and when he -returns. They keep track of our men on all their travels. - -They also keep track of our soldiers in their daily walks abroad, -whether on duty or pleasure bent. There are certain rules in our -expeditionary force which apply to all alike, from General Pershing -down to Bill Smith, private, just arrived from Camp Funston or Camp -Upton. One of these rules is that no member of the expeditionary force -may associate with women of the submerged class. - -If a military policeman sees an officer or a soldier in such company -it is his duty immediately and without any delay to separate the two, -and gather the offending man in. If he fails to do so, and the fact is -established, the policeman is punished. But he doesn’t fail. - -Some of our younger officers, only a few, I was assured, didn’t believe -at first that a simple private soldier would dare arrest them for the -offense of having a “good time.” Two of these very new lieutenants -tested it out in Paris once. They annexed a pair of women of the -underworld and started out to find whatever may be left of the night -life of the French capital. - -What was their indignation when a slim youth of about twenty-three, -wearing the uniform of a private, with the sole addition of a brassard -marked A. P. M., walked up to them, saluted and stepped politely -between them and the open door of the taxi-cab. - -“Beg pardon, sirs,” he said courteously, “I am obliged to remind you -that you are transgressing the provisions of section ---- of regulation ----- of orders ---- relating to associations with women. I shall have -to request you to accompany me to headquarters.” - -The two very new young officers declined the invitation, first with -indignation, then with good-natured appeals to the soldier’s sporting -blood. The soldier remained adamant, and then one of the officers, -getting genuinely angry, thrust his fist under the man’s nose. “What -would you do if I were to push your face in and go on my way?” - -The soldier policeman promptly drew his automatic and thrust it under -the lieutenant’s nose. “I would do my duty, sir,” he replied, still -courteously. But he was an American and couldn’t hold in any longer. -“By God,” he exclaimed, “I wish you’d try it on. You’re the kind of an -officer the American army could afford to lose suddenly.” - -That settled it. The two officers went to headquarters, and they were -punished. The one that attempted to frighten the young policeman got -sent back to the United States. The men at headquarters agreed with the -policeman that the United States army could afford to lose a man like -that. - -The military policeman, who is found all over our zone in France, does -not wear blue clothes and a peaked cap. Neither does he carry a baton. -He wears his soldier uniform and a white arm band on which the letters -A. P. M., assistant provost marshal, appear in letters of red. He wears -a belt and a pistol and he carries plenty of ammunition with him. - -He is a part of a service which has at its head General Allaire, chief -provost marshal of the army, one of General Pershing’s staff. General -Allaire lives at the sequestered little town which houses the rest of -the staff. Under him are many officers who command the regiments of -assistant provost marshals, and they are held responsible for the -order and good conduct of the army. - -In Paris the military police have their headquarters in an -old-fashioned building in the Rue Ste. Anne, close to the heart of old -Paris. The place was a hotel in pre-war days, and it looks very much -like a hotel now, with all the boarders in uniform. The big dining-room -has less style about it than formerly. At present it is furnished with -long pine tables, scrubbed clean, and the dishes are mostly white -enamel ware. - -A one-armed French soldier, with a most engaging smile and a pretty -good knowledge of English, acts as elevator boy, and he told me once -that when the war was over he was going to America. “I want to know how -it feels,” he said, “to belong, even for part of my life, to a country -that can produce such boys as these.” - -They are a picked lot. It is an honor to be in the service, and only -those in whose honor as well as valor the authorities have the greatest -confidence, ever make the service. - -In Paris the lieutenant under whose direct command the force works is -the most single-minded man I think I have ever met. His whole existence -seems bound up in his men. He even spends his off hours with them. One -Monday when I went to the house in the Rue Ste. Anne to have a military -pass stamped by the proper provost marshal, this lieutenant of police -told me that the day before, Sunday, he had taken the half of his men -who were off duty to Versailles. They had a wonderful day, he said. -The authorities even opened the palace museum for the Americans. - -“Next Sunday,” he said, “I am going to take the other half of the -force down the Seine to a beautiful place where we can have dinner -out-of-doors and have a look at French life of the old régime. I mean -that my men shall get all there is in a foreign sojourn.” - -I told him that I thought he was pretty fine to give all his leisure -to his soldiers. He blushed like a boy and said: “They deserve it -and I enjoy it. Besides, it is a part of my job to make these men as -intelligent individuals as possible. They need to be intelligent. They -have eight hours a day of particularly responsible work. - -“Here in Paris they have to keep their eyes out for deserters. It is -their business to know that every American soldier who walks through -a street here has a right to do it. They have to be keen to look for -spies in American uniforms. Oh, yes, they have picked up more than a -few of these gentry. They might have slipped past the French soldiers, -because they don’t know Americans, but they couldn’t fool a U. S. A. P. -M. Every suspicious character gets nabbed sooner or later. If there is -any doubt about his status our men bring him in here. If he can satisfy -us, all right. But there is never an apology due him from the policeman. - -“One of our men may be transferred from patrol work to riding on -railroad trains and keeping track of our soldiers on their travels. He -may be transferred to the front, where he becomes a traffic cop and -also one of the men who take captured Germans in charge. - -“We have a school here for our motorcycle cops. These men become -inspectors of police. They have an added responsibility. They speed -directly to the scene of any great or small disaster, and they assist -the French gendarmes and military police. When the long-distance gun -hit that church on Good Friday, killing seventy-six people, our men -were the first on the spot. They rescued the wounded and brought out -the dead. They also did excellent service in that great fire near Paris -when the powder works blew up. - -“As quickly as an air raid is over our men are out on their cycles -looking up the damage inflicted by the bombs. They report back here -where every bomb fell. Often they are able to put out small fires -caused by the bombs. - -“They are a fine bunch,” ended the lieutenant. “Not one of my men has -ever been in trouble, and the fact that our cooler here in Paris often -has as many as a hundred and fifty people in it shows not only that -their work is essential, but that it is performed to the king’s taste.” - -With that kind of a police force and that kind of officers commanding -it, you can be sure that your sons haven’t very much opportunity -to go astray. Once in a while a man may evade the military police. -Occasionally I have seen it done. But it happens rarely, and the -chances are a hundred to one against it happening twice to any one man. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -INTO THE TRENCHES - - -There comes a day when our sons cease to be soldiers in training and -become fighting men. It is a day looked forward to with dread by those -at home, with eager enthusiasm by the soldiers. I have seldom met a -soldier who had not something uncomplimentary to say of the powers for -not sending him more promptly to the front. The weeks spent in rest -billets, that is, the training camps, seem endless to the men. Every -move forward is hailed with joy. But progress from one village to the -next is exasperatingly slow, especially after they reach a point where -the rumble of guns, like distant thunder, is heard. - -I can answer for it that those distant guns do not terrify anybody. -I have listened to them, and I had the same impulse to push on, on, -nearer, which besets the men. There is a real intoxication in the -sound. It intrigues you, fills you with a kind of savage curiosity, a -desire to send back to that challenge a Gargantuan defiance. At this -stage of the soldier’s career I know that he thoroughly enjoys himself. -I have been that far with the American army myself and I can testify -that everybody had a good time. - -Shortly after our men took over their first sector on what is known as -the Toul front, I was privileged to travel for several days directly -behind this front in an army motor-car. The Toul sector was a part of -the French front in a northeastern corner of the country drained by two -historic rivers, the Meuse and the Moselle. Toul itself is an ancient -walled town with a magnificent cathedral and a moat still in working -order. Some sixty kilometers, or less than thirty-eight miles to the -northeast, lies immortal Verdun, and eastward almost in a straight line -is Nancy, the lovely capital of old Lorraine. Nancy is so close to the -German lines that it has been bombed and raided many times. When I saw -it the people were spending much of their time in bomb-proof cellars -constructed for their protection by the municipality. - -How tenaciously the French cling to their homes was evident long before -I reached Nancy. Spring was in the air in spite of cold wind and a wet -clinging snow that fell and dripped through three or four disagreeable -days. The fields surrounding the low villages had been freshly plowed, -and here and there we saw gnarled peasants, old men and women, who -stolidly dug and harrowed, just as their grandparents did when -Frederick “the Great” raided the border near these very farms. Just as -their ancestors did during ceaseless wars of old. - -Straight and white for miles ran the ribboned highroads between their -avenues of tall poplars. But as we progressed farther north, the roads -began to be cut up with great holes worn by heavy war trucks and gun -carriages. Fields to the right and left put on a strange and sinister -dress. Here were no peasants plowing, for those fields blossomed with -a harvest of barbed wire entanglements, mazes of barbed wire so wound -and woven, so thick and strong that only repeated shellings by heavy -artillery could level them. To me they looked like some devilish parody -of the rich vineyards I had seen only recently terracing the hills of -southern France. - -A little farther on the fields were lined and crossed not only with -barbed wire but with trenches, neatly dug and lined with a basketwork -of willow withes. These trenches so far behind the lines amazed me. -“Surely the Germans could not get as far as this,” I protested. - -“Probably not,” said the officer who was our escort, “but we are not -taking any chances. Suppose our men were forced to retreat fighting. -Well, here are rear defenses all ready for them.” - -My son being at that moment in Toul, waiting to go forward, I -conceived a positive affection for those trenches, and the barbed wire -entanglements began suddenly to look benevolent. - -Our motor-car was no longer alone on the long highroad leading -northward. We traveled now in company with many olive drab motor-trucks -and ambulances, all with U. S. A. and a string of identity numbers -painted in white letters on the sides. We passed many mule teams, the -melancholy mules wearing around their necks the grotesque gas mask -which is a part of their harness over there. Groups of foot soldiers, -some French but mostly American, hailed us as we passed. Others we saw -alongside of the road digging and draining. The road, built high above -the surrounding fields, was hard and dry, but the country was a bog of -mud and water. - -Our objective was a village, too small to deserve a name on any but a -war map. It is important because it was the distributing point along -this particular sector, for American troops and army supplies. It is -about the last village up the line where one may safely venture without -a gas mask. The road leading to the village, and the main street when -we turned into it, were choked with motor-trucks, cars, ambulances, -mules and men, thousands of men, in brown uniforms and steel helmets. - -As we wormed our way through this maze of heavy traffic, and as I -stepped out of the car into mud a foot deep, I had a remarkable mental -experience. My imagination suddenly switched back to a warm November -day in New York. I stood on a corner of Fifth Avenue and watched, with -half a million others, a regiment of drafted men starting for training -camp on Long Island. New York was giving the men a great farewell, -bands, flags, cheers, and from the marble balcony of the Union Club -a reviewing party of distinguished men, some of them veterans of the -Civil War. - -The marching men were a pretty weedy and ill-conditioned lot, city -bred, most of them, indoor workers looking less than their average of -twenty-three years. They struggled and panted under their burden of -suit-cases, canvas kit bags, bundles and other receptacles. Their faces -wore expressions of anxiety and fatigue, and a few looked actually -terror stricken. In the crowds that lined the avenue were many women, -mothers, wives and sweethearts of the men, and their suffering was -often pitiful to see and to hear. Above the blare of the bands their -voices floated shrilly: - -“There he is--there’s Henry. Oh, my God!” - -“Abie! Ach mein sohn!” - -“Oh! Oh! Isn’t it too horrible? All those boys going to their death!” - -What brought me that sudden acute vision of memory was the complete -contrast of the facts and what those suffering women had foreseen as -facts. Also the astonishing contrast between the drafted recruit and -the soldier a few months’ work had created. Nowhere in the United -States had I ever seen anything like the husky young lieutenants who -were being introduced to me, and a few minutes later were escorting me -through the mud to the cottage where I was to have lunch. We ate in a -stone-flagged kitchen furnished with a table, some rough wooden chairs -and an old oak dresser that would have tempted a collector. There was a -huge fireplace, in the chimney of which hung a dozen hams and bacons, -and some garlickly sausages, all smoking in the fire of poplar logs. -The walls were hung with highly colored pictures of saints and martyrs. - -The food was good and there were mountains of it. Beef stew, fried -potatoes, beans, vegetables, bread and butter, a pudding with raisins -and a wine sauce, cups and cups of hot coffee. Every one from the -captain down ate prodigiously, for it was the last sit-down-at-a-table -meal the men were going to enjoy for at least two weeks. Their corps -was starting for the trenches within an hour. - -After lunch I hurried out to take a look at the relieving party of -soldiers, standing at ease on one side of the narrow street. They were -drafted men, not regulars, and this was to be their first taste of -fighting, their baptism of fire, as men have termed it. The far sound -of guns that troubled the air was all they knew of artillery. Two weeks -from that hour they would know more. They would be able to distinguish -between one gun and another, and to name each one as it roared. They -would have all the slang names, the Minnie Wurfer, the Dolly Sisters, -that explode more than once as they fly, the typewriters, as they call -machine guns. Now they knew only a distant growl, menacing, warning, -inviting. Were they ready, our men? - -Physically they were ready. You could see that. Men who six or eight -months ago would have sent for an express wagon to carry more than a -suit-case, stood up there in the icy mud straight and clean and hard -as nails. Their chests filled their coats to the bulging point, and on -their backs they carried without strain or effort between sixty and -seventy pounds of equipment. Each man carried, besides his gun and -ammunition, half a tent, a haversack of clothing, a mess kit, a trench -tool, a gas mask, a bayonet, a knapsack of food, a water bottle, an -extra pair of heavy, hob-nailed boots, and a few other miscellaneous -articles of his own choosing. - -“The blankets and really heavy things go on the trucks,” explained -one of the lieutenants. “The men carry with them no more than they -would absolutely have to have in case they were taken prisoner, extra -clothing and personal effects, I mean. A man who falls into the hands -of the Germans needs extra shirts, socks and boots. You bet, Fritz -hasn’t any to spare.” - -Then I saw that the men of our army were ready indeed. At this frank -suggestion of possible capture by a cruel foe did they shudder and -turn pale? They did not. They grinned and wagged their absurd tin hats -and said: “You betcha,” and “You said it.” They were as unconcerned -as though they were waiting for a subway train instead of army trucks -headed for the trenches. Months of training, outdoor living, regular -habits, obedience to orders, devotion to an idea, have worked this -physical and spiritual miracle with our draft army. The men are as -strong as the Rooseveltian bull moose. They are hardened to mud and -cold and wildest weather, and their nerves are as steady as an old -clock. - -Nearly four years ago the splendid armies of Belgium and France -rushed into the fray, the magnificent volunteer army of Great Britain -joining them in swift order. But none of those armies were quite -like ours. Those men went out, without adequate training, in a -passion of patriotism, in a glory of rage and pain. Their hearts were -blazing, their brains on fire. They knew that they must die if their -countries were to live. The American soldiers are fired by no such -strong emotion. The men I saw in France, on their way to the trenches, -were like men going to work. There was a fight ahead of them, and a -possibility of wounds and death. Well, that was their job, like mining, -or bridge building, or turning virgin soil to make a home. They faced -it calmly and conscientiously, and while they waited they made casual -conversation with the last woman they would see for weeks, the last -woman some of them would ever see. - -“I seen you down at Aix-lay-Beans a while back, didn’t I?” remarked a -tall Texan, holding out a big hand for me to clasp. “Ain’t that some -town? Before that I used to think this here France was nothing but a -mud-hole. What do they want to fight for such a country, I used to say. -Let the Dutchies have it, I said, and let they-all move to Texas.” - -“Yeah,” agreed a black-eyed, husky young Hebrew from the east side of -New York. “I used to think like that. It cost a lot of money to go to -Aix, but it was worth it every cent. Who wouldn’t fight to keep those -mountains and those grape fields running up them like a regular park?” - -A young man with a Georgia address stenciled on his knapsack asked me -where I came from, and when I told him he said that I certainly looked -like a southerner. Anyhow I favored a young lady in Atlanta to whom he -was very partial. He hadn’t seen Aix-les-Bains, but give him Atlanta -for a sure enough city. He was going to live there after the war. - -All of them expected to live through the war. Not one of them was -murmuring prayers, not one charged me with any farewell messages. A -young chap who said that he belonged to the 1919 class of Chicago -University urged me quite earnestly not to leave the village without -sampling the doughnuts fried fresh every day by the girls in the -Salvation Army hut directly back of us. “They fry nearly fifteen -hundred every day,” he told me, “and not a doughnut lasts long enough -to get cold.” - -“How do you feel about going out to kill your first Germans?” I asked -curiously. - -They were not going to let me know how delighted they were to get into -“the show” at last. They put on a magnificent air of indifference. “Got -to begin sometime,” said one, “might as well begin now.” “If we don’t -hustle some the French and English will finish the war without us,” -said another. “Then how’d we feel?” The eagerest reply I got was from -a strong-armed youth from Wyoming. “That’s what we’re here for, ain’t -we?” he exclaimed. “We’re here to kill Germans, and I say, for the love -of Mike, cut out some of the drill and let us fight.” I wish I could -reproduce the way he spoke that last word, fight. - -“Don’t you kind of dread the cold and wet of the trenches?” I asked, -banteringly. The men laughed, they roared. “Say, lady,” called one man, -“the trenches haven’t got a darn thing on the barns we’ve been sleeping -in since last October.” They laughed again and the mirth spread to -the juvenile population of the village which, practically intact, -hung fondly around chewing American gum. “Good night,” shrilled the -children. It is the only English expression the French juvenile has -acquired, and he uses it on all occasions. - -It was Sunday afternoon and across the narrow street the bells of the -village church began to ring for vespers. The curé, a tall, fine French -priest, came striding down the street, the skirts of his soutaine -held high out of the mud. With his free hand he swept off his hat to -the soldiers, calling _au revoirs_ as he passed. At the same time he -rounded up as many of the gum-chewing youngsters as he could, shooing -them ahead of him into the darkness of the old church. - -The bell ceased its impatient clamor, and as if the bell had been -a tocsin, the village street became the scene of sudden, intense -activity. Orders were roared out and were repeated down the long -line. The men sprang to attention, moving like some dynamic piece of -machinery. Trucks began to wind and move noisily toward the highway. -Whips cracked, mules brayed, sirens sounded, and before I fairly -realized what had happened the men were on the march. - -Snow was falling, first lightly, then in a dense cloud. I watched the -soldiers disappear quickly as in a thick mist. Soon even the chug -of their feet tramping through the mud was lost. The village street -was empty save of mire and falling snow. And in my heart was so much -bursting pride that there was no more room for any meaner emotions of -pity or of fear. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -WRITE TO HIM OFTEN--BUT - - -One morning, in a big American camp in France, I witnessed the arrival -of a long-delayed batch of mail from home. No words of mine can -describe how joyfully it was received. Officers and men alike were -children in their happiness. They sang and shouted while the letters -and parcels were being distributed, and afterward a deep silence fell -on the camp while the letters were being read. - -Alas for those who received no letters that day. My heart ached for -them, and I want to urge, as part of the patriotic duty of every -citizen, that as far as possible no soldier is neglected in this -respect. Every man and woman with a relative or friend in the army, and -this will soon mean practically every citizen of the United States, -ought to write frequently to their soldiers. - -If you haven’t time to write long letters, write short ones. If you -haven’t time for short letters, write postcards. But write something. - -As soon as the men go to training camp begin to write to them. Nearly -every soldier has a period of bewilderment and homesickness, and this -usually occurs early in his military career. Young, so young, most of -our splendid soldiers, many of whom when they are drafted leave home -for the first time in their lives. It does not do to risk breaking the -home ties altogether. - -One of the things that burden the hearts of our English allies is the -fear that this may have happened in the case of a great many of the -brave Australian and New Zealand soldiers. They are incredibly remote -from their homes. It takes letters three months to cross the immense -waste of waters that lie between those south Pacific islands and the -French battle-fields. Three months for a mother to answer a question -asked her by her son. Six months for an exchange of words between a -husband and wife. - -Thousands of the Anzacs have been away from home, been separated from -their families for three years. When they have leave of absence they go -to England, and clubs and canteens have been opened for them in London -and elsewhere. But their home ties are never knit. The English fear -that in many, many cases they will never knit again. - -We do not want that to happen to our soldiers and the best, indeed the -only way to prevent it, is to write letters, frequent letters, and the -right kind of letters. - -I watched those soldiers in our camp overseas reading their letters -from home. They did not read them just once and then fold them up and -put them in their pockets. Every letter was read a dozen times over, -until the words were learned by heart. That is why it is so important -that the right kind of letters be written. - -Don’t write, “The interest on the mortgage is due again next week and -I’m sure I don’t know where the money is coming from.” Don’t tell your -boys that you have had a bad spell of neuralgia and can hardly see to -write. Don’t tell him that Jennie is doing badly in school and shows a -sulky temper. Those are your worries, not his. He has responsibilities -ahead of him, and possibly troubles and suffering immeasurably bigger -than anything you face. - -Above all, never deplore the fact that he is in the war, and never -tell him that you are praying for an early peace. No American soldier -whose mind has been enlightened to the true state of affairs in this -war wants an early peace. He knows that an early peace would be a -dangerous, a fatal, peace, one pleasing only to the Germans and their -starving and enslaved allies. - -In all the neutral countries, but even more in the allied countries, -German propaganda is working overtime to bring about an early peace. -German agents are everywhere trying to undermine the morale of the -allied people, especially the women, and through them the soldiers. How -they get into France is a mystery, but they get there, and they often -remain undetected for a long time. - -I remember visiting in the home of a simple bourgeois French family -where the one remaining soldier son was home on leave. Three sons of -that family had given up their lives for France, one at the Marne, one -at Verdun, and one in the first battle of the Somme. The one remaining -son was in a dangerous service, and perhaps one can hardly blame his -mother and sisters for listening to any suggestion of a possible peace. - -They had heard, one of the sisters said, as we sat at tea, without -cream or cakes, or even bread, that France and Austria were about to -sign a separate peace. They hoped the news was true, because then Italy -would make peace, and the allies would only have to fight the Germans -in France and Flanders. - -“Never, my dear sister,” said the resolute young French soldier, -“listen to any talk of that kind. Never repeat it, especially in the -hearing of a soldier. We have our work to do, and you must help us, not -weaken us. There is only one kind of peace we want, and that is the -peace that will come when Germany is conquered.” - -He got up from his seat and left the room, returning soon with a -poster, one of the many beautiful and striking war posters the French -have produced. This one showed a terrible procession of old men, women -and children being driven from their homes by the advance of German -troops. The Germans were striking the helpless people with the flat of -their swords and laughing brutally at their sufferings. - -“This is no fiction,” said the French soldier to me. “This is fact. And -this is what would happen again in a few years if we made peace too -soon. Why not end it for all time now? We men are ready to give our -lives. We embrace the earth when we fall, for the sacrifice of a few -lives now is nothing to the horrors that are in store for our children -to come, unless we win, really win, this war.” - -I said: “I will tell the American people what you have said, and what I -know to be true, for I have seen something of this war, and I know what -might happen in my country unless we win a complete victory.” - -Because I am particularly concerned lest our women unwittingly weaken -the least bit the morale and the fighting spirit of our soldiers, I am -going to tell them what I have seen. - -My only son, I have said before, is a soldier. He is at the front. -Yet, after what I have seen of this war, I would never speak of peace -to him. I don’t want him to think of peace. I want him to think of -fighting. - -Since this war began, nearly two million people, not fighters, but -women and children and men too old and infirm to fight, have been -driven in wretchedness from their homes. This in France alone. - -We know what happened in Belgium, in Serbia, in Roumania and Poland. -Armenia? Words fail in describing what happened there. I have seen only -France, and I can speak only of France. Two million French people have -fled before fire and sword. - -But that isn’t anything very terrible, by comparison. To lose your -home and everything you possess is a bearable thing--by comparison. -On a Sunday soon after the great spring battle began I spent the day -in a railroad station at a junction where hundreds of trains rushed -ceaselessly to the north bearing soldiers and munitions, and to the -south with wounded men, refugees and broken guns and airplanes. Many -refugees were fed and comforted by the French Red Cross at the station -that day. - -It was my privilege to help a little those noble French women. I filled -hundreds of cups with coffee, strong and hot, and I helped to feed the -exhausted who could not even stand up at the counter where coffee and -sandwiches were served. We literally fed them, holding the food to -their lips. - -There was one old woman--perhaps she was not really old, but her -sufferings had emaciated her and seamed her face with wrinkles--who -was my special care for an hour. She had to be given brandy before she -could sit up, and she had to be fed hot milk from a spoon, like a baby. -She was almost dead. Another woman, her neighbor in the ruined and -violated village that once was their home, told me in quick whispers -that old woman’s story. - -When the Germans invaded France in August, 1914, this woman lived in a -small town directly in the path of the Wurtemburg army that swept in -from Lorraine. Her husband kept a small shop where tobacco and fruit -and such like were sold. They had a home and three children--Cécile, -sixteen; Georges, twelve, and Marcel, six. They were quiet people, like -all the other villagers, and the mobilizing of their men when war came -was the first great and terrifying event in their lives. This woman’s -husband had a club foot and could not be mobilized. She had no son old -enough to fight, so she was counted lucky. - -Then the Germans came. They swarmed in early one morning and the -horrified villagers at once began to see war in its most frightful -guise. Soldiers broke into the home of the club-footed man and demanded -tobacco. He led the way to his little shop and told them to help -themselves. They did, and when they had filled their pockets and their -haversacks they shot the lame man through the heart. Meantime, with -torch and grenade, other soldiers were setting fire to the village. -They burned the dead tobacconist’s home, and when the wife rushed from -the house with her youngest child in her arms they shot the child. He -screamed “Mother!” just once, and died. - -She and her two remaining children fled, but Cécile, the -sixteen-year-old daughter, did not get very far. She was seized by a -German officer, and it was a year before her mother saw her again. When -those two met again the girl was a skeleton, and she bore in her arms a -skeleton baby. It was a girl. Otherwise they would not have permitted -her to take it back to France. - -The reunited family made their way to a relative in a village near -Peronne. When the Germans swept over that district in 1916 they fled -again, and in the flight Cécile, never strong after her experience in -Germany, died. Soon afterward the baby died. Georges, now a sturdy -boy of fourteen, was all that was left. After the Germans retreated -last November they went back to their village near Peronne, and the boy -worked for their support--until March twenty-first, this year. Then -they fled again, and here she was--alone. - -“Where is Georges?” I asked. - -“Do not speak so loud, madame,” implored the neighbor. “The poor one -can not be told just yet, but Georges was killed by a shell that burst -near the station when we got on the train. Not all of us could get on -that train. She thinks that Georges was left behind and that he will -come to-morrow.” - -I could write stories like that to fill a book. Indeed, it has been -done, officially done, by the French government, and every story was -carefully authenticated before it was published. I tell this story -because it was told to me while I was feeding the wretched victim. - -I speak only of what I know, and I know that this woman, one of -thousands, is just a type, an example, of what has happened, what is -happening to-day, but what must never happen again. The only way to -prevent it happening again, perhaps to our American women, is to put -out of the world the thing Germany stands for and which she is fighting -desperately to keep alive and powerful. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -WHEN THEY WIN WOUND STRIPES - - -Somewhere in France the soldier son for whom I wear my service pin lies -wounded. A few hours before I sat down to write these words I heard -the news, and almost as soon as the first shock had passed I thought -to myself how much worse I should feel did I not know what wonderful -things were being done for him at that hour. I said, I must hurry, -hurry, and tell all the women I can reach, other women whose sons have -been wounded, some of the reasons why I can think about my soldier with -a heart full of quiet confidence. - -My Julian was one of the splendid regiments of young untried American -soldiers who on May twenty-eighth stormed their way into the village of -Cantigny, and who, in spite of repeated German counter-attacks, have -held that part of the line like a stone wall ever since. - -It was only a minor engagement, to be sure, but it was so gallantly -fought that it gained the highest admiration of the French and British -commanders. It showed the civilized world what was going to happen when -the American army got over in full force. I am proud to have had a son -in that glorious fight at Cantigny. - -He went over the top with his comrades into the face of a murderous -machine-gun fire. He must have been in the front ranks, for he was -among the first to fall. “I tried to keep on going,” he told the New -York _World_ correspondent who saw him in the hospital, “but it was no -use. I had to flop.” - -Two hours he lay helpless in No Man’s Land, shells bursting near him, -and with the prospect of being bayoneted if the Germans were allowed -to regain that ground. I don’t let myself think about those two hours. -I know, all too well, what they must have been like. I won’t think -about the pain of the wounded leg, nor the burning sun, the tormenting -thirst, the anxiety and impatience before the stretcher bearers came. -The wounded, thank God, soon forget all these, and so must we at home. - -I had not heard directly from my son since the beginning of this great -second battle of the Somme. I was very near his division for a time, -and was never much farther away than Paris until I sailed for home, -but no letters came through. I was like hundreds of thousands of other -women here in America in not knowing whether my soldier was in action -or out of danger in the rear. - -Now that I know I am glad, for I sympathized with his intense desire -to have a first-hand share in this war of liberation. When we entered -the war my son was too young for the draft, and in fact he would only -this spring have been called upon to register. Knowing that he might -have to wait a year and a half before going over, he enlisted in the -old army and went to France in one of the earliest units. He had to -take service in a working contingent, and like all those valuable but -usually non-combatant soldiers he feared that he would never be given -a chance to fight. I am very grateful that they gave him his chance, -and so soon. I have seen something of the work of the unspeakable Hun. -Since then I have never been sorry for our fighting men. The only men I -am sorry for are those who live in these times and never have a chance -to join the allied armies. - -I am thankful that my son lived through his first battle, and I am -especially relieved to hear that he went to an American hospital. I -have visited many of those hospitals in France, and I am going to -devote this chapter to telling other women who have wounded men over -there how our soldiers are cared for when German gun-fire strikes them -down. I can not think of anything else to-day, nor write of anything -else. - -The wounded are picked up as quickly as possible, the stretcher bearers -and ambulance men working bravely under fire, and often in great -danger. All musicians, military bandsmen, are stretcher bearers, and -the same service is part of the work of the medical corps. They bring -the wounded to what are called advance dressing stations or regimental -aid posts, directly behind the lines. These stations indeed are in the -trenches, and the doctors work to the noise of bursting shells and -exploding shrapnel. In these trench dressing stations minor wounds are -dressed, and first aid is given to the seriously injured. - -One very important thing is done in the first aid posts. Every wounded -man is inoculated against tetanus. Lockjaw--that most horrible of -all wound complications--is now practically a thing of the past. Our -hospitals will possibly never see a case, because our surgeons take -immediate precautions against it. - -In these advanced aid posts they also take precautions against wound -shock, the mysterious cause of many deaths in this war. One of the -first symptoms of wound shock is cold and the surgeons and dressers -have hot, sweet tea on hand and many blankets. Patients are given cups -of hot tea as soon as they come in, and if the weather is cold they are -wrapped up like Eskimos before they are sent on. - -About wounded men in general, I want to say that the great majority are -only slightly injured. They are all conscientiously treated, even small -scratches being dressed carefully, because every wound is an infected -wound and if neglected might cause death. But most of the casualties -are able to walk back to their next base, the field or evacuation -hospital. Those who are seriously wounded are transported in ambulances. - -The field hospital is located near the battle line, but out of range -of the guns. They are near enough, however, to be vulnerable to the -gentlemanly boches, who make a specialty of dropping aerial bombs -on wounded soldiers and women nurses. We have had tendered us by -the French government a number of fine buildings in various towns of -northern France, in which we have established our field hospitals. -In these operations are performed, and very sick men are kept for -treatment. - -Because of their nearness to the danger line many field hospitals have -no women nurses at all. The work of caring for the wounded is done by -enlisted men of the medical corps under the direction of ward masters, -non-commissioned officers as a general rule. Army surgeons, of course, -are in command, and the men receive good care. - -Possibly because of the absence of women these field hospitals are -apt to be rather bare and unattractive places. Men have complained to -me that they had nothing to read. Some said they thought there ought -to be a few posters or pictures on the wall. To lie all day staring -at a blank expanse of whitewash gets on the nerves of the sensitive. -This is, however, a temporary condition. The Library War Service of -the American Library Association is now working in France, and every -hospital will soon be well supplied with books. - -After the evacuation hospital comes the base hospital. Only those cases -which promise quick recovery are kept very long near the front. As the -war continues those beds will be needed for the freshly wounded, and -the chances are that our men wounded in this battle will soon be sent, -in fine hospital trains, to the vicinity of Paris, or towns farther -south. - -I visited an emergency base hospital established and maintained by -Johns Hopkins Hospital, and I should be very well satisfied to hear -that my son was being cared for there. This hospital is situated in a -pleasant wooded spot not many miles from the ancient town which is our -general headquarters. It has a main building of brick, an old French -country house, but most of the hospital wards are in temporary wooden -buildings. - -Johns Hopkins itself, with its millions of dollars invested in -buildings, has no better equipment than this temporary base hospital in -France. It has no better doctors or nurses, and as for its head nurse -it has the best head nurse Johns Hopkins ever produced, Miss Bessie -Baker. - -I know other hospitals, one in a medieval town in central France, -several in a pleasant suburb of Paris, and one, perhaps the most -picturesque of all, in southern France a few miles from the large -seaport which admits many of our ships weekly. This hospital is housed -in an old French château that in its garden plan reminded me a little -of the White House in Washington. The front garden is small and formal, -with a wonderful hedge of white and red camellias. But back of the -château the large garden slopes in a series of blossoming terraces -down to a great river which flows into the sea a few miles beyond. I -can not think of a lovelier or more restful place in which to spend a -convalescence. - -The quality of nursing in our hospitals overseas is so high that it -has excited the admiration of the French and British soldiers. They beg -to be sent to “the American hospital.” I have heard French officers say -that they would be glad to have the entire hospital system in France -turned over to the control of the Americans. - -The fact is that we have worked out a far gentler system of caring -for the wounded, for changing dressings and the like, than any other -nation. The British are scientific but Spartan. The French have had few -trained nurses until this war. Our nurses are the best in the world. - -I shall not fret about my wounded soldier, and I hope other women will -make up their minds to bear ordinary bad news from over there with -calmness and courage. We can not possibly escape suffering and pain. It -is in the world for us to bear, and until the war is won women all over -the world must live in a sisterhood of sorrow and anxiety. - -When the word comes, “He is wounded,” just remember that he is also -being taken care of by the most tender and humane means any government -in the world ever devised for its soldiers. Even if the dreadful -message comes, “Wounded and missing,” do not despair. Even that is -being looked after by a large department of the Red Cross. Every -missing soldier is traced, and if he is found to be a prisoner his -needs are provided for--medicine, food, clothing, letters--the Red -Cross sees that he gets them promptly. - -Besides all its work of relief for sick and wounded soldiers, the Red -Cross has a department of medical research which has performed wonders -in preventive medicine, and it is still at work, brilliantly and -tirelessly, to find ways of fighting pain and death. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -FIGHTING WOUND SHOCK - - - “Base Hospital No. ---- - “Amex Force, France - - “Dear Mother, - - “You ought to see your soldier son now! He looks about as military as - a smoked ham, and feels like--but my well-known delicacy halts me. - Never mind, I’m all here--barring a few pieces of bone that don’t - matter, and I have gained the honor of having been in the first wave - of the first Americans to go over the top at Cantigny. - - “Incidentally I have the bullet that hit me, and one boche helmet. I - would have got more but my trip was short and sweet--some six hundred - yards at most before some unmannerly person slammed me over the knee - with a battle-ship, and I sat down to think it over. It struck me - suddenly that there was very little of interest to be seen, and it - would be a waste of time to go any further. - - “From there to where I am now has been a series of more or less - painful transfers through first aid posts, dressing stations and - French hospitals, with a Red Cross train and a ninety kilometer ride - in an ambulance. I don’t think you have ever known the joy of a - ninety K. ride on the upper deck of a pitching ambulance. It’s an - experience. I appreciated the sensations of a pup with a tin can tied - to his tail. - - “But all that is over and I’m settled at last, so far behind the - lines that the street lights of the town aren’t shaded at all. You - must not worry, Mother dear, for I’ll be as good as new in three - months, and while broken legs are not the sort of thing you go around - hunting for, they aren’t half as bad as a tooth ache, and mine is a - particularly well trained one and doesn’t hurt at all.” - -By the time the news reaches us here in America that one of our beloved -has been wounded in France the worst is usually over and the patient -is often out of danger. It takes several days for such news to reach -Washington and be telegraphed to soldiers’ relatives, and if no second -telegram comes closely on the first we may be truly thankful. - -My son was wounded on the twenty-eighth of May, and it was nearly a -month before I heard from him. If this had happened a year ago I should -have been paralyzed with fear, not because of the wound, but because -of dread of the after effects. One enormous advantage we have over our -splendid allies is that we not only benefit from their experience in -battle, but from their experience in the hospital. Wounds which for the -first three years of the war were impossible to cure are now in the -class called favorable. - -It is this knowledge that helps to keep me in courage, and I hope it -will help all the others. We are too far away to realize the war, but -we know that our sons are in deadly peril from German shot and shell. - -There has not been enough said about the magnificent work of the army -surgeons in restoring men. One of their greatest achievements was the -conquest of trench fever. In another chapter I shall tell that story. -In this one I shall tell of the great fight they have made--a fight -almost if not quite won--against a still more terrible malady, wound -shock. - -Shock has been called the great mystery of the war. It followed severe -wounds, especially those of the abdomen and chest, but frequently it -occurred in men only slightly wounded. And it was horribly fatal. - -Here was a case: A splendid young man of twenty-three was brought into -an advanced dressing station with a foot shot off. Not a fatal wound -in ordinary circumstances. But this man who, an hour ago, had been in -perfect health, now lay white as marble, cold and almost pulseless. The -wounded stump did not even bleed. In a short time he was dead. He was -shocked to death. - -The best physicians in the world have been working for nearly four -years to find out why he, and others, died like that. They were -completely baffled at first, but they kept steadily on. They worked in -front-line trenches and even on the battle-field trying to understand -wound shock. - -They undertook extensive and intensive laboratory work to discover the -blood changes that took place in men suffering from the strange malady. -To a great extent their work has been successful, and the work is -triumphantly going on. - -The medical research department of the American Red Cross is now -conducting a series of experiments, and it might as well be admitted -at the outset that these experiments, which are to save men’s lives in -untold numbers, involve destroying some animal life. For this reason -the anti-vivisectionists, and that small section of the press which -supports their views, are at the present time hotly assailing the -research department of the Red Cross. - -Says one statement of the opposition: “No expensively equipped -laboratory is needed to seek out wounded soldiers on the battle-fields -and give them aid and comfort in the hospitals; and it will cause deep -sorrow among innumerable contributors to know that the Red Cross is -going beyond the activities of its charter rights and is supporting a -cruel and disputed form of medical experimentation.” - -Putting aside for the moment all except the first sentence of this -statement, “No expensively equipped laboratory is needed to seek out -wounded soldiers on the battle-fields and give them aid and comfort -in the hospitals,” the answer is that without the laboratory the -hospitals would be back in the days when gunshot wounds were treated by -having hot oil poured into them, and when the only way of dealing with -shattered limbs was amputation. - -This war, particularly, has developed maladies and wound complications -undreamed of before. Shock is not exactly new. In civilian hospitals -it occurs after every operation. But the wound shock of this war is -new, and the doctors had to study it as a new manifestation. - -Out of many cases take the following: A soldier member of a working -party, laying telephone wires one wet and muddy night, was hit by the -explosion of a shell. He was severely wounded, suffering a compound -fracture of one arm and some bad muscle lacerations. His comrades -picked him up and hurried him to the nearest dressing station, but by -the time he got there his wounds looked like dead flesh. There was no -bleeding and the man’s pulse was still. - -He was conscious and mentally bright. “Hello, fellows,” he called out -to those who worked over him, and to the surgeon he said confidently: -“I’ve got a blighty, haven’t I?” Meaning a rest in a home hospital. - -Even the surgeon thought so. The case was bad but the man seemed so -fit. Yet within an hour he was dead. - -There was a sergeant, a hardworking, conscientious man, loved by his -fellows. A piece of shell got him as he lay asleep at the foot of a -dugout. Both feet were shattered. Within ten minutes the surgeons had -the man on the operating table, but he was another case of shock. He -died while they were working over him. - -Shock has other ways of showing itself. A soldier, very badly wounded -in the chest and abdomen, was treated in the advanced dressing -station, and as he appeared to be normal in every way he was wrapped up -and sent in an ambulance to the evacuation hospital. Within a few hours -after he arrived, and when he was sleeping quietly, symptoms of shock -appeared. - -He sat up in bed struggling and tearing at the bandages which covered -his chest. “Air!” he gasped. “I must have air! I can not breathe.” - -Nurses and doctors surrounded the poor man, trying to alleviate his -intense agony. But they knew that this “air hunger,” as it is called, -was almost certainly a sign of rapidly approaching death. - -The doctors had to find out what caused the conditions. They could not -tell by simply observing the shocked men. Too many of them died before -much observation could be made. - -It did not help the doctors to observe that the blood pressure of such -patients went down and that most of the blood in their bodies seemed -to disappear. Where did it disappear? Nobody knew. The men’s pulses -stopped, their wounds ceased to bleed. Why? Why did they suffer this -awful air hunger? What relation had the low blood pressure to the -breathing capacity? - -There was one way and one only for them to find out. They had to -anesthetize a great many guinea pigs, rabbits and other small animals -and subject them while unconscious, to conditions as nearly as possible -identical with those under which the men had developed wound shock. -Perhaps in future they will find another way. At present that is the -only way we have. Following experimentation they examined every organ -of the wounded animals, analyzed their blood, minutely studied them, -with the result that they know, if not all about wound shock, at least -something. They know a great deal about the causes and they are on the -track of the cure. - -They know, for example, that tremendous changes take place in the -system following a battle. The men go into action with their hearts -beating abnormally hard and high. They are in a state of intense -excitement. When they are wounded there occurs a sharp reaction, both -mental and physical, partly because of the wound, partly because of bad -conditions which often precede going over the top. - -Our men behind the line, even when they are exposed to occasional shell -fire, lead almost normal lives. They eat and sleep and keep fairly -comfortable, even in bad weather. But in the front trenches, it must be -admitted, only the sublime courage and devotion of the men enable them -to endure their surroundings with cheerful fortitude. - -They have good food in the front trenches, the men have told me. But -they are sometimes short of water. They sleep in constantly interrupted -snatches. They are wet to the skin and sometimes very cold. They work -hard, and are tormented with the noise, the blasting of bullets, the -shriek of shells. Often when they go over the top they are tired as -dogs, their circulation is sluggish with cold, their bodies are full -of waste products. - -The mad excitement of battle is followed by the shock of a wound. Icy -cold grips them. Their pulses stop. They have wound shock. The doctors -now know all this. They have devised, even in the advanced dressing -stations, means of keeping wounded men warm in heated blankets over -alcohol stoves. The hot tea they give the wounded now contains medicine -to counteract the intense acidity of the blood which experiments on -animals revealed as a part of shock. - -Now, when a poor shocked wounded man struggles with air hunger, the -doctors can do something for him. A single injection works a miracle. -The struggle ceases immediately. In a few minutes he is asleep. In a -few hours he is smoking a cigarette and joking with the man in the next -bed. Thousands of lives, perhaps those of your son and my son, have -been saved already, because the doctors now know what to do to prevent -most wound shocks, and to cure the favorable cases. - -Another thing that has killed thousands in this war is an infection -called gas gangrene. It is unlike any other gangrene known to the -medical world. It is caused by bacteria bred in the mud and filth of -the trenches, and by foreign bodies, bits of cloth and the like which -contaminate wounds. - -But the gangrene does not always confine itself to the wound. A man -wounded in the shoulder may first show gangrene in the wound in his -arm. A few days later the gangrene may appear in his legs, and he dies. -The blood is not contaminated; that has been proved. The gangrene just -mysteriously moves around. - -The army physicians have got to find out all about this frightful -condition, and how to combat it. They can do it only in a laboratory -and through animal experimentation. Why should we sentimentalize about -it? The animals die, but they suffer little, if at all. Our men suffer -most horribly, and all too often they die. - -Remember also that when we send our soldiers out into the hell of -battle, artillery fire, machine guns, bombs, shrapnel, liquid fire, -poison gas, and all the other hideous inventions of German science, we -are subjecting them to vivisection of the worst possible kind. - -They throw their bodies between the murderous Huns and the rest of the -world. Would you save a few thousand or a few million guinea pigs at -the expense of the ghastly suffering and death of one of those men? I -would not. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -HOW THE WAR AGAINST TRENCH FEVER WAS WON - - -One day last January four companies of so-called non-combatant soldiers -of the American army in France were lined up to listen to an address -from their officers. The men were members of the field hospital and -ambulance service. Their officers were army physicians. Working with -them were other eminent physicians, members of the medical research -department of the American Red Cross. This, or something like it, is -what these physicians said to the soldiers: - -“Men, we have set ourselves to find out the cause and cure of one of -the worst diseases the allied armies have to suffer. It is called -trench fever. It is not a fatal disease, but it is slow and painful, -and it is so common as to be almost an epidemic. Its ravages are so -great that it actually hampers the allies in their struggle to win the -war. Something like five hundred thousand men a year are temporarily -pulled out of armies because of trench fever. - -“The men have to leave the fighting line, go to hospitals and lie -there suffering and helpless for weeks on end. One fever does not -give positive immunity from others, and it is a fact that many men -have recurrent attacks. Trench fever is worst in Flanders, where the -British hold the front, but the French, Belgian and Serbian soldiers -also suffer from it. When the American army gets here in great numbers -we shall undoubtedly see thousands and thousands of our soldiers go -under from this disease. Before our men come we want to know what the -cause of trench fever is, and how to prevent it. - -“We believe that the disease is carried by body lice, but we are not -sure. We have tried experiments on animals, guinea pigs and monkeys, -but they have not developed the fever. Now we have got to try more -experiments, this time on human beings. You remember that the cause of -yellow fever was discovered only after brave and devoted men allowed -themselves to be bitten by the stegomya mosquito, which was believed to -carry the disease. Some of those men died and others were brought to -the verge of death. But their deed banished the scourge of yellow fever -from the world. Now we are asking for volunteers to help us banish -trench fever. - -“Men, what we are asking you to do is no easy or agreeable thing. We -are asking you to risk a lingering, painful and weakening illness, one -that will keep you in bed for five or six weeks and often make you wish -you were dead and out of it. - -“You will not die, but you will suffer. You will have horrible -headaches, pains in your backs, shoulders, knees, abdomens. This -disease has been mistaken for appendicitis. It has often been called -shinbone fever. This will give you some idea of what trench fever -feels like. - -“But we are calling for volunteers because we want to prevent any more -soldiers from having trench fever. We want to know what causes it, so -that we can find out how to prevent it. Fifty or sixty men, willing to -suffer these pains once, may prevent millions of men ever again from -suffering the same pains. They will do more, they will keep those men -in the fighting lines instead of the hospitals, and hence they will -importantly help to win the war. We want sixty volunteers. How many -have we?” - -Four entire companies of field hospital and ambulance soldiers of a -certain American division in France were thus appealed to. The entire -four companies, as one man, stepped forward and volunteered. Of course -they did. That is the kind of soldiers we raised our boys to be. - -I saw and talked to some of these men when they were recovering in a -hospital near Paris. They were a fine-looking lot of men, American -born, all of them, and all but one hailing from the New England states. -It just happened so. The division was drafted in the Atlantic states, -and these men were selected, regardless of their previous residence, -simply because among five or six hundred perfectly fit men they stood -out as being in the absolute pink of health and strength. - -“We thought,” said one of these volunteers to me, “that we were going -to be sent up to a front-line trench and sleep in the mud with the -cooties till we got it. But to our surprise, they took us up to a -perfectly good hospital back of the British lines. Nice clean tents, -good beds, and food--um-m! Everything we could ask for.” - -Even the cooties were clean, in a manner of speaking, for the doctors -were taking no chances with their experiment. They sent the eggs of -those unpleasant beasts to England, where no trench fever has ever -appeared, and when the eggs hatched out they put the beasts on trench -fever patients. Then they put them on the volunteers. - -About fifty or sixty of the loathsome insects were put on a square -of cotton cloth and bound to the forearm of a soldier with strips of -adhesive plaster. A piece of surgical cotton over the cloth was well -bandaged on, and over the whole dressing a stronger cotton cuff was -securely fastened with more adhesive plaster. No possible chance for -the insects to escape remained. - -Thirty-five soldiers were thus inoculated with trench fever. The rest -were reserved for blood inoculation tests. The men who had their -arms bound up as described endured an endless biting and chewing -from ten to fifteen days until they developed the fever. It was a -tormenting ordeal. Their arms became open sores from which blood and -pus penetrated the dressings. The first attack of fever and blinding -headache must have come as a welcome relief to intolerable itching. - -Not a man but that came down with fever. One man ran a high temperature -for forty days and nights without a break, but with most of the men -the fever and the pain were remittent. Some suffered so severely that -the doctors were obliged to inject morphia. - -Those men who were inoculated with the blood of the trench fever -patients developed the malady almost immediately. They suffered -variously with pain and fever, just as the others did. - -“The monotony of it was bad,” said one of the men, a big teamster from -Boston. “Nothin’ to do but lay there and burn up and curse the pains -in your blasted legs. Next day you’d feel better, perhaps, but so weak -that you couldn’t move. The nurses were fine, and there was plenty to -eat. But we was too sick to care whether there were women around or -not, and the best stuff they gave us to eat tasted like sawdust.” - -They agreed that the monotony of existence in trench fever was worse -than the pain. Life was a dreary waste. The eyes of the patients were -so affected that they were even denied the solace of reading. - -The worst was yet to come for these devoted servants of science. When -the German drive began on the twenty-first of last March it was found -that their isolation hospital, thought to be so safe, was directly -in the line of attack. Lying in their beds, with nothing over them -but tent walls, their fever-racked bodies and weakened limbs became -tormented by the shriek of shells and the roar of artillery. German -airplanes chattered over their heads and bombs exploded around them. - -“They wouldn’t let us get up and see the show,” grumbled one lad in -the rest hospital. “Some of us crawled to the door of the tent and -saw a little, but those English nurses shooed us back, and when it -got hotter they made us dive under the beds. They are dreadful stern, -those English nurses. You have to mind them as though they were the doc -himself.” - -By March twenty-seventh the place had got too hot to hold invalids, -and the men were taken down to Paris. The journey was a fright. No -beds, little food or water, slow trains which took twenty-four hours to -traverse a distance of fifty-odd miles; but the men stood it, and when -I saw them in the hospital near Paris all but one was out of bed and on -the road to health. They were eating well, and more than one begged me -to “use my influence” to get them out of the hospital. - -When a sick man begins to eat like a harvest hand and begs to get out -it indicates that he has only a few weeks of convalescence ahead of -him. At least that is what the head physician of the hospital told me -when I put in their petitions. - -The cause of trench fever, thanks to our keen army and Red Cross -surgeons, and to the courageous men who volunteered to help them, has -definitely been established. The trench louse, once called a nuisance, -is now known to be almost as dangerous as the stegomya mosquito. - -The trench louse must be got rid of, and that, happily, is not a very -difficult affair. Our American army authorities will take care of -that. And our sons, we may be thankful to know, are going to be spared -one of the most frequent and most painful afflictions of the war. - -The scientists and physicians who took part in the experiment by which -trench fever is to be abolished will receive honors and rewards at the -hands of their colleagues and the public. What I would like to know, is -what honors and rewards those simple soldiers are going to receive. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -THE GREATEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD - - -John Smith, of Harlem, gave five dollars to the Red Cross during the -last drive. It was a big sum for a man with his responsibilities and a -small income to part with, but John gave the money, and all over the -country men like him, women, too, and children gave what they could to -help the wounded and the desolated across the seas. - -I want to tell John and the others how their money was spent, and I -shall ask them first to go with me to a huge basement room of the Gare -du Nord, the big north station of Paris. The room was taken over by -the American Red Cross at the beginning of the spring offensive, March -twenty-first, and here for days and nights, terrible days, sinister -nights, a stream of refugees from the invalid district poured in and -out, coming by train from Soissons, Compiegne, Montdidier, Albert, and -from dozens of little villages and farms between Laon and Amiens. - -The Red Cross fed and clothed and refreshed these refugees in that -basement, loaded them on big motor-trucks and took them across the city -to the Orleans or the Quai d’Orsay stations and saw them off to the -sheltered south. - -All on your money, you fortunate, generous, tender hearted givers. We -who were over there in those first desperate days of spring had the -privilege only of helping the Red Cross take care of the stricken men, -women and children who had fled before the German hordes for the second -time since the war began. - -Vividly before me I see that great basement room, the only kind of -a place that is half-way safe in Paris these days. It is night, or, -rather, it is early morning, nearly two o’clock, and I have spent every -minute of the time since nine o’clock fitting shoes, your gift, to -refugee children. - -When I went on duty early in the evening there were five or six babies -standing at the counter, over the edge of which their little white, -dirty, tired faces were barely visible, and their round black eyes were -fixed enviously on a huge pile of shoes waiting to be distributed. - -I picked up the smallest babe, a little boy of four, and asked him if -he needed shoes. “_Oui_, madame,” he did, and stockings, too, for his -feet were literally on the ground. I grabbed a bunch of stockings, -found the right size, and explored that great pile of shoes until that -infant was fitted, and then I attended to the rest, for all those -children needed both shoes and stockings. - -So, it appeared to me that night, did almost every child in France. -They came on and on, some in their mother’s arms, some toddling along, -some leading other children. I worked steadily, with only a pause now -and then when a new trainload came in and were fed. - -The shoes were new and they rubbed off, and soon my hands and face and -big gingham apron were streaked and spotted with black. I was almost as -dirty as the refugees, but still the children demanded shoes. - -They forgot that they had endured agonies of fear and horror, they -forgot the roar of the shells in the village streets. They forgot the -hunger and thirst and the deadly weariness of the flight. Their little -stomachs were full, they were warm and safe, and they had new stockings -and new shoes on their feet. - -They had more, for when my part was done other women took them in hand -and gave them new shirts and gowns and the shiny black pinafores which -every French child, boy as well as girl, looks upon as an indispensable -article of dress. If you could have seen their smiles, heard their -lisping words of gratitude, felt their warm little handclasps, oh, you -fortunate and generous givers, you would have been repaid a thousand, -thousand times for your gift to the Red Cross. - -Because the French rarely have large families, it must not be thought -that they do not value children. They adore children, as a matter -of fact, and their gratitude to the Red Cross for what was done for -children during those days of flight and anguish was pathetic to see -and hear. - -Women came into the basement of the Gare du Nord in a condition of -half nudity. When the storm burst they gathered up their babies, took -what they could carry of household goods and treasures, and simply -fled. Much of what they carried was lost by the wayside. Their clothes -were rags. Some of the rags were taken off by the mothers that the -children might be kept alive, for the weather was cold and rainy. But -when these poor women came into the Red Cross room their first thought -was always for their babies. - -“You have need of shoes yourself, madame,” I said to more than one. She -always answered, “Yes, but _le petit_ first.” - -When you saw a woman who would not eat, who cared not at all for the -new blouse or the warm coat they offered her, who wept unceasingly or -wore a look of wild misery like insanity, you knew that she had lost -her children in the flight. That happened not infrequently. Part of the -money you gave the Red Cross is spent to find those lost children and -bring them back to the desolate mother’s breast. - -Late one night during that exciting period in March the workers at -the Gare du Nord found a boy of thirteen who had been separated early -in the flight from his family. He had walked a distance of twenty -kilometers, twelve and a half miles, before he reached the railroad -station, and he carried with him on that walk, and on the journey to -Paris, two bags of feed for the horse, four or five pounds of beans in -a paper sack, a cross-cut saw, two axes, some harness and a gas mask. -When the Red Cross workers discovered him he was about all in, but -he was brave. He sat on his baggage and ate sandwiches and drank hot -chocolate like a famished tramp. - -He had an aunt and a grandmother in Paris, he said, but he did not know -his aunt’s married name. He knew the name of the street she lived on, -though, and the next morning a Red Cross man went with the boy to the -street, and by simple process of calling at every house in every block -finally located the aunt. - -But that wasn’t all. Eloi, his name was Eloi Beaussart, needed a job, -and the Red Cross gave it to him. Now that game youngster wears a -khaki uniform with A. R. C. on the collar, and works in a Red Cross -canteen. When I came away Eloi’s family had not yet been found, but he -was serene and hopeful. The American Red Cross, in his opinion, can do -anything if you give it time. - -Your money did not wait until the refugees got to Paris before it -helped them. In front of the Red Cross headquarters in the Place de -la Concorde crowds gathered daily to see the great motor-trucks being -loaded with food to be sent up into the fringes of the war zone. -Thousands of loaves of bread, tins of meat, condensed milk, chocolate, -coffee, everything necessary and practical. - -The Red Cross had a great many stations in the sections over which the -Germans swept, and while the workers in those stations were helping to -evacuate whole populations, the workers in Paris were rushing supplies -to feed them. With guns roaring and shrapnel bursting around them, the -Red Cross camions went steadily on taking hope and relief and life to -thousands of civilians and wounded soldiers. - -In one station yard, waiting for trains to carry them to base hospitals -down the line, the Red Cross found and succored three thousand wounded -French soldiers. In the town of Beauvais, almost the last habitable -point near the war zone, a large number of sick civilians, mostly women -and children, were found. There was no hospital left in the place, -which had been shelled and largely evacuated, and to show you how -promptly your money acts, I am going to tell you what the Red Cross -workers did for the suffering population of Beauvais. - -Some time in the early morning a hospital was established on paper. -That is, it was decided to establish a hospital. At ten o’clock that -same morning a partially furnished house was rented. At twelve o’clock -the house was in order, a surgery with full supplies was installed, -two doctors, four nurses and several helpers were at their posts, and -before the afternoon was half over forty patients were in the beds and -being treated and cared for. - -Wouldn’t you rather feel that you had helped do a job like that than to -have another summer hat? - -In the quaint old city of Toul, through which the famous Rhine-Marne -canal flows, and close to which our troops first held the line against -the Germans, I saw another hospital, a children’s hospital established -and supported by Red Cross money. The four hundred and sixty-six little -children in this place came from towns and villages which have been -bombarded with gas bombs, instruments of torture invented in hell -especially for the German army. - -Those bombs killed, suffocated to death, a large number of babies, but -the Red Cross rescued many. There in that hospital on the hill above -Toul four hundred and sixty-six children have had their tortured lungs -cleared of the poisonous stuff, and their anguished little bodies have -been brought back to ease. - -Wouldn’t you be happier helping a gassed French child back to life than -to buy a box of expensive cigars? - -There is not room enough in one chapter or in a dozen of them, to tell -half of what the Red Cross has done and is doing in France alone in -this war. - -Twenty-three hundred people, doctors, nurses, canteen workers, -business men, social workers and others are enrolled in France. Twenty -hospitals, seventy-six dispensaries and several sanitariums are in -operation. For wounded soldiers of the allies the Red Cross supplies -nearly four thousand hospitals. It has a model hospital train; it has -innumerable dressing stations, canteens, health stations, sewing rooms -for the destitute. Nearly three million soldiers a month are served in -Red Cross canteens alone. - -In Paris there are thirteen canteens always busy serving French -soldiers on leave. In Bourg there is a canteen where thousands of our -soldiers going to Aix-les-Bains and Chambéry for their vacations -got a real American home breakfast. I heard many soldiers speak -enthusiastically of that breakfast, served by the Red Cross women, but -purchased by mothers, fathers and friends of American soldiers right -here in the United States. - -Those sons of ours who are being rapidly transported to France to join -the more than a million already there soon will be training behind the -battle lines in Lorraine, Picardy, the Aisne. Soon after that they will -be fighting, the fight to death if need be, to clear the world of that -evil thing, war. - -Between them and such suffering as no one who has not seen it can even -faintly imagine stands that cross of mercy and devotion. To support it -is to support and protect our own children. “Give till it hurts,” I -read on one of the Red Cross posters. Give, if you have hearts, until -your hearts stop hurting. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -FRANCE APPROVES THE EGREC EM SAY AH - - -The Y. M. C. A. has started a new drive both for money and for workers. -John R. Mott, general secretary of the National War Work Council of the -Association, has announced that they must recruit four thousand new -workers for France and Italy, and of course they must have money to -support the work already going and that to be started soon. - -The exact sum has not yet been announced, but whatever it is the -people of this country will give it. To give to the Y. M. C. A. is to -contribute directly to the comfort, happiness, and, to a very great -extent, the safety of our own enlisted men in France. I have been in -dozens of Y. M. C. A. huts and canteens, and I say emphatically that -our army could hardly maintain its highest efficiency without these -places. They are the nearest substitutes for homes that were ever -devised for any army. - -When troops are quartered in an interesting old French city, as some of -our troops are, there are many things in which the soldier off duty can -interest himself. But the vast majority of American soldiers are not -quartered in cities or even in towns. They are in camps differing very -little from the training camps at home. Or else they are billeted in -villages. In that case they sleep in barns or in peasant cottages. When -they are off duty there is not a blessed thing for them to do except -walk up and down the muddy streets and talk. - -Those French villages of the north, especially in winter, are -picturesque in the extreme when viewed from a motor-car, but as a place -of residence they leave much to be desired. A stranger might have some -difficulty in distinguishing between the houses and the barns, the -huge manure heaps, which are the chief wealth of the owners, being -about equally distributed before all the buildings. I have seen scores -of these little hamlets, with their signs on each door, giving the -number of officers, men or horses billeted within, and I have sometimes -wondered by what process the authorities decided which buildings were -for _hommes_ and which for _chevaux_. Those are the first two French -words our soldiers learn over there. - -But wherever our soldiers are quartered, they must have a Y. M. C. A. -hut. They can not get along without it. It serves as a club, a night -school, a shop, a library, a theater, lecture room, movie, gymnasium, -writing-room. It is a great place in which to get acquainted with -French people, for next to the Red Cross the Y. M. C. A. is the most -admired of all American institutions with which the French have come in -contact. - -They pronounce it “_Egrec, Em, Say, Ah_,” and most of them have not -the slightest idea of what the letters mean, but they highly approve of -the thing itself. In the towns and cities they flock to the Y. M. C. A. -entertainments, especially the military band concerts. There is very -little music in France just now, aside from our bands. - -The Y. M. C. A. hut and canteen does its greatest work in the isolated -camps where the soldiers are cut off from all other recreation. I -remember a hut in one of our largest aviation camps, miles away from -any town or village. Life in an aviation camp is something like working -in a planing mill. The sound of hundreds of aeroplane motors goes on in -a ceaseless clatter for hours every day. There is always a strong wind -blowing because aviation camps are located on the biggest, emptiest -treeless plains that can be found. - -The particular aviation camp of which I write was on the widest, -flattest plain in France, I should think. There were not nearly enough -machines there when I visited it in early April, and the men had very -little to do. Hundreds of our flyers in France have never had a chance -to do any flying at all, and in this camp, as they said, “If a fellow -got a hop once a week he was lucky.” - -What those boys would have done without their Y. M. C. A. hut I can -not imagine. The secretary had been a professor of mathematics in a -college somewhere. He was a middle aged, intellectual, rather shy -man, and at first I wondered why he had been appointed to such a post. -But when I saw him in a crowd of soldiers I no longer wondered. He was -easy, genial, sympathetic, tactful, what the politicians call a perfect -mixer. When he stood up to introduce the speaker of the evening the -boys stamped their feet and whistled through their fingers like kids. - -“How will you ever go back to teaching mathematics after this?” I asked -him. - -“I never will go back,” he replied. “I’m going to be human for the rest -of my life.” - -He was being human in that camp so successfully that he almost -succeeded in offsetting the lack of planes. At least, he did wonders in -keeping alive the spirit of courage and hopefulness among the men. - -A dozen miles or so from a large southern seaport where many thousands -of our men are at work I visited another Y. M. C. A. place, one which -has become the social center of an entire French town. In the big town -there is a flourishing Y. M. C. A., and when the building camps began -to string along the river harbor for miles the secretary in charge saw -that extension of the work would have to be made. - -He picked from his staff a remarkable young Vassar girl who speaks good -French and asked her if she would go down to a certain small town, -the central point of half a dozen camps, and establish a Y. M. C. A. -headquarters. She went. She found on the main street, which is also the -river front, an old inn where business was getting duller every day, -and she rented it. There was no electric light in the house, and the -plumbing was early Victorian. - -Within a week the house was scrubbed from top to bottom and freshly -papered and painted. Within a few more weeks it was wired for electric -lights, it had shower baths for soldiers and the only bathroom in -the entire town. There was a canteen where six hundred men a day -could get a sit-down meal of very good food and a counter where many -more could buy chocolates and cigarettes. There was a writing- and -reading-room, a room where French lessons were furnished, another where -boxing and wrestling matches could be held. There was a piano and a -phonograph, and a little way down the street there was a large hall for -entertainments. - -By this time Miss Christy had asked for and was given an assistant, -another live wire of a young woman. They soon had three or four French -women for cooks and assistants, and they were doing a land office -business. When I visited them the entire house was so full of soldiers -that the two secretaries were deploring the fact that they had not -twice the room, especially for canteen purposes. - -Everybody in town uses that headquarters. The mayor goes there to take -a bath. Officers from the camps visit it almost as often as the men. - -These are two samples only. All the Y. M. C. A. headquarters are doing -good work. These two were notable because of the personality of the -secretaries, which was above the average. There are many such working -for the Y. M. C. A. There were half a dozen at Aix-les-Bains, where our -men went for vacation leaves. Some of them had prominent names as well. -Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was on the staff at the Aix casino. Her -tireless work, her frank and democratic manners delighted the men. “She -works, too,” they said admiringly. - -In another Y. M. C. A. canteen I saw young Mrs. Vincent Astor on duty. -She walked up and down between the tables anxiously observing whether -Private Bill Snyder, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Corporal Joe -Morgan, of Weeping Water, Nebraska, got pie where pie was due, or an -extra helping of jam where requested. Associated with Mrs. Astor was -Ethel Harriman, now the wife of a lieutenant in the army. - -The Y. M. C. A. wants more of those women, not because they are rich -and “fashionable,” but because they have social experience, good -manners, tact, agreeable qualities. There is no room in the world now -for what used to be called society women. The place for leisure class -women is nursing sick and wounded soldiers and helping to serve and to -entertain well ones. The Y. M. C. A. wants at least eight hundred more -women. It wants business women, executive women, talented women. It -ought to get the eight hundred and a big reserve as well. - -Of course, the Y. M. C. A. will get all the money it needs, and that -without any controversy. Never mind if it has made mistakes. We can -criticize the mistakes after we have given the money. And right here -let me say that one of the head men in the Paris executive headquarters -told me that the Y. M. C. A. was hard at work rectifying some of -the mistakes they made in the beginning, and which were absolutely -inevitable in the face of unknown conditions and unforseen problems. - -“We know now,” said this man, “that it was a grave mistake to send over -men of draft age. We shall not do that in future. We know that we have -some useless timber over here, and we are going to weed it out. We know -that a religious man, one who can lead in prayer and preach a good -sermon, is not necessarily a good executive secretary in a war region. -We are finding that out. We know that not all the women we have brought -over here have made good. We will replace them. Just give us time.” - -I have heard it mentioned as a mistake of the Y. M. C. A. that the -leaders do not force prayer meetings on the men, that it has given up -some of its religious quality. In my opinion, the Y. M. C. A. is much -more religious now than it ever was before in all its history. It lives -its religion every hour of the day, and it has learned a beautiful -religious tolerance. To Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Gentile alike -it gives the same generous and never failing love and charity. - -To me it is an evidence of the true religious spirit that in Y. M. C. -A. huts you may see displayed a notice that Father Maguire will hear -confessions of Catholic soldiers on Saturday in such and such a room. -Or that a Sedar service for Jewish soldiers will be held on such a -date at the following addresses. It is the only kind of religion that -appeals to me. It is the only kind I ever heard that the founder of -Christianity preached. It is the strongest possible reason why we -should give money, all that is asked for, to the Y. M. C. A. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -BEAUTY AS USUAL - - -Before the war there were few European peoples of whom we knew less, -whom we misunderstood as thoroughly, as the French. We had a French -tradition in the United States once, but that was long ago. New -Orleans, St. Louis, and Charleston, South Carolina, were to a certain -extent French cities up to the time of the Civil War. Old family names, -the names of streets and squares, even a few monuments bear witness -to this. But even in New Orleans the French tradition is now only a -shadow. We have had little immigration from France in late years. Hence -we know little of the people. There was a vague theory that they were -frivolous, pleasure-loving and rather lax in their morals. - -The French are not frivolous--they are volatile and gay. They are not -pleasure-loving, any more than other peoples are. The questionable -pleasures of Paris, the bal masques and the Moulin Rouge sort of thing, -existed for tourists mainly. We thought the French liked that kind of -unwholesome painted stuff because it was there, and they thought we -liked it because we paid almost anything to get it. It is time the two -people, French and Americans, understood each other. - -I think I can not convey a better idea of the French character, its -unquestionable gaiety and indomitable courage, than by telling how -through all risks and dangers and calamities, their worship of pure -beauty persists. Beauty is a cult with the French. They can not endure -anything ugly. Every national emotion is expressed in terms of beauty -and grace. - -Paris, as we know, has been under bombardment from the German -long-distance guns since March twenty-third. Almost every day the -gun has sounded. Some days its spiteful boom sounded every fifteen -minutes from dawn until dark. Now one of the effects of this constant -bombardment was that it threatened to break all the expensive -plate-glass windows in the capital, and the people were advised to -paste strips of paper across their windows. Window glass just now is -not only expensive, but it is very scarce. Once broken, replacement -becomes a serious matter. - -Of course, strips of paper can not stop a shell or a piece of shrapnel, -but they can lessen the shock of concussion. So Paris overnight -blossomed from one end to the other with paper-stripped window glass. - -But did they just paste on strips of paper, as almost any other people -in the world would have done? They did not. They invented a new art of -window decoration. Every merchant, every householder, vied with all the -others to make their striped-up windows things of beauty. They devised -color schemes, they studied historic design, they made the paper -strips advertise wares. In a word, bombs might fall, but beauty went on -as usual. - -But the most extraordinary manifestation of the unquenchable spirit -of the French was the discussion, immediately opened, as to what a -properly self-respecting woman, awakened in the night by death-dealing -bombs from the sky, ought to wear when she fled to the cellar. - -A leading Paris newspaper featured an interview with a well-known -dressmaker in which the subject was thoroughly threshed out. The -dressmaker recalled the fact that during the Reign of Terror of the -French revolution the doomed aristocrats dressed for the guillotine as -for a function, this being their last defiance of the mob. Hence it was -but proper that their descendants, the French women of to-day, should -not permit the German terror to interfere with their duty to look well -on all occasions. - -This _couturière_ did not have to urge this duty on her clients. They -overwhelmed her, she declared, with demands. It had become for them -necessary to make frequent descents to the bowels of the earth, and -that suddenly. What were they to put on? Nothing in their wardrobe -seemed either suitable or practical. - -Thus pressed, madame proceeded to invent a cellar gown. It sounds -funny, but, after all, it may not be. Remember that the Parisians often -had to leave their houses and walk or run half a block or so to find -adequate shelter from aerial bombs. Hence a warm garment was called -for. A woman is not necessarily robed for the street and for a damp -cellar, twenty feet underground, when she throws a kimono over her -nightgown. No! - -“It was no small problem, you can readily understand,” declared madame. -“I was obliged to invent a gown that one could put on quickly, at the -first sound of the _alerte_. After much thought I decided on a domino -model. By its simplicity and the amplitude of its dimensions, it is -well suited to a rapid adjustment and a quick flight. It is provided -with an ample hood to cover the hair and to guard against cold draughts. - -“The traditional domino, however, is not provided with any pockets. -These, of course, are very necessary in present conditions, since a -number of indispensable objects accompany, or should accompany, a lady -to a cave. She wishes to take with her not only the most precious of -her jewels and _bijoux_, but her purse, watch, keys, mirror, also -divers other small objects; an electric torch, manicuring tools, a box -of powder, a lip stick, perhaps. - -“She will require a pencil and a pad of paper, in case she wishes -to keep a diary of events. She may wish to carry with her certain -photographs which she can not bear to lose. Certainly she will need -some morsels of chocolate, and in case the raid is a prolonged one, -something to read. My bombardment robe contains pockets enough and -ample for all emergency requirements.” - -The color of the bombardment robe, or cellar gown, was an important -item. The average cave _abri_ or cellar is not noted for its -spotlessness. One must look out for that. Hence the proper color of -the gown was something practical--brown, gray or taupe. However, the -inventor of the gown found no ordinary color exactly to her mind. - -She did not wish one of her clients, in the semi-obscurity of a cave, -to be mistaken for a sack of potatoes, nor yet to be trodden on by an -excited new arrival. She sought a color which should be neutral and yet -outstanding, and she found it in a tint she called “_chaudron_,” the -identification of which I shall have to leave to the experts. - -It must be a very nice color, however. If you should have to hide in -a coal cellar, it was said, the contact with the coal will not injure -your appearance, but will paint your cellar gown with lovely Rembrandt -effects. Moreover, the hood of this _robe au chaudron_ is lined with -some soft, tender color, which will lend beauty to the countenance -of the wearer, and presumably make the cold and discomfort easier to -endure. - -I never descended to the caves during the air raid, preferring to take -my chances on a lower floor. But if I did feel constrained to seek a -wine cave, or a coal cellar while boche bombs were hurtling through the -atmosphere, I admit I might like to wear something becoming. Anyhow, as -long as the French go on making their lives beautiful in spite of air -raids and guns that shoot seventy miles, in spite of devastating German -hordes in the north and a war that shows small signs of abating, I -think they prove themselves bad to beat, and allies we ought to be -proud to claim. - -Another thing I admired in the French was their constant sense of -humor. They laughed at the Germans. The big gun, full of hate as it -was, furnished a subject of jest. - -The cartoonist drew caricatures of it that were full of wit. When -one of the guns burst, killing, as it must have, a number of German -gunners, a cartoonist pictured the inventor pointing to a miscellaneous -collection of arms and legs which decorated the landscape, saying -proudly: “You see, super-colonel, how kolossaly powerful my kanon is. -It is as deadly at one end as it is at the other!” The Parisians found -this irresistibly comic. - -They laughed scornfully at the solemn lies published in the German -papers regarding the alleged panic their bombardment was creating. I -have seen men and women sitting outside the cafés in the Rue Royale and -on the boulevards, sipping their _apéritifs_ before dinner and enjoying -these exaggerations, as reprinted in the Paris papers. - -They smiled and chuckled over the news announced in the Stuttgart -_Neues Tageblatt_ that Paris would soon be a mass of ruins; that even -the working class population no longer had the hardihood to remain. -The roads leading to Tours, Orleans, Lyons, cities of the south, were -crowded with interminable convoys, vehicles drawn by horses, donkeys -and even dogs. Sick women were being transported in baby carriages. -The forest of Fontainbleau was one vast camp of refugees. - -“Listen then to this, _mon vieux_,” reads a highly diverted Frenchman -to his neighbor at the next table. “It is not only from fear of the -Germans that the entire population is in flight, but it is from fear of -the French themselves. The capital is filled with deserting soldiers -and other disaffected persons who wait only a favorable opportunity to -overthrow the government. Do you hear? The _Berliner Tageblatt_ says -so.” - -Funniest of all to the Parisians were the tales of how the whole of -Paris not fleeing to the south was living day and night underground, -and how not only people but all public monuments were being sent to the -caves. - -A cartoon in _Le Matin_, I think it was, represented a Frenchman -remarking to a friend that the fog was so thick yesterday that he -couldn’t see the Eiffel Tower. “Oh, haven’t you heard?” exclaims the -other, “Clemenceau has hidden it in the Metro.” - -I write this also to give the American people an idea of the fantastic -“news” with which the Germans feed their people and keep alive in -them the hope that they can ultimately win this war. Some of these -German dispatches appear in our own newspapers, exaggerated accounts -of victories, absurd estimates of damage inflicted by bombardments. We -should laugh at them as the French do. - -The Germans tell their hungry populations that terror is winning the -war, that the French civil population is in flight and that the -government is tottering. It is ridiculously untrue. Many people have -left Paris, just as our people would seek refuge from a like situation. - -All the people who have summer homes have gone to them earlier than -usual. There is a systematic movement to take as many children as -possible outside the danger zone. Delicate women and invalids have -generally gone. That is all. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -BLED WHITE - - -Mr. Hoover tells us that we must save more food. Especially more -wheat. With all the sacrifices we have voluntarily made, with all the -ingenuity women have used to save food and still keep their families -well nourished, the women are called upon to do more. As far as wheat -and a few other staples are concerned, Mr. Hoover tells us that our -shipments abroad are only now beginning to approach the “minimum -requirements” of our soldiers and of our allies. - -I know that many housewives the country over will read this -announcement with dismay, and will wonder how much more will be -required of them, and how much more they can contrive to give. I want -to say to the housekeepers who read this, that they can not possibly -know or dream the vast importance of their part in this war. They can -not know what their food conservation efforts have meant to the French -people, as well as the English, the Italians, and what is left of the -stricken Belgians. - -Every woman who has conscientiously observed the food regulations, -thereby releasing food for our soldiers and the allies, has almost -literally fought side by side with the men. She has stood by them and -fed them, encouraged them, given them physical and spiritual power to -go on, wholeheartedly, in the fight for civilization. - -A soldier who goes into battle half nourished, one whose heart is heavy -thinking of hungry children at home, is a soldier half beaten. He who -goes forward with a well-nourished body and a mind at rest is a soldier -three-quarters victorious. - -This is how you have helped fight the battle for the peace of the -world, women of America. And let me assure you that Europe is fully -awake to the fact. Nothing that President Wilson has done, or Congress, -or the men at the head of our wonderful army in France, has made a -deeper impression on the allies than what the housekeepers of this -country have done. - -Without any compulsion, without any laws, simply because they were -appealed to in the name of humanity, hundreds of thousands of women, -rich and poor, in great houses and in farm kitchens, have voluntarily -rearranged their whole scale of living, have divided up their food with -people they will never know nor see. - -It has captured the hearts of the people of Europe. They are lost in -admiration. It has taught them what they never believed before--that -the United States, far from being the land of the dollar, is a land of -idealists. - -This was precisely the kind of encouragement our allies in Europe -needed. They needed it as much as they needed guns, airplanes, -soldiers. It was at a very dark hour in the history of this war that -the United States entered the war. - -I do not mean that our allies were at the breaking point. But they were -near the point of desperation because of the sudden and unexpected -defection of Russia. The immediate future was heavy with dread. - -Then came the news, “the Yanks are coming.” The black cloud was lifted. -The world was saved. Everybody knows the difficulties that had to be -overcome before an American army was landed in France. Germany did not -believe that we could land an army there, but we did. - -And long before that we landed enough food in France, and in other -hungry lands overseas, to enable the allies to carry on until our men -came. That was one of the big feats of the war, and in it the women -played their part, and more than their part. - -No one has had to call for a congressional investigation into the -women’s share in the war. Because the men who are in the training -camps, on the seas and in the fighting zone are not soldiers to us. -They are our sons. The French and English soldiers, the Canadians, -the men from Australia, South Africa, Italy, Belgium, they too, are -mothers’ sons, and we don’t go back on our sons. - -What the mothers of this country have done for the men who fight, and -for their people at home, has been to bring hope to their hearts and -laughter to their lips. It has enabled them to face danger with a smile. - -Every once in a while since I returned from France I have heard the -phrase, “The English and the French are bled white.” Don’t you believe -it. After nearly four years of appalling carnage, after the loss of -millions of their best and bravest, the courage of our allies, men and -women, is marvelous. Since we came into the war that courage has become -exaltation. Nothing can shake it. - -For all that we have been able to do in the way of supplying the allies -with food, it will not do to assume that they have more than enough to -keep themselves in good condition. The English seem to have a greater -shortage than the French, but that is mainly, I think, because the -French know better how to prepare and serve food, and how to make a -simple meal attractive. - -In England I often felt not exactly hungry but a dissatisfaction which -was almost as bad. The diet was monotonous. Meat was almost invariably -roasted, vegetables were always boiled and served without sauces. - -In France, on the other hand, they have made an art of dining, and -even now, in war time, they give you the impression that you are being -extremely well fed. Yet the French are short of breadstuffs. Their war -bread is good, and I had enough of it at every meal. But the average -person in France eats twice and three times the amount of bread at a -meal that is eaten in America. Bread is literally the staff of life in -France. - -Meat, while expensive, was plentiful all during the winter. That was -because there was so little grain. They could not afford to feed their -cattle and so slaughtered them. Beginning May fifteenth the French -food authorities decreed three meatless days a week for the republic, -and since France is generally Catholic, that meant for the majority -four days, an additional day, Friday, being observed by the Catholics. - -There was milk for little children and for invalids, but, except for -a small jug with my morning coffee, I never saw milk while I was in -France. Butter could be used in limited quantities in cooking, but it -was forbidden to be served at the table. - -Sugar, too, was almost a forbidden article. Some hotels and private -houses served a little sugar with coffee and tea, but mostly the -saccharine substitute was offered. Just before I left France, at the -end of April, sugar cards were being issued entitling the holders to a -pound of white sugar each month. - -Only plain bread is baked in France. The innumerable little rolls and -crescents, so delicious with the morning coffee, have disappeared. -There is no such thing as pastry. Sweets are supplied in jams and -marmalades, a limited quantity being allowed once or twice a day. There -are no desserts except fruits, fresh or preserved. - -I go into this that the American housekeepers who read these articles -may see how cheerfully the allies are bearing what our people would -consider a real food shortage. They have enough over there, and will -have as long as we give of our store, but we are not by any means -supporting our allies in luxury. On what they have, however, they live -and keep up a spirit that is truly marvelous. - -One evening in my London hotel I sat down to dinner near a table where -five young people, evidently brothers and sisters, were quietly making -merry. One of the men was in the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps, the -other, although of military bearing, was in the correct evening clothes -of the British civilian. - -I noticed that the girl sitting next the man in evening clothes was -assiduous in her attentions to him, and it occurred to me that English -women too often spoiled their brothers, made them selfish. This -golden-haired English girl cut up her brother’s food, even fed it to -him. I thought it a little absurd. - -But when they rose from the table I saw with a shock that the splendid -young man had had both arms cut off below the elbows. He probably had -been an artillerist. At all events here he was, a helpless cripple. But -from the gay demeanor of that family no one would have dreamed that -they had a care in the world. They were carrying on, they would have -told you. - -I saw more of the French than of the English; therefore I saw more -instances of their incomparable courage in the midst of war and -carnage. I was in Paris when the long-distance gun of the Germans began -to bombard the city. - -Every fifteen minutes “boom” went the gun, and you held your breath -wondering where the shell had fallen and how many people it had killed -and wounded. - -It was nerve-racking, there is no use denying the fact. In a battle the -shells come tearing through the sky, screeching and whining as they -come. But in such a long-distance bombardment there are no preliminary -sounds. A house explodes before your eyes, the pavement rises up in -a geyser of earth and stones, the earth of a park or public garden -suddenly flies up in a huge, fan-shaped eruption of smoke and dirt. - -Afterward you hear the BOOM! It seems incredible that only three or -four minutes ago men in gray-green uniforms, seventy miles away in -Germany, loaded that gun, pulled a string or lever or whatever they do -pull, and started that shell toward Paris. - -It seems impossible to believe that while you stand there wondering, -those same men are loading the big gun to again bombard an open town, -full of women and children, regardless of where the shell falls. - -One Sunday afternoon, just before I came away, I went down into the -island of the old city, the original Paris, to say good-by to certain -beautiful things I love. It was a lovely spring day and the quay -of flowers and the Palace quay were crowded with Parisians out for -a Sunday walk. The women wore their spring finery, and there were -many little girls in shining white dresses and veils of their first -communion. - -The long-distance gun had been silent for about forty hours. It gets -out of order easily, or else the allied airmen had been shelling it. -Anyhow, it had been silent. But suddenly, about fifty yards from where -I stood, the waters of the Seine shot up in a great waterspout, there -was an explosion and the usual BOOM. A shell had skimmed over the heads -of that Sunday crowd of inoffensive Parisians and landed in the river. -In a minute the surface of the water was sprinkled with dead fish. - -Of course, the object of this bombardment is to frighten and discourage -the French. Let me tell you how far it falls short of its object. The -cables no doubt carried the story of one shot from that long-distance -gun that struck a maternity hospital, killing in their beds mothers and -new-born babies. A nurse was killed also, and many women were wounded. -The hospital ward itself was reduced to matchwood. It was a horrible -thing. - -In the midst of all this horror, and as a result of it, a young woman -was prematurely delivered of a child, a little girl. The mother died, -but the little baby girl lived, and the nurses called in a priest and -had that baby christened Victory. - -One day, through the streets of Paris they were hauling a captured -German cannon, one of the number which now reposes in the courtyard of -the Hotel des Invalides. The people stopped to watch the cannon go by, -but there was no demonstration of hatred. - -The French respect an honorable foe; it is only unclean warfare that -they scorn. This was demonstrated right then and there, for as the -cannon passed on “Big Bertha,” as they call the long-distance gun, -suddenly spoke, and somewhere a shell fell in Paris. - -A workman in a white smock raised his fist and bawled out in the -direction of the German frontier: “That’s right, bark, you cur. This -one can no longer bite!” - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE REPATRIATES - - -Evian-les-Bains is a charming little French town situated near the -Swiss frontier. Before the war Evian was a health resort, rivaling -Aix-les-Bains, farther south, in its stimulating climate and its -medicinal baths. It was a place where the rich and the comfortably -circumstanced of almost every country in Europe went to regain lost -health. Now it is a place where some of the most miserable people in -all the world may be seen. For Evian is the place where Germany returns -to France those French men, women and children who are no longer of any -use as prisoners and slaves. - -They are mostly the people who were taken in the first victorious rush -of the Germans in 1914. As long as they could work, or by threats and -cruelty could be induced to try to work, the Germans held them as -industrial slaves. When, through starvation, exhaustion and disease, -they became useless to their taskmasters they were returned to France. - -I do not know at what rate these victims of Germany’s ambition and lust -for world power are now coming back, but last autumn and winter, when -the migration was at its height, the repatriates were being received -and cared for at the rate of five hundred to one thousand a day. They -came through Switzerland, a three days’ journey, in rough box cars, -often without food or water, and were nearly always, when they arrived, -in a condition bordering on collapse. - -I want to tell about some of these French repatriates. I shall not -exaggerate or embroider the tale. It hurts cruelly to remember those -poor people. It hurts to write about them. But I want our people to -know. The next time they sit in a meeting where disloyal so-called -socialists warble their phrases about this struggle being a profiteers’ -war, about peace by negotiations, and the rest of it, perhaps they will -remember. - -The French government created a commission to handle the stream of -human derelicts which Germany sent back through Switzerland. The people -of Evian lent wholehearted aid to the commission, and all efforts have -been splendidly augmented by the American Red Cross. - -When the trains came in at the receiving station at Evian there were -always a certain number of the returned prisoners who had to be -taken immediately to the hospital. They were in advanced stages of -tuberculosis, they were suffering from anemia and starvation and from -all the diseases of neglect. Worst of all, many women and children were -found suffering from the diseases of vice and crime. - -All these sick ones go to hospitals. The American Red Cross established -a children’s hospital at Evian, since nearly sixty per cent. of -the repatriates are children, and nearly all of them need hospital -care. The French have their local hospitals, and also what they call -houses of repose where those of their countrymen not actually sick but -extremely exhausted are cared for and put into condition to travel -farther. - -The emaciated, hollow-eyed and weary remnant who could walk that far -are, or were, taken to the old casino, where wealth and fashion used -to gather for bridge and expensive food and drink. There the mayor of -Evian made a touching speech welcoming the people back to their native -land, comforting and cheering them as well as he could. Then they sat -down to the first good meal they had eaten, some of them, for years. -But first _The Marseillaise_ was sung. - - “Arise, children of the land, - The day of glory has arrived.” - -Who could listen, without deep stirrings of emotion, to men and women -just released from prison-houses of pain and horror singing those -words? I can not imagine how they found voices to sing. Some of them, -indeed, could not sing. They could hardly speak. They just stood there -dumb and broken, their sad eyes streaming with tears. Even freedom and -the sound again of their beloved French language could not wipe out -their terrible memories. - -Some of the repatriates are met at Evian by friends and relatives. Some -are cared for by the French government, sent to towns and villages -well away from the war zone. Charity and the Red Cross have done -splendid work for all refugees, but their problems are often almost -unsolvable. Hardly a man among them is fit for industry. As for the -women, the plight of many of them is pitiable. - -The individual stories of some of these women I heard from the lips of -a woman known throughout France for her devoted labors in behalf of -victims of German soldiers in the invaded districts. - -This noble French woman bears the beautiful name of Avril de Ste. -Croix. I mention it not because she would particularly care to have -me do so, but because she is known to a great many women in America. -Madame Avril de Ste. Croix is president of the French National Council -of Women, and as a prominent suffragist has attended a number of -meetings of the International Association for Woman Suffrage of which -an American woman, Carrie Chapman Catt, is president. Every one in -France and in the United States who knows Madame de Ste. Croix knows -that she is incapable of misstatement or misrepresentation. What she -told me I am absolutely confident was true in every particular. - -In Paris there is a house of mercy established and maintained by -patriotic and generous French people for the rehabilitation of women -and girl victims of German lust, and Madame de Ste. Croix is managing -director of the establishment. - -To this house was brought, about a year ago, a woman who, at the -beginning of the war, lived with her husband and five children in one -of the French cities taken by the Germans. They did not destroy this -city, but occupied it and made it a division headquarters. - -Madame Doran we will call her, because it is not her name, lost her -husband’s protection and a good deal of her income at the mobilization. -The husband joined the colors, and the wife and five children made a -home in two small rooms of a tenement. The whole town was filled with -German soldiers, and Madame Doran had two men billeted on her. She -moved her family into one room and gave the other to the soldiers. - -From the first these soldiers tried to debauch the poor woman. She -successfully resisted them. They moved on and two more soldiers were -billeted on her. They in turn attempted the degradation of this decent -wife and mother. She resisted these men also. - -For a year and a half she lived with her children in that room, -separated only by a thin wall from lustful brutes whose orders were -that “the German seal must be set upon the enemy’s country.” In other -words, they had orders to destroy as many lives and as much virtue of -women as they possibly could. - -Successive German soldiers this brave and virtuous woman continued -to resist. Finally, after a year and a half of fear and dread and -continual struggle, the soldiers then in her home went to their -officers and reported her as a quarrelsome, contentious woman, one who -made a practise of insulting German soldiers. Those unspeakable cowards -and brutes did this thing for revenge. - -The authorities descended on the woman, took her children away from -her by force, sent them to German institutions and sent her to work in -a German-conquered mine in northern France. There the ultimate misery -became hers. Her husband gone, her children torn from her, her home -taken away, placed at degrading labor, her spirit broken, she fell a -prey to German lust at last. - -Only by yielding to the soldiers guarding the mine workers could she -buy for herself the least privilege. Only by becoming worse than a -slave could she obtain the slightest surcease from slavery. - -She fell. For about a year she was tossed from one to another of the -Huns in the neighborhood of that mine. Inevitably she became in time -a menace to health, and then the Huns in Berlin ordered her deported. -She was sent back through Switzerland to Evian with a card sewed to her -rags, a card describing her as a syphilitic prostitute. - -She was too crushed with suffering to make excuses for herself or to -tell her story. There was nothing for the French government to do -except send her to a hospital near Paris where such outcasts go to die. -But Madame Doran did not die. She improved under treatment, and her -distraught mind began to clear a little. - -One day Madame Avril de Ste. Croix came to the hospital. Her angel -pity and charity extends to the lowest outcasts among women, and she -looks for possible curables among them everywhere. Attracted by the -pure beauty of this victim, for she still retained some of her youthful -loveliness, Madame de Ste. Croix spoke to her, and finally drew from -her the terrible tale of her martyrdom. - -At once Madame de Ste. Croix arranged for her removal to the house in -Paris. There the best medical treatment, good nursing and kindness -worked miracles. Madame Doran was soon on the road to partially -restored life and health. - -Meanwhile, Madame de Ste. Croix had sought and found the soldier -husband. She told him what had befallen his wife and children. He heard -with horror, then he dropped his head on the table before him and wept -until his sleeves were drenched with tears. His bitterest grief spent, -he raised his head and said: - -“Madame, whatever my poor wife’s condition, I can have no reproaches -for her. I can remember only what she was to me in the past, a true, -good wife. I loved her then and I love her now. Give her back to me, -and for the rest of her life I will atone to her for what she has -suffered.” - -This great-hearted French soldier had been wounded and was now -mobilized in industry. He could make a home for his wife and Madame de -Ste. Croix helped them establish themselves anew. Then she began a long -search for the children. She wrote to the king of Spain, who is her -friend and who, since the war began, has often used his influence with -the German kaiser to find lost and imprisoned French and Belgians. The -children of these poor parents were ultimately found and were restored -to their bruised hearts. - -Four of the five children were restored to them. The oldest boy, when -the Germans broke up their home, resisted the soldiers sent to take -them away. He was only a child. He did not realize the invincible -majesty of Germany and he protested with all his young might. A German -soldier kicked him, breaking his back. So he died, slowly and in great -agony. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -FRENCHMEN, NEVER FORGET - - -With Madame Avril de Ste. Croix I visited the house of mercy in Paris -where women and child victims of German soldiers find refuge. - -I visited this house and I saw there that which made me an implacable -foe of any peace except on terms of extinction of the power that caused -this war. - -“We have very few here now,” said Madame de Ste. Croix. “I mean -compared with the first three years of the war. When the Germans think -themselves victorious they are ruthless in their treatment of women and -of civilians generally. When they are losing they are less cruel.” - -I am glad that I did not see the first fruits of German wrath. I do -not understand how any one who did see it can ever smile or be happy -again. What I have seen is the mild and tempered wrath of a beaten foe. -I saw, in what is called the isolation pavilion of that house of mercy, -seventeen girls in a condition of health which made it impossible for -them to associate with others. - -This pavilion had room for twice the number, and in former times, from -1914 to 1917, this one refuge was crowded, crowded with ruined and -diseased French and Belgian girls. Now the German army has no time and -less opportunity for such bestiality. There were only seventeen girls -in the isolation pavilion of that house of mercy in Paris. The youngest -girl was fourteen. - -They have comfortable rooms, a little parlor with books and a piano, -and a kind and devoted house mother. She is a teacher as well, and -the education of these pathetic young creatures is carried on daily, -as though they had a normal destiny, as indeed some of them have. -Recovery, even from their dread malady, is not impossible, and the best -medical care in Paris is given them freely. - -In another pavilion of this house I saw another group of girls much -better off. They had lived through horrors, but their health was -somehow preserved. The youngest of these girls was twelve years old, -and the hideous thing had happened to her two years ago. I think I have -never seen a more tragic figure than this little girl. Her face was -white and solemn and her eyes were old. She seldom spoke. - -While we were looking at the sewing work and some of the girls were -busy making us tea, a friend of the house came in to play the piano for -the girls to sing. This is her regular contribution to the work. They -sang, these poor little larks, standing around the piano, sang of home -and love and all things beautiful. - -I sat and listened and thought of peaceful America, where the war is -still little more than an abstraction, a fact hardly realized except -by the mothers and fathers and wives of men who have gone over. - -Perhaps it was unworthy of a reporter, but the sight of these young -French girls who have been forced, in the most ghastly fashion -possible, to realize what this war means, was, for the moment, more -than I could bear. I slipped away and ran to the farthest end of the -enclosed garden. - -Out of the sound of their voices I sat down and let the most unbearable -part of the pain flow away in tears. As I sat there on that garden -bench I heard a little soft exclamation. Looking up I saw the youngest -girl, the little one who at ten years had had her life wrecked by -a Hunnish criminal, more than one, for all I know. This child with -the white solemn face and the old eyes stood there, pitying me for a -trouble she did not understand. But for her there was only one trouble, -and she assumed that I was weeping for that. - -She reached out a timid little hand and laid it on mine. - -“Ah, madame,” she whispered, “is it not terrible, the war?” - -It is terrible, but it has brought to the surface a heroism and a -grandeur of soul that few of us knew the French people possessed. I -asked Madame de Ste. Croix to tell me of the women and girls who had -borne children to the German invaders. “What will you do with those -boche babies?” I asked her. - -“We shall assimilate them,” she said proudly. And she added that the -mothers, married or unmarried, as a rule loved their forlorn little -babes. “I have known only two women who wished to get rid of their -children,” she assured me. - -Nature is stronger than convention. The heart of woman is a mother -heart, and nothing can ever change it. It was man and not woman who -invented the myth of the illegitimate child. - -Yet over there in France, even the men have risen above that harsh and -cruel tradition. Madame de Ste. Croix, who takes on herself the painful -duty of telling men what happened to their women when the Germans came, -told me how nobly and bravely French men have stood by and sheltered -them. - -There was a girl who came under her care shortly before her baby was -born. It was a fine little boy, fortunately the image of its mother. -She had lost everything in the war, father, mother, home, and she clung -passionately to her child. Only, at times, she wept bitterly thinking -of the young soldier she had hoped to marry, and who was ignorant of -what had befallen her. - -Madame de Ste. Croix looked up the young man, found his regiment, and -arranged a meeting with him. His agony when she told him was great, but -not for an instant was his allegiance to his sweetheart shaken. He had -mourned her as dead and he blessed the noble woman who restored her to -him again. - -“What has happened is not conceivably her fault,” declared this fine -young soldier. “I love her more for what she has suffered. If I could -I would marry her to-morrow and be a father to her child. But I am not -sure that I can. I am not sure that it would be for her happiness.” - -With tears in his eyes the man told Madame de Ste. Croix that he was -under twenty-five, and until after a man has passed that age he may -not, according to French law, marry without the consent of his mother. -This young man’s parents, he explained, were small town folk with a -small town point of view. - -Their morality was a little narrow-minded, and he feared that they -would never consent to his marriage with a girl who had suffered at the -hands of the Hun. They would pity her, of course, but they would not -want her for a daughter. They would never be able to love the child. - -“Let me go away now,” he implored, “and try to think what is best to be -done.” - -A week later he returned with a radiant face. He had obtained leave and -had gone home to see his mother. There, on his knees, he had told her a -lie, one that must have been recorded in Heaven to his favor. He told -her that he was the father of that girl’s baby, that he had wronged -her, and now begged permission to right the wrong by marrying her. - -The mother’s reproaches were severe, and the poor young man had the -pain of seeing her suffer for what she thought was his guilt. But after -she had been induced to look at the baby’s picture her good heart was -awakened. She agreed to the marriage and promised to love and care for -the mother and child until the end of the war. - -This man was a simple soldier, a child of working people. He did not -know that he was heroic, and in fact what he did has been matched by -scores of men in France. Very often after the Germans violated women -and children in the invaded towns and villages, they murdered them -cruelly. Those left alive have been cherished by their men, only too -thankful that they were spared. - -“Not that the men do not suffer,” said Madame de Ste. Croix. “We prize -virtue and stainlessness in women. But we love justice more. And if -this dreadful thing is hard on men whose betrothed are wronged, how -much harder it is on a man whose wife has borne children to the brutal -boche. - -“He may forget what she has gone through, but how can he endure the -presence of the child? What will be the future of those children, -intruders in the family? I do not know.” - -What has happened to thousands of women and girls in invaded Belgium -and France could just as well happen in this country. It would happen -without the smallest doubt if the Huns landed on our shores. Can you -picture it? Can you imagine what it would be, fathers and mothers of -America, to stand with German guns leveled at your heads while beasts -in human form violated your young daughters before your eyes? - -Can you imagine what it would be for our soldiers to come home from -the war and find their wives and daughters with German babies in their -arms? This is what many French and Belgian soldiers have had to endure. -You will not persuade any of these men to listen to arguments in favor -of a peace without victory. - -All over France you will see in homes, in shop windows, on blank walls -a poster. There are just three words on this poster: “Frenchmen, never -forget!” In the upper right-hand corner of the poster there is a -picture of some woeful thing that has happened since the German hordes -began to overrun the world. - -Sometimes the picture is of a burned and desolated village, a shattered -hulk of what was once a beautiful old church. Oftener it is a picture -of ruined womanhood, blasted childhood. - -In the lower left-hand corner of the poster is a picture of a smooth -German salesman trying to sell something in France. “Frenchmen, never -forget!” They never will forget. They have tenacious memories, our -French allies. - -Can any one who has visited Paris forget the statue of Strasbourg in -the Place de la Concorde? It is one of eight splendid monuments in that -square, each representing a city of France. When the Germans filched -Alsace and Lorraine from France, after the war of 1870, Strasbourg was -lost to the French. On that day they laid funeral wreaths on the statue -in the Place de la Concorde, and they have kept funeral wreaths there -ever since. - -Until August, 1914. Then they took away the emblem of mourning, because -they knew Strasbourg would be theirs again. The statue is gay with -flowers now, and with flags of all the allies. Our flag is there, the -flag the French call _le drapeau étoilé_, the bestarred banner. May it -stay there until what it has gone to France for has been accomplished, -until the utterly crushed and vanquished German army has been pursued -beyond the Rhine, until something of what the women of France and of -martyred Belgium have endured has been paid for. - -Not in the same coin, however. The men who have suffered so bravely are -incapable of such crimes. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE NEW WOMAN IN FRANCE - - -The long-distance gun which has been bombarding Paris has not -terrorized the civil population, as the Germans intended. I was in and -out of the city for a month after the gun began to do its deadly work, -and I can attest to that fact. But I remember three occasions when the -wrath of the Parisians rose to such a height that I shuddered to think -of the retribution that was piling up for Germany. - -The first time was when a shell struck an historic old church, killing -seventy-five Good Friday worshipers. The second was when the shell -burst in a ward of a maternity hospital, making victims of mothers and -newly born babes. The third time was when a factory was struck, and at -least seven women workers were savagely slain. The shell struck the -front of the factory, killing the head foreman who was just leaving the -place. The man was torn limb from limb. - -The entire front wall of the factory crushed inward and fell upon the -women seated at their work. Six were killed outright, one died on the -way to the hospital, and thirty were desperately hurt. They were nearly -all war widows, wives of soldiers and refugees, those slain women and -their comrades in the factory. - -“After the church, after the nursery, the sewing room,” wrote the -editor of _Le Matin_. “It will be said that the barbarians respect -nothing.” Not religion, not infancy, not womanhood. - -What deepened the indignation in the minds of the French public was the -almost sublime courage shown by the women in that factory. There was -not a single moment of panic. Instantly picking themselves up, those -who were unhurt began to lift out of the mass of bricks and shattered -timbers the dead and wounded. They vied with one another in their calm, -quick efforts to save life, and by the time the ambulances arrived all -the wounded had received first aid. The next morning at the usual hour -every woman, except the seriously wounded, reported for work. Not one -stayed at home. - -“France can not spare workers now,” said one woman to President -Poincaré, who personally visited the wrecked factory to congratulate -these heroines. - -Such is the metal of French wives and mothers, who have always, until -this war, lived rather secluded lives within their own homes. In sheer -admiration the French men, who have hitherto monopolized the higher -fields of industry, and who have laughed at the idea of women in -political life, are now ready to yield to any demands that women may in -future put forth. - -French women can probably have the vote for the asking. They have not -made up their minds, in great numbers, that they want to vote. But -the suffrage movement is well started, it has good leaders, women of -education and social power, and there is no question as to the outcome. - -War has wrought great changes in the status of women in all the -countries directly involved, and in France it has almost overturned the -whole social theory. The rigid system of chaperonage of girls has been -greatly relaxed. - -For this the Red Cross has been responsible to a certain degree. -Thousands of young women who never in their lives before saw a man -except in the presence of their mothers now work in station canteens at -all hours of the day and night, cooking, serving, feeding soldiers and -refugees, waiting on the sick and weary with tireless devotion. - -I have spoken of the dearth of conductors on the French trains. There -is one train attendant who never fails, and that is the young woman -who collects funds for the Red Cross. Every time a train stops it is -boarded by girls and women in white uniforms, who go through all the -carriages shaking tin money receptacles. These are about the size -and shape of a quart milk bottle, and the girl who holds it neglects -nobody. “_Pour la Croix Rouge! Pour les blessés!_” she cries, and -everybody drops small change into the milk bottle’s insatiable maw. In -the course of a long journey one contributes rather heavily. But then, -one should. - -The educated women of France have gone in for hospital nursing as never -before. No part of unpreparedness in France was more serious than the -neglect of the nursing profession. Formerly almost all nursing was -done by the religious orders, and to tell the truth, it was not very -scientific nursing. If a sister happened to be a born nurse, so much -the better. But even the best of them were untrained in the modern -sense. - -When the religious orders were broken up in France little or nothing -was publicly done to replace the nurses. I visited a house in Paris, a -sort of a nurses’ settlement, where for some years a highly educated -and philanthropic woman has maintained a small training school of her -own. - -This woman, whose name, unfortunately, has slipped my memory, lives -and works in a crowded quarter of the city where there is much -tuberculosis. She established her nurses’ training school in connection -with her tuberculosis work, which is extensive. She induced a number -of educated girls to take up nursing, and many of them in 1914 went -into war work. But they were a drop in the bucket. They were dozens -where thousands were needed. So the women had to leave their homes, as -our leisured women will have to, if this war outlasts 1918, and made -themselves capable and devoted trained nurses. - -These are the new women of France, and it would be extraordinary if, -after finding freedom from the old restrictions and conventions, they -should ever go back to the old ways. I met several women who were as -emancipated as any young American feminist, and who seemed very happy -in their new independence. - -At Aix-les-Bains, where our soldiers went for their first vacation -leaves, there was a young girl who was an almost startling example. She -was about twenty years old and very pretty, in a delicate, patrician -way. Before the war this girl would never have gone out of the house -unattended. She had been educated in a private school with girls of her -own social class, and but for the war would have been married by this -time to a man chosen for her in the family council. - -Now she was driving her own little Ford ambulance for the benefit of -the American soldiers. She had joined the American Y. M. C. A., wore -its becoming gray and blue uniform, with a boy’s soft hat pulled down -over her bobbed black hair, and she was as busy as a maternal little -wren. - -I don’t know where she and the little car had operated before, but when -the boys began to arrive at Aix she drove down from Paris, entirely -alone except for a girl chum, an English girl, I believe, and a dozen -times a day she sat at the wheel speeding between Aix and Chambéry, -four miles away, carting supplies from one Y. M. C. A. headquarters to -the other, and taking soldiers back and forth as well. - -Mademoiselle Marcelle spoke English quaintly but fluently, but she -was not a very conversational young person. She was grave and very -dignified, and she loved all American soldiers too well to favor any -one very much. They treated her like a princess and were ready any -minute to clean the car, or oil it, or spend half a day doing things to -its insides. - -She was a charming little creature, Mademoiselle Marcelle. My son -confided in me one evening that he didn’t think he would have to look -farther for his life’s ideal, but then, so did at least a dozen other -doughboys, so I considered his chances rather slim. - -Even before the war the position of the French girl showed signs of -change. The quality of her education had immensely improved, and in -fact was practically the same as that of boys. Coeducation was unknown -in the schools and in higher institutions, but in the Sorbonne, the -oldest of all French universities, men and women attended the same -lectures. - -There have been individual parents who desired the fullest freedom -for their daughters, and who educated them for the professions. There -are not many women doctors in France, but the woman lawyer is highly -respected and even encouraged. - -One daughter of such modern parents is at present rendering good -service to her country in the French foreign office. Mademoiselle -St. René Taillandier is a member of the press section of the foreign -office, and because of her fluent English is of the greatest assistance -to English and American correspondents, especially women correspondents. - -Mademoiselle St. René Taillandier’s father is a veteran member of the -diplomatic corps, and her mother is a very modern minded woman. Having -lived in many countries of the world, and observing the constantly -widening field of women’s activities, they agreed that their daughter -should be brought up as an English or an American girl. She was given -a sound education, part of it in England, and she was allowed the -fullest possible freedom of choice and action. - -Very recently having received at the Sorbonne a degree corresponding -to our master of arts, this fortunate young French woman has entered -upon a most promising literary career. She has acted in the capacity -of secretary to the famous novelist, Paul Bourget, and it was he who -discovered her literary gift and insisted upon her developing it. Her -first stories were published in the dignified _Revue des Deux Mondes_, -and have just appeared in book form. - -These changes in the status of women are going to be very good for -France and her people. Already one sees their broadening effect. In the -old days the French showed a certain lack of hospitality to strangers. -You had to be very well known to a French family before you were -invited to visit the house. This is the real reason why the French have -been so little understood. - -It has been said of them that they had no word for home, hence they -must be less domestic than other people. They have a word for home. It -is “_foyer_,” which means literally hearth. The family hearth was to -them so sacred that they couldn’t bring themselves to admit foreigners -there. - -That, too, is changing. Not only middle class people, but people of -wealth are opening their homes, especially to Americans. I received -the most unexpected invitations to the homes of almost strangers. One -woman of prominence whom I met for the first time told me that she had -a country house in Brittany which she wanted to place at the disposal -of American soldiers this summer. - -“I have lost several near relatives in the war,” she said, “and it -would be a consolation to me to feel that I was doing something for the -ally that came in time to save our France from perishing. I want to -know the American young man. If your son should be so unfortunate as to -be wounded I hope I can take him to my house for his convalescence. I -would gladly receive him and any of the American soldiers.” - -The kaiser’s atrocious war, meant to crush and alienate and enslave the -English, French and Americans, has had quite another effect. It has -brought us into new and noble friendship. It has forged ties that never -will be broken. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -POUR LA PATRIE - - -In one of the most widely read of French magazines I came across a -story which illustrates the wonderful spirit and loyalty of the French -mother. She loves her children with a devotion unsurpassed anywhere. -But more deeply and more deathlessly she loves France. - -The story was contained in an article written by a French correspondent -who witnessed the repatriation at Evian-les-Bains of a large number of -women and children long held prisoners by the Germans. Among them was a -woman and her two little boys, Jean, aged five, and Gilbert, three. The -mother was in the last stages of tuberculosis, and she had just managed -to live long enough to get her children to Evian. Then she died. But -before she died she said to the French Red Cross representative who had -promised to care for the little ones: “I want you to make workmen of -them. The country will so much need skilled workers.” - -This heroic mother, who with her last breath dedicated her children -to the rebuilding of France, was a simple, plain woman of the people. -It is hardly likely that she had ever said a single word about -patriotism. She lived it, and so do all French women. And there, I -verily believe, is the secret of the vitality and the unconquerable -strength of the French nation. At their mother’s knee the men of France -learn that the first love and allegiance of their hearts and lives are -due their country. They never forget that lesson. - -I do not know who ever invented the fiction that French women are not -maternal. It is true that they do not, as a rule, have many children, -but that is easily understood when one studies the French economic and -social conditions. In all families outside the wage earning class the -girl children must be provided with dowries. It is the custom, and a -dowerless girl has a difficult time getting married. Also, under French -law, all children inherit equally their parents’ estate. Land holdings, -as a rule, are very moderate, and if there were many children it would -be impossible to educate and equip them for life. - -It has never been the custom, as with us, for girls of the middle -classes to earn their living. Until very recently the _jeune fille_, -the young, unmarried girl, hardly ever went out unescorted. The -prototype of our American college bred, tennis playing, independent, -self-supporting girl did not exist in France. The one ideal of the -gently reared French girl was marriage and a home. And in the home she -became a real power. - -Theoretically all women are powers in their homes. The power of the -French wife and mother is not theoretical, it is real, it is legalized. -A Frenchman who does not consult his wife in every business matter is -the exception. A son who does not refer all his affairs to his mother’s -consideration is a bad son. Under French law the family council, which -includes near relatives as well as fathers and mothers, settles most -questions involving minor children. It is in the family council where -marriages are arranged and marriage contracts agreed upon. - -Women rule these family councils to a very great extent. Their voices -in all domestic matters are listened to with respect. You will see -bearded men give up a cherished project, even a love match, because -_Maman_ could not be persuaded of its wisdom. A man can not legally -marry without his mother’s consent until he is twenty-five years old. - -Because of their great power in the home French women have not left -the domestic life to the same extent that English and American women -have done. They have not insisted on entering all the trades and -professions. They have not demanded the vote. But the war has brought -great changes into French life, and the women of France will never -again be as they were before. They, too, must go out and work. They -must accept the responsibilities of political life. They must socialize -their maternal love. They are doing it already. - -When the Germans invaded northern France in 1914, when most of the men -were swept away into the fighting, the women assumed the burden not -only of family life but of community life as well. Often the German -commander, entering a town or village and demanding the presence of the -mayor, would be met by a stout, gray-haired matron who would calmly -announce, “I am the mayor.” - -So she was, and had been since _monsieur le maire_ had been mobilized, -or perhaps murdered by the invading Huns. Many a French town and -village with its hapless population has been saved from utter -annihilation by the intrepid courage and determination of a woman in -authority. More than once the woman was a nun. - -France knows better than ever of what stuff its women are made, and -the future status of the women is absolutely theirs to decide. There -is plenty of evidence that they will decide on more independence and a -wider range of activities. - -I visited French munitions works, including the famous Citroen factory -in Paris, where shells for France’s celebrated 75’s are turned out. I -sat down at luncheon in the vast canteen of the factory with thousands -of workers, fully half of them women. Before the war most of those -women would have been engaged in sewing work at home, at very low -wages. Seclusion of women went with family self-respect. - -Now the girls were working in a shell factory. They were in overalls, -some of them, and they were doing men’s work. All through this -tremendous establishment I met girls driving motor shell carriers at -high speed. I saw them working in the flaming forge rooms. I saw them -cutting through steel bars with acetylene torches. I saw them at -lathes shaping shells. I saw them making bullets. They work ten hours a -day, where eight had been the legal limit before the war. They do not -complain. It is for France, _pour la patrie_. - -There has not been, as there was in England, a great pouring into -industry of the women of the middle classes. The women workers were -recruited from the home workers and from the luxury trades, so-called. -There were many more of these in France, which was the finery mine for -all the world, than in other countries. Thousands of girls and women -who made clothes and hats and _bijoux_ were thrown out of work and were -easily transferred to the munitions trades. - -They seem to like the change. They are a much more coquettish class -than the English workers. They do not wear any hats, as a rule, but -they spend a good part of their wages on their hair. Even in the -factory a girl in overalls working at a forge has her black hair -elaborately coiffured and shining with brilliantine. Usually her hair -is dressed with bright pins and sidecombs. What the French working -girls would do if the war lasts long enough to exhaust the world’s -supply of rhinestone combs I really do not know. - -The French woman who escorted me through the Citroen factory deplored -the fact that the working girls are beginning to wear dressy clothes -and high heeled boots. It did not used to be so, she said. I pointed -out that the girls formerly hadn’t the money to buy these things, and -that the evils of democracy were cured only by more democracy. Women -can’t learn, all at once, how to spend wisely. - -The women of the French middle classes and those of the old aristocracy -have gone into war work, if not into war industries. The advent of so -many more women in factory work brought a new sense of responsibility -to the more fortunately placed women. They have done a great deal for -the workers to keep them in health and strength, to take care of the -children of married workers, and even to raise wages. - -The Citroen factory is such a model establishment that it has been -written about in half a dozen American papers and magazines. It pays -very good wages, and the minimum for piece work, eight francs a -day--about a dollar and forty-five cents--is shared by men and women -alike. Most of the workers average ten and twelve francs a day. - -In this factory an excellent noon meal is served at cost, about thirty -cents, with wine extra. The meal is prepared by professional cooks in -spotless kitchens and it is well served. But not every factory has a -canteen, and many have been established and are maintained by women -of wealth for the benefit of the workers. I visited one of these in -company with the principal founder, formerly a woman of the exclusive -“great world,” but now a hard and indefatigable worker. - -“These girls must have good food,” she said. “It is a tradition in -France, and if we lose it we lose something national. We who have time -must feed those who have no time except for toil.” - -The luncheon served at this canteen was as dainty, and it was perhaps -even more carefully composed, than an expensive repast in a Fifth -avenue tea room. The rich lady and her American guest sat down and -ate it with the girls from the munitions factory a block away, and we -enjoyed it as much as they did. - -Every American woman knows the beautifully embroidered French -underwear, which over here is rather expensive but in France could once -be purchased for very little. The Paris “white sales” before the war -was the trade event of the year for women. But what few women took into -consideration when buying this lovely underwear so cheaply was that the -women who made the garments received appallingly low wages for their -work. - -The underwear was made by women working at home. Pride kept them from -leaving home, and besides, there were often young children to care for. -So the home workers toiled far into the night, sewing and embroidering -the dainty things that were to adorn the soft bodies of richer women. -For their long toil they often received less than a franc a day. - -I met the woman who was chiefly responsible for the alleviation of this -great blot on the civilization of France. Her name is Madame Viollet, -and she has devoted her life to the problems of the poor, in much the -same wholehearted way as Jane Addams, Julia Lathrop, Lillian Wald and -other well-known American women have. Like them she lives with her poor. - -The problem of the home worker was long her chief province, and since -the war she has succeeded in having a minimum wage law passed through -the French Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, giving to the women who -work at home four or five times as much as they ever received before. - -“I do not wish all women to work in factories,” she said to me. -“Expectant mothers, women with young children, delicate women, ought -to stay at home. And, since they must earn, it is the business of the -state to see that they are not cheated.” - -Not only did Madame Viollet secure for the home workers a minimum wage, -she organized them into a _syndicat_, or union, to enforce the law, and -to raise their own status in various ways. This was a remarkable thing -to do, because French women are totally unused to the idea of trade -unions. The men rarely admit them to their unions, and the strong woman -labor leader of England and the United States is practically unknown. -But the home workers are organized now, and after the war we shall pay -more for our French embroidered underwear. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -BY WAY OF DIVERSION - - -I shall never hear that musical classic, _Where Do We Go From Here?_, -without remembering a young lieutenant I tried to be a mother to in -France. I really led the young man terribly astray, and but for a bit -of luck at the end I might have got him court-martialed. - -The whole thing grew out of the fact that so many of the men in France -are mobilized that they haven’t enough left for train conductors and -station guards. You can travel for hundreds of miles in France and -never have your ticket taken up by anybody. I have a collection of -French railroad tickets which I bought and used, but never had to show -to a conductor. - -One of these tickets entitled me to ride first class from Bourges to a -certain large American military camp. I bought the ticket one morning -last spring and was informed by the polite Frenchman behind the wicket -that it would be necessary for me to change at a junction about midway -in the journey. - -“They allow you barely five minutes to make the change,” he warned me, -“but you can not miss the train. It is the Paris express.” - -We were slightly delayed, and when I reached the junction I made a -quick leap to the station platform and looked around for my train. -There were several standing there, so I ran, suit-case in one hand and -typewriter in the other, in search of a guard. There was only one, but -I hailed him and asked him to indicate the Paris express. - -“Platform three,” he exclaimed. “But, hurry, hurry, madame. Already the -train he marches.” And surely enough the queer little tin whistle which -is a characteristic of French trains was shrilling its starting signal -and the doors of the carriages were slamming. - -I dashed across the tracks and almost into a young officer who was -looking wildly around and calling in English for a porter. Seeing my O. -D. uniform, he recognized a compatriot, and implored me to tell him, if -I knew, which train he should take to go to Y----. - -“Come along,” I flung back at him, for I was still racing for that -moving train. “I’m going there, too.” - -We just made it, flinging my suit-case and typewriter in, and falling -in after them ourselves. The lieutenant had no luggage. - -I was tired, having been up late the night before, and without any more -conversation I curled up in a corner and went to sleep. I must have -slept for an hour, and after I awoke the train rolled on for another -hour without coming to Y----. - -We were alone in the compartment, and no conductor appeared. So I spoke -to the young officer. “I thought Y---- was only about an hour and a -half from the junction,” I remarked. - -“I thought so, too,” he answered. “But I don’t speak a word of French, -so I don’t always get very precise information.” - -“Well, the guard told me that this was the Paris express,” I said. “We -must be on the right train.” - -We commented on the singular lack of train conductors, and the -lieutenant said yes, you could travel all over France free if you had -luck. He had traveled for forty-eight hours for one franc and eighty -centimes. At least, the only ticket he had been asked to surrender cost -one franc eighty. The rest were in his pocket. - -But he didn’t enjoy traveling alone in a foreign country. He couldn’t -even ask for a match in French, much less inquire about trains. I -resolved that I would be nice to that young man and see that he got -safely to his destination. But when another hour went by and we still -didn’t reach Y---- it occurred to me that I might not be very much of -a guide. I opened my suit-case, got out a map of France, found the -junction from which we had started and watched for the name on the next -station. - -We were on the Paris express all right, but we were going to Paris -instead of away from it, as I had intended. We were within a mile or -two from the city of Orleans. I broke the news to the lieutenant and -he turned a little pale. He simply had to get to Y---- that night, he -said. He was on a special mission and had been charged to deliver his -message as quickly as possible. - -“Even if we get there this evening,” he added, “I don’t know how I am -going to get out to the camp. They don’t allow officers to sleep in the -town, you know. They know I’m on the way because I sent all my luggage -on ahead.” - -“Perhaps there is a train back very soon,” I suggested. “We’ll get off -at Orleans and I will inquire.” - -We did, the lieutenant carrying my suit-case, and both of us hurrying -as fast as we could to the ticket office. What was the next train for -Y----? The next train was about to start. “Hurry, hurry, madame and -monsieur. You will miss it unless you run. It is necessary to change at -X,” mentioning the very junction where our unfortunate lives had been -joined. - -We ran, without stopping to buy tickets, and scrambled breathlessly -aboard the moving train. Nobody asked us for any tickets, and we -actually traveled the entire distance back to X without paying the -French government a single _sou_. We arrived about seven o’clock, dusk, -with our final destination still forty-five miles ahead. Moreover, -there was no train before midnight. - -The young lieutenant was very blue, but he agreed that there was no use -worrying, and we might as well go up-town and get some dinner. We would -have to go together, whether we liked it or not, because he couldn’t -get along alone. We had a good dinner, and by the time it was finished -it selfishly occurred to me that I had had about enough of that strange -young man’s society. It was obvious that he had had enough of mine, -because it is a little bit dangerous for an American officer to be seen -in a lady’s company in France. Officers are not supposed to have women -friends or relatives on that side of the ocean, and if a member of the -military police were to see him carrying a woman’s suit-case through a -civilian town the policeman soldier might develop a little curiosity. -And what a fishy story we had to tell after all. Childish! - -“I think,” said I to the lieutenant, “that you can get along all right -now. I am very tired and I believe I will take a room in this hotel and -stay over until to-morrow.” - -He brightened up amazingly and said that it was a capital idea. But -when I asked for a room the little _patronne_ declared that she didn’t -have a bed in the house. Perhaps I could get one at the hotel opposite -the station. I couldn’t, nor did I find a room vacant in any one of the -other hotels. - -“Well,” I said, “I’m not going to get into Y---- after midnight. It’s a -small place, and I am not sure I can get a room there. I’m going back -to Bourges. There are large hotels there, and there’s a train at ten.” - -“I can’t get to Y---- after midnight either,” gloomed the lieutenant. -“There won’t be any place for me to stay, and at that hour I couldn’t -telephone the camp to send an ambulance for me. I’ll have to go to -Bourges, too.” - -To Bourges we went, and in addition to getting a room for myself I had -to take the lieutenant along and get a room for him. Why had I ever met -the man? Why had he ever met me? Would we never get rid of each other, -or were we tied for life? - -The next day we met at an early luncheon and again we set out for X. -“Remember,” I warned him, “we shall have barely time at the junction to -make that other train. I know which track it is on now. We’ll all be -ready to jump when this one stops.” - -But our train was shunted on to a side track a little way out of -Bourges, in order to let some troop trains pass. We were late, and we -got into X just in time to see the train for Y---- disappear around a -curve. - -“See here,” I said to the pale and despairing man, “I do not propose to -spend the rest of my life traveling between this wretched junction and -the city of Bourges. I have already spent twenty-four hours traveling -thirty-five miles. At this rate I might die of old age before I got -back to America. You go up-town and find a motor-car, anything that -will go, and we’ll finish the journey in that.” - -“How can I expect to find a motor-car?” cried the lieutenant. “You know -as well as I do that no pleasure automobiles are allowed to run in -France, and this hole won’t have any taxi-cabs. Besides a taxi down to -Y---- would set us back two or three hundred francs.” - -“Never you mind about that,” I retorted. “You do what you are told. You -go straight up-town and look for a car.” - -We quarreled by this time, like a real married pair, and with quite -the air of a defeated husband he departed on his quest. In a short -time he came back. Of course, there was no motor-car to be had, he -reported, but he had had some luck. A colonel’s limousine had broken -down somewhere in the neighborhood and it was being towed down to Y---- -by an army truck. He had heavily subsidized the doughboys who were -accompanying the truck, and they had agreed to stop on a certain corner -long enough for us to surreptitiously get into the limousine. - -It was a beautiful car, apparently in pre-war days the property of some -woman of fashion. The upholstery was pale French gray and there were -all sorts of scent bottles, tablets and flower holders in silver and -cut glass. But it was a terribly open limousine, all windows, and the -lieutenant and I were conspicuous objects. The old truck that towed us -made a lot of noise, and at every village we passed through the people -ran to the doors and windows and cheered vociferously with delighted -laughter. - -The worst was getting into the camp at Y----, but here the bit of luck -appeared. It began to rain just before we arrived, and when we rolled -in the rain was coming down in such sheets that everybody except the -men on guard were under cover. Nobody saw us but the soldiers who -examined our passes. So the lieutenant’s military career was saved. - -We never met again. The lieutenant, I am sure, hopes we never shall. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME - - -Should you happen to be in Paris or in any other French city in the -early spring, you will witness an amusing and at the same time an -inspiring sight; the carnival of the military class of the year before -going into training camps. - -France has lived next door to a burglar nation for nearly half a -century. Ever since Alsace-Lorraine was stolen from her in 1871, France -has known this, and she has therefore retained the system of compulsory -military service. - -Every year, on the eighteenth of April, all able-bodied young Frenchmen -who have reached the age of twenty go up for a two years’ military -training. Just before the war the term was lengthened to three years. -Their term completed, they are placed in the reserves, ready at any -time to be mobilized and fight. - -The world well remembers how in late July, 1914, the tocsin sounded -all over France, calling from field and factory, counting room and -office the glorious citizen army that rushed out against the barbarian -invasion, turned it at the Marne, and saved the life of civilization. - -I believe that after this war some form of compulsory military service -will be enacted in this country. Let us rather call it required -military service, since in a democracy such service is agreed upon as a -wise policy and is not forced on the people without their consent. The -American form might well be something like that of France. - -Proof that military service there is not in the least oppressive is -the gaiety with which the young cadets greet their term of training. -It has long been the custom for the year’s class to make a carnival of -its going. Beginning two or three weeks before the date set for their -encampment, groups of these lads, fantastically arrayed and decorated, -would parade through the streets, singing their favorite choruses, -making a great deal of noise between songs, shouting and chaffing the -passers-by. - -No youth considered himself properly dressed without a huge -_boutonnière_, sometimes of flowers but oftener a paper monstrosity as -big as a cabbage. Sometimes a lad appeared with a buttonhole bouquet of -vegetables. Anything for a joke. Thus dressed, furnished with a guitar -or an accordion, “the bunch,” as our slang would call them, fared forth -to have a last good time before going under discipline. For the time -being they owned the town, and nobody complained of their noise or -their pranks. - -I had seen this before the war, but I was unprepared to see the custom -retained. Yet this April in Paris, in Bordeaux, and several other -cities I saw the same singing groups, the same absurd decorations, the -same fun-making. The class of 1918 was younger than the class of 1914, -but it was every bit as exuberant. Four years of war and desolation, of -sickening anxiety and cruel bereavement, were powerless to depress the -spirit of young France. - -Early on the morning of April eighteenth I started on a journey from -the Orleans station, and there, filling the place with laughter and -excited conversation, I saw about a hundred of the class of 1918 leave -for their cantonment. - -Their mothers and fathers and sweethearts were there seeing them off, -just as we have been seeing our boys off to training camps this year. -But these French fathers and mothers have suffered bitter losses. -Hardly a family in France that has not known bereavement. Most of the -women I saw that April morning wore deep mourning. - -Even though they wept in their hearts, they sent their boys away with -laughter and brave cheer. With bantering words on their lips, their -hearts were saying: “O France, loved Mother, take one more of my sons. -Like those who have died he was mine only until you needed him more.” - -Their train left the station ahead of mine, and until it was far down -the line these great fathers and mothers continued to wave and cheer. -Then they clasped hands and silently went home. - -After four years of war. It made me ashamed of every wavering moment I -have allowed myself since we entered this conflict. - -This is a time when the women of America must take stock of themselves, -when they must consider whether or not they have grown up to the -stature of the women overseas; whether they can keep step with the -men who have gone over to fight beside the French, English, Belgian -and Italian soldiers. For those women of the world war are very great -in mind and spirit. Those young Americans are growing fast. They will -never be the same again. - -We sing about keeping the home fires burning, “Till the boys come -home.” But we have got to face one big fact. When the boys come home -they will have become men, and men of a totally different type than any -to which we have been accustomed. They will be bigger, broader, finer, -in body and mind. They will be better educated. They will expect more -of their women. - -In the first place our men, when they come home, will be such perfect -physical specimens that they will be astonished to see women who are -flat chested, or fat, sallow skinned or heavy-eyed. They won’t have -much patience with indigestion and headaches. That kind of thing goes -with slacking over there. - -There ought to be a great big, earnest health movement among women in -this country during the rest of the war. We see signs of it in the -farmerettes, the campers, the women police. - -The men in France are learning new things every day. They have -traveled. They have had a chance to compare their country with others, -their compatriots with other people. - -We have been called a nation of boasters. We boasted of our -achievements because most of us never had a chance to see anything of -the achievements of other nations. These men have. - -They know now that French cities are often far more beautiful than -American cities. If they lack skyscrapers they have ancient castles and -châteaux. What the French build they build beautifully and for the ages. - -You never hear any boasting from Americans in France. Our men are -learning humility. They know that we do some things well, but they know -that we have much to learn from the older civilizations, and they are -out to learn. - -A young engineer over there told me how when the Americans began to -double track the French railways and to build the miles on miles of -switches necessary to handle trainloads of supplies for the armies, the -French were shocked at the shoddy work done. - -“You know how it is with us,” he said. “When we are doing a hurry job -in laying rails we drive spikes in every other tie. The French drive -them twice in every tie, and they rivet them after they are driven -through. We do that now, over here. The French won’t stand for anything -else. They say they won’t risk railroad accidents for their troops.” - -Our men are getting a wonderful education, not only through their -army experience and their faculties of observation, but through the Y. -M. C. A. department of lectures and entertainment. At first the idea -was simply to entertain the men in their leisure hours, to furnish -music and moving pictures and vaudeville. But the men themselves soon -called for better things, and the Y. M. C. A. is preparing to give what -amounts almost to university extension courses in the camps. Books in -unlimited quantities are being shipped overseas by the American Public -Library Association. Text-books, reference books for every branch of -study. - -This spring Anson Phelps Stokes, secretary of Yale University, went to -France, and was made head of the committee on education in the Y. M. C. -A. in the field. Mr. Stokes made a thorough canvass of the situation, -visiting many camps, consulting with army authorities and with the men -themselves. He visited the camps and canteens of the English Y. M. C. -A. in order to compare their work with ours. - -The programme of education was not complete when I left, but I saw a -tentative plan which by this time must have been worked into something -truly admirable. The men of our army are going to be given a real -practical education. Those behind the lines who wish to continue a -college or technical course, dropped when the draft law went into -effect, will be able to do so. Those whose early education was -neglected will have a chance to go back to elementary school. - -Men who do not care to take up any serious studies will hear lectures, -if they choose, in which they will learn a great deal about French and -English history. In the very region, perhaps the very town, where great -events of history took place, they will hear the story told. The past -will become real. It will help our men to understand the present. - -I know that our soldiers are thirsty for this kind of an education. -I was asked by the Y. M. C. A. to lecture in some of the camps on -what I saw of the Russian revolution. It was with great reluctance -that I agreed to try one lecture. It did not seem possible to me that -soldiers, tired with the day’s labor, would care to listen to such a -subject. - -“I will try it once or even twice, if you like,” I told the secretary, -“but I’m afraid it won’t get across.” - -It did. I spoke something like thirty times, and every time to crowded -rooms. I spoke in sheds, tents, theaters, town halls, and even in the -open. I never had such audiences. Their eyes were keen and bright -and they drank in every word. Afterward they crowded around asking -questions. - -These men are not going to be interested in women who never read -anything but novels and the cheap magazines, who know nothing about -geography or history or politics. They will want to talk over their -experiences with their mothers and sisters and wives, and if they can -not listen intelligently the men are going to be disappointed. - -Hundreds of soldiers with whom I talked showed me pictures of their -women at home. They said loving things, proud things, but the women -they were proudest of were those who were doing some kind of real war -service. “My sister Elizabeth is the head of the Red Cross canteen at -the union station in my town. They feed hundreds of men every time a -troop train goes through.” - -“My wife is pretty busy these days, with the children and her surgical -dressings classes.” - -These are the things the men like to think of their women doing while -they are away. They see the women workers in the canteens of the -Red Cross and the Y. M. C. A. in France. They see nurses and women -ambulance drivers working regardless of weariness, careless of danger. -They see all around them unselfish, courageous service. The spirit is -in the air over there, and the men like to feel that their women at -home are like that, too. - -When the boys come home they want to come back to women who have been -born again into high and noble patriotism. “Not only hats off to the -flag. Sleeves up for the flag.” That slogan, adopted by the men in the -steel industries who are speeding up the building of ships, ships, and -more ships, is the patriotism our men are living every day in France, -and it is the kind they have a right to expect of the women at home. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -WHAT KIND OF WAR WORK - - -Mrs. Rothschild, of Kensington Palace Green, a street in an exclusive -residence district of West London, is president of a society for the -distribution of Jewish literature among English Jews serving at the -front, or wounded in hospitals. Not long ago the society held a large -mass meeting in a seaside resort where many wealthy Jewish people go in -summer. - -The object of the meeting was to raise money, and Mrs. Rothschild made -a special journey from her country home, a distance of twenty or thirty -miles, to the resort. She did this in her zeal to make her pet war -work a success, but--in so doing she broke a law of Great Britain, got -herself arrested and was fined sixty shillings, about fourteen dollars -and fifty cents. - -For Mrs. Rothschild, ignoring the fact that gasoline is so scarce -in England that most pleasure motor-cars have been retired and -automobiling, except for war purposes, has been practically eliminated, -deliberately hired a car to take her from her home to the meeting. - -The zealous Mrs. Rothschild knew the law. She could not help knowing -it, because every private car in Great Britain and almost all taxi-cabs -have huge gas bags on top, and are driven by gas instead of petrol, -as they call it there. But all she thought of was her war work and her -mass meeting. - -There are not many such women in Great Britain, but every once in a -while they are caught and fined. Marie Corelli, the novelist, an ardent -patriot on the surface, was heavily fined for food hoarding. At a time -when food was terribly scarce in England, when even the rich went -without meat, butter or sugar, and many working people ate dry bread -and canned salmon, Miss Corelli’s secret larder was found to be stocked -with hams, bacon, butter, sugar, tea, and all manner of delicacies to -last for nearly a year. - -I remember another woman of prominence who had seventeen Persian cats -for whom she managed somehow to buy cream. When she was arraigned -she pleaded in extenuation that the cats were used to cream, and -that she gave three days every week to canteen work at one of the -railroad stations. The flinty-hearted judge fined her nevertheless and -threatened her with a prison sentence unless the cats’ diet was placed -on a war footing. - -These instances are mentioned in order to illustrate a condition -of things to which we here in the United States are not altogether -strangers. I was in Europe ten months out of the first year of our -participation in the war, and when I returned in May I was naturally -delighted to find signs that the country was thoroughly awakened, and -to learn that almost every woman I knew was up to her eyes in war work. - -I knew already that American women generally were aiding food -conservation, saving meat, wheat and sugar for the allies, for what the -United States has voluntarily sacrificed to feed Europe has done more -to earn the friendship and gratitude of our allies than anything else -we could have done. It is placed on a par with our war loans of money. -It has redeemed us from the reputation of being dollar worshipers. - -There is no question of our zeal and our generosity. There may be a -question of our efficiency as war workers. It is not enough to conserve -food. We must conserve effort as well. There is no reason why we should -repeat the mistakes made by our allies in the beginning of the war. -Just as we are benefiting from their experience in fighting Germans -in the trenches, we should take advantage of their experience in war -service behind the lines. - -Their experience has convinced them that it is better to have a few -large organizations at work than to have many small ones. It is better -for various reasons. One reason is that every community has people like -Mrs. Rothschild and the lady with the seventeen Persian cats. They give -with one hand and waste with the other. - -Another reason why it is better to support the Red Cross and the Y. M. -C. A. than, for example, to form a society for furnishing enlisted men -with special comforts, is that many such societies mean a duplication -of effort. There are seven large organizations working officially in -the war zone. Besides the two just mentioned the Salvation Army, the -Knights of Columbus, the Jewish Welfare Board, the American Library -Association and the Young Women’s Christian Association are doing -excellent work. Among the seven our soldiers get about all the little -food luxuries they need. - -Soldiers are omniverous candy eaters, and they deserve all the candy -they want. But ship space is precious. It is so precious that the War -Department had to deprive us of the great privilege of sending packages -to our sons. Only essentials, asked for by the soldiers and approved by -their officers, can be shipped now. - -The Y. M. C. A. has to work hard to keep its canteens supplied, for not -only is shipping space limited, but the railroads all over France are -congested with freight. The Red Cross uses its own motor-trucks except -for long hauls. So it seems a real duty to ship as little as possible -overseas, and to distribute as much as possible through one of the -seven official organizations. - -That is the economical way, and the only way in which the cost of -distributing can be kept down. Every separate society means more -overhead charges. - -But what becomes of individual effort? it is suggested. We want to -do something more than give money. We want to give personal service. -Of course. I should like to see women in the United States in the -same close personal touch with the government and with the army and -navy as the women of England are. I should like to see over here an -organization of women like the British Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, -the “Wacks” as they are called. These women are regularly enlisted -members of the army. They sign up for the duration of the war, they are -under the war ministry, they are subject to discipline, they have their -own officers, a uniform, they live in barracks and they are paid by the -government. - -The “Wacks” are organized to take the places of men who are needed to -fight. They do all kinds of clerical work, they cook, wait on table at -officers’ mess, they have charge of supplies, they have almost entirely -taken over the signal branch, telephoning and telegraphing and the -like. There really seems to be little that the “Wacks” haven’t taken -over in the way of civilian tasks. They even assist the veterinarians -in taking care of sick and wounded horses and mules. - -There are about twenty thousand women in this branch of the British -service. Some of them work in Great Britain and others in France. -Often they have served under fire, and always with great bravery. The -telephone and telegraph operators have been cited for coolness and -devotion to duty under shell fire and air raids. Great Britain is proud -of her Women’s Auxiliary Army. - -She is proud also of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as the -“Wrens,” of the great land army of women who work on farms and help -feed the country and the army in France. Altogether there are over -a million women in Great Britain who have signed up for government -controlled war work. - -I talked with General Pershing about the possibility of organizing -women in America to release men for the trenches. I told him that it -distressed me to see men in uniform working at card indexes, sorting -mail, pounding typewriters and attending to telephones. He said that it -was only a question of time before some of this work, at least, would -be taken over by women. - -“I know that we shall have to have women telephone operators,” said the -commander. And within a few months the first women telephonists were -actually in France. - -General Pershing told me at the close of our conversation that he -should, if consulted, recommend that the work of our women be begun at -home, in the cantonments. That strikes me as an excellent idea. - -Women ought to be signed up for clerical work, garden work and -especially for housekeeping work in all the cantonments. A uniform is -absolutely necessary, and the women should be officered and disciplined -by women. They should take over most tasks not actually military, thus -releasing officers and men to drill. In this way the work of speeding -up a huge army would be greatly accelerated. - -Our army in the cantonments and in the field abroad is very well -fed, but there is no standard which has to be maintained in all the -regiments. If a company has a good mess sergeant the food is good, -well selected, well cooked and served. If it has a poor mess sergeant -the food is abundant but not well cooked or served. - -If the officers of a regiment are as zealous, thoughtful and -resourceful as they ought to be the men are as well taken care of as -they would be at home. I have in mind as a model officer a young first -lieutenant, a Yale man, in command of a company of negro stevedores, at -one of the great ports which we are using in France. - -These men were all from the cotton fields of Georgia and Alabama and -the levees of the lower Mississippi. They were magnificent physical -specimens, but fully seventy-five per cent. were illiterate. Some -officers would have looked upon them as animals only fit to work. -But this officer was a real person, and to him each stevedore was an -individual. - -He made out of scanty materials a comfortable, sanitary, up-to-date -camp for his regiment. He had a bath house and a swimming pool, a -laundry, a big, cool, screened kitchen, a club for officers and a -sitting-room for the men. He had a cooking squad that was the envy of -the neighborhood and meals that were famous for miles around. - -He told me how he did it. He said that he felt sure that among all -those negroes there must be a lot of individual talent, and he went to -work to find it. He found one man who was a soup and meat cook when he -was not a cotton picker, and this man was made soup and meat cook. He -found another cook to whom he entrusted the vegetables. Another man was -taught in the town to cook desserts and pastry. - -When spring came this resourceful young lieutenant planted a garden, -detaching certain men from their stevedoring long enough to spade, -cultivate and plant. He had one of the happiest, healthiest, most -efficient working forces I saw in France. Why? Because he possessed -many of the housekeeping instincts of a woman. - -Not all, perhaps not many, officers in our army have housekeeping -instincts, nor have they time to do what this young Yale man did. The -housekeeping work of the army ought to a very great extent be in the -hands of women. It is the work they know how to do. It is important, -and women would be as proud to succeed in it as the soldiers are to win -victories. - -I would not like to be interpreted as being against all small -organizations for war work. Many of the existing ones are doing good -work. I know that all women can not leave their homes for regular work -in any organization. But unless some miracle ends this war within -a year, I hope to see a great army of American women enlisted like -soldiers, for the duration of hostilities uniformed and paid workers -behind the battle line here and in France, Italy, and wherever else the -war calls for workers. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -THE DARK OCEAN LANES - - -In the quiet little hotel which is my home when I am on this side of -the Atlantic, there have been staying until recently a group of army -nurses. There were about one hundred and thirty of these nurses, fine, -strong, skilled women, and they were in New York on their way to France. - -They didn’t know where they were to be stationed. They were a -California nursing unit and their goal was a base hospital--but in what -part of France the base hospital was to be located, they knew no more -than I did. - -All they knew was that they were anxious to be off. They were as -eager to get to work in that hospital as our soldiers are to get to -the front. They fretted at the delay, and they asked me a thousand -questions about France, about the medical service corps, about the -hospitals. Soon after their arrival at the Atlantic coast the German -submarines made their sudden, savage attacks on American shipping. -American waters were reported full of these vipers of the sea. - -They were said by some to be accompanied by a “mother ship” which would -keep them supplied for an indefinite stay. There was talk of a possible -base in Mexico from which whole fleets of U-boats would come and go. -Did all this have the slightest effect on those nurses or on their -eagerness to sail? Not a bit of it. They simply said, wouldn’t it be -the limit if Secretary Daniels stopped all sailings? But of course he -wouldn’t. - -One morning I opened my door and saw a group of these California nurses -standing guard over an enormous pile of hand luggage, suit-cases, -satchels and hold-alls. The women greeted me with broad smiles. - -“Well,” I said, “you look as if you had packed all your troubles in -your old kit bags.” - -“We have,” they chorused. “Nobody’s got a trouble in the world. We sail -‘from an Atlantic port’ this afternoon!” - -Right out into the submarines. Across three thousand miles of peril. -Into the unknown. Without a fear. This is not exactly what the war -lords planned when they sent their biggest submarines to blockade the -American coast. They did not hope, of course, to stop all shipping from -this side. But they undoubtedly counted on terrorizing the American -people, especially the women. - -Not even the inflated German mind conceived the notion that their -submarines would prevent the sailing of army transports. But we can -easily imagine the kaiser and his councilors reasoning that the mothers -and fathers and wives of the soldiers would be so terrified that there -would be trouble in the United States, trouble for President Wilson -and Congress. Riots in the streets, maybe. Breakdown of American -morale. They must have licked their lips at the thought. - -The German psychology has been curiously twisted before on this terror -question, but it persists in spite of the fact that nothing they -have done in this war, not even the ultimate horrors they committed -in Belgium, Serbia and Armenia, ever frightened anybody except the -immediate victims. The nations that are bent on crushing out the -authors of horror have never been terrorized. - -Nevertheless I know that the mothers and fathers and wives of soldiers, -and the immediate relatives of trained nurses who are crossing the seas -in these perilous times, must suffer great anxiety. Perhaps it may give -them a little comfort to know that the travelers suffer less fear than -they do. Perhaps they might like to know what a sea voyage is really -like in war time. Some know, for they have crossed. The majority, -however, have not. - -I have crossed the Atlantic four times since we entered the war, twice -in a neutral boat, once in an American, and once in a French boat. The -first two voyages scarcely count because the lane through which we -traveled was out of the submarine zone. Making due allowances for the -shifting of the zone, and for the boche’s criminal practise of sinking -neutral boats “by mistake,” our steamer was lighted up at night like -Coney Island, and her name and nationality was displayed on both sides -of the hull in letters which could be read at a great distance. - -In sharp contrast, the American and French boats were kept as dark as -pockets all the way over. They were camouflaged in a manner that made -me laugh when I went aboard. All portholes were painted a dark green, -and they were locked every day at sundown. No lights were shown, and -travelers were strictly forbidden after dark to smoke or to light a -match on deck. - -Of course, there was no music, no band on board. No loud noise of any -kind was permitted. The American boat was peculiarly constructed, in -that the passageways leading to the main gangway had portholes and -doors looking out on deck. Because of the necessity of showing no -lights these passageways were inky dark at night. When we went down to -dinner we found our way by taking hold of a rope stretched from one end -of the passageway to the companion and then down to the dining saloon. - -The first thing that happens on a voyage nowadays is a life-boat drill. -A typewritten list is posted prominently, giving each passenger’s -life-boat assignment. At the designated hour, shortly after sailing, -the passengers all put on life preservers and report at the life-boat -station to which they have been directed. A ship’s company just now -is overwhelmingly masculine, and when all passengers are assembled -the women find that there are about two of them to each life-boat, -and that their boats are generally filled with responsible men and -commanded by an officer. - -The officer in command of the life-boat visits each boat station and -calls the roll to make sure that no one has failed to attend the drill. -The officer makes a speech at each station, telling the passengers -exactly what to do if the danger signal is sounded. They must -immediately make for their assigned places, fastening on their life -belts as they go. The sailors assigned to the various boats will be the -first to arrive, and they know their duties. As for the passengers, the -women are to get into the boats before the men. When all are in their -seats the boat will be lowered. - -You get into the habit of lingering near your assigned life-boat. -The locality has a homelike feel. You time yourself to see how long -it takes to get from your stateroom to the life-boat, and it gives a -certain confidence to learn that you can easily make it in two or three -minutes without running. - -At night you put your warmest clothes where you can get into them -quickly. Your life belt is always where you can grasp it in a second. -When you approach the danger zone the life belt is never out of sight. -It hangs on the arm of your steamer chair, it goes to the table with -you. Soldiers, officers, nurses and Red Cross members are required to -wear their life belts all the time while in the zone. - -No fear enters into these things. Nobody shows fear, nor do I think -that many feel fear. The vision of sudden death is present, but only -as a mental conception. Like being at the front. One gets used to it. - -On my American boat there was a very fine young naval officer in -command of as splendid a gun crew as you would care to see. The ship -was mounted with eight guns, and one day in mid-ocean we had a gun -drill. The gunners, who had never left a single piece unmanned for a -minute, night or day, now had an opportunity to show the passengers -that they could shoot as well as they could keep guard. - -A target hardly larger than the periscope of a submarine was nailed to -an empty barrel and thrown overboard. When it was distant a quarter of -a mile, and only faintly to be seen by unpractised eyes, the commander -gave the word and the six-inch guns forward blazed away at it. The ship -meanwhile was zigzagging just as she would in a real submarine attack. -In a minute or two this brought the aft guns into play. One after -another they flashed and roared; and although the target was not struck -at the first shots, every shell fell near enough to have struck the -U-boat had the target been its periscope. - -The firing kept up for twenty minutes or more, the boat continuing its -gyrations the while, then she settled down to her steady gait, and the -commander came in for felicitations. - -“That zigzag the captain has figured out,” he said, modestly ignoring -his own part in the performance, “would make a submarine crew -cross-eyed trying to follow it.” - -Three days before we reached the British shores both the captain and -the commander vanished from sight. They never came into the dining -saloon again during the voyage. They spent their time on the bridge -tirelessly watching. Up in the crow’s nest two sailors also watched. -With strong glasses they swept the horizon and never ceased. - -The life-boats which hitherto had been swung high up and level with -the boat deck, now were lowered to the level of the promenade deck. -Everything was in readiness. Far out across the gray and tumbling sea -the early dawn had seen the approach of two American destroyers, the -swiftest, slimmest, smartest little craft afloat. It is no secret that -these American destroyers are and have for some time been patrolling -British waters, and magnificent work they have done. - -Exactly how many submarines our little destroyers have sent to the -bottom has not been given out, but Mr. Lloyd George has more than once -in the House of Commons reported that the American boats were having -continuous successes. - -All the rest of the way those two swift destroyers convoyed us. They -swept in great circles all around us. They plowed through the waves -like dolphins, the water sometimes completely engulfing them. They -never rested, and the passengers sat all day and watched them with -fascinated eyes. Nothing could happen with those destroyers at hand. - -Such is the sea voyage on which our sons and our daughters are -traveling in these times of great peril and uncertainty. As far as -it is humanly possible their lives are safeguarded against the enemy. -There is little difference in the precautions taken to defend the -transports. That each ship has traveled back and forth so many times in -safety is one of the marvels of the war. - -To sink an American transport with several thousand soldiers on board, -any U-boat commander in the Germany navy would almost barter his -chances in the next world. Can you imagine to what fame he would spring -overnight? They would have to invent a new decoration to express the -kaiser’s gratitude--his and Gott’s. But nobody has won that decoration -yet, and nobody stands much chance of winning it, if only the American -father and mother keep cool and stand by their government. - -We have sent over, Secretary Baker told us in early July, more than -a million soldiers, and we have lost less than three hundred men at -sea. Think of it! The sea at that rate, even now, with U-boats on both -sides of the Atlantic, is safer to cross than Broadway and Forty-second -Street. Shall we keep it safe? Or shall we do what the kaiser is -probably praying for every day of his life? Shall we please him, help -him, by demanding that some of those destroyers be sent home to guard -our shores? Never, while we keep our intelligence. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -CLEMENCEAU THE TIGER - - -It must be plain to everybody, even to the people of the German empire -and her vassal states, that the allies will certainly win the war. -The only thing that could possibly alter that fact would be for one -of the great powers, England, France or the United States, to make a -very serious political blunder. We need not be afraid now that such a -thing will happen. We know that President Wilson will stand firmly by -the policies which have brought him fame and gratitude throughout the -civilized world. - -Great Britain has had her worst political crisis, and she has survived -it. We trust David Lloyd George to work wholeheartedly with Woodrow -Wilson for a fight to the finish with German militarism. But what of -France? What manner of man is at the helm in the French capital? What -about Clemenceau? - -All I knew about Clemenceau, when I went to France last January, was -that he was the editor of a newspaper which seemed to attack everybody -in the French government, and which was frequently suppressed by the -censor. I had never seen a copy of the paper. I knew that Clemenceau -had had a long political career, had been a member of the French -Senate, and also of the Chamber of Deputies, which corresponds to our -House of Representatives. For a brief period also he was prime minister. - -Always Clemenceau appeared to be opposing something. I thought of him -as a firebrand with a talent for writing ironic newspaper articles. -Therefore, when I reached Paris, when I began to read the French -papers and found them filled with praises of a man they had previously -denounced as a Judas; when I heard the most conservative people speak -of him as the savior of France, I was filled with curiosity. I began to -ask everybody to tell me all about Clemenceau. - -To see him was difficult. To interview him an impossibility. He spends -half his time at the front, and the other half working. Rarely did he -find time to visit the Chamber of Deputies. His speeches came at rare -intervals, and were never announced beforehand. So the foreign office -informed me. - -The best I could do was to sit down with people who knew the prime -minister and get from them the extraordinary history of the man. Added -to that I followed day by day in the newspapers the amazing progress of -his policies announced last November when he took office. - -“You ask my war aims?” he said to the Chamber. “I have only one--to -win.” - -Part of the programme of winning the war was the suppression of the -tribe of traitors and defeatists that disgraced the name of France. -These, including the unspeakable Bolo and the former minister, -Caillaux, Clemenceau had fiercely attacked in his newspaper. - -When he told the Chamber that he intended to push the prosecution of -the accused men to the finish, some one called out unbelievingly, -“What! Caillaux?” naming the man who wielded immense power, and who, -while Clemenceau was making his speech of acceptance, was seated in the -Chamber a few feet from the tribune, a cynical smile on his lips. - -Thus challenged, Clemenceau paused just long enough to turn and fix -his blazing black eyes on the man he had so often accused. He did not -say a word. He just looked. Turning furiously red, Caillaux half rose -from his seat. Clemenceau’s fierce eyes bored him through, and, try as -he might, Caillaux could not return the gaze. He sank in his seat with -averted head. - -Turning once more to the deputies Clemenceau said simply that as a -newspaper man he mentioned names, but as premier he would merely deal -with indicted criminals. - -He has dealt with them. Bolo has been executed. Almereyda, one of -the worst of the lot, died a violent death in prison, Duval followed -Bolo to the fatal glade in the Park of Vincennes, Humbert was exiled -and Caillaux is in prison with the strongest possible prospect of -being shot as a traitor. A whole raft of smaller treason mongers have -received prison terms. - -Clemenceau is doing what the former governments seemed to find -impossible. He has adjourned politics. And when I found that out I -understood why this man, the “Tiger,” as he is styled, is also called -the savior of France. For France has been cursed with politics and -politicians, and it is no affront to the most universally loved and -admired of all nations to make that admission. - -I have no intention of trying to explain the political parties of -France, or the minute shades of opinion that separate them. The Chamber -of Deputies has a right, or conservative, a left, or radical, and a -center. But every one of the three has a right, left and center, and -each one of the subdivisions seems to have. This explains why France, -or at least Paris, has more newspapers than any place in the world. - -Scores of newspapers are displayed on the news-stands, and there are -some that are not displayed at all, but are circulated none the less. -Most of these papers have only four pages and some have only two. They -are supported not by subscriptions or sales, much less by advertising. -The political group which each represents does the supporting. - -With all these warring political parties represented in the Chamber of -Deputies, it is a wonder that anything in the way of legislation is -effected. But the French people managed very well, until the war. Then -it was time to call a truce. But no prime minister before Clemenceau -was able to bring about a truce. - -Clemenceau, who had been out of office for some years, thundered away -in his paper, _L’Homme Libre_, the _Free Man_, excoriating, abusing, -calling down invectives on all party leaders alike. The mildest term -he applied to President Poincaré was Nero. The censor suppressed -one issue of the _Free Man_ cutting out everything in it except the -head-lines. Clemenceau changed the name of his paper to the _Man in -Chains_. The censor ignored him for a time and he changed it again to -the _Man Less Chained_. - -Everybody read the paper, because it was so brilliantly written, -especially the two columns of invective which Clemenceau signed every -day. Nevertheless, it was a scandal. Nobody was spared. The “Tiger” -respected nor wealth nor power. - -Things were at a troublous pass in France during the year 1917. The -war did not approach an end. There was a serious shortage of fuel. -Agricultural affairs were in a tangle. Russia, which owed France vast -sums of money, had collapsed. Traitors were abroad in the land. While -the real France fought gloriously, immortally at Verdun, and at Ypres, -the politicians in the capital wrangled the hours away. - -People began to say, “We must have a strong government. There must be -unity. Who is the man to give it to us?” One after another man they -tried, splendid men. Ribot, the diplomat, the grand old aristocrat, -who could talk familiarly with kings, the man who had made the -Franco-Russian alliance. Painlevé, the intellectual, one of the -greatest mathematicians in Europe. Other statesmen. One by one they -had fallen. Clemenceau was usually responsible for their fall. He kept -after them until they got too unpopular to last. He is said, in the -course of his entire career, to have wrecked sixteen ministries and he -certainly removed one president. - -People began to say: “That man Clemenceau, that ‘Tiger,’ who has been -such a firebrand, such a thorn in the side of all the governments, -that man has usually been right in his judgments. He was right about -Salonica. We should never have sent General Sarrail there. He was -needed for France. Clemenceau said so at the time, and he was right. - -“He was right about Bolo, too. He probably knew what he was talking -about when he accused Caillaux of trying to persuade Italy to sue for a -separate peace with Germany. He was right when he said there ought to -be a generalissimo at the head of the allied armies. Nobody, not even -his worst enemies, ever accused the ‘Tiger’ of being anything but a -good patriot. Why, he is the biggest and most single-minded patriot in -France. What if we had to have Clemenceau for prime minister?” - -At first the idea was laughed at. Then it was discussed, but then -everybody said: “It can’t be done. The Unified Socialists have declared -against him in advance. Poincaré may nominate him, for he is big -enough to forget that he was called a Nero, but without the vote of -the Unified Socialists the Chamber of Deputies can not confirm any -nomination.” The Unified Socialists, it seems, is a party that hangs -together better than some of the other radical groups. - -Last November there was a real crisis in France. No use going into -details now, because it is past. But when the crisis was at its height -the people discovered that Clemenceau was not a firebrand after all. He -was the voice of France. - -His opposition had almost always been opposition to hypocrisy and -incompetence. His fiery invective was fierce common sense, the common -sense of the good, brave, clear-visioned French mind. Here, at least, -was a man, not a politician. The Unified Socialists alone clung -to their opposition, confident that they could block Clemenceau’s -appointment. They had blocked both Ribot and Painlevé in their efforts -to form ministries. They were ready to keep Clemenceau from office. - -Nevertheless, Poincaré sent for Clemenceau and asked him to become -prime minister. He accepted bruskly, appealed to the Chamber of -Deputies in a speech full of patriotism and intelligent statements of -facts. He was accepted as prime minister by every vote in the house -except the fifty Unified Socialists and fifteen extreme radicals. The -vote stood four hundred and eighteen to sixty-five. - -Clemenceau formed a cabinet which rather astonished the French at -first. He appointed two men who were not even members of the Chamber -of Deputies. He included two of his old associates of former days who -had been almost as unpopular as himself. The newspapers, while speaking -moderately of all this, accused Clemenceau of being a dictator. -“He rules with a rod of iron,” they complained. “He won’t let his -ministers mention the word peace in his presence. He works everybody to -death.” - -This old man of seventy-six is a fiend for work. He once said that one -reason he wrecked those ministries was because they wasted so much -time. He opened the allied conference at Versailles with the shortest -speech on record. “Gentlemen, we are here to work. Let us work.” The -speech is shorter still when it is turned into French. - -Soon most of the newspapers were supporting the prime minister. He may -have been a dictator, but he got results. He took treason by the throat -and strangled it. He took hold of the army and strengthened it. At -least three times a week he motors to the front, going so close to the -firing line that several times he has been in great danger, and once he -narrowly escaped being captured by a German patrol. - -If that patrol had captured Clemenceau the kaiser would have issued -a new medal and had all the church bells in the empire rung, for the -prime minister is, of all Frenchmen, the most feared and hated by -Germany. - -He has always seen through the Germans. His newspaper has exposed their -intrigues time out of mind. About ten years ago the Germans tried -to seduce France into a huge colonial expansion scheme, and if they -had succeeded France and Great Britain might have become hopelessly -involved. - -That was one of Germany’s objects. Another was to take France’s mind -off Alsace-Lorraine. Jules Ferry, then prime minister, fell into the -trap, but not so Clemenceau. He denounced Ferry’s colonial policy, -called it by its right name, German intrigue, so tigerishly and so -long, that the people woke up and Ferry went out of office. - -Once when Clemenceau was prime minister before, the German government -took offense at something that was said or done to one of its consuls -in Morocco. The chancellor sent for the French ambassador in Berlin -and demanded an apology. If it were not quickly forthcoming the German -ambassador at Paris would be recalled. When this was transmitted to -Clemenceau he sent for the German ambassador. He told him without any -preamble that there would be no apology. “If you want your passports -they are ready for you,” he added. Germany backed down. - -Clemenceau’s diplomacy is like that. When the Austrian premier dared -to put forth the slander that Clemenceau had sent a peace emissary to -him the public clamored for a statement. The prime minister, on his -way to the front, paused long enough to say over his shoulder to the -interviewers: “Count Czernin lies.” And so it proved. - -The greatest thing that Clemenceau has done was to unite the allied -armies under a generalissimo. President Wilson wanted it done long -ago. The wisest among the English wanted it done. But there were -difficulties that seemed insuperable. Then came the almost fatal break -in the British line last March. Clemenceau rushed up to the front, and -what he said there has never been revealed. But it was to the point, -and it smashed all the insuperable obstacles at one blow. Foch took -command. The disaster was averted. - -“I am not old,” said Clemenceau humorously to a friend. “I am just -aged.” That is true. At a time when most men are ready to retire he is -crowning his life’s work. He is the most thoroughly alive man in France -and one of the greatest men in the world. - -His newspaper, again _L’Homme Libre_, is still published, but -Clemenceau’s name appears merely as founder. It is still a good -newspaper, better in some respects than before, because one of the -first things that Clemenceau did after taking office was to trim the -censorship down to zero. They have a fairly free press in France now. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -FROM ALL FOES, FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC - - -No statesman is so great that he is admired and supported by his entire -community. Monsieur Clemenceau, the splendid prime minister of France, -who has done so much in a few short months to unify his nation and to -bring the allied armies together under one commander-in-chief, is no -exception to the rule. He has with him in the Chamber of Deputies the -solid vote of the right and center, the conservative and moderate vote, -and he has also some of the left or radical vote. He is opposed by the -radical socialists only. - -Some of the radicals with whom I talked in France urged me, if I were -to understand the French mind, to see and talk with the leader of the -opposition, Albert Thomas. So one morning I went, by appointment, to -the modest apartment in the neighborhood of the Chamber of Deputies -which is the home of Monsieur Thomas, and the center of activities of -the radical socialists of France. - -Accompanying me was Mademoiselle St. René Taillandier of the French -foreign office, a young woman of exceptional intellect and an -accomplished linguist. Speaking English as well as her native French, -Mademoiselle St. René Taillandier agreed to go with me to interview -Monsieur Thomas, lest any shade of meaning in what he said to me might -be lost. - -Monsieur Thomas speaks no English, and I, of course, have an imperfect -knowledge of French. Whenever I failed to understand some idiom -or figure of speech I halted the conversation until it could be -interpreted into English. - -I wanted to be fair to Monsieur Thomas and his political group. My -previously conceived admiration for Clemenceau made me all the more -anxious to understand exactly why he was so vigorously opposed. We -talked for nearly an hour, and when I was down in the street again, -walking along the glittering Seine, I said to my friend: “We have them -like that in the United States, honest, sincere, intelligent idealists; -with blinders on.” - -Judging from what I saw and heard in the apartment of Monsieur Albert -Thomas that morning, France must have a considerable group of such -idealists. We were early for our appointment and waited for ten minutes -in the reception room, which was more like an office, with a long table -strewn with socialist literature and propaganda pamphlets, and around -the walls a row of stiff cane seated chairs. - -A little girl in a black cambric pinafore attended the door, which -frequently opened to admit more visitors. During my talk with Monsieur -Thomas the same little girl appeared half a dozen times bearing cards -and notes. There is no doubt that Monsieur Thomas is the leader of a -strong group. - -The head of the radical socialists in France is a man of forty -something, short, thickset, with blue, intelligent eyes behind steel -rimmed spectacles. He has rather long brown hair, a beard of a lighter -shade of brown. - -His speech is quick and animated, with a little too much oratory in it. -Every question I asked him was answered by a speech. It made me think -of Gladstone of whom Queen Victoria said: “He addresses me as if I were -a public meeting.” - -I asked Monsieur Thomas to tell me the spirit of the French working -people during the war. Were they wholeheartedly patriotic, or was there -any of the industrial unrest that had made itself felt in England. - -“Our French working class is more stable than the British,” he replied. -“Every French man and woman worthy of the name wants the allies to win -the war. In the Chamber of Deputies there have been only three men who -have not shown themselves genuinely patriotic. - -“Those three went to Switzerland and discussed the war with certain -Germans. Their act was denounced by all other socialists as well as by -the bourgeois deputies. The men have absolutely no following.” - -“Is the French working class solidly socialist, or has it a majority of -socialists?” - -“It has not a majority in numbers, but the socialist element is very -powerful, much more powerful than surface indications show. In time of -strikes the party always wields great influence. It is impossible for -a stranger to understand the extent of socialist opinion throughout -France. Reading the newspapers would not convey the facts to the -stranger, because unfortunately the press and the people here are not -together.” - -“Is your socialism revolutionary?” I asked. - -“No, it is more philosophical than revolutionary,” was the reply. “The -opinions of your President Wilson are almost exactly ours. His war aims -as stated by him find absolute echo in the French popular mind. Much -more so than in the mind of the government.” This with a flash and a -gesture that spelled “Clemenceau” very clearly. - -“We are not Bolsheviki, we are French,” he added with emphasis. - -“I wish you would explain to me, if you are solidly in favor of a -peace with victory for the allies, why your group, and especially you -as leader, wanted to go to the Stockholm conference and discuss peace -without victory with the Germans.” - -Monsieur Thomas demurred a little at my way of putting the question, -and right here I began to notice the blinders. - -“It is true that I was and am warmly in favor of the Stockholm -conference,” he began. “I regret very much that Mr. Gompers and the -American Federation of Labor have misunderstood my attitude and my -object in wanting to meet in Stockholm representatives of the workers -of all nations. They seem to think that my object was to fraternize -with the Germans. Not at all. My object was to tell the whole German -people the allies’ war aims, and their stated terms of peace. - -“The German people do not know these aims. The imperial government -keeps the people in ignorance. The press censorship is so complete that -the real terms on which we are willing to make peace have never been -published. We can not get at the German people through their newspapers. - -“We could have talked to them through the Stockholm conference, because -even the censored press would have published the proceedings of that -conference. The Germans then would have known the truth.” - -“What makes you think that the censored press of Germany would have -been permitted to publish the proceedings of the Stockholm conference?” -I asked. “It was not permitted to publish the war aims speeches of -President Wilson or Mr. Lloyd George.” - -“Why,” exclaimed Monsieur Thomas, with what appeared to me a childish -innocence, “their own loyal Germans would have attended as delegates, -and of course the people would insist on hearing their reports. - -“Don’t misunderstand me,” he said. “I admit that such a conference with -the enemy, at a time when the allied armies are engaged in killing that -same enemy on the battle-field, would be morally and sentimentally a -grave thing. But I am certain that the advantages would have outweighed -the disadvantages. All the French socialists, except a group on the -right, agree with my point of view. - -“After the war the working classes in all the countries will have to -stand together, will have to have a common programme, that they may -force their point of view on the governments. The Stockholm conference -would have furthered that solidarity. I regret that the American -working class can not see that.” - -I turned the question to the Russian collapse. - -“Ah, Russia, a great mystery, is it not? When you think she is about to -commit a treachery you see a Brousiloff offensive. When you think she -is about to be sublime you behold the Brest-Litovsk surrender. Anarchy! -But Russia is too great to fall permanently. - -“Why are not France and America there now, helping poor, wounded -Russia? All we do is to send a message to the Moscow soviet: ‘Russia -will emerge.’ _Mon Dieu!_” - -“To whom would you offer your help, Lenine and Trotzky?” I asked. “Do -you think that we can help the Russian people through men who are daily -delivering them piecemeal to the Germans?” - -“Oh, I do not think Lenine and Trotzky are exactly German agents, -although it is evident that they took German money,” was the -extraordinary reply. “They are not traitors, they are fanatics. They -see nothing except their propaganda. Here was money offered them, money -they needed for their propaganda. German money--true, but what of it? -They would take any money!” - -Monsieur Albert Thomas evidently could not see that men who would take -German money were incapable of being honest leaders, sincere prophets, -or anything in the world but liars, thieves and traitors. No man can -exist half crook, half honest. - -“They see nothing but their propaganda.” That is a perfect description -of Monsieur Albert Thomas and all the other misguided idealists who -walk with blinders obscuring their eyes. They think and talk as though -unaware that the world around them was in flames. - -On a battle-front of seventy-five miles our allied soldiers are -enduring such hardships, are performing such miracles of labor, are -suffering such wounds, such horrible mutilations, that no imagination -can compass the facts. Every day some of these heroic men give their -blood, their beautiful young lives for the freedom of the world. - -They die for our liberty without a murmur. And while they are suffering -and dying, a whole section of the community in every allied country -continues to ignore them for one or another fatuous dream. - -In France when these dreamers beat at the Chamber of Deputies to be -allowed to go to Stockholm, Clemenceau answered them: “I understand -your idealism, and I share it. But where we differ is that I am under -no illusion regarding the reality of facts.” - -The only important fact in the world is that we are fighting the -greatest war in history, “in order that government of the people, for -the people, and by the people shall not perish from the earth.” Nothing -else matters. Nothing. Every other question is a side issue, something -to be considered and acted upon after we have won the war. - -In this country we have our Bolsheviki who would take advantage of the -fact that our best beloved, our sons, are fighting, giving their lives -in a far land, to seize power for their “class.” We have fanatics whose -paranoia finds expression in “radical” magazines. We have propagandists -who find supreme satisfaction in going around the country making -defeatist speeches, and we have a public which exclaims in horror -when one of these talkers is arrested and given a well-merited prison -sentence. - -We have lawmakers, men in Congress, whose devotion to their -propaganda is so limitless that they are willing to risk losing army -appropriations, delaying the progress of the war, in order to hasten a -little the prohibition campaign. - -We have theorists who can not think very much about the war because -they are so occupied with getting on good terms again with a people -who never were honestly on good terms with anybody except themselves. -After all these years of slaughter these theorists would smilingly get -together with the men who willed the slaughter and talk about a league -of nations, a society to abolish war. - -“A league of nations!” exclaimed Clemenceau to the Unified Socialists -of France, led by Albert Thomas. “What will a league of nations mean -without Germany? I for one will not let Germany in. You would do so, -and on what guarantees? Ask Belgium!” - -What are we Americans, those of us who walk without blinders, who -see and know the awful realities of the hour, going to do about the -class fanatics, propagandists, egotist individualists, the sentimental -theorists, big and little? They are traitors to the world that is -struggling to be free. Whether they know it or not, they are traitors. -They fight side by side with Attila. - -Rather, they are the camp followers of the Hun, for they rarely do any -fighting. When justice overtakes them they nearly always throw up their -hands and cry “Kamerad.” They almost invariably claim that they didn’t -mean to be disloyal. - -The only thing to do with these people is to snatch the blinders from -their eyes and make them look at the reality of a world at righteous -war. As soon as one defeatist comes within the law, seize him, imprison -him. Whether he is an I. W. W. criminal or a university professor, or -even a United States senator. Keep on doing it. Treat women exactly as -the men are treated. It wouldn’t take long before the blinders would -begin to fall without assistance. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -LAFAYETTE, WE’RE HERE - - -One of the great moments of this war was when General Pershing, newly -arrived in France, was escorted in state to the tomb of the man who, in -his ardent youth, left the most luxurious court in Europe, crossed the -seas and offered his sword to George Washington. - -The President of the French republic, the commander of the French army, -with other dignitaries of the state and army, were in that escorting -party, and when they approached the tomb they paused in silence, with -bared heads, to hear what General Pershing should say. They expected a -formal speech, but I do not think General Pershing could have made a -speech just then. What he felt was too deep and too moving. His hand -touched the hilt of his sword and then the hand went out toward the -marble, and General Pershing said simply: - -“Lafayette, we’re here.” - -After the passing of a hundred and forty years we are in France to -pay our debt, to offer our sword, the sword of America, to the cause -of liberty. Whoever says we are fighting a profiteers’ war or a -politicians’ war utters a lying slander. Whoever intimates that we -shall ever sheathe the sword of America until the war is won, and the -world is safe, simply does not know the facts, nor the temper of our -army. - -To make the world safe for democracy. That phrase has been repeated so -many times that it has become almost a colloquialism. It is used in -jest sometimes. But it is written on the hearts of the millions of men -who have gone out to die, if need be, to make that dream a reality. - -Whatever confusion of thought there may have been in the minds of -the first armies that rushed out against the German invasion, there -is no confusion or misunderstanding in the minds of those who fight -to-day. The Belgians and the French fought first to save their homes. -The British fought because they knew that their homes would next be -endangered. The Russians and the Italians fought because they were -attacked. - -No doubt there was in the consciousness of some European statesmen -the hope of territorial gains, or diplomatic advantages to follow -after an allied victory. But that has all vanished now, drowned in the -blood of the brave at Malines, Louvain, the Marne, Verdun, Rheims, -Cantigny, Château Thierry, St. Michiel. Europe, except that part of -it still ruled by Attila and his slaves, has purged itself of the old -statesmanship, the old sinuous, scheming diplomacy. - -There will never be any more Metternichs, or Talleyrands or -Castlereaghs, never any more secret agreements between kings and -statesmen. The old order has perished and now we have freemen fighting -under leaders like Wilson, Lloyd George, Clemenceau, to make the world -free. - -The hope of the toiling masses all over the world, the vision of seers -and prophets and poets since the dawn of time; the dreams dreamed in -garrets, in city slums, in the snows of Siberia, on gallows high, on -the sacred cross. The world set free. Free from the oppression of -tyrants claiming divine rights; free from the cold exploitation of -privilege; free from poverty and all the crime and prostitution and -death that rise like a hideous miasma from the mire of poverty; free -from war! - -That is the free world for which our sons have crossed the seas to -fight. That is the freedom for which almost every country in the world -has united against the only remaining countries that do not want it, -Germany, Austria, Turkey, Bulgaria. - -In these pages I have tried to tell America, and especially the -mothers of American soldiers, the meaning of the war, as it was shown -to me over there. I have tried to picture to them how their sons are -preparing to take their part in the war. How they are growing up to -their task, how they are building the strong structure of an army, -how they are laying the foundation of true internationalism, how we -through our army are forming with the democratic peoples of the world -a holy alliance much greater and more permanent than anything kings or -statesmen ever planned. - -When this is being written the year is barely finished that saw the -first American transports sail for France. Yet over hundreds of miles -of territory behind the battle lines our men, with hard and grueling -labor, have built the industrial forts that in this practical age are -necessary to an army’s life. They have established a base of supplies -for millions of fighting men. They have built barracks, airdromes, -hospitals, warehouses, factories and repair shops. - -They have laid railroads, built wharves, dredged a great river. They -have done more, our men, than dig themselves in trenches over there. -They have shown Europe and the world the true heart and metal of -America. What they have built will remain a monument for generations to -point to and admire. - -In Paris there stands a noble monument to our Washington, and at no -great distance there is another to the rugged giant Abraham Lincoln. -Each February the French people go and lay wreaths on these monuments. -For years they have done this, and since April 6, 1917, they have kept -their colors entwined with ours there. - -Those statues are symbols of the historic friendship of France and -America. I like to think that after the war, when great ships sail -out of an ancient port of France, the sailors will remember that once -they had to wait for the highest tide, but that American brawn and -engineering skill scooped out the centuries of sand and silt that their -biggest transports might pass with ease. - -I like to believe that France will grow and prosper because of the -railroads we laid down, the wharves and warehouses we built. Not in a -spirit of boastfulness, but of love and gratitude do I wish that France -may benefit from the things we have created on her soil. - -I like also to think that the France of to-morrow, and the Belgium -which will be reborn, will be healthier, happier, stronger of mind and -soul for the work of our Red Cross, for all the relief and succor we -have been able to send there. They will never forget, those martyred -Belgians, those hard pressed French. Our troops never pass through a -village, our flag never appears that the children in the street fail to -salute. - -Once they had reason to believe, those brave allies in Europe, that we -were merely generous of money, that we were willing to give only out of -our overflowing pockets. But since we began to give our men they think -otherwise. They know now that everything we have, everything we are, is -pledged to the fight against tyranny and the world’s woe. - -This spring and summer will see the preliminary work of building an -army well nigh completed, and the men who have been handling picks -and shovels, those who have been learning the war game, the men in -camps and army schools will be ready to fight. Already they have won -their spurs in several fierce engagements, and not yet has any fight -of theirs been lost. Already American soldiers are in Lorraine and -Alsace, fighting on what Germany calls her soil, but which will never -be hers, even in name, again. - -Can you imagine the wild joy, the renewed hope, the quickened spirit -that fills the hearts of the men who have been fighting for nearly four -years? Against terrible odds, against one ally which German cunning -poisoned to death, almost against hope our allies have fought. Thank -heaven that we came up in time. - -There is one question every returned correspondent is asked, and the -question has been put to me but I have never answered it. When will the -war end? I am going to answer it now. Not in terms of years, because I, -no more than the greatest general, can do that. The war is going to end -when it is won. Not a day, not an hour before. Much fighting, horrible -suffering, enormous sacrifice lie between us and victory, but victory -is sure. - -We shall lose thousands, hundreds of thousands, it may be. But for -every American soldier that falls eight Germans will die, be sure of -that. The only army in the world that is absolutely fresh and untired -is the American army. Our men will tire, but before they do all the -Germans left alive will be exhausted. - -The pæan sung by William the accursed to glorify the thirtieth -anniversary of his succession to the throne of the Hohenzollerns is the -last one he will ever sing. The first battle in France by an American -division sealed the doom of the Hohenzollerns. It was the beginning of -the last act of the world’s bloodiest drama. - -Lafayette, we’re here. The countrymen of Washington and Lincoln -could not keep out of this fight. We shall never stop coming, never -stop fighting until the war to free the world is won. France, Italy, -Belgium, Russia, wherever the red tide leads take our sons. Spare us -all useless sacrifices, for they are very dear to us, those young, -bright lives. - -But take them, take them all if need be, leave this generation wholly -bereft and mourning, rather than surrender to the hordes of Attila. -Better for us any sacrifice of blood and tears than to lose the dream, -now at last so nearly realized, of the world set free. - - -FINIS - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or variant spelling has been retained. - - The Table of Contents does not appear in the original but was created - by the transcriber for the convenience of the reader. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SOLDIER'S MOTHER IN -FRANCE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: A soldier's mother in France</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Rheta Childe Dorr</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 2, 2022 [eBook #68895]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Fay Dunn, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SOLDIER'S MOTHER IN FRANCE ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter hide"><img src="images/coversmall.jpg" width="450" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="" /></div> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="titlepage"> -<h1>A SOLDIER’S MOTHER<br /> -IN FRANCE</h1> - -<p><i>By</i><br /> -<span class="large">RHETA CHILDE DORR</span><br /> -Author of <i>Inside the Russian Revolution</i></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_titlelogo.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p>INDIANAPOLIS<br /> -THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY<br /> -PUBLISHERS</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"> -<span class="smcap">Copyright 1918<br /> -The Bobbs-Merrill Company</span><br /> -<br /> -<br /> -PRESS OF<br /> -BRAUNWORTH & CO.<br /> -BOOK MANUFACTURERS<br /> -BROOKLYN, N. Y.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_003.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p class="caption"><i>To the other mothers;<br /> -I dedicate this book.</i><br /> - -                    <i>Rheta Childe Dorr.</i><br /> - -<i>September, 1918</i>        </p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table> - -<tr><td class="tdr"><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td class="tdr" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">I.</td><td> WHERE THE LONG TRAIL LED</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1"> 1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">II.</td><td> I ADOPT THE AMERICAN ARMY</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8"> 8</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">III.</td><td> SEEING AMERICA OVER THERE</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16"> 16</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IV.</td><td> PIONEERS, OH, PIONEERS</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25"> 25</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">V.</td><td> WE FINISH WHAT CÆSAR BEGAN</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33"> 33</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VI.</td><td> GOING TO SCHOOL IN THE ARMY</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41"> 41</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VII.</td><td> OUR BOYS DISCOVER THE PAST</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49"> 49</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.</td><td> THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57"> 57</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IX.</td><td> OUR FOREIGN LEGION</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_66"> 66</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">X.</td><td> THE GENERAL HIMSELF</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_74"> 74</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XI.</td><td> GENERAL ALLAIRE’S FINEST</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82"> 82</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XII.</td><td> INTO THE TRENCHES</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89"> 89</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIII.</td><td> WRITE TO HIM OFTEN--BUT</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100"> 100</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIV.</td><td> WHEN THEY WIN WOUND STRIPES</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108"> 108</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XV.</td><td> FIGHTING WOUND SHOCK</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_116"> 116</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVI.</td><td> HOW THE WAR AGAINST TRENCH FEVER WAS WON     </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_125"> 125</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVII.</td><td> THE GREATEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132"> 132</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII.</td><td> FRANCE APPROVES THE EGREC EM SAY AH</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140"> 140</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIX.</td><td> BEAUTY AS USUAL</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_148"> 148</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XX.</td><td> BLED WHITE</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_156"> 156</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXI.</td><td> THE REPATRIATES</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_164"> 164</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXII.</td><td> FRENCHMEN, NEVER FORGET</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_172"> 172</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIII.</td><td> THE NEW WOMAN IN FRANCE</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_180"> 180</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIV.</td><td> POUR LA PATRIE</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_188"> 188</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXV.</td><td> BY WAY OF DIVERSION</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_196"> 196</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVI.</td><td> WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_203"> 203</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVII.</td><td> WHAT KIND OF WAR WORK</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_211"> 211</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td><td> THE DARK OCEAN LANES</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_219"> 219</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIX.</td><td> CLEMENCEAU THE TIGER</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_227"> 227</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXX.</td><td> FROM ALL FOES, FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_237"> 237</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXXI.</td><td> LAFAYETTE, WE’RE HERE</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_246"> 246</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span> -<p class="ph2">A Soldier’s Mother in France</p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER I<br /> - -<small>WHERE THE LONG TRAIL LED</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">On the</span> lapel of my coat I wear a little pin, a pin with -a single star, ruby red on a bar of white. My only son -is a member of the American Expeditionary Force in -France. More than a million American women wear -pins like mine. Some have two stars, three, even four, -and every one covers a heart heavy with anxiety and -foreboding. That little service pin which mothers -wear, fathers, too; sisters, sweethearts, wives, is a symbol -of sacrifice. It should be something more than -that.</p> - -<p>My star has come to mean love of country far surpassing -the mild patriotism of other days. It means -confidence and courage for whatever in these tragic -times I shall need courage. It means pride in the -young manhood of America and hope unbounded for -the future of America, which lies in their hands. Before -I went to France I wore my service pin for one -soldier—my son. I wear it now for the American -army. If I can, by writing of that army as I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> -just seen it in France, lessen a little for other women -the burden of anxiety and dread I shall count my journey -worth while.</p> - -<p>I went to France as a correspondent, a reporter, to -write about the war. I was sent, not because I am a -woman, but in spite of the fact, and merely because my -editors believed that I could handle that particular job. -My letter of credentials to the French Foreign Office -said that I had reported the Russian revolution for my -paper and that I was now assigned to France with the -view of informing readers in the United States as to -participation of United States troops in war and the -political situations of the allied countries in the war.</p> - -<p>I hope that my editors’ confidence in me was not -entirely misplaced and that I did not quite fall down -on my job. But what I experienced in France and -what I brought out with me were not exactly what I -had expected. I went to France as a correspondent, -deeply interested in my work, but very soon after I -arrived and almost with my first contact with our marvelous -new army I forgot all about my work. I forgot -that I was in France after military and political facts.</p> - -<p>I forgot that I was a correspondent. I was conscious -only that I was a mother. The mother of a boy -in France. I was one in heart with a million other -American women I have never seen and will never see; -one with every woman in the land who wears a service -pin.</p> - -<p><i>I discovered that try as I might to think of armies, -strategies and diplomacies, the only thing that vitally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span> -concerned me in France was to find out how my son -was faring, and in doing so I was finding out the -things that other mothers wanted to know about their -boys.</i></p> - -<p>Where they are, how they live, who their comrades -are, how they work and play, what they are learning, -how they get along with their strange new neighbors, -the French people, and what the war is doing to their -minds and souls, as well as their bodies. I wanted, -fervently, to know all this about one soldier, and I -believed that the other women would like to know -about their own.</p> - -<p>Our soldiers are more than three thousand miles -away from home, and they have gone on a terrible -errand. We know less about war than any other -women in the world, but we know that it is a brutal, -pitiless, bloodthirsty business. We know that bodies -perish in war, and sometimes souls, which is worse. -Going over in the steamer a horrible story was told me, -a story which turned out to be quite untrue, but which -when I heard it cost me a sleepless night. It was to the -effect that vice was so rampant in all the armies that -a whole shipload of hopelessly diseased Australian soldiers -had recently sailed from England. The hospitals -had salvaged many, it was said, but these men, who -had left home clean, wholesome, decent boys, were -now being sent back to die, physical and moral wrecks. -Some, it was certain, would commit suicide during -the voyage.</p> - -<p>That tale filled me with such terror that I went to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span> -some lengths to investigate it. It was quite untrue, -and I repeat it here only because it is representative of -stories that are current everywhere and add greatly to -the sufferings of the women at home. <i>The first thing -I want to say about our army is that the men are morally -as safe in France as they could possibly be at home. -I made it my particular business to know it.</i></p> - -<p>I spent three months in France, traveling over most -of the considerable territory occupied by the American -forces. I visited something like twenty-five camps, -small ones, large ones and immense ones, where the -men are training, where they are being made into experts -in special lines of fighting; where they are at -work building miles of wharves, warehouses, cold storage -plants, barracks and hospitals; where they are laying -railroads and dredging rivers; where they are -performing marvels of constructive work necessary to -the life of an army far removed from its base.</p> - -<p>I met and talked with thousands of soldiers in -their camps, in the Y. M. C. A. and Red Cross canteens, -in many ancient towns of central France. I saw -our men disembarking from their transports, and I saw -them tramping through ice-cold mud to the front-line -trenches. I talked with them in their billets in lonely -little villages of the north, and in vacation cities of -the azure south. I have visited American soldiers in -hospitals and I have knelt beside their graves. <i>Our -soldiers have only one enemy, and that is the Germans.</i> -That enemy they must fight and conquer, and -we over here must steel our hearts to the sacrifices of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> -life, the suffering and maiming that are absolutely inevitable -and will have to be borne. The casualty lists, -every day growing a little longer, are bound to grow -even longer. What English mothers and French -mothers, what all the people of all the warring nations -have endured, we shall have to endure. It is the -world’s pain and we can not escape it.</p> - -<p>What we Americans have to help us bear what is -coming in the next few months is the knowledge that -our losses are going to be as few as possible. Life is -to be safeguarded as far as human agencies can devise. -Our army is organized for that. Men are not to be sacrificed -unnecessarily. The best science in the world is -being mobilized to save suffering and to heal wounds. -Sickness and accident are being guarded against. -Drunkenness and immorality are under strictest ban.</p> - -<p>Some of this I was privileged to hear from the man -who perhaps more than any other individual is responsible -for the lives and the souls of our men in France, -General Pershing. I saw him twice, once briefly in -Paris, where he talked to me five minutes before leaving -for an allied war council at Versailles, and once -at length in his headquarters in a quaint old town -which is the general headquarters of the staff of our -army in France.</p> - -<p>General Pershing is the least formal of any great -officer I have ever seen, with the notable exception of -“Papa” Joffre, but generals are all very important -personages and have to be addressed with circumspection. -I wanted very much to say to General Pershing,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> -but of course I didn’t, that after seeing him I felt a -whole lot easier about my especial soldier. A more human -commanding officer, one more concerned about the -last detail of the life of the enlisted man, I am sure -never lived. He spoke of the soldiers as a father -speaks of his sons, with pride and passionate concern.</p> - -<p><i>“They are the best in the world,” he said, and he -added that although our talk was private and that he -could not be quoted, I was at liberty to repeat those -words: “Our soldiers are fine men, clean, strong, intelligent, -and they will make magnificent fighters. -Tell the people at home, especially the mothers, that -they can be proud of their men. Tell them that almost -without exception their behavior is beyond criticism. -Tell them that for me.”</i></p> - -<p>Proud of their commander also may the American -people be, and over and above all, proud of the -cause for which the American soldiers fight and for -which they are ready to die. Not in the whole history -of the world has a more righteous war been fought. I -do not think the majority of Americans yet dream -of the depth of depravity contemplated by the men -who brought about the war. We have heard of German -atrocities and we have shuddered at the recital.</p> - -<p>But the plan and object of this war on the part of -those Prussians who are responsible for it constitute -the worst atrocity of all, for the plan was the murder -of Christian civilization and the object was the enslavement -of mankind.</p> - -<p>I have seen some of the effects of a partial success<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> -of the German war lords’ plan, and I, the mother of -a soldier on the French front, say to the mothers of -other soldiers that I would be ashamed to have him -anywhere else. Not long before leaving France I -saw him for a short hour, a simple enlisted man in a -humble post of duty. The spring wind blowing over -the devastated and ravished plains bore the roaring of -artillery plainly to our ears. Every day since then -those guns have roared nearer, and now that part of -France is closed to civilians.</p> - -<p>The next message that came out of the sector where -the Americans hold the line brought mourning and -tears to many women. And yet I can truthfully say -that I would be happier to have my son dead in France, -sleeping in a soldier’s grave beyond the sea, than to -have him alive and safe, shirking his duty in a bullet-proof -job at home.</p> - -<p>I do not believe that in the years to come there is -going to be much happiness for the men who are shirking, -nor for the women who may be encouraging them -to shirk. The shirkers are going to play a very pitiful -part in the national life of this country after the -war. The men who come home will be the rulers of -America’s future destiny. They will be the strong -builders of our greatness. They are learning in this -war how to build.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER II<br /> - -<small>I ADOPT THE AMERICAN ARMY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Looking</span> back over my three months in France, -most of the time spent in visiting American military -camps, some experiences stand out above all others. -One, a precious personal experience, gave me my first -insight into the splendid idealism and individual worth -of the enlisted men of our army. I had gone to France -a newspaper correspondent, without a single plan, -without even a hope of seeing my soldier son. I had no -intention of using my privileged position to seek him -out. I did not know where he was, nor did I ask.</p> - -<p>The American soldier abroad is theoretically still -in America. He gets his letters through an American -branch post-office in Paris, and they are sent to him in -care of his regiment and his company, with no more -definite address than “American Expeditionary Force.” -My son knew my Paris address, but he could not, even -had he wished to do so, tell me his.</p> - -<p>With a few thousand more impatient youngsters -my boy had enlisted before the draft, fearing that he -might draw a late number. He signed up on the day -when I sailed for Russia, and he was in France nearly -two months before I returned to the United States. -Thus our separation had been a longer one than was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -usual in this war. So when he wrote me in February -that he had been given a week’s leave and hoped to -be sent to Aix-les-Bains, I hoped so too most fervently, -because I had been ordered to Aix-les-Bains to write -the story of the first vacation of our soldiers.</p> - -<p>I arrived two days after the first contingent of -men, the dried mud of the trenches caking their uniforms -and their worn boots, had marched to music and -cheers through the flag-draped streets of Aix. I drove -directly from the station to the headquarters of the -provost marshal, and asked if a certain private soldier -was in town, and if so where. He was there, and a -sympathetic young man in uniform of the military -police searched the lists for the record of his hotel. It -is part of the intelligent care taken of our soldiers -overseas that even on their permissions, or leaves -from duty, the highest authorities know exactly where -they live and how. No mother need worry lest her son -get lost in France. He can’t get lost.</p> - -<p>In two minutes I had my son’s address and was on -my way to the hotel. He was not there, but the black-eyed -little <i>patronne</i>, also sympathetic, found me a -room on his floor. It was near the luncheon hour and -I sat down at the window nearest the street, eagerly -scrutinizing every soldier who passed, especially those -who turned in at the hotel gate. Finally a soldier -came swinging down the street, and it seemed to me -that he looked familiar. Yet I was not sure. Could -nine months make such a difference in a boy of -twenty? This one, with the absurd little tooth-brush<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -mustache and the cap on the side of his head, was -taller, broader, straighter than my son. He was more -intensely alive. Yet he walked like my Julian.</p> - -<p>I waited for him to come up-stairs, but he did not -come. I decided that he had gone directly to the -dining-room, so I went down-stairs and into the big -room, every table of which was filled with uniformed -men, eating, laughing and talking.</p> - -<p>It was the boy. I was so overwhelmed at the sight -of him that I could not take more than a step into -the room. I could not speak. Something of my intense -emotion must have reached him, for he looked -up, saw me, and in one bound was beside me with his -arms wide, just as when I used to visit him unexpectedly -at school. “Mother, mother!” he cried. Instantly -at the word the noisy talk and laughter stopped -dead, and every man in the room sprang to his feet. -It was not a tribute to me, but to their own mothers -at home. Right there I adopted the American army.</p> - -<p>I am proud to say that a small section of the American -army, all of it in that hotel, adopted me. Some -were too shy to come up and be introduced, but I had -broad smiles whenever I met any of them, and always, -when I entered the dining-room, the same chivalric -greeting.</p> - -<p>I talked with hundreds of soldiers during that week -in Aix-les-Bains, and in the little town of Chambéry, -two miles distant, also a vacation center for our men. -It is not mere boasting to say that they are, man for -man, the most amazingly fine-looking soldiers in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -world. They average rather larger than the English, -and broader and more muscular than either English -or French.</p> - -<p>“<i>Regardez donc, les épaules!</i>” Look at the shoulders, -I have heard dozens of Frenchmen exclaim. And -they might as well exclaim, look at their pink and -healthy skins, their clear eyes and splendid teeth. A -generation ago we were known as a nation of dyspeptics. -No one in France or England will ever call -us that again. Our soldiers are as nearly perfect -physical specimens as any men alive.</p> - -<p>They are remarkably intelligent. Their eyes and -ears are wide open to learn all they can of the wonderful -land of France, and especially of the historic past -which lives in old châteaus, ruined castles and Roman -remains all over France. Aix-les-Bains, as every one -probably knows, is in Savoy, which was once an Italian -state, but which voted itself French sometime in the -eighteen-fifties. In Chambéry is an ancient château -which was the seat of the former dukes of Savoy. It -is a picturesque old pile, built in the thirteenth century -and still habitable.</p> - -<p>Those American soldiers overran the château, -climbed the corkscrew stone staircase to the top of the -tallest watch tower, swarming over the ivy-clad walls, -exploring every corner of the place. They speculated -on probable methods of warfare and defense in the -thirteenth century, and quarreled cheerfully as to how -long their regiment could have held the château against -the assaults of the other fellows’ regiment. They had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> -more fun with that château than any of its original -owners ever had.</p> - -<p>They climbed mountains around Aix, taking delight -in all-day hikes above the early spring snow line. -They seemed thrilled at the thought that they, fresh -from Iowa, North Dakota, Georgia, Texas, were actually -looking across the valleys and hills at Mont Blanc -and the Alps. Bicycles could be rented for about fifteen -cents an hour, and hundreds of men spent their -time exploring the country around. In the late afternoons -and evenings they gathered in the big magnificent -casino, now under lease to the Y. M. C. A., and -delightfully swapped experiences.</p> - -<p>During the entire week I never once saw a drunken -or a disorderly soldier. One day at luncheon one -youth who had imbibed a little too freely of <i>vin ordinaire</i>, -perfectly accessible to all, and very cheap, suddenly -became inspired to sing. The only thing he -could think of was the doxology, and he sang one -whole line of it before he was pulled back into his -seat and his vocal efforts extinguished in a roar of -laughter. That was the sole and only approach to -rough-house I witnessed in Aix.</p> - -<p>The healthy enjoyment and the consistent good behavior -of the Americans seemed to impress the French -as miraculous. Half a dozen French officers on leave -in the famous watering place spent hours in the Y. M. -C. A. headquarters, and townspeople brought their -families to see the Americans, hear them sing <i>Over -There</i>, and <i>Joan of Arc</i>, and stag dance to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -music of Lieutenant Europe’s famous regimental band. -Europe, who used to play for idle New York to tango, -has a band of colored soldiers who are going to be -known all over the continent before the war ends. The -men all sing as well as play, and their music is really -remarkable. Whenever a colored soldier appeared on -the street the French children followed him in a rapt -procession. They followed all the Americans, but -Europe’s men had them hypnotized.</p> - -<p>In Aix I saw the beginning of what I believe is -going to be a never-ending friendship and understanding -between the American people and the French. You -have heard, no doubt, about how the French double -the prices of everything as soon as an American soldier -enters a town. Some French shopkeepers have -done this, of course. The American soldier seems to -be rolling in wealth, and he rarely even counts his -change. The temptation to overcharge a man who -throws down a fifty franc note in payment for an apple, -carelessly inquiring “Is that enough,” must be -pretty strong. But let me tell you that avarice is not -the ruling passion of the French, and their dealings -with the American soldier are often marked with consideration -most extraordinary.</p> - -<p>Vacations do not come cheaply to the American soldier -in France, at least the stay at Aix-les-Bains was -not cheap. Every man who went there was supposed -to have a minimum of one hundred and fifty francs, or -twenty-seven dollars, in his possession. When he registered -at the office of the provost marshal he drew a slip<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> -of paper with the name of a hotel on it. To that hotel -he was obliged to go. The tariff varied from ninety-three -to one hundred and twenty-eight francs for the -week, and this sum, seventeen dollars and sixty-four -cents to twenty-three dollars and four cents, had to be -paid in advance.</p> - -<p>A few of the soldiers failed to get this into their -heads before coming, and there was considerable borrowing -in the first few days. Lucky were they who -had friends from whom to borrow. One tall shy -youth from Georgia, I think it was Georgia, came to -the Y. M. C. A. with a pathetic tale of tragedy based -on the fact that he had arrived in Aix with only eighty -francs in his pocket. He had probably never been -twenty miles from his home village before he went to -France with his regiment, and here he found himself -shut out from his hotel in a strange European town, -with thirteen dollars and sixty cents less than he needed -to support existence.</p> - -<p>The Y. M. C. A. secretary suggested that he go -back and ask permission to stay as long as his money -lasted, but the boy was too frightened and forlorn to -make the venture. Besides, he spoke no French and -could never explain himself to that terrible <i>patronne</i>. -In France it is always the women who hold the cash-box -and manage the business end of hotel keeping.</p> - -<p>The Y. M. C. A. secretary put on his hat and went -back with the drooping Georgian to plead with the -<i>patronne</i>. She had not previously understood the -case, and now was all kindness and sympathy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>“The poor infant!” she exclaimed. “So far away -from home and only eighty francs. Wait, monsieur, -until I consult my husband.”</p> - -<p>Soon she came back smiling. “It is all right, monsieur,” -she said. “The big infant may stay the week -for eighty francs. We also have a son under the -colors. May some one be a little kind to him when he -needs it.”</p> - -<p>This story, I believe, is more truly typical of the -spirit of the French people toward our men than any -tale of extortion, however true.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER III<br /> - -<small>SEEING AMERICA OVER THERE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Vacation</span> days are always swift flying, but that -vacation week I spent in Aix-les-Bains with my soldier -son broke all the records for brevity. The day of -departure came almost before I realized that we had -been fortunate enough to meet. We left Aix within -a few hours of each other, my train first. I had a -last glimpse of the boy standing on the station platform -waving his cap and smiling. How is it that we can -smile at such moments? Perhaps only because we are -a little something more than dust, because we have -aspirations, dim and dreaming though they may be, -beyond mortal life and love. So we went our ways -toward our separate duties, he to the front, I to the -rear. His task was to fight, mine to write. If he -could go to his work with a smile, then I could too. -And I did.</p> - -<p>I want to visualize to the American people who -have sons and brothers and husbands in this war the -immensity of the work the men have undertaken. Not -only the work of fighting, but of building and preparation. -Fighting furnishes the most spectacular and -tragic aspect of war. But that is not all there is to the -great game. War is a stupendous business enterprise.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -It is a feat of engineering beside which the building -of the Panama Canal looks like a mere pastime. When -I started out to see America, as it had established itself -in France, I did not dream of the greatness I was -to encounter, a greatness which has fairly staggered -and inspired those of our allies who have seen it.</p> - -<p>The first anniversary of the American entrance into -the world war was the occasion of what almost -might be called special American editions of most of -the large English and French newspapers. Columns -of space in these papers were devoted to encomiums of -praise of our enterprise, our ingenuity, our manifold -and miraculous accomplishments in the space of twelve -short months. Miraculous was a word most frequently -used, miraculous and astounding.</p> - -<p>It is too bad that the people of the United States -can not at present be told all of the amazing feats of -building, engineering, transportation and railroad construction -which have so impressed the allies abroad. -It would inspire and encourage them to know it, but -unfortunately it is necessary to keep as many of the -details as possible a secret from Germany. Before the -fateful August day in 1914, when the vast German -army started on its march across doomed Belgium, the -war lords knew the French railroad system as well as -they knew their own. They had maps of every foot of -railroad in the French republic. They had an accurate -catalogue of French rolling stock, and they knew exactly -the number and capacity of railroad manufacturing -and repair shops. They probably knew the railroad<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -men of the country down to the last patch on an engineer’s -overalls.</p> - -<p>But the Germans do not know what has happened -to the French railroad system since April 6, 1917, the -date of our entrance into the war. Of course we do -not want them to know, but I don’t mind telling them -that what has happened deserves the adjectives lavished -on us by the English and French newspapers. I -have been over hundreds of miles of that part of the -French railroad system which moves our men and their -supplies from ocean ports to the fighting front, and I -agree with Secretary Baker when he said, on his departure -from France, that what had been accomplished -was inspiring to behold.</p> - -<p>I shall never forget a Sunday that I spent at a -railroad station in a town in central France. The -town, which can not be named, is a small and not very -important manufacturing city, but it is now one of the -important junctions in the chain of railroads leading -from the southwestern and northwestern seaports to -the battle-front of the northeast.</p> - -<p>The day was Sunday, just three days after the -great push of March twenty-first began. I was returning -to Paris after a visit to certain large aviation fields -in the neighborhood, and got off at this junction for -luncheon and a change of cars. Few French trains -now carry restaurant wagons, and travelers, except on -express trains, have to carry luncheon baskets or depend -on station buffets.</p> - -<p>I arrived at the junction at eleven o’clock, but I did<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> -not take the two o’clock Paris express, as I had planned. -I stayed in the station all day and all evening watching -the breath-taking procession of trains tearing northward -to the fight, and the equally amazing procession -of trains rolling southward and bearing the flotsam -and jetsam of battle—wounded and dying men, despairing -refugees, damaged guns, broken airplanes. -French trains, including our own over there, move -methodically in blocks called <i>marches</i>. They never -have any traffic tie-ups, because all the trains move -at exactly the same speed, and every train has its prescribed -place in the <i>marche</i>, just so far ahead or behind -the next train. It is an excellent system. But it -seemed to me that day that the trains would certainly -telescope one another, they came on and on so unceasingly -and so close together.</p> - -<p>The trains moving northward were laden with soldiers, -horses, guns, airplanes, ammunition wagons, -food, supplies of every conceivable description. Trainload -after trainload of horses, eight to a car with four -men, generally asleep on the hay in the middle space -of the car. The horses, beautiful, tragic creatures, going -to almost certain destruction wrung the heart to -see. They gazed out at the flying landscape and the -cheering station crowds with big, soft, uncomprehending -eyes. How I wish we did not have to use horses -in war. Of course the lives of men are far more -valuable, but the men at least know why they fight -and die.</p> - -<p>Trainloads of men, so many that within an hour I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -had ceased to count them, rolled through that junction. -Men from England, Frenchmen hurriedly recalled -from leave in their southern homes. All ages. -I saw French boys who must have been eighteen, but -who looked younger by two years, and I saw men who -might have been grandfathers. These older men do -not often fight. They serve meals in the trenches and -perform other non-combatant services. All France—all—is -mobilized for some kind of service.</p> - -<p>Sometimes these troop trains made brief stops at -our station. Of course, there was a Red Cross canteen -there, and I worked with the fine French women who -were in charge of it, ladling hot coffee into mugs, and -handing thick sandwiches to the crowding, hungry -<i>poilus</i>. Some of the trains had their own kitchens, -portable affairs on flat cars, and when the train stopped -the men fairly boiled out of the carriages, pails and -bowls in hand, to get the delicious soup prepared by -the cooks. The Red Cross women supplemented the -meal with sandwiches and coffee, at least when time -permitted, which was not often. Those troop trains -were on their way north with no unnecessary stops.</p> - -<p>More often than not the trains did not stop. Once -as a train was rolling through the station a soldier -called to me asking for the newspaper I held in my -hand. Of course I gave it to him, sprinting along the -platform at a lively rate. The next time I saw a train -coming I ran to the newsstand and bought three francs’ -worth of papers, about as many as I could carry, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -had them ready for rapid distribution to the effusive -and laughing soldiers.</p> - -<p>But right in the middle of that exciting procession -of trains came something that brought my heart to -my throat. It was an immensely long train of all -new cars, painted olive drab, with U. S. A. in white -letters on the side. And the cars, dozens and dozens -of them, were loaded with railroad building material. -Portable tracks, switches, signals, exactly like the expensive -and fascinating toy railroads which children -delight in. Steel rails, wooden ties, machinery for -laying them, flat cars, wheels, tools and nails, and -last of all tiny little locomotives, two of them to a -flat car, all American, going up to the front with the -French and the English soldiers.</p> - -<p>Right behind that train of cars came another, a -shorter one, and this was full of brown-clad American -engineers, going up to the front with the allied soldiers, -to lay those tracks and operate that little narrow-gauge -railroad under gun-fire. Our own sons.</p> - -<p>That was not all. In the middle of the afternoon -another train went northward, olive drab, with U. S. -A. in white letters. This was a hospital train of entirely -new cars, the finest and most complete I had -ever seen. It was a palace on wheels, with every conceivable -appliance for the comfort of wounded soldiers. -There were kitchen cars, operating cars, X-ray -compartments, cars with beds, cars with couches for -the sitting cases. Cars for doctors and nurses as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -well as patients. Nothing I had seen, not even men -going into the trenches, brought home to me so sharply -the fact that we were in the war and were fully determined -to hold our end up.</p> - -<p>We could not have done it so well had we not, in -the last fifty years, developed such extraordinary railroad -builders and operators. The French had a railroad -system adequate for peace-time uses, but when -war came, and especially after the tide of Americans -began to pour into the country, the system had to be -enormously enlarged. It had to be planned and organized -also, in order not to disturb unduly the life of the -country. And it had to be done quickly.</p> - -<p>It is not going beyond the permissible line to say -that our railroad experts have worked out a wonderful -system for the transportation of men and supplies. -Several big seaports in the northwest now receive most -of the men who in larger and larger units are being -transported to France. One very large port in the -southwest is the receiving station of most of the supplies -sent over. A network of railroads, some of which -we have double-tracked, convey these men and the supplies -eastward and northward to their destinations. -There is never any confusion of freight and passenger -trains, because they do not start from the same ports, -and most of the time they are not even on the same -lines.</p> - -<p>All through central France along this railroad system -the Americans have taken over old towns and -cities as bases for war work. Outside of the towns<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -are great camps, with army bakeries, quartermasters’ -depots, hospitals, shops and factories. In one of these -camps, near a railroad junction, is a supply station -which is preparing to feed a million men at the front. -At another camp I saw a distribution depot for medical -and surgical supplies for the whole army. At both -of these camps railroad building was going on at a -lively rate, miles and miles of spurs and switches.</p> - -<p>At a lovely old town which was once the stronghold -of feudal barons, whose hoary old château rises -over the place like a watch tower, I saw an immense -factory for repairing locomotives and rolling stock. It -was no flimsy wooden structure built for a few months, -but an enormous mass of brick and concrete such as we -build in Pittsburgh and Gary. I saw in the woods outside -this town gangs of American foresters. I saw -American sawmills. I saw logging trains manned by -Americans.</p> - -<p>I have seen American workmen making wagons, -portable houses, trucks, locomotives. I have seen them -building cold storage warehouses and ice-making -plants. Building them substantially, as though we had -moved to Europe to stay, as indeed we have until we -put the war out of the world, together with the militarism -that made it.</p> - -<p>Do the Germans know it? Their leaders do, of -course, but I doubt very much whether the mass of the -people do. Working under guard in many of our -camps in France are gangs of German prisoners. -Watching several hundred of these men, in fierce green<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -uniforms and shapeless boots, I asked the young officer -who was my escort what they thought of the American -activities.</p> - -<p>“I was curious about that, too,” he replied, “and I -took pains to find out. Would you believe it, that most -of the prisoners refuse to credit the fact that we are -here at all? They say, ‘Before we were taken prisoner -our officers told us that we would see soldiers who -would claim to be Americans, but they aren’t. They -are Canadians or English. The Americans can not get -over here. Our kaiser has said so.’”</p> - -<p>In another camp I asked the same question. What -did the Germans think about us? They say, I was told, -that they didn’t mind building railroads in France. The -kaiser would be glad to have them when he came. -What will happen to the kaiser when the German people -learn the truth?</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IV<br /> - -<small>PIONEERS, OH, PIONEERS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> man on sentry duty on that section of the huge -unfinished wharf was in a bad humor. He was in a -very bad humor. If a stray cat or dog had appeared -on the wharf at that moment he would probably have -kicked it. As it was a woman in the khaki-colored -uniform of a war correspondent, the sentry contented -himself with roaring a challenge that brought her up -standing. Having produced her pass, he stood aside -with a scowl, shouldered the rifle which had been -pointed at her most menacingly, and made a gesture -with his head which meant, “Well, then, move on.”</p> - -<p>But the correspondent—I was the correspondent—did -not move on. I stopped and said, mildly: “You -don’t seem to be enjoying yourself to-day. What’s -the matter?”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” he repeated furiously. -“Every darn thing is the matter. What did I leave -my business for, what did I leave my wife and kids -for? Why, to come over here and fight the boche. -And what am I doing? Roustabout work on a blasted -line of docks, miles away from the front. Been -here five months in this hole, working like a subway -digger.</p> - -<p>“Look at the town back there where we go for a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -bit of amusement when the day’s over. Worse than -any slum back home. Talk about the horrors of the -trenches. I’d swap the mud we live in for any trench. -Talk about Fritz’s poison gas. When the wind’s right -the fumes from that picric acid factory up the river -blow down and choke the lungs out of us.”</p> - -<p>“Do you get these spells often?” I asked. Whereupon -he grinned a little and relaxed his scowl. I -asked him where he lived and he named a thriving -town in western Kansas. He had a real estate business -in town, but his folks still lived on the big farm -which his father had proved up on forty years ago. -It was a fine place, yielding a big income, enough to -keep the old people in comfort for the rest of their -lives, and to support his young family while he was -at the war.</p> - -<p>I came from the prairies myself, and I could just -see that farm and the old folks who had gone out to -Kansas in their lusty youth to take up government -land. They had built a sod house, turned up the tough -prairie grass, plowed and sowed and cultivated under -the burning sun, performed the terrible labor to get -their first meager corn crops.</p> - -<p>They had fought drought and grasshoppers, lived -through blizzards and cyclones, endured poverty and -privations untold. They were pioneers. Of such is -the greatness and the virtue of our America.</p> - -<p>I sat down on a nail keg and talked to that lonely, -homesick, aggrieved soldier about the pioneers. From -England first, and later from every other country in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> -the world they had come, moved by the divine unrest -of ambitious spirits, to the United States.</p> - -<p>They had crossed the plains in rough wagons, daring -weather, starvation and thirst, hostile Indians. -They had leveled forests, they had built homes with -no tools but axes and hand saws. They had farmed -arid lands. They had lived in caves and dugouts. -They had raised corn that some years they had been -forced to burn for fuel because there was no market -for it. But they lived, and won out, and built homes -for their children.</p> - -<p>And now, once more the Americans are pioneering. -They are pioneering in France. They are building an -army and doing it, as their fathers before them, from -the ground up. “If you were not building these miles -of docks and warehouses, if we didn’t have hundreds -of thousands of men constructing ice plants, storage -warehouses, railroads, barracks, bakeries, hangars, -hospitals, how would the men in the trenches get food -and ammunition and clothes and medical supplies and -everything else they have to have before they can win -the war?” I put it to him straight, and he turned an -uncomfortable pink.</p> - -<p>“Of course, you are right,” he said. “But we have -to blow off once in a while. You see we didn’t know -anything about it before we came. We drew our -numbers in the draft, and most of us were mighty -glad of it. We had the time of our lives in training -camp, and we thought we were going right into the -big show.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>“We thought the engineers would be right up at -the front building railroads for the artillery. Instead -of that we are kept down here, hundreds of miles from -the fighting, doing the kind of hard labor some of us -have money enough to hire done at home.</p> - -<p>“Why, do you know,” he continued, “that in——,” -naming a near-by engineering camp, where immense -seaplane hangars were being built, “there is one company -of two hundred and fifty men, every one a graduate -of a university or a technical school? All of those -men are in overalls, doing day labor.”</p> - -<p>I did know those men. I had seen them, or some -of them, the day before at the noon hour smoking -short pipes and cigarettes, sitting or sprawling on their -backs beside the road. And a fine, husky, happy lot -they were, too. Nothing in their university careers -ever did for them what this rough job of pioneering -was doing.</p> - -<p>There was one man there who had put in a magnificent -water system in his home town. When he went -to France the newspapers gave him a great send-off, -described his work, and said that no doubt he would -be called on to take charge of the water system in one -of the large French cities. When I met him he was -acting as water boy to a railroad tie carrying squad.</p> - -<p>The engineers in this part of France publish a -monthly magazine called <i>The Spiker</i>. They love to -get hold of these newspapers notices and to publish -them with comments. From a San Francisco paper -they gleaned that “Willie ——, the cotillion leader<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -of last season’s younger set, leaves for France shortly -with the Blankth Engineers to take charge, it is understood, -of the construction of a telephone system contemplated -by the government to facilitate the hauling -of troops to the front.”</p> - -<p>The comment records that the erstwhile cotillion -leader, Private ——, is now on the business end of -a No. 2 shovel.</p> - -<p>Well, what of it? The shovel work has to be done -just as the prairie sod had to be turned. The men -growl about it sometimes, but mostly they grin. They -chalk “P. G.” on the backs of their jumpers, the same -letters appearing in white on the vivid green uniforms -of the German captives at work in many camps.</p> - -<p>They mean <i>Prisonnier de Guerre</i>, war prisoner, -and when the weather is cold and rainy and letters -from home are delayed, and spirits sink, you can hardly -blame the men from feeling at times a little like -prisoners. They had expected excitement and perhaps -some glory, and hard work and isolation is their -lot.</p> - -<p>But what they are doing, tedious enough day by -day, is in the aggregate splendid and invaluable to the -success of our army. The like of it was never done -before by any army in the world. When the Germans -see it, as they will some day through their newspapers, -they will be aghast at the hugeness of it.</p> - -<p>They had sneered at the idea of the Americans -sending a large army to France. How could they -send an army? An army can’t swim, nor can it fly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -and the Americans had no ships. Even if they found -ships and sent men enough, how could they feed, -clothe and equip them? How could they keep up their -supplies?</p> - -<p>The Americans could and did perform all these -miracles because they had in them the blood of pioneers, -of men and women whom no difficulties could -afright, no obstacles turn back. Our soldiers have -proved themselves in countless army camps abroad to -be worthy sons of the breed.</p> - -<p>I remember one big aviation camp which was built -in a few months out of short lengths of boards because -the colonel and his staff couldn’t get any better -lumber. They were told that they couldn’t buy any -lumber at all, that there was none available in that -part of France. But they did get it, and they built -the camp. The men lived in tents during the coldest -weeks of winter with icy winds blowing over the barren -plain. All aviation camps are built on big plains.</p> - -<p>In spite of the cold the men had no stoves furnished -them. No doubt stoves were contemplated, but they -did not reach the camp. But you can’t freeze pioneers. -Those boys just went to work and built stoves, built -them out of mud, brick and stones, oil cans and biscuit -tins and any other old junk they could find lying -around. They made stovepipes out of condensed milk -cans, and they kept warm.</p> - -<p>I met and talked with half a dozen of those engineers -who were caught in that German counter-drive -near Cambrai in November, 1917. The men, it will be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -remembered, were engaged in peaceful labor behind the -British front, linking up railroad communications and -forwarding supplies needed by the English soldiers -farther up the line. No one supposed that the engineers -were in any danger, and the squads went out -without any firearms.</p> - -<p>But unexpectedly the Germans swept over the British -lines and the American engineers suddenly found -themselves in the middle of a battle. Some of them -seized arms from fallen men and sailed in to the fight -like seasoned soldiers. Others had no chance to get -hold of guns, but did they retreat? Not so that you -could notice it. They went for the Germans with their -picks and shovels, and what they did to them was epic. -In describing their work the British general in command -said it was futile to bestow praise on the Americans. -What they did was beyond praise.</p> - -<p>When I met these men they were just finishing up -a piece of construction work at a camp in central -France. It was not an especially interesting work, just -day labor. But when the big push began in March -these men, being free to move, were sent up to the -front to build more railroads.</p> - -<p>“Aren’t they the lucky stiffs?” groaned a man in -another labor group. “But our turn will come, I’ll -bet you.”</p> - -<p>The lucky stiffs agreed that they were lucky, but -they refrained out of politeness from saying too much -about it. Of course, every man hopes to get up into -the big show. But the work behind the lines has to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -done. That is the spirit of the army, except on occasions -when the men have to blow off steam.</p> - -<p>Bidding the lucky ones good-by, I expressed a hope -that they would be allowed to carry weapons when -next they went near a fighting line. They said that -they were going to carry side arms, but one man said:</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with a good sharp pick when -you meet up with Heinie? He knows what a gun will -do to him and he is game. But a Yankee guy with a -pick has got him backed off of the map. Jim here -killed two and chased two more with nothing in his -hands but a shovel. I had a pick and I was better off -than him.”</p> - -<p>Which was his modest way of telling that he and -his pick had accounted for three German soldiers -armed with rifles and bayonets. Thus had his grandfather -fought wolves in some western forest, or killed -rattlers in prairie grass. Pioneers! You can’t beat -them.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER V<br /> - -<small>WE FINISH WHAT CÆSAR BEGAN</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">A standard</span> joke, used with several variations in -French music-halls, is to the effect that “the English -only leased their trenches for three years, but the -Americans have bought theirs.” This witticism is a -tribute to the amount of solid preparation the Americans -have made and are making and to the marvelous -feats of engineering which are progressing rapidly -from southern and western France clear up to the -battle lines.</p> - -<p>We own, temporarily at least, seven miles of docks -and wharves in one great seaport alone. Most of these -we have built, and the work is still going on. For -forty miles around this seaport the sound of hammer -and ax rings day after day as one after another camp -and cantonment is established. Some of these camps -are really small cities. In one, for example, a hospital -camp will house thirty-five thousand people. Provision -for twenty thousand beds is being made. It will be, -when completed, the largest hospital in the world.</p> - -<p>A few months ago that hospital site was a barren -waste of prairie. As for water, there was one solitary -well. Sewers there were none, and, of course, no -streets. Now there is a model drainage and sewer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -system. There are a dozen miles of paved streets. -There is a good water supply, electric lights and telephones. -When I visited this camp some fifty hospital -buildings were wholly or partially completed, and -since then many more must have been built.</p> - -<p>Most of the materials used in this vast piece of construction -came overseas from the United States, but -no small amount of lumber was purchased in France. -Now France is very short of lumber and sells as little -of it as she can. I asked the colonel in command of -the work where he got his building material, and he -replied with a broad smile: “Well, I really stole it. -I had to have the lumber, so when I found out where it -was, I went over there and just insisted. You see,” -he added, “over here no excuses are ever accepted -from anybody. You simply have to make good on any -job they assign you to. If for any reason you don’t -make good, you get sent home.”</p> - -<p>If we could make up our minds to apply this inexorable -method to some of the people who are doing -war work on this side of the water we might get better -results. At one of the camps in the neighborhood of -this same seaport in France they are building a naval -aviation station. When it is complete there will be -provision for one thousand to fifteen hundred giant -seaplanes, great white birds that can sail three days out -to sea, that will possess power to sink more submarines -than any armed vessels. The submarine is visible from -the air at a much greater depth than it is from a ship’s -deck, and the seaplanes will carry plenty of deadly depth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -bombs. Moreover, they will fly safely. The submarine -can not fight back at them.</p> - -<p>When this camp is completed and equipped—don’t -forget that it has to be equipped—those planes will -do more than convoy vessels into the harbor, they will -be used to train flyers for a dozen other ports into -which our ships and our allies’ ships now steal precariously. -There were no seaplanes there when I saw -the place. The hangars were soon to be ready, though, -and so were the big repair shops, the bunkhouses for -the men, the ammunition warehouses, and all the other -necessary buildings. There is absolutely no inefficiency -over there.</p> - -<p>The man who is in charge of most of the mammoth -undertaking in and around this seaport now bears the -title of colonel. Before he entered his country’s service -for the duration of the war he was known as one -of the greatest engineers in America. His largest feat -was the canal which connects Lake Washington with -Puget Sound. To build this canal, which flows through -the heart of the city of Seattle, the waters of the big -lake, which is nearly twenty miles long, had to be lowered -nine feet. To a man who could do that without -difficulty or serious accident the work undertaken by -our army forces in France was a mere matter of taking -one step after another. The first step was getting -men, and there was no difficulty about that. The draft -furnished the men, or at least the mass of them. Voluntary -enlistment furnished experts in various lines. -And splendid men they are, those American builders<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -in France. Of one regiment of engineers working -for the most part as day laborers there fully sixty per -cent. are college graduates.</p> - -<p>This seaport lies at one end of a vast railroad system -which is carrying our men and all the army supplies -from the ocean to the fighting front. It is a good -harbor and a famous one from the time of the Romans -and even further back than the Romans. But for -present-day war needs it is not good enough. It has -sandbars and shallows, so one of the engineering feats -our men are doing is the deepening of that harbor to -admit the largest ships.</p> - -<p>Another feat is the enlarging of docking facilities -so that supplies for an army of three or four million -men may be quickly unloaded. Another still is the -building of a five-track spur from the docks to the -main line of railroad. It would take many chapters to -describe adequately all the construction work that is -being done in and around this one city in southern -France.</p> - -<p>Perhaps it is nobody’s fault on this side of the Atlantic -that a great deal of the work has been delayed -for lack of tools and machinery, but delayed it has -been. For example, pile drivers that were urgently -needed came slowly, and when they came were found -to be relics of the past and practically useless. Locomotives -of the vintage of 1868 were grudgingly furnished, -and important work was held up while they -were put into shape. Steam shovels came a piece at -a time. But no matter. The engineers hustled while<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -they waited and built with what material they had on -hand.</p> - -<p>If Germany has spies in those camps, and if they -have contrived to make reports on what is happening -there, the knowledge will bring no comfort to Emperor -William and his junkers. The Potsdam fire department -which was to dispose of all the army that the United -States could send to Europe will be assigned to a -simpler task. The mere personnel of that working -force of engineers in southern France is enough to -make the Germans turn pale.</p> - -<p>The man in charge of repairs and equipment of -naval aviation, with headquarters in this southern port -made a fortune in the automobile manufacturing business -and just before the war he retired from business. -He is still young, but he had all the money he needed -and he wanted to enjoy life in other ways than business. -Now he draws the pay of a lieutenant-commander -in the navy and devotes what time he has free -from his duties to inducing other successful business -men to enter army service. This man was on the boat -with me coming home from France. He was going -back to get three thousand more expert mechanics, and -incidentally to persuade one of the biggest millionaire -railroad men in the country to put on a uniform.</p> - -<p>A captain of engineers who is bossing part of the -work of building warehouses was drawing a salary -of fifteen thousand a year in the contracting business in -New York. Working under him in overalls are master -mechanics, machinists, bridge carpenters, skilled men<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -of many trades. They may seem to be wasted on these -laboring jobs, but the work has to be done, and there -are not enough men of lesser skill to go around. Later -these men will be found and the skilled ones will be -overseers.</p> - -<p>To this end the world is being scoured for laborers. -We have Chinese coolies working for us, Japanese, -Spaniards, Dutch, Scandinavians. In one camp I saw -a large detachment of Africans from Algeria, Mohammedans. -They were under the command of French -non-commissioned officers, men who had spent years -in North Africa and know the language. The colonel -in command took me to their quarters and into the -cook house, where the noon meal was in preparation. -A giant African in a white cotton robe and turban, -the sweat running in streams down his face, was making -soup in a great copper caldron. Other men, similarly -attired and equally hot, were slicing vegetables, -cutting bread into big chunks, opening cans of tomatoes -and pouring the contents into the stew which -formed the basis of the meal.</p> - -<p>“I can’t get used to this job of mine,” said the -colonel. “A year ago I filled a little army department -job at home and was getting old and fat. Now I am -responsible for a regiment of engineers and nine hundred -workmen, most of whom can’t speak a word of -English.</p> - -<p>“These Africans, for instance. I have to leave -them to their French sergeants, and look how they -manage them.” I looked. The squad that was laying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -bricks for a drain outside the cook house had apparently -committed a slight breach of discipline, for the -lithe little French sergeant in charge was administering -punishment. He was bounding around in a series -of catlike jumps, at each jump landing an amazing -kick on exactly the same portion of each man’s anatomy. -He never said a word, he just leaped and kicked.</p> - -<p>“Now, what ought I to do about that?” demanded -the colonel. “It’s against every rule and procedure of -the American army.”</p> - -<p>I suggested that the American army was in process -of upheaval in a good many directions, and he agreed -with me.</p> - -<p>I ought not to leave the Africans without paying a -tribute to the American negroes who by thousands are -helping to build camps and railroads and docks in -southern France. And in many other parts of France -as well. They are doing splendid work and behaving -wonderfully well. France is bewildering to these men, -and one of the most bewildering things is the fact -that it has a dark-skinned population which does not -speak United States. It is enough to rattle any good-natured -black man from a Louisiana rice field to speak -to a brother laborer and have him answer back in -French or Arabic.</p> - -<p>“Go ’way with tha’ talk,” he exclaims. “You ain’t -no real colored man nohow. Cain’t speak your own -language.”</p> - -<p>But if the colored American is short on language -in a foreign land he is all there when it comes to imagination.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> -Some of the men from the far South are illiterate, -but the majority can read and write, and according -to the regimental censors some of the letters -they write home to the folks must keep Georgia and -Mississippi neighborhoods keyed up to the boiling point -of excitement. Hundreds of miles removed from the -fighting lines does not prevent the letters from dripping -gore.</p> - -<p>“Just back from a hard day in the trenches,” writes -a man whose job is working on a slag heap. “I tell -you we done some bloody work. I tell you. We killed -a hundred Germans in one trench and cut um up like -sausage meat. I cut a officer’s head clean off with my -bayonet. I cuts Germans ears off when I kills um. I -got a whole string of ears in my bunkhouse. Write -soon, ’cause I might get hit with one of them big guns -and killed.”</p> - -<p>These lurid recitals emanate from the gentlest and -most childlike of all our enlisted forces. They sit -around evenings in the Y. M. C. A. huts reserved for -them, eat candy, look at illustrated papers and sing -their plantation and campmeeting songs in voices sweet -and lonely. The French children creep up to the -doors and windows of the huts to look and listen in -wonder. Of all the queer and fascinating Americans -in their land the colored men are the queerest and most -fascinating. If it were not for the children and their -shy friendliness I don’t know what the colored fellow -would do, for he is very, very far from home.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VI<br /> - -<small>GOING TO SCHOOL IN THE ARMY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Ridiculing</span> and belittling the American army in -France is no longer the great indoor sport of the German -government. It was the last one the government -has left and until lately it was played desperately with -the view of diverting the minds of the people, and -keeping hope alive in their sinking hearts.</p> - -<p>The German newspapers, of course, are rigidly -censored. Not a word of war news is ever published -except that which emanates from headquarters. Nevertheless, -the German people, who are not fools, now -know full well that the kaiser’s war promises are not -being fulfilled. He promised in the beginning that -their victorious troops would be home by Christmas of -1914. They know now that Christmas, 1918, will see -the world still at war.</p> - -<p>The kaiser promised his people Verdun, but he -could not deliver Verdun. He promised them the -annihilation of the British army before this year’s -summer. But the British army still fights on and even -the German newspapers dare not claim that the British -show signs of weakness or surrender.</p> - -<p>The German people were promised, above all, that -their commander-in-chief would end the war victoriously -before the Americans could raise and transport<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -overseas any army worthy of the name. This supreme -promise the government, until Pershing annihilated the -St. Michiel salient, tried to make the people believe -was being kept. Because they knew that unless the -war was won before the Americans come in in great -numbers, it never could be won.</p> - -<p>Secretary of War Baker, quoting from the semi-official -<i>Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung</i> of Berlin, -gives a sample of the sedative stuff with which the -German authorities kept the people’s nerves quiet. -Admitting that a country of one hundred million population -might conceivably raise an army of one million -five hundred thousand men, the article goes to great -pains to prove that such an army will never cross the -seas. “The American political situation” is such that -the greater part of the army will have to be kept at -home. At best only four to five hundred thousand -men can be put into the European battle-field.</p> - -<p>“There is an American army in France,” concedes -the article, with an air of being quite candid on the -subject, “but it consists entirely of woodcutters, railroad -men and doctors, except two or three divisions -whose precious lives are being spared in quiet places -far behind the front.”</p> - -<p>When I read those words I laughed. Because I -have been in a good many of those quiet places behind -the front, and I know that what was being done -there was not coddling American soldiers, nor yet keeping -them safe from battle. What was and is being done -there is making them one hundred per cent. efficient<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -fighters. Not mass fighters alone, not men who at the -word of command go forward to be mown down by -machine-gun fire. But individual fighters, men who -can move together in a mass, yes, but men who also -know how to fight alone, who have initiative, resourcefulness, -responsibility. Men who know every trick in -the game.</p> - -<p>While we were building ships; while we were -drafting and drilling men over here; while the despised -woodcutters and railroad men and the vigorous young -engineers were laying the basis for a long war if necessary, -but a clean victory in the end, our soldiers, waiting -in scores of camps to take their places in the lines, -were being given an intensive training, which I think -would astonish even the war-efficient Germans.</p> - -<p>We have also special schools for officers, and they -are still in full blast, and will be continued as long -as they are needed. Our supply of officers will never -run short, for the schools will continue to turn them -out. The schools give the superior enlisted men a -chance to earn commissions. Officers in every regiment -are on a constant watch for men who show signs -of leadership and military intelligence. Such men are -officer material, and on the recommendation of their -superiors they are sent to one or another of the schools -which have been established over there.</p> - -<p>When our men go to France from the cantonments -here their training is by no means complete. They -have been licked into soldier shape, they are in good -physical and mental condition, they have learned to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -march, to drill, and to shoot. They can use the bayonet, -they know something about artillery, about grenades -and bombs. But they still have much to learn. -They begin to learn soon after they arrive in France. -They learn in camps and schools, but the German -government doesn’t tell its people about that.</p> - -<p>It was a cold, drizzly day in March that I visited -a school where infantry, artillery, sanitary and gas lore -was being instilled into the intelligence of nearly two -thousand hot-blooded young Americans. Some of -them were being trained for non-commissioned officers -who would be in direct command of squads of soldiers -in battle. There were also large classes for lieutenants -and captains of infantry, artillery, engineering -and aviation.</p> - -<p>I can not in one chapter or in two give anything -more than an outline of the courses studied. The -schedules announcing the classes lie on my desk as I -write. They cover eighteen closely typewritten pages.</p> - -<p>Take a class of enlisted infantry men who were -expected to command squads. These are some of the -things they did in school the week of March 4 to March -9, 1918: On Monday and Tuesday they had inspection -and drill from 7:50 to 8:45. From 9 until 11:45 -they had instruction in musketry, grenade and bayonet -work. They went to their noon dinner, and from 1:15 -to 4:30 they had more of the same kind of drill.</p> - -<p>They repeated this during the rest of the week, and -on Wednesday they had besides a lecture on some theoretical -problem of their work by a veteran colonel, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -West Point man. They also studied a map problem, -and in the evening they saw in the engineers’ school -a night demonstration of wiring in the field. They -finished on Saturday afternoon with a “tactical walk.” -Quite a busy week.</p> - -<p>It was just as busy with the class in automatic -weapons. On Monday they had close order drill, -barrage drill, a lecture on direct fire, another on indirect -fire, practise in range firing and the use of range -finders. Finally they had an hour’s pistol practise.</p> - -<p>They had a great deal of artillery target practise -that week, also a lecture on trench routing, a conference -on indirect fire tables, whatever they may be, and -two days’ hard work in the gas school. You can not, -you know, just pick up a gas mask, put it on and successfully -fight. You have to learn how. I tried on -a gas mask and couldn’t breath in it five minutes. So -the soldiers have to learn how to wear their masks, -and a great deal besides before they can safely face -a gas attack.</p> - -<p>They hear lectures on how gas is used, preparation -for the attacks, on the mechanics of the box respirator -used by our army, and on the effects of gas. They -learn the history of gas warfare and the German orders -and reports concerning it. They learn what to do -during and after an attack. They drill in actual gas -chambers.</p> - -<p>The officers in this school had much more technical -work. A tactical course for field officers interested -me greatly. The men studied the technique of grenade,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -trench mortar and one pound cannon firing. -Trench fighting, when I visited the school, was being -vigorously studied, and I heard part of an intensely interesting -lecture on “The Attack in Trench Warfare,” -from a lieutenant-colonel of the British army who had -led many such attacks himself since 1915.</p> - -<p>It seems odd to hear of seminars in war wisdom, -but they have them there, officers who had experienced -trench fighting sitting around a table and discussing -nice questions of tactics, just as a short time ago some -of them were sitting around university tables and discussing -political economy or English literature.</p> - -<p>They had a course for signal men which was very -valuable. Field telegraphs and telephones play an exciting -part in modern battles, and the students in this -course devoted much time to buzzer telegraph work. -They learned how to string field telephones, and to -use them. They had lectures on ciphers and signals, -endless and intricate. They learned to read maps.</p> - -<p>In the aero school they were training aerial photographers -and teaching them how to interpret photographs -taken in the skies. The flyers were being -taught to signal troops from above and to read army -signals thousands of feet below. What the soldiers -on the ground seemed to be doing was spreading -freshly washed towels and sheets on the grass, but what -they were really doing, it appeared, was asking questions -of the aviators about the enemy’s maneuvers.</p> - -<p>A little later I visited another army school, or -rather an army college, for there line and staff officers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -of superior rank were under instruction. Our army -authorities do not intend to repeat the mistakes of the -Civil War in regard to superior officers. It has been -said that it took only a year to teach the rank and file -of our men to fight, but that we fought for two years -to train lieutenants and captains, and three years to -train generals. The war was ended in one more year.</p> - -<p>This war college in France, where some great general -may now be in training, perhaps for the highest -command of all, is located in a medieval town which -must have seen a lot of fighting in the distant past. Its -stout city walls still stand, and it is plain that a long -battle would have to be fought before the besieging -army reached the walls. The town stands on a rocky -height little accessible in the old days. Below stretches -a level plain where all the enemy’s movements would -have been visible for miles.</p> - -<p>It is an appropriate place in which to train future -American generals, for this war is being fought, not -only with all modern weapons, but with many of the -weapons of the past. One can easily fancy the ghosts -of the great Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon, Richard -Lion Heart, Sir John Chandos, hovering in the -shadows of the classrooms, and listening delightedly -to familiar things, talk of liquid fire, hand grenades, -storming positions with bayonets and long knives.</p> - -<p>But the ghostly warriors would hear other talk, -and when final examination time came, I imagine that -they might thank their stars that they were safely dead, -for this war makes demands on the intelligence of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -commanding officers that the middle ages wotted nothing -of.</p> - -<p>I took a brief survey of one examination paper in -which it was put up to a commander to move several -divisions of men from one district in France to the -fighting front. He had a railroad map of France before -him and he was required to state at length and in -detail exactly how and when and where he would entrain -his one hundred and twenty-five thousand men; -when and where he would stop each unit for meals; -what he would do with his men when they left the -railroad; what villages and towns he would occupy; -where he would billet the soldiers; how and with -what he would feed and supply them; how he would -move supplies. It made my head swim, but it also -made my heart swell with proud confidence in our -army.</p> - -<p>Efficiency! There is only one real and permanent -efficiency. It is not possible to achieve it under a slave -system. It can only be achieved by freemen, willing -to follow their chosen leaders into the valley of the -shadow of death if that is the road through which -more freedom, freedom of all the world, is to be -gained.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VII<br /> - -<small>OUR BOYS DISCOVER THE PAST</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Voilà</span>,” said the old French general who sat opposite -me in the Bordeaux express, “behold the prettiest -sight in France.” He pointed through the open -door of the compartment to two soldiers who were -standing in the corridor smoking their after-luncheon -cigarettes.</p> - -<p>One of the soldiers wore a horizon blue uniform, -a little worn and stained with hard usage, although the -boy was barely twenty-one. The other soldier’s uniform -was brand new O. D. cloth, made in America. -The two stood beside the window, their arms entwined, -looking at the lovely valley of the Loire and teaching -each other their respective languages.</p> - -<p>“Sammee,” said the French soldier, “how you -say ‘<i>donnes moi une allumette</i>’?”</p> - -<p>“You say ‘gimme a match.’ But listen here, Gaston, -cut out the Sammie. Forget it.”</p> - -<p>“What you mean ‘forget it,’ Sammee?” persisted -the <i>poilu</i>, accepting the match. The lesson went on, -and I agreed with the old general that the sight of -French and American youths associating on affectionate -terms and learning each other’s familiar argot was -indeed agreeable.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>One of the stock arguments of the pacifists in trying -to make war out an unmixed evil is that it sets back -education. I am sure that many American mothers -have had misgivings on this point, and have deplored -the necessity of interrupting their sons’ college life. -But I want to assure them that their sons are learning -more in France than any college could have taught -them. They are learning French, for one thing, at -least all the enterprising ones are. Not the foolish, -academic sort of thing they study in high school and -college, the object being to read Molière and the -classics, but the living language.</p> - -<p>A striking illustration of the difference in the two -methods was afforded me during a trip into the war -zone. In the party was one of our intelligence officers -and a French woman writer of unusually broad -education. The American officer spoke very little -French, the woman writer spoke only a few broken -sentences of English, and they had to be constantly interpreted -to each other. One day, in the course of -the conversation, it transpired that the officer before -joining the colors had been a high-school professor -of French, and that the woman had for five years -drawn a good salary as a teacher of English.</p> - -<p>The American soldier in a few months can, if he -wants to, gets a practical knowledge of the French -language that will be a business asset to him all his -life. Most of the soldiers appreciate this, and the -free classes offered in all the Y. M. C. A. centers are -well attended. They learn in the classes, and they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -learn even more by association with French soldiers -and civilians.</p> - -<p>My soldier son knew not a word of the language -when he enlisted, but when I saw him in France he -was using it fairly well. I congratulated him on his -new acquisition, and he laughed and said: “There’s an -awfully pretty girl in a café the fellows up our way -patronize, and she doesn’t know any English.”</p> - -<p>It is not only the French language that our soldiers -are learning, but French history as well. The part of -central France occupied by our army is a storied treasure -house of history. No part of France is more -French. It abounds in castles, châteaux, museums, -pointed towers, dungeon cells and torture chambers, -ancient churches and crumbling city walls. Even the -farms, centuries old, some of them, show the remains -of past defenses.</p> - -<p>To our boys, fresh from the new prairies of Iowa -and Dakota, or the still virgin forests of Oregon and -Washington, this past they are surrounded by is the -most romantic and wonderful thing that ever came -into their lives. They can hardly believe it is real.</p> - -<p>Even to those soldiers who come from the older -sections of the United States the sight is thrilling. In -the gardens of the Luxembourg Palace, in Paris, built -by Henry of Navarre for his second wife, Marie de -Medici, stands a stately marble fountain, moss-grown -and mellow with time. The date cut in the marble is -1620.</p> - -<p>I had this pointed out to me by a soldier from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -Massachusetts. “Think of it,” he exclaimed, “the -very year when our oldest aristocracy, the Pilgrim -fathers, were cutting down trees for their first log -huts and their rude stockades, these French people -were making beautiful things like that fountain.”</p> - -<p>Long before that they were building beautiful -things. Down in the southernmost part of our territory -in France stand the ruins of a magnificent castle, -the one where Edward the Black Prince took refuge -when he was being pursued by that French king with -whom he was contesting the crown of France in thirteen -hundred and something. With two young naval -officers I explored the place one warm spring day, and -we were actually awed by the achievement of those -builders of olden days.</p> - -<p>The castle was not only strong, it was noble and -fine in all its masses. “It makes you proud of your -Norman ancestors,” said one of the American officers, -a Virginian.</p> - -<p>You can not go into one of the old Gothic churches -or cathedrals on Sunday or week-days without meeting -American soldiers, caps in hand, gazing silently at -twelfth century Madonnas and saints, or tombs of medieval -bishops. The miracle and charm of Gothic architecture -is not all that draws our boys to the old -churches. The sense of time and antiquity possesses -them. It is something entirely new and wonderful to -them to realize that the world went on, that people -lived and loved and thought about themselves as modern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> -and up-to-date centuries before Columbus discovered -America.</p> - -<p>In a certain French city, where I made friends -with many American soldiers, a group of university -professors are making it their business to escort our -soldiers over the place, giving them historical talks. -This is a very old city, one in which the Romans had -a considerable occupation. The ruins of an immense -circus built by them still stands in the midst of modern -houses and shops. Its masonry is so solid that a -ton of dynamite would be required to dislodge it.</p> - -<p>At the time of the French revolution it was practically -intact, but its use as a fortress and the pounding -of cannon against it turned it into the picturesque -ruin it is to-day. Our soldiers are exploring that old -circus and realizing the grandeur that was Rome more -keenly than if they were cramming Latin back home.</p> - -<p>“You positively mustn’t miss the mummies,” I was -told by my soldier friends in this same city. So one -day I went with two boys to see the mummies. There -is an ancient church built, centuries ago, outside the -city walls, when the town was just beginning to outgrow -its walls. The excuse for the walls had not disappeared, -however, and local wars and forays among -the feudal gentry beat hard on that church. Several -times during the years the church was burned to the -ground, but it was always rebuilt according to its -original plans.</p> - -<p>The last time it was rebuilt was about a hundred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -and fifty years ago, and it was when the excavations -were being made that the famous mummies were discovered. -They were dug up out of one of the oldest -corners of the churchyard and must have passed from -life in the fourteenth or the fifteenth century. Something -in the chalky nature of the soil preserved them -from disintegration, and they remain still rather disagreeable -and grewsome likenesses of their original -selves.</p> - -<p>To see them we descended a flight of worn stone -steps into the inky darkness of a crypt. An old, old -crone of a woman, herself half a mummy, led the way, -a sort of a dark lantern in her hand. She has told -the story of the mummies several times a day for so -many years that she could probably recite it without -troubling herself to wake out of a nap. She can even -recite it in a jargon which remotely resembles English.</p> - -<p>The mummies, about twenty of them, are hung up -like so many old clothes, around the walls of the crypt. -Some are mere parchment shells of bodies, others retain -rags of clothing, and even rings. The old, old -crone turned her lantern on the mummies, one by one. -Here was a priest, she said, you could tell by his -soutaine. Here was a woman who had died in childbirth, -her tiny baby buried with her. Here was a -whole family, mother and four children, who had died -of poison, perhaps mushrooms. This man was hanged. -You could tell—“Ugh! Let’s look at the next one, <i>ma -mère</i>,” we implored. The next one was worse, a cataleptic, -buried alive.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>“What in the world makes you want to look at such -things?” I asked when we emerged, in time to meet -another group of soldiers bent on the same errand.</p> - -<p>“Why,” they said, “don’t you think it is terribly -interesting to look at people who actually lived five -hundred years ago? Those mummies are worth a -franc any day.”</p> - -<p>Two Sundays before I left France I spent the afternoon -in the Hotel des Invalides, where Napoleon lies -in his granite tomb, now completely buried in sandbags. -In spite of that fact, however, the chapel was -filled with American soldiers gazing raptly at the tomb -they could not see, but which they knew held the ashes -of the great conqueror.</p> - -<p>More soldiers were in the large courtyard, now a -museum of captured Germans guns, cannon, “minnies” -and shattered airplanes. There are the burned and -charred skeletons of several Zeppelins, and in the very -center of the collection, as if its captor, the remains, -nearly intact, of Guynemer’s favorite fighting plane, -his “Old Charles” which brought so many German -flyers to earth. This plane, white, with a scarlet symbolic -bird in flight painted on its body, is decorated -like a shrine, with a constantly renewed tribute of -fresh flowers.</p> - -<p>The American boys who wandered through the -courtyard and long galleries of the Invalides that day -were on their way to the front, and were spending -every precious minute of their stay in Paris storing up -impressions. I watched them studying with intent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -faces the marvelous collection of armor, some of it -restoration work, but most of it the actual harness of -kings and knights of old. Soldiers of all the ages, -Greek, Roman, Gaul, Frenchmen of the age of chivalry, -are represented in the collection. The whole history -of warfare.</p> - -<p>“When they are giving us tin hats why didn’t they -give us things like these?” sagely remarked one soldier. -“These protect the eyes.”</p> - -<p>“But, gee!” exclaimed another, pausing in front of -a “tin hat” the size of a garbage bucket and several -times as heavy, “wouldn’t you like to catch a Hun with -one of them things on?”</p> - -<p>Where the American soldiers lingered longest that -day was in the gallery sacred to the relics of Napoleon. -His camp bed is there, and they exclaimed at the smallness -of the great soldier. There were also his camp -chair, his writing table and books, scores of personal -belongings, uniforms and decorations. The walls are -covered with paintings of his battles and the stirring -events of his life.</p> - -<p>You’ll never get those soldiers to agree that war -sets education back. Our soldiers are learning at first-hand -in France what they would never have learned -so well at home, the great, big thing we are fighting -for in this war, what in all ages the flower of manhood -have fought and died for—better life, and more freedom -for the generations next to come.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER VIII<br /> - -<small>THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">There</span> is one thing our soldier sons are learning -in France that is more valuable than the French language -or history or any mere knowledge acquisition. -Our men are learning the true meaning of nationalism, -love of country and the flag.</p> - -<p>Of late years we have had in the United States -such a deluge of talk about “internationalism” that -our young men had almost reached the point of being -ashamed to feel patriotism. An insidious propaganda -of pacifism, beginning in elementary schools all over -the country, had undermined the old American pride -in the flag. The children went through the motions -of saluting the flag, true, but in too many schoolrooms -the poisonous suggestion was given them that it was -much nobler to love all flags and all countries equally -with their own.</p> - -<p>A young Jewish soldier from the east side of New -York told me that, when he learned that he had been -drafted, he actually contemplated suicide. It seemed -to him a crime for him to become a soldier. His parents -had fled from Russia to escape death at the hands -of soldiers, but that was not why he was opposed to -all war. It was because in his school, and afterward<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -in the city college, he had imbibed what is miscalled -internationalism.</p> - -<p>“I went to training camp because I was afraid to -resist,” said this young man. “I stayed and I worked -hard because I liked it, liked my officers, and because, -being assigned to the aviation service as a ground man, -I knew I would not be obliged to kill Germans. I still -believed that it was my duty to be international at -heart.”</p> - -<p>And then he told me how the conviction came to -him that men can not love all countries unless they -love their own first and best. “You see that work -gang over there,” he said. “Those fellows are Russians. -They are part of the Russian division that -was sent to fight in France two or three years ago. -You remember what a fine impression they made then. -Well, after the revolution in Russia, or rather after -the Bolshevist soldiers began running away from the -fight, murdering their officers and clamoring for a -separate peace, there was the question what to do -with the Russian regiments in France.</p> - -<p>“Some of the Russians it was impossible to trust. -Some, at least, I don’t know how many, were bitten -with the German propaganda. They did what they -could to demoralize the French soldiers. Nobody -knew but that they might betray the allies in the -middle of a battle. The upshot of the whole thing -was that they sent the Russian troops back from the -front, and now they work in labor gangs. They don’t<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -want to go back to their own country. Things are -too bad there.</p> - -<p>“Among our flyers was a young lieutenant who was -born a Russian. Not a Jew, a Russian. He was -finishing his training in this camp. It was partly the -monotony and the lack of work that made him melancholy. -You know we haven’t enough practise planes -and the flying men are idle half the time. But mainly -it was the sight of those Russian laborers that got on -his nerves. He used sometimes to talk to them, and -they were pathetically glad to have him, because nobody -else spoke their language and they were lonesome.</p> - -<p>“He said to me once: ‘When those poor devils -landed in France the houses were decked with flags -to greet them. The streets were full of cheering -crowds and children threw flowers in their path. Now -nobody trusts them to fight. They are outcasts. They -have no country, and no country wants to adopt them.’ -I tried to tell him that he was wrong, that the allies -wanted to help Russia to get back, but it was no good.</p> - -<p>“By and by this man took it into his head that he -was distrusted because he had been born a Russian. -It wasn’t true. But he thought it was. He said so. -One day he went up in an altitude test with an observer. -He was acting as pilot, but the machine had -a double control and the man with him was a cool and -capable flyer. Otherwise the thing might have been -even worse than it was. For when they were six<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -thousand feet up and still climbing, the Russian suddenly -unbuckled the belt that secured him in his seat, -and before the observer could even guess what he was -about to do, he stepped over the side of the machine -into space.</p> - -<p>“That settled me. I said to myself that I would -rather be dead than be a man without a country. -That’s what that poor fellow figured that he was, -and all other Russians. But I’m not a Russian, nor -an internationalist, nor anything else but a one hundred -per cent. American, and if they want me to kill boches, -I’m ready to begin any minute.”</p> - -<p>A man without a country. Is there any sentence -in the language, any combination of words more -dreadful? Yet what the German propagandists, -which is the real name of many of the pacifists and -“internationalists,” have been trying to do to American -youth is to take their country away from them. They -nearly succeeded, and the proof of that was the three -years of indifference we loitered through before we -woke up to the fact that this war was ours, as well as -England’s, France’s and Belgium’s.</p> - -<p>We failed to realize that our country was in immediate -peril, because we had almost forgotten that we -had a country. Are we all awake to the fact yet? -No, because, if we were, there would not be left anywhere -from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific one single -disloyal citizen, one single copperhead or so-called internationalist. -No community would tolerate them. -There would be no corner where they could hide.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>Some of the Socialist party leaders are beginning -to see a great light on the subject of loyalty to the -government, and are advocating a new policy toward -the war. Their last party platform read like one of -Trotzky’s messages to the Petrograd Soviet, but now -even the late Socialist candidate for mayor of New -York, who appealed for the pacifist vote, and got it, -is beginning to talk about revising the platform.</p> - -<p>Unless it is revised, the Socialists are going to lose -their adherents at present serving in France. The -Jewish boys who, a little over a year ago, were orating -from soap boxes against the draft and against -what they called “this profiteers’ war,” are among the -hottest young patriots and keenest fighters in the American -army.</p> - -<p>I saw some of those boys at Camp Upton last autumn. -I saw one who was sitting in a corner blubbering -like a small child because he was being sent to -Spartanburg. He was being transferred because he -was continually begging to be allowed to go home. -His captain told me that the only thing to do with -him was to send him so far away from New York -that week-end visits home would be impossible.</p> - -<p>I saw other Jewish boys who were unwilling soldiers -then, but every one I saw in France was enthusiastic -about his work, and as little of an internationalist -as the young man in the aviation camp. The Jewish -soldier has made good. I was told so by many officers, -and I saw it for myself.</p> - -<p>Our soldiers have not been taught to hate the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> -Germans, and I don’t think they do hate them. It -is certain that the French people with whom our men -associate do not. But they scorn and loathe the Hindenburg -method of making war, and this attitude our -men share. They regard the Germans with horror -rather than hatred, and so must all Americans who -even faintly realize what is going on every day and -hour in the invaded districts of Belgium and France.</p> - -<p>Our soldiers, many of them, have seen this terrible -thing, and it has made their blood run hot in their -arteries, it has set their jaws hard, and caused their -eyes to blaze. What theories they have ever had -about internationalism have been dissipated by the -facts with which they are faced.</p> - -<p>The submarine war has come home to our men, -sometimes as a bitter personal experience.</p> - -<p>In a Y. M. C. A. canteen I came upon a young -corporal who had found a seat behind the piano, and -he was sitting there weeping his heart out over a letter -from home, a letter telling him how his brother had -died when the Germans torpedoed the <i>Tuscania</i>. I sat -down beside this soldier. He seemed to need somebody, -and I was the only woman near. In a few minutes -he was himself again, outwardly at least, and he -read me the letter.</p> - -<p>It was from his sister, because, she said, mother -was taking it very hard and could not write yet. When -the ship went down brother managed to get on a raft -which was very much overcrowded. There were so -many men on the raft that the brother’s chum, who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> -was in bad shape with a broken leg, was pushed off -into the water.</p> - -<p>Brother was a good swimmer and he managed to -rescue his chum and to get him back on the raft. But -while he was in the water two more men, half drowned -and desperate, had climbed aboard, and the raft was -now several inches under seas. So this heroic young -American soldier, unwilling to jeopardize his comrades’ -life, gave up his own.</p> - -<p>“Tell my mother and the family that I am sorry -I didn’t have a chance to fight for America,” he said, -and sank into the black and icy ocean.</p> - -<p>“Well, I can fight,” said the soldier who read me -that letter. “And every time I am allowed to go over -the top I shall remember how they killed my kid -brother in the dark.”</p> - -<p>American men are accustomed from their childhood -to see women treated with respect and children -with tenderness. They see with horror-stricken eyes -the women and children refugees from the war invaded -districts flying before a foe that knows no pity, -that treats combatant and non-combatant with equal -cruelty and wrath.</p> - -<p>I have told of a Sunday I spent in a railroad station -in the first days of the great spring offensive, and -of the southward bound trains bearing the wounded -and the homeless. With me on that platform were -several American soldiers, two or three members of -the military police. They were there primarily to look -after our soldiers passing up and down the line, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> -they worked hard to help the stricken refugees, hundreds -of whom were fed and ministered to that day -by the French Red Cross.</p> - -<p>They were mostly women and children and old -men, and their plight was pitiful. This was the second -time that they had fled before the German hordes. -Last November, after the “victorious retreat,” they -had crept back to their ruined and desolated villages -and farms, and with the aid of their government and -the American societies for French reconstruction had -begun life again.</p> - -<p>In their shells of houses and in their shattered little -farms they gladly took up the work of gaining a little -bread. Then, without any warning, the awful flood -of war swept over them again.</p> - -<p>They fled, half clad, never pausing to collect their -poor belongings. Without the blessed help of the -Red Cross they would have died of starvation on the -road. Everything they ever had was gone. They -stumbled off the trains, dazed, with white blank faces -and staring empty eyes.</p> - -<p>I saw those American soldiers carrying old women -and little children into the Red Cross canteen, feeding -them, ministering to them, all the time muttering -curses on the fiends who had brought them to this -bitter pass.</p> - -<p>“Oh, we have work to do over here,” one of these -men said to me. “God help the kaiser when we get -fairly into this war.” And then he exclaimed: “Are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -there really any pacifists left in America? If there -are I wish they could see what we have seen to-day.”</p> - -<p>I wish so, too. I wish I could show the theorists, -the “internationalists,” what I saw of those French -refugees, the poor, despoiled working people and farmers -who fled, as the hordes of old fled before Attila, -another scourge of God, but one not less tigerish or -void of soul.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER IX<br /> - -<small>OUR FOREIGN LEGION</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Do they</span> really call you Sammies?” I asked one -of the first soldiers I met in France.</p> - -<p>“They call us the foreign legion,” he laughed. “I -don’t blame them, either. They expected American -soldiers to be American, and we handed them an army -made up of forty different nationalities. Come to -think of it, that is America.”</p> - -<p>“I never realized it before,” joined in a young -sergeant sitting near. “My family has lived in Massachusetts -for nearly three hundred years, and I always -thought of myself and others like me as the only real -Americans. The Italians, Greeks, Russians, and even -the Irish, seemed to me to be grafted stock. But I -am in charge of a bunch of fellows, not one of whom -was born in the U. S. A., and I would back them as -straight Americans against any man in the ‘Descendants -of John and Priscilla Alden’ society.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got two Czechs who ran away from their native -land to avoid army service in Austria. That was -five years before we got into the war, before there was -a war. These boys hated army life and wouldn’t stay -in a country that had compulsory military service. -But along comes a chance to fight for the U. S. A. and -these same fellows just pant for it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>The first soldier spoke again. “But what do you -think of a Russian who ran away from Russia during -the war, and yet wanted to join the American army? -By the way, he wants to meet you. May I introduce -him?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, indeed,” I replied, whereupon the youth -stood up and called out: “Oh, Trotzky! Come on -over, Trotzky!” And the Russian soldier thus libeled -came rather diffidently from an adjoining room. We -were sitting before an open fire in a Y. M. C. A. headquarters.</p> - -<p>“Trotzky,” whose other name was Jeff Bramfford, -turned out to be a typical Russian in spite of his English -name. His father, he said, was English, but he -had lived many years in Russia, first as an engineer -in an English-owned munitions factory in Petrograd, -and later in Riga. Jeff’s mother was a Russian.</p> - -<p>The strange adventures of this young man began -when he was twenty-one years old, a date which corresponds -with the outbreak of the world war. Jeff was -counted as a Russian citizen and was forced to join the -army. He saw service in the tragic campaign which -ended in the Masurian Lakes catastrophe. He escaped -drowning in the swamps and also lived through the -disastrous retreat across East Prussia.</p> - -<p>The Russians, he told me, fought well, their cavalry, -one hundred thousand strong, breaking the German -line and taking many prisoners. But the supporting -artillery failed them; never came up at all. Mutiny -broke out, many of the men charging that their higher<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> -officers had sold them out to the Germans. If this was -so, then the Germans behaved toward their friends -with their customary treachery. At one halt these Russian -officers took possession of a German country -house, obligingly left open and well furnished. Very -soon after they were installed, the house blew up and -killed every man in it. The place had been mined by -the Germans.</p> - -<p>In the Russian retreat, Jeff was taken prisoner, -and with many others was sent first to Germany, where -he was forced to slave at menial labor. Later he was -sent to Belgium.</p> - -<p>“I never let them know that I was a skilled mechanic,” -said he. “I didn’t want to be set at munitions -work, or to help them in any other way to win -the war.”</p> - -<p>In Antwerp, Jeff, because he has a strong personality, -was placed over a gang of Russians who were -repairing streets. This was at a time when the British -flyers were bombing Antwerp, and on one of their visits -some of the bombs fell in a quarter of the town where -this labor group was at work.</p> - -<p>The German guards, to quote Jeff’s exact words, -“beat it to hell” for the nearest cellar, yelling to the -prisoners to do the same. But Jeff and fifteen other -Russians seized their chance and beat it to the water -front. In the terror and excitement of the raid they -were not stopped anywhere, and they managed to get -hold of a fishing boat and beat it some more for the -English Channel.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>They had no food or water, but they thought they -might be picked up, and after twelve anxious hours -they were picked up by a Norwegian steamer. They -were taken to London, and for a week or ten days -were lionized and made much of. But of course they -were Russian soldiers and had to be returned to their -army. Jeff showed me the “paper” given him by the -Russian consul in London, a safe conduct to the port -where he was to embark for Norway and go from -thence by rail to Russia.</p> - -<p>Jeff kept the paper as a souvenir, but he had no intention -of going home. Instead, with the aid of a -Russian whom he had met in London, he went to -quite another port and got a job as a stoker on a -British merchant vessel bound for Marseilles, and -from there to New York. By the time he reached -New York he had eighty-five dollars in wages in his -pocket.</p> - -<p>He knew some English, and with true Russian -facility, soon picked up more. He went to Coney -Island one day, and there he scraped up an acquaintance -with two soldiers of our regular army.</p> - -<p>“Why not enlist?” they suggested, and Jeff, who -was tired enough by this time to be tempted by an easy -life and plenty to eat, consented. This was before we -entered the war.</p> - -<p>When the war came, however, Jeff was quite rested -and perfectly game. He went to France with one of -the first divisions, and is now in the artillery, which -is showing the Huns something new and interesting,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -and is thereby earning the admiration of France and -England.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, when I met him he was acting -as instructor in one of our big artillery camps. -But he ached to get to the front, and by this time he -must be there.</p> - -<p>“Why were you willing to fight for America when -you were not ready to go on fighting for Russia?” I -asked him.</p> - -<p>“In Russia the soldiers never get a square deal. -In the American army they do,” was the reply. -“But that is not the only reason. There’s something -about America that makes you willing to do anything -that is necessary. I guess it’s because everybody feels -free.”</p> - -<p>“But our army was drafted,” I suggested. “Some -people think that was an offense against individual -freedom.”</p> - -<p>“Drafted, yes,” said this real American, “but -drafted to defend their individual freedom. Can’t they -see that?”</p> - -<p>Jeff would be perfectly happy fighting for freedom -if he only knew what fate had befallen his father and -mother since the Russian upheaval. He has had no -word from them since then, and he fears they have -fallen victims to the bloody-handed Bolsheviki. His -fine gray eyes filled with tears when he spoke of his -mother, whom he left when he was little more than a -boy. The chances are that he will never see her again.</p> - -<p>We have thousands of Italian youths in our army.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> -I talked with a handsome Italian sergeant, a well educated -young man who had been a teller in an Italian -bank in New York.</p> - -<p>“You know what would make me the happiest man -in the world?” he asked me. “It would be to be transferred -to the Italian front with my whole company. -I am a great admirer of the French and English, but -of course I love Italy, and it would be great if we -could go there, and in American uniforms, under the -American flag, help to win back our Italia Irredenta, -our Alsace-Lorraine.</p> - -<p>“There are only four men in my company who -were not born in Italy. Some of them were born in -the lost provinces, and were naturalized as Austrians. -But they hate Austria even more than they hate Germany. -Think what it would mean to Italy to see her -sons, who left her because they were poor, come back -with the American army to fight for freedom on her -soil.”</p> - -<p>I sincerely hope that these soldiers will be given -a chance to fight in the land of their birth, under the -flag that means freedom wherever it waves. Nothing -would put more enthusiasm into the Italian army, in -my opinion. Rightly or wrongly, the Italians, or some -of them, have felt that the allies have neglected them a -bit. Of course, German propaganda has worked overtime -to make them feel that way, but there was, at one -time, a slight basis for the feeling. I want to see -American troops in Italy.</p> - -<p>I want to see American troops on every front, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -I particularly want to see the Czechs, the Bohemians, -of whom we have great numbers in our army, fighting -the Austrians. I saw some of these men, and they -were magnificent soldiers.</p> - -<p>I think the most uproariously happy men I saw -in France were the Poles in our army. On the night I -embarked at “a port in France” an American transport -came in carrying, besides our khaki clad men, the -Polish regiment recruited here last winter. They -looked like the chorus of a musical comedy, but if -they can fight as well as they can yell, they will add -a chapter to the history of the war. They began to -howl for joy when the ship came into the harbor, and -they streamed down the gangplank singing and cheering -like mad. I suppose their blue and scarlet uniforms -have been put in moth balls by now.</p> - -<p>We have often called America the melting pot, but, -seeing this great multitude of foreign-born American -soldiers, it occurred to me that we had not, in former -years, kept a good enough fire burning under that pot. -We didn’t try hard enough to melt that mass, to -amalgamate it with our Mayflower and Puritan descendants. -Why is it that so many naturalized American -citizens, fighting under the Stars and Stripes, -speak no English, or very little? What have our -public schools been doing all these years? Why -haven’t they extended their night school work to include -these young men?</p> - -<p>Russians, Austrians, Greeks, Italians, Chinese, -Syrians, Turks, Africans (the American negro is just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> -another immigrant), we have no right to keep America -away from them. We do wrong to consider them -only as “labor.” They are American citizens, and for -many of them the draft was the first time Uncle Sam -ever called them son. The training camp was the -real melting pot for them. In coin more precious -than gold, those immigrant sons of America are paying -us for our indifference. They are giving their -lives for American ideals.</p> - -<p>Read the names in the casualty lists: Killed in -action, Private Alexandro Cassealeno, Private Mike -Grba, Private Ole K. Arneson; severely wounded, -Constantine Poniaros, Tony Kaczor, Alexander Mashewsky.</p> - -<p>Many of these men were alone in America at the -time of the draft. Their families were behind in the -old home, and from some of those villages, those in -the Austrian empire especially, no letters have come -for more than a year. When the rest of the regiment -gets letters and packages from home they get nothing. -Remember that the next time they ask you to subscribe -to the Red Cross, the Library War Service or -the Salvation Army. You may think you haven’t -anybody in the war, no near relatives. But you are -wrong, you have our foreign legion and you owe them -everything you can possibly afford to give.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER X<br /> - -<small>THE GENERAL HIMSELF</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">If you</span> talk with the American soldiers, as I did both -in their rest billets and their camps, you will find -they have the clearest and most definite understanding -as to their business in Europe. It is to win the war. -I never met a man who had the slightest doubt or -hesitation about it. They know it will happen. They -say to you: “Why, the general himself says so. ‘Germany -can and must be beaten.’ The general himself -said that.”</p> - -<p>“The general himself,” of course, means General -Pershing. He is to the American soldier what Foch -is to the French <i>poilu</i>, the supreme authority who can -not be mistaken. And to the French <i>poilu</i>, and to the -French public at large, General Pershing, perhaps next -to General Foch, is the commanding figure of the war. -This in spite of the fact that they know nothing whatever -of him as a fighting man. They believe in him, and -in my opinion their faith is going to be justified.</p> - -<p>“Character,” said General Pershing, “other things -being equal, will decide the last battle.”</p> - -<p>The basis of my confidence in General Pershing is -that he has character, strong, original, dynamic. Every -word and gesture reveals personality. He is absolutely<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -straightforward and sincere, and his manner is simple -and natural. Yet underneath that quiet simplicity you -can easily perceive a will of steel and a capacity for -great sternness. His first appearance won Paris completely, -and before he has had time to fight a battle -he has become a military hero in the eyes of the -French.</p> - -<p>I saw General Pershing first in the reception room -of the beautiful Louis XVI mansion in the Rue de -Varennes which has been loaned him for a town house -when he goes to Paris. That is seldom. Most of the -time he lives in a picturesque town in eastern France, -which is the general headquarters of our army. The -name of the town is almost never spoken. It is simply -alluded to as G. H. Q. (General headquarters.)</p> - -<p>Since the advent of the American forces in France -there has been a much closer co-operation among the -allies, a co-operation which reached its natural climax -in the appointment of General Foch as generalissimo of -the allied armies. France has long desired this arrangement, -President Wilson desired it and so did -Premier Lloyd George. General Pershing, in his swift, -clear-minded judgment, declared it inevitable. But -difficulties stood in the way of its accomplishment, and -it was not until after several meetings of the allied -war council at Versailles that the thing began to seem -remotely possible.</p> - -<p>In the interest of stronger co-operation and as commander-in-chief -of the American army, General Pershing -has been a constant attendant of the allied war<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -councils. In a ten-minute interval between luncheon -and departure for an afternoon session of the council, I -had my first conversation with him. As he came into -the room it occurred to me instantly that here was the -very embodiment of the American army. The composite, -the perfect type. No wonder the French like -him. He <i>looks</i> right.</p> - -<p>No Greek of old Sparta was ever a more perfect -physical specimen. At fifty-four, General Pershing is -as straight and slender of waist as when he left West -Point. He is tall, powerful of frame, without an -ounce of fat anywhere on his body, and as hard as -bronze. His eyes are keen and young, although his -hair is gray. His face is marked with a few deep, -scar-like lines, for tragedy has entered his life, as all -the world knows. The lines do not suggest age, however. -General Pershing looks younger than his years, -much younger than most of his published photographs. -His voice is that of a young man, and he speaks crisply, -without ever hesitating for a word.</p> - -<p>There is not a particle of pose about Pershing. -He has been called cold, but I did not find him so. -When I told him that I had a son in the army he -became decidedly cordial. What was the boy’s name? -His regiment? When did he reach France? Had I -seen him? The commander-in-chief of the American -army, on his way to an allied council with men who -have the fate of civilization in their hands, had time -to ask questions about an enlisted man. Lincoln used -to do things like that.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>Weeks later I was the guest, with several other -correspondents, of the intelligence department of the -army in a motor journey into our war zone. Our -passes were for three days only and three districts -were to be visited. One stopping place was the town -alluded to as G. H. Q., the heart of the American expeditionary -force in France. We were to meet the -commander-in-chief informally, but there was to be -no interview. The prospect was pleasing, but not particularly -exciting, and in that it matched up pretty -well with the rest of the trip. When the intelligence -department invites correspondents, especially women -correspondents, to a party you can be sure that it is a -very staid and conservative affair.</p> - -<p>We traveled by train from Paris to our first point, -a big camp where our engineers had done some wonders -of construction, and which was now a completely -equipped school, where thousands of soldiers were -being trained in bombing, trench mortar work and -other skilled branches. At the station we were met -by a handsome and diplomatic young intelligence officer -in a big limousine. Under his chaperonage we were -to see as much of the war zone as was considered good -for us. The second day brought us to G. H. Q. and -General Pershing.</p> - -<p>Then was I glad that I had seen him in the palace -in the Rue de Varennes. Because now I knew something -about him. I knew he liked candor and straight -talk. I knew also that with an inflexible will he possessed -a reasonable mind. You can argue with a man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> -like that. I did argue with General Pershing on the -subject of what women correspondents ought to be -permitted to see and to know. I told him what I -wanted to take back to the mothers of American soldiers.</p> - -<p>I can not repeat our conversation, because it was -confidential. I will simply say that General Pershing -proved the reasonableness of his mind by greatly extending -our facilities on that trip, and turning our -prim little party into an experience wholly worth while -from the reporter’s point of view. Later I shall go -into details about that trip up the line. This chapter -is concerned with General Pershing.</p> - -<p>In the plain bare room, which is the commander’s -private headquarters, and in which the great campaigns -which our men will fight are being planned, -General Pershing appears even more dynamic and -forceful than in his luxurious Parisian home. I have -seen generals who wore their uniforms as if they were -business clothes, but not so General Pershing. If he -wore business clothes he would contrive to make them -look like a uniform. His uniform is the most immaculate, -the most correct, the most military thing in the -way of garments that I have ever beheld. His boots -look as though he never wore the same pair a second -time. Yet there is nothing stiff or rigid in his appearance. -He puts his clothes on a perfect masculine figure, -that is all. He holds himself like an absolutely fit -and athletic man.</p> - -<p>General Pershing exalts health. He takes daily cold<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> -baths, one of his young aides told me, and often in -the dead of winter runs and exercises in the open -air clad only in a thin bathrobe. To bring every man -in the army up to his physical standard is the commander’s -expressed ambition. To make them supremely -healthy, efficient fighting men, and to return -them to their mothers morally as well as physically -sound, is General Pershing’s conception of his responsibility -as head of the American army.</p> - -<p>It is always interesting to know how we appear in -the eyes of strangers, and an article published in a -well-known French magazine shows the strong appeal -that General Pershing has made to the imagination of -our allies. According to the French writer, there are -two men in the American commander-in-chief, one of -them Anglo-Saxon, the other a Frenchman. In 1749 -the ancestors of General Pershing emigrated from Alsace -to America, and Alsace in the eyes of all Frenchmen -is and always will be France.</p> - -<p>If by rare favor you are received by General Pershing -in his Paris home you meet the Anglo-Saxon, -says the reporter. There his coldness is positively British. -“Tall, slender as a sublieutenant, well set up in his -khaki brown uniform, four stars on the shoulders and -on the collar the golden eagle of his supreme rank. -General Pershing receives you in a manner courteous -but glacial. He is entirely the official, conscious of -his great responsibilities, and determined to keep silence -concerning official matters. His blue eyes are -clear and cold, even hard. Above his strong jaw, indicative<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -of implacable energy, his lips, saber-straight, -wear no smile.</p> - -<p>“Do not attempt to get from him any details of -his mission in France, or try to induce him to give you -any personal souvenirs or anecdotes of his tour of the -French front. His aide-de-camp and interpreter has -an invariable reply to all such questions: ‘The general -has nothing to say.’ Above all, never venture to -ask a question concerning his private life, his joys or -sorrows. Immediately the look in his cold eyes becomes -hostile. Before the question is fairly out the -answer comes: ‘The general does not think that would -interest the public.’</p> - -<p>“But if by happy circumstance you are privileged -to enter the small circle of General Pershing’s friends, -what a delightful metamorphosis! The man reveals -himself simple, charming, pliant, spontaneous. He is -the Frenchman, cordial and communicative, ready to -lend himself to that juvenile gaiety which so much -amuses the Anglo-Saxon. The blue eyes that we have -seen flash so coldly are now at once mischievous and -tender. His features are animated, his smile ready.</p> - -<p>“Everything interests him, science, art, literature. -Music he loves almost as well as paintings, and he -tells you with what new pleasure every time he visited -the Paris of pre-war days he went each day to the -Louvre galleries. Above all, he tells you how profoundly -happy he is to be in the war on our side. Certainly -that joy is rooted in the satisfaction of a soldier -fulfilling his duty, but General Pershing is more than a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -soldier. He is an idealist called to accomplish a high -mission, to serve an unselfish cause, to help humanity -to a secure and happy future.”</p> - -<p>General Pershing never appeared a bigger man than -when he offered to brigade the American forces in -with the English and the French, and himself take the -subordinate position of a commander without a real -command. The offer was made and accepted in the -dark and panic-ridden early days of the March German -offensive, when it looked as though the allied lines -might be broken, and all the man power available had -to be mobilized.</p> - -<p>That danger is happily past. The Germans have -struck and the blow has proved utterly futile. The -Americans are to be allowed to fight under their own -flag and their own officers. They will get full credit -for what they do. But the French and English will -never forget that General Pershing was unselfishly willing, -when necessary, to forego both for himself and the -American army every particle of credit, letting the -honors go to the allies. From a man of that character -great fighting, splendid victories may be expected. -Under such a commander our sons are well secured.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XI<br /> - -<small>GENERAL ALLAIRE’S FINEST</small></h2> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">I know</span> that my boy is being well cared for in -his regiment, and I’m not afraid of what may happen -to him as long as he is on duty. But what about -his off hours? What is to prevent him from falling -into bad company?”</p> - -<p>I know that this thought has troubled the minds -of many mothers of soldiers now in France. And no -wonder. Ever since the first training camps were set -up in this country the most lurid tales have been spread -abroad about the alleged immorality of the soldiers’ -off hours. Some of these tales were spread by pro-Germans, -pacifists and cowards who hoped to defeat -the draft laws. Others were the result of a certain -kind of imagination. The vast majority of them were -untrue.</p> - -<p>But even if any of them were true, if boys of twenty-one, -away from the restraining influences of home, -found unusual opportunities for immorality right here -in the United States, what must it be in France? Many -American women have it firmly fixed in their minds -that France is a shocking immoral country. It isn’t, -but I do not hope to be able to unsettle the conviction.</p> - -<p>I will content myself with saying that even if<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> -France were a second Sodom or Gomorrah, our soldiers -would be safe there. As safe, or safer, than they -would be at home. The reason is that they are under -military discipline and military supervision every hour -of their lives. In their off hours they are supervised -by the most efficient and powerful police force in the -world, the military police of the American army.</p> - -<p>Military police is what we call them for short. -They are really assistant provost marshals. They are -everywhere in France where there are American soldiers. -They police Paris and all other cities, towns -and villages in our zone. They are found sitting at a -little table in all the railroad stations, and every traveling -American soldier, be he officer, non-com or private, -has to report the minute he arrives to the station -marshal. This applies to all holders of military passes, -Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. workers, and war correspondents.</p> - -<p>The marshal examines the papers of the traveling -officer or soldier, stamps them and enters the name -and destination of the traveler in his book. This happens -when the soldier leaves his base and when he -returns. They keep track of our men on all their -travels.</p> - -<p>They also keep track of our soldiers in their daily -walks abroad, whether on duty or pleasure bent. There -are certain rules in our expeditionary force which -apply to all alike, from General Pershing down to Bill -Smith, private, just arrived from Camp Funston or -Camp Upton. One of these rules is that no member<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -of the expeditionary force may associate with women -of the submerged class.</p> - -<p>If a military policeman sees an officer or a soldier -in such company it is his duty immediately and without -any delay to separate the two, and gather the offending -man in. If he fails to do so, and the fact is -established, the policeman is punished. But he doesn’t -fail.</p> - -<p>Some of our younger officers, only a few, I was -assured, didn’t believe at first that a simple private -soldier would dare arrest them for the offense of -having a “good time.” Two of these very new lieutenants -tested it out in Paris once. They annexed a -pair of women of the underworld and started out to -find whatever may be left of the night life of the -French capital.</p> - -<p>What was their indignation when a slim youth of -about twenty-three, wearing the uniform of a private, -with the sole addition of a brassard marked A. P. M., -walked up to them, saluted and stepped politely between -them and the open door of the taxi-cab.</p> - -<p>“Beg pardon, sirs,” he said courteously, “I am -obliged to remind you that you are transgressing the -provisions of section —— of regulation —— of -orders —— relating to associations with women. I -shall have to request you to accompany me to headquarters.”</p> - -<p>The two very new young officers declined the invitation, -first with indignation, then with good-natured -appeals to the soldier’s sporting blood. The soldier<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> -remained adamant, and then one of the officers, getting -genuinely angry, thrust his fist under the man’s nose. -“What would you do if I were to push your face in -and go on my way?”</p> - -<p>The soldier policeman promptly drew his automatic -and thrust it under the lieutenant’s nose. “I would do -my duty, sir,” he replied, still courteously. But he -was an American and couldn’t hold in any longer. -“By God,” he exclaimed, “I wish you’d try it on. -You’re the kind of an officer the American army could -afford to lose suddenly.”</p> - -<p>That settled it. The two officers went to headquarters, -and they were punished. The one that attempted -to frighten the young policeman got sent back to the -United States. The men at headquarters agreed with -the policeman that the United States army could afford -to lose a man like that.</p> - -<p>The military policeman, who is found all over our -zone in France, does not wear blue clothes and a peaked -cap. Neither does he carry a baton. He wears his -soldier uniform and a white arm band on which the -letters A. P. M., assistant provost marshal, appear in -letters of red. He wears a belt and a pistol and he -carries plenty of ammunition with him.</p> - -<p>He is a part of a service which has at its head -General Allaire, chief provost marshal of the army, one -of General Pershing’s staff. General Allaire lives at the -sequestered little town which houses the rest of the -staff. Under him are many officers who command -the regiments of assistant provost marshals, and they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -are held responsible for the order and good conduct of -the army.</p> - -<p>In Paris the military police have their headquarters -in an old-fashioned building in the Rue Ste. Anne, -close to the heart of old Paris. The place was a hotel -in pre-war days, and it looks very much like a hotel -now, with all the boarders in uniform. The big dining-room -has less style about it than formerly. At present -it is furnished with long pine tables, scrubbed -clean, and the dishes are mostly white enamel ware.</p> - -<p>A one-armed French soldier, with a most engaging -smile and a pretty good knowledge of English, acts as -elevator boy, and he told me once that when the war -was over he was going to America. “I want to know -how it feels,” he said, “to belong, even for part of my -life, to a country that can produce such boys as -these.”</p> - -<p>They are a picked lot. It is an honor to be in the -service, and only those in whose honor as well as -valor the authorities have the greatest confidence, ever -make the service.</p> - -<p>In Paris the lieutenant under whose direct command -the force works is the most single-minded man -I think I have ever met. His whole existence seems -bound up in his men. He even spends his off hours -with them. One Monday when I went to the house -in the Rue Ste. Anne to have a military pass stamped -by the proper provost marshal, this lieutenant of police -told me that the day before, Sunday, he had taken -the half of his men who were off duty to Versailles.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -They had a wonderful day, he said. The authorities -even opened the palace museum for the Americans.</p> - -<p>“Next Sunday,” he said, “I am going to take the -other half of the force down the Seine to a beautiful -place where we can have dinner out-of-doors and have -a look at French life of the old régime. I mean that -my men shall get all there is in a foreign sojourn.”</p> - -<p>I told him that I thought he was pretty fine to -give all his leisure to his soldiers. He blushed like a -boy and said: “They deserve it and I enjoy it. Besides, -it is a part of my job to make these men as intelligent -individuals as possible. They need to be intelligent. -They have eight hours a day of particularly -responsible work.</p> - -<p>“Here in Paris they have to keep their eyes out -for deserters. It is their business to know that every -American soldier who walks through a street here has -a right to do it. They have to be keen to look for -spies in American uniforms. Oh, yes, they have picked -up more than a few of these gentry. They might have -slipped past the French soldiers, because they don’t -know Americans, but they couldn’t fool a U. S. A. P. -M. Every suspicious character gets nabbed sooner or -later. If there is any doubt about his status our men -bring him in here. If he can satisfy us, all right. But -there is never an apology due him from the policeman.</p> - -<p>“One of our men may be transferred from patrol -work to riding on railroad trains and keeping track -of our soldiers on their travels. He may be transferred -to the front, where he becomes a traffic cop and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -also one of the men who take captured Germans in -charge.</p> - -<p>“We have a school here for our motorcycle cops. -These men become inspectors of police. They have -an added responsibility. They speed directly to the -scene of any great or small disaster, and they assist the -French gendarmes and military police. When the -long-distance gun hit that church on Good Friday, -killing seventy-six people, our men were the first on -the spot. They rescued the wounded and brought out -the dead. They also did excellent service in that great -fire near Paris when the powder works blew up.</p> - -<p>“As quickly as an air raid is over our men are out -on their cycles looking up the damage inflicted by the -bombs. They report back here where every bomb -fell. Often they are able to put out small fires caused -by the bombs.</p> - -<p>“They are a fine bunch,” ended the lieutenant. -“Not one of my men has ever been in trouble, and -the fact that our cooler here in Paris often has as -many as a hundred and fifty people in it shows not -only that their work is essential, but that it is performed -to the king’s taste.”</p> - -<p>With that kind of a police force and that kind of -officers commanding it, you can be sure that your sons -haven’t very much opportunity to go astray. Once -in a while a man may evade the military police. Occasionally -I have seen it done. But it happens rarely, -and the chances are a hundred to one against it happening -twice to any one man.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XII<br /> - -<small>INTO THE TRENCHES</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">There</span> comes a day when our sons cease to be -soldiers in training and become fighting men. It is a -day looked forward to with dread by those at home, -with eager enthusiasm by the soldiers. I have seldom -met a soldier who had not something uncomplimentary -to say of the powers for not sending him more promptly -to the front. The weeks spent in rest billets, that -is, the training camps, seem endless to the men. Every -move forward is hailed with joy. But progress from -one village to the next is exasperatingly slow, especially -after they reach a point where the rumble of -guns, like distant thunder, is heard.</p> - -<p>I can answer for it that those distant guns do not -terrify anybody. I have listened to them, and I had -the same impulse to push on, on, nearer, which besets -the men. There is a real intoxication in the sound. -It intrigues you, fills you with a kind of savage curiosity, -a desire to send back to that challenge a Gargantuan -defiance. At this stage of the soldier’s career -I know that he thoroughly enjoys himself. I have -been that far with the American army myself and I -can testify that everybody had a good time.</p> - -<p>Shortly after our men took over their first sector<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> -on what is known as the Toul front, I was privileged -to travel for several days directly behind this front in -an army motor-car. The Toul sector was a part of -the French front in a northeastern corner of the -country drained by two historic rivers, the Meuse and -the Moselle. Toul itself is an ancient walled town -with a magnificent cathedral and a moat still in working -order. Some sixty kilometers, or less than thirty-eight -miles to the northeast, lies immortal Verdun, -and eastward almost in a straight line is Nancy, the -lovely capital of old Lorraine. Nancy is so close to -the German lines that it has been bombed and raided -many times. When I saw it the people were spending -much of their time in bomb-proof cellars constructed -for their protection by the municipality.</p> - -<p>How tenaciously the French cling to their homes -was evident long before I reached Nancy. Spring -was in the air in spite of cold wind and a wet clinging -snow that fell and dripped through three or four -disagreeable days. The fields surrounding the low villages -had been freshly plowed, and here and there we -saw gnarled peasants, old men and women, who stolidly -dug and harrowed, just as their grandparents did -when Frederick “the Great” raided the border near -these very farms. Just as their ancestors did during -ceaseless wars of old.</p> - -<p>Straight and white for miles ran the ribboned -highroads between their avenues of tall poplars. But -as we progressed farther north, the roads began to be -cut up with great holes worn by heavy war trucks<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -and gun carriages. Fields to the right and left put -on a strange and sinister dress. Here were no peasants -plowing, for those fields blossomed with a harvest -of barbed wire entanglements, mazes of barbed -wire so wound and woven, so thick and strong that -only repeated shellings by heavy artillery could level -them. To me they looked like some devilish parody -of the rich vineyards I had seen only recently terracing -the hills of southern France.</p> - -<p>A little farther on the fields were lined and crossed -not only with barbed wire but with trenches, neatly -dug and lined with a basketwork of willow withes. -These trenches so far behind the lines amazed me. -“Surely the Germans could not get as far as this,” -I protested.</p> - -<p>“Probably not,” said the officer who was our escort, -“but we are not taking any chances. Suppose -our men were forced to retreat fighting. Well, here -are rear defenses all ready for them.”</p> - -<p>My son being at that moment in Toul, waiting to -go forward, I conceived a positive affection for those -trenches, and the barbed wire entanglements began -suddenly to look benevolent.</p> - -<p>Our motor-car was no longer alone on the long -highroad leading northward. We traveled now in -company with many olive drab motor-trucks and ambulances, -all with U. S. A. and a string of identity -numbers painted in white letters on the sides. We -passed many mule teams, the melancholy mules wearing -around their necks the grotesque gas mask which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> -is a part of their harness over there. Groups of foot -soldiers, some French but mostly American, hailed us -as we passed. Others we saw alongside of the road -digging and draining. The road, built high above the -surrounding fields, was hard and dry, but the country -was a bog of mud and water.</p> - -<p>Our objective was a village, too small to deserve a -name on any but a war map. It is important because -it was the distributing point along this particular sector, -for American troops and army supplies. It is -about the last village up the line where one may safely -venture without a gas mask. The road leading to the -village, and the main street when we turned into it, -were choked with motor-trucks, cars, ambulances, -mules and men, thousands of men, in brown uniforms -and steel helmets.</p> - -<p>As we wormed our way through this maze of -heavy traffic, and as I stepped out of the car into -mud a foot deep, I had a remarkable mental experience. -My imagination suddenly switched back to a -warm November day in New York. I stood on a -corner of Fifth Avenue and watched, with half a million -others, a regiment of drafted men starting for -training camp on Long Island. New York was giving -the men a great farewell, bands, flags, cheers, and from -the marble balcony of the Union Club a reviewing -party of distinguished men, some of them veterans -of the Civil War.</p> - -<p>The marching men were a pretty weedy and ill-conditioned -lot, city bred, most of them, indoor workers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -looking less than their average of twenty-three -years. They struggled and panted under their burden -of suit-cases, canvas kit bags, bundles and other receptacles. -Their faces wore expressions of anxiety -and fatigue, and a few looked actually terror stricken. -In the crowds that lined the avenue were many women, -mothers, wives and sweethearts of the men, and their -suffering was often pitiful to see and to hear. Above -the blare of the bands their voices floated shrilly:</p> - -<p>“There he is—there’s Henry. Oh, my God!”</p> - -<p>“Abie! Ach mein sohn!”</p> - -<p>“Oh! Oh! Isn’t it too horrible? All those boys -going to their death!”</p> - -<p>What brought me that sudden acute vision of memory -was the complete contrast of the facts and what -those suffering women had foreseen as facts. Also -the astonishing contrast between the drafted recruit -and the soldier a few months’ work had created. Nowhere -in the United States had I ever seen anything -like the husky young lieutenants who were being introduced -to me, and a few minutes later were escorting -me through the mud to the cottage where I was -to have lunch. We ate in a stone-flagged kitchen furnished -with a table, some rough wooden chairs and -an old oak dresser that would have tempted a collector. -There was a huge fireplace, in the chimney of -which hung a dozen hams and bacons, and some garlickly -sausages, all smoking in the fire of poplar logs. -The walls were hung with highly colored pictures of -saints and martyrs.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>The food was good and there were mountains of -it. Beef stew, fried potatoes, beans, vegetables, bread -and butter, a pudding with raisins and a wine sauce, -cups and cups of hot coffee. Every one from the captain -down ate prodigiously, for it was the last sit-down-at-a-table -meal the men were going to enjoy -for at least two weeks. Their corps was starting for -the trenches within an hour.</p> - -<p>After lunch I hurried out to take a look at the -relieving party of soldiers, standing at ease on one -side of the narrow street. They were drafted men, -not regulars, and this was to be their first taste of -fighting, their baptism of fire, as men have termed it. -The far sound of guns that troubled the air was all -they knew of artillery. Two weeks from that hour -they would know more. They would be able to distinguish -between one gun and another, and to name -each one as it roared. They would have all the slang -names, the Minnie Wurfer, the Dolly Sisters, that explode -more than once as they fly, the typewriters, as -they call machine guns. Now they knew only a distant -growl, menacing, warning, inviting. Were they -ready, our men?</p> - -<p>Physically they were ready. You could see that. -Men who six or eight months ago would have sent -for an express wagon to carry more than a suit-case, -stood up there in the icy mud straight and clean and -hard as nails. Their chests filled their coats to the -bulging point, and on their backs they carried without -strain or effort between sixty and seventy pounds of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> -equipment. Each man carried, besides his gun and -ammunition, half a tent, a haversack of clothing, a -mess kit, a trench tool, a gas mask, a bayonet, a knapsack -of food, a water bottle, an extra pair of heavy, -hob-nailed boots, and a few other miscellaneous articles -of his own choosing.</p> - -<p>“The blankets and really heavy things go on the -trucks,” explained one of the lieutenants. “The men -carry with them no more than they would absolutely -have to have in case they were taken prisoner, extra -clothing and personal effects, I mean. A man who -falls into the hands of the Germans needs extra shirts, -socks and boots. You bet, Fritz hasn’t any to spare.”</p> - -<p>Then I saw that the men of our army were ready -indeed. At this frank suggestion of possible capture -by a cruel foe did they shudder and turn pale? They -did not. They grinned and wagged their absurd tin -hats and said: “You betcha,” and “You said it.” -They were as unconcerned as though they were waiting -for a subway train instead of army trucks headed -for the trenches. Months of training, outdoor living, -regular habits, obedience to orders, devotion to an idea, -have worked this physical and spiritual miracle with -our draft army. The men are as strong as the Rooseveltian -bull moose. They are hardened to mud and -cold and wildest weather, and their nerves are as steady -as an old clock.</p> - -<p>Nearly four years ago the splendid armies of Belgium -and France rushed into the fray, the magnificent -volunteer army of Great Britain joining them in swift<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> -order. But none of those armies were quite like ours. -Those men went out, without adequate training, in a -passion of patriotism, in a glory of rage and pain. -Their hearts were blazing, their brains on fire. They -knew that they must die if their countries were to live. -The American soldiers are fired by no such strong -emotion. The men I saw in France, on their way to -the trenches, were like men going to work. There -was a fight ahead of them, and a possibility of wounds -and death. Well, that was their job, like mining, or -bridge building, or turning virgin soil to make a home. -They faced it calmly and conscientiously, and while -they waited they made casual conversation with the -last woman they would see for weeks, the last woman -some of them would ever see.</p> - -<p>“I seen you down at Aix-lay-Beans a while back, -didn’t I?” remarked a tall Texan, holding out a big -hand for me to clasp. “Ain’t that some town? Before -that I used to think this here France was nothing but -a mud-hole. What do they want to fight for such a -country, I used to say. Let the Dutchies have it, I -said, and let they-all move to Texas.”</p> - -<p>“Yeah,” agreed a black-eyed, husky young Hebrew -from the east side of New York. “I used to think -like that. It cost a lot of money to go to Aix, but -it was worth it every cent. Who wouldn’t fight to -keep those mountains and those grape fields running -up them like a regular park?”</p> - -<p>A young man with a Georgia address stenciled -on his knapsack asked me where I came from, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -when I told him he said that I certainly looked like a -southerner. Anyhow I favored a young lady in Atlanta -to whom he was very partial. He hadn’t seen -Aix-les-Bains, but give him Atlanta for a sure enough -city. He was going to live there after the war.</p> - -<p>All of them expected to live through the war. -Not one of them was murmuring prayers, not one -charged me with any farewell messages. A young chap -who said that he belonged to the 1919 class of Chicago -University urged me quite earnestly not to leave the -village without sampling the doughnuts fried fresh -every day by the girls in the Salvation Army hut directly -back of us. “They fry nearly fifteen hundred -every day,” he told me, “and not a doughnut lasts -long enough to get cold.”</p> - -<p>“How do you feel about going out to kill your first -Germans?” I asked curiously.</p> - -<p>They were not going to let me know how delighted -they were to get into “the show” at last. They put -on a magnificent air of indifference. “Got to begin -sometime,” said one, “might as well begin now.” “If -we don’t hustle some the French and English will finish -the war without us,” said another. “Then how’d -we feel?” The eagerest reply I got was from a strong-armed -youth from Wyoming. “That’s what we’re -here for, ain’t we?” he exclaimed. “We’re here to kill -Germans, and I say, for the love of Mike, cut out some -of the drill and let us fight.” I wish I could reproduce -the way he spoke that last word, fight.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you kind of dread the cold and wet of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> -trenches?” I asked, banteringly. The men laughed, -they roared. “Say, lady,” called one man, “the -trenches haven’t got a darn thing on the barns we’ve -been sleeping in since last October.” They laughed -again and the mirth spread to the juvenile population -of the village which, practically intact, hung fondly -around chewing American gum. “Good night,” -shrilled the children. It is the only English expression -the French juvenile has acquired, and he uses it on -all occasions.</p> - -<p>It was Sunday afternoon and across the narrow -street the bells of the village church began to ring for -vespers. The curé, a tall, fine French priest, came -striding down the street, the skirts of his soutaine held -high out of the mud. With his free hand he swept -off his hat to the soldiers, calling <i>au revoirs</i> as he -passed. At the same time he rounded up as many of -the gum-chewing youngsters as he could, shooing them -ahead of him into the darkness of the old church.</p> - -<p>The bell ceased its impatient clamor, and as if the -bell had been a tocsin, the village street became the -scene of sudden, intense activity. Orders were roared -out and were repeated down the long line. The men -sprang to attention, moving like some dynamic piece -of machinery. Trucks began to wind and move noisily -toward the highway. Whips cracked, mules -brayed, sirens sounded, and before I fairly realized -what had happened the men were on the march.</p> - -<p>Snow was falling, first lightly, then in a dense -cloud. I watched the soldiers disappear quickly as in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -a thick mist. Soon even the chug of their feet tramping -through the mud was lost. The village street -was empty save of mire and falling snow. And in my -heart was so much bursting pride that there was no -more room for any meaner emotions of pity or of -fear.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIII<br /> - -<small>WRITE TO HIM OFTEN—BUT</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">One</span> morning, in a big American camp in France, -I witnessed the arrival of a long-delayed batch of mail -from home. No words of mine can describe how joyfully -it was received. Officers and men alike were -children in their happiness. They sang and shouted -while the letters and parcels were being distributed, -and afterward a deep silence fell on the camp while -the letters were being read.</p> - -<p>Alas for those who received no letters that day. -My heart ached for them, and I want to urge, as part -of the patriotic duty of every citizen, that as far as -possible no soldier is neglected in this respect. Every -man and woman with a relative or friend in the army, -and this will soon mean practically every citizen of -the United States, ought to write frequently to their -soldiers.</p> - -<p>If you haven’t time to write long letters, write -short ones. If you haven’t time for short letters, write -postcards. But write something.</p> - -<p>As soon as the men go to training camp begin to -write to them. Nearly every soldier has a period of -bewilderment and homesickness, and this usually occurs -early in his military career. Young, so young,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -most of our splendid soldiers, many of whom when -they are drafted leave home for the first time in their -lives. It does not do to risk breaking the home ties -altogether.</p> - -<p>One of the things that burden the hearts of our -English allies is the fear that this may have happened -in the case of a great many of the brave Australian -and New Zealand soldiers. They are incredibly remote -from their homes. It takes letters three months to -cross the immense waste of waters that lie between -those south Pacific islands and the French battle-fields. -Three months for a mother to answer a question asked -her by her son. Six months for an exchange of words -between a husband and wife.</p> - -<p>Thousands of the Anzacs have been away from -home, been separated from their families for three -years. When they have leave of absence they go to -England, and clubs and canteens have been opened for -them in London and elsewhere. But their home ties -are never knit. The English fear that in many, many -cases they will never knit again.</p> - -<p>We do not want that to happen to our soldiers -and the best, indeed the only way to prevent it, is to -write letters, frequent letters, and the right kind of -letters.</p> - -<p>I watched those soldiers in our camp overseas -reading their letters from home. They did not read -them just once and then fold them up and put them in -their pockets. Every letter was read a dozen times -over, until the words were learned by heart. That is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> -why it is so important that the right kind of letters -be written.</p> - -<p>Don’t write, “The interest on the mortgage is due -again next week and I’m sure I don’t know where the -money is coming from.” Don’t tell your boys that you -have had a bad spell of neuralgia and can hardly see -to write. Don’t tell him that Jennie is doing badly in -school and shows a sulky temper. Those are your -worries, not his. He has responsibilities ahead of him, -and possibly troubles and suffering immeasurably bigger -than anything you face.</p> - -<p>Above all, never deplore the fact that he is in the -war, and never tell him that you are praying for an -early peace. No American soldier whose mind has -been enlightened to the true state of affairs in this -war wants an early peace. He knows that an early -peace would be a dangerous, a fatal, peace, one pleasing -only to the Germans and their starving and enslaved -allies.</p> - -<p>In all the neutral countries, but even more in the -allied countries, German propaganda is working overtime -to bring about an early peace. German agents -are everywhere trying to undermine the morale of the -allied people, especially the women, and through them -the soldiers. How they get into France is a mystery, -but they get there, and they often remain undetected -for a long time.</p> - -<p>I remember visiting in the home of a simple bourgeois -French family where the one remaining soldier -son was home on leave. Three sons of that family<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> -had given up their lives for France, one at the Marne, -one at Verdun, and one in the first battle of the Somme. -The one remaining son was in a dangerous service, -and perhaps one can hardly blame his mother and -sisters for listening to any suggestion of a possible -peace.</p> - -<p>They had heard, one of the sisters said, as we sat -at tea, without cream or cakes, or even bread, that -France and Austria were about to sign a separate -peace. They hoped the news was true, because then -Italy would make peace, and the allies would only -have to fight the Germans in France and Flanders.</p> - -<p>“Never, my dear sister,” said the resolute young -French soldier, “listen to any talk of that kind. -Never repeat it, especially in the hearing of a soldier. -We have our work to do, and you must help us, not -weaken us. There is only one kind of peace we want, -and that is the peace that will come when Germany -is conquered.”</p> - -<p>He got up from his seat and left the room, returning -soon with a poster, one of the many beautiful -and striking war posters the French have produced. -This one showed a terrible procession of old men, -women and children being driven from their homes by -the advance of German troops. The Germans were -striking the helpless people with the flat of their swords -and laughing brutally at their sufferings.</p> - -<p>“This is no fiction,” said the French soldier to me. -“This is fact. And this is what would happen again -in a few years if we made peace too soon. Why not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> -end it for all time now? We men are ready to give -our lives. We embrace the earth when we fall, for the -sacrifice of a few lives now is nothing to the horrors -that are in store for our children to come, unless we -win, really win, this war.”</p> - -<p>I said: “I will tell the American people what you -have said, and what I know to be true, for I have seen -something of this war, and I know what might happen -in my country unless we win a complete victory.”</p> - -<p>Because I am particularly concerned lest our -women unwittingly weaken the least bit the morale -and the fighting spirit of our soldiers, I am going to -tell them what I have seen.</p> - -<p>My only son, I have said before, is a soldier. He -is at the front. Yet, after what I have seen of this -war, I would never speak of peace to him. I don’t -want him to think of peace. I want him to think of -fighting.</p> - -<p>Since this war began, nearly two million people, -not fighters, but women and children and men too old -and infirm to fight, have been driven in wretchedness -from their homes. This in France alone.</p> - -<p>We know what happened in Belgium, in Serbia, in -Roumania and Poland. Armenia? Words fail in describing -what happened there. I have seen only -France, and I can speak only of France. Two million -French people have fled before fire and sword.</p> - -<p>But that isn’t anything very terrible, by comparison. -To lose your home and everything you possess is a -bearable thing—by comparison. On a Sunday soon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -after the great spring battle began I spent the day -in a railroad station at a junction where hundreds of -trains rushed ceaselessly to the north bearing soldiers -and munitions, and to the south with wounded men, -refugees and broken guns and airplanes. Many refugees -were fed and comforted by the French Red Cross -at the station that day.</p> - -<p>It was my privilege to help a little those noble -French women. I filled hundreds of cups with coffee, -strong and hot, and I helped to feed the exhausted -who could not even stand up at the counter where -coffee and sandwiches were served. We literally fed -them, holding the food to their lips.</p> - -<p>There was one old woman—perhaps she was not -really old, but her sufferings had emaciated her and -seamed her face with wrinkles—who was my special -care for an hour. She had to be given brandy before -she could sit up, and she had to be fed hot milk from -a spoon, like a baby. She was almost dead. Another -woman, her neighbor in the ruined and violated village -that once was their home, told me in quick whispers -that old woman’s story.</p> - -<p>When the Germans invaded France in August, -1914, this woman lived in a small town directly in the -path of the Wurtemburg army that swept in from -Lorraine. Her husband kept a small shop where tobacco -and fruit and such like were sold. They had a -home and three children—Cécile, sixteen; Georges, -twelve, and Marcel, six. They were quiet people, like -all the other villagers, and the mobilizing of their men<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> -when war came was the first great and terrifying event -in their lives. This woman’s husband had a club foot -and could not be mobilized. She had no son old enough -to fight, so she was counted lucky.</p> - -<p>Then the Germans came. They swarmed in early -one morning and the horrified villagers at once began -to see war in its most frightful guise. Soldiers broke -into the home of the club-footed man and demanded -tobacco. He led the way to his little shop and told -them to help themselves. They did, and when they -had filled their pockets and their haversacks they shot -the lame man through the heart. Meantime, with torch -and grenade, other soldiers were setting fire to the village. -They burned the dead tobacconist’s home, and -when the wife rushed from the house with her youngest -child in her arms they shot the child. He screamed -“Mother!” just once, and died.</p> - -<p>She and her two remaining children fled, but -Cécile, the sixteen-year-old daughter, did not get very -far. She was seized by a German officer, and it was -a year before her mother saw her again. When those -two met again the girl was a skeleton, and she bore -in her arms a skeleton baby. It was a girl. Otherwise -they would not have permitted her to take it back to -France.</p> - -<p>The reunited family made their way to a relative -in a village near Peronne. When the Germans swept -over that district in 1916 they fled again, and in the -flight Cécile, never strong after her experience in Germany, -died. Soon afterward the baby died. Georges,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -now a sturdy boy of fourteen, was all that was left. -After the Germans retreated last November they went -back to their village near Peronne, and the boy worked -for their support—until March twenty-first, this year. -Then they fled again, and here she was—alone.</p> - -<p>“Where is Georges?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Do not speak so loud, madame,” implored the -neighbor. “The poor one can not be told just yet, -but Georges was killed by a shell that burst near the -station when we got on the train. Not all of us could -get on that train. She thinks that Georges was left -behind and that he will come to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>I could write stories like that to fill a book. Indeed, -it has been done, officially done, by the French government, -and every story was carefully authenticated before -it was published. I tell this story because it was -told to me while I was feeding the wretched victim.</p> - -<p>I speak only of what I know, and I know that this -woman, one of thousands, is just a type, an example, of -what has happened, what is happening to-day, but what -must never happen again. The only way to prevent it -happening again, perhaps to our American women, -is to put out of the world the thing Germany stands -for and which she is fighting desperately to keep alive -and powerful.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIV<br /> - -<small>WHEN THEY WIN WOUND STRIPES</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Somewhere</span> in France the soldier son for whom -I wear my service pin lies wounded. A few hours -before I sat down to write these words I heard the -news, and almost as soon as the first shock had passed -I thought to myself how much worse I should feel -did I not know what wonderful things were being done -for him at that hour. I said, I must hurry, hurry, -and tell all the women I can reach, other women whose -sons have been wounded, some of the reasons why I -can think about my soldier with a heart full of quiet -confidence.</p> - -<p>My Julian was one of the splendid regiments of -young untried American soldiers who on May twenty-eighth -stormed their way into the village of Cantigny, -and who, in spite of repeated German counter-attacks, -have held that part of the line like a stone wall ever -since.</p> - -<p>It was only a minor engagement, to be sure, but it -was so gallantly fought that it gained the highest admiration -of the French and British commanders. It -showed the civilized world what was going to happen -when the American army got over in full force. I am<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> -proud to have had a son in that glorious fight at -Cantigny.</p> - -<p>He went over the top with his comrades into the -face of a murderous machine-gun fire. He must have -been in the front ranks, for he was among the first to -fall. “I tried to keep on going,” he told the New -York <i>World</i> correspondent who saw him in the -hospital, “but it was no use. I had to flop.”</p> - -<p>Two hours he lay helpless in No Man’s Land, -shells bursting near him, and with the prospect of being -bayoneted if the Germans were allowed to regain that -ground. I don’t let myself think about those two hours. -I know, all too well, what they must have been like. -I won’t think about the pain of the wounded leg, nor -the burning sun, the tormenting thirst, the anxiety -and impatience before the stretcher bearers came. -The wounded, thank God, soon forget all these, and -so must we at home.</p> - -<p>I had not heard directly from my son since the beginning -of this great second battle of the Somme. I -was very near his division for a time, and was never -much farther away than Paris until I sailed for home, -but no letters came through. I was like hundreds of -thousands of other women here in America in not -knowing whether my soldier was in action or out of -danger in the rear.</p> - -<p>Now that I know I am glad, for I sympathized -with his intense desire to have a first-hand share in this -war of liberation. When we entered the war my son -was too young for the draft, and in fact he would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -only this spring have been called upon to register. -Knowing that he might have to wait a year and a half -before going over, he enlisted in the old army and -went to France in one of the earliest units. He had -to take service in a working contingent, and like all -those valuable but usually non-combatant soldiers he -feared that he would never be given a chance to fight. -I am very grateful that they gave him his chance, and -so soon. I have seen something of the work of the -unspeakable Hun. Since then I have never been sorry -for our fighting men. The only men I am sorry for -are those who live in these times and never have a -chance to join the allied armies.</p> - -<p>I am thankful that my son lived through his first -battle, and I am especially relieved to hear that he went -to an American hospital. I have visited many of those -hospitals in France, and I am going to devote this -chapter to telling other women who have wounded -men over there how our soldiers are cared for when -German gun-fire strikes them down. I can not think -of anything else to-day, nor write of anything else.</p> - -<p>The wounded are picked up as quickly as possible, -the stretcher bearers and ambulance men working -bravely under fire, and often in great danger. All -musicians, military bandsmen, are stretcher bearers, -and the same service is part of the work of the medical -corps. They bring the wounded to what are called -advance dressing stations or regimental aid posts, directly -behind the lines. These stations indeed are in -the trenches, and the doctors work to the noise of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> -bursting shells and exploding shrapnel. In these trench -dressing stations minor wounds are dressed, and first -aid is given to the seriously injured.</p> - -<p>One very important thing is done in the first aid -posts. Every wounded man is inoculated against tetanus. -Lockjaw—that most horrible of all wound complications—is -now practically a thing of the past. Our -hospitals will possibly never see a case, because our -surgeons take immediate precautions against it.</p> - -<p>In these advanced aid posts they also take precautions -against wound shock, the mysterious cause of -many deaths in this war. One of the first symptoms -of wound shock is cold and the surgeons and dressers -have hot, sweet tea on hand and many blankets. Patients -are given cups of hot tea as soon as they come -in, and if the weather is cold they are wrapped up -like Eskimos before they are sent on.</p> - -<p>About wounded men in general, I want to say that -the great majority are only slightly injured. They are -all conscientiously treated, even small scratches being -dressed carefully, because every wound is an infected -wound and if neglected might cause death. But -most of the casualties are able to walk back to their -next base, the field or evacuation hospital. Those who -are seriously wounded are transported in ambulances.</p> - -<p>The field hospital is located near the battle line, -but out of range of the guns. They are near enough, -however, to be vulnerable to the gentlemanly boches, -who make a specialty of dropping aerial bombs on -wounded soldiers and women nurses. We have had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> -tendered us by the French government a number of -fine buildings in various towns of northern France, in -which we have established our field hospitals. In these -operations are performed, and very sick men are kept -for treatment.</p> - -<p>Because of their nearness to the danger line many -field hospitals have no women nurses at all. The work -of caring for the wounded is done by enlisted men -of the medical corps under the direction of ward masters, -non-commissioned officers as a general rule. -Army surgeons, of course, are in command, and the -men receive good care.</p> - -<p>Possibly because of the absence of women these -field hospitals are apt to be rather bare and unattractive -places. Men have complained to me that they had -nothing to read. Some said they thought there ought -to be a few posters or pictures on the wall. To lie all -day staring at a blank expanse of whitewash gets on -the nerves of the sensitive. This is, however, a temporary -condition. The Library War Service of the -American Library Association is now working in -France, and every hospital will soon be well supplied -with books.</p> - -<p>After the evacuation hospital comes the base hospital. -Only those cases which promise quick recovery -are kept very long near the front. As the war continues -those beds will be needed for the freshly -wounded, and the chances are that our men wounded -in this battle will soon be sent, in fine hospital trains, -to the vicinity of Paris, or towns farther south.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>I visited an emergency base hospital established -and maintained by Johns Hopkins Hospital, and I -should be very well satisfied to hear that my son was -being cared for there. This hospital is situated in a -pleasant wooded spot not many miles from the ancient -town which is our general headquarters. It has a main -building of brick, an old French country house, but -most of the hospital wards are in temporary wooden -buildings.</p> - -<p>Johns Hopkins itself, with its millions of dollars invested -in buildings, has no better equipment than this -temporary base hospital in France. It has no better -doctors or nurses, and as for its head nurse it has -the best head nurse Johns Hopkins ever produced, -Miss Bessie Baker.</p> - -<p>I know other hospitals, one in a medieval town -in central France, several in a pleasant suburb of Paris, -and one, perhaps the most picturesque of all, in southern -France a few miles from the large seaport which -admits many of our ships weekly. This hospital is -housed in an old French château that in its garden -plan reminded me a little of the White House in -Washington. The front garden is small and formal, -with a wonderful hedge of white and red camellias. -But back of the château the large garden slopes in a -series of blossoming terraces down to a great river -which flows into the sea a few miles beyond. I can not -think of a lovelier or more restful place in which to -spend a convalescence.</p> - -<p>The quality of nursing in our hospitals overseas is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -so high that it has excited the admiration of the French -and British soldiers. They beg to be sent to “the -American hospital.” I have heard French officers say -that they would be glad to have the entire hospital system -in France turned over to the control of the Americans.</p> - -<p>The fact is that we have worked out a far gentler -system of caring for the wounded, for changing dressings -and the like, than any other nation. The British -are scientific but Spartan. The French have had few -trained nurses until this war. Our nurses are the best -in the world.</p> - -<p>I shall not fret about my wounded soldier, and I -hope other women will make up their minds to bear -ordinary bad news from over there with calmness and -courage. We can not possibly escape suffering and -pain. It is in the world for us to bear, and until the -war is won women all over the world must live in a -sisterhood of sorrow and anxiety.</p> - -<p>When the word comes, “He is wounded,” just remember -that he is also being taken care of by the -most tender and humane means any government in the -world ever devised for its soldiers. Even if the dreadful -message comes, “Wounded and missing,” do not -despair. Even that is being looked after by a large -department of the Red Cross. Every missing soldier -is traced, and if he is found to be a prisoner his needs -are provided for—medicine, food, clothing, letters—the -Red Cross sees that he gets them promptly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>Besides all its work of relief for sick and wounded -soldiers, the Red Cross has a department of medical -research which has performed wonders in preventive -medicine, and it is still at work, brilliantly and tirelessly, -to find ways of fighting pain and death.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XV<br /> - -<small>FIGHTING WOUND SHOCK</small></h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p class="right">“Base Hospital No. ——     <br /> -“Amex Force, France</p> - -<p>“Dear Mother,</p> - -<p>“You ought to see your soldier son now! He -looks about as military as a smoked ham, and feels -like—but my well-known delicacy halts me. Never -mind, I’m all here—barring a few pieces of bone that -don’t matter, and I have gained the honor of having -been in the first wave of the first Americans to go over -the top at Cantigny.</p> - -<p>“Incidentally I have the bullet that hit me, and one -boche helmet. I would have got more but my trip was -short and sweet—some six hundred yards at most -before some unmannerly person slammed me over the -knee with a battle-ship, and I sat down to think it over. -It struck me suddenly that there was very little of interest -to be seen, and it would be a waste of time to -go any further.</p> - -<p>“From there to where I am now has been a series -of more or less painful transfers through first aid -posts, dressing stations and French hospitals, with a -Red Cross train and a ninety kilometer ride in an -ambulance. I don’t think you have ever known the -joy of a ninety K. ride on the upper deck of a pitching<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> -ambulance. It’s an experience. I appreciated the -sensations of a pup with a tin can tied to his tail.</p> - -<p>“But all that is over and I’m settled at last, so far -behind the lines that the street lights of the town -aren’t shaded at all. You must not worry, Mother -dear, for I’ll be as good as new in three months, and -while broken legs are not the sort of thing you go -around hunting for, they aren’t half as bad as a tooth -ache, and mine is a particularly well trained one and -doesn’t hurt at all.”</p> -</div> - -<p>By the time the news reaches us here in America -that one of our beloved has been wounded in France -the worst is usually over and the patient is often out -of danger. It takes several days for such news to -reach Washington and be telegraphed to soldiers’ relatives, -and if no second telegram comes closely on the -first we may be truly thankful.</p> - -<p>My son was wounded on the twenty-eighth of May, -and it was nearly a month before I heard from him. -If this had happened a year ago I should have been -paralyzed with fear, not because of the wound, but -because of dread of the after effects. One enormous -advantage we have over our splendid allies is that we -not only benefit from their experience in battle, but -from their experience in the hospital. Wounds which -for the first three years of the war were impossible to -cure are now in the class called favorable.</p> - -<p>It is this knowledge that helps to keep me in courage, -and I hope it will help all the others. We are too<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -far away to realize the war, but we know that our -sons are in deadly peril from German shot and shell.</p> - -<p>There has not been enough said about the magnificent -work of the army surgeons in restoring men. -One of their greatest achievements was the conquest -of trench fever. In another chapter I shall tell that -story. In this one I shall tell of the great fight they -have made—a fight almost if not quite won—against -a still more terrible malady, wound shock.</p> - -<p>Shock has been called the great mystery of the -war. It followed severe wounds, especially those of -the abdomen and chest, but frequently it occurred in -men only slightly wounded. And it was horribly fatal.</p> - -<p>Here was a case: A splendid young man of -twenty-three was brought into an advanced dressing -station with a foot shot off. Not a fatal wound in ordinary -circumstances. But this man who, an hour ago, -had been in perfect health, now lay white as marble, -cold and almost pulseless. The wounded stump did -not even bleed. In a short time he was dead. He was -shocked to death.</p> - -<p>The best physicians in the world have been working -for nearly four years to find out why he, and -others, died like that. They were completely baffled -at first, but they kept steadily on. They worked in -front-line trenches and even on the battle-field trying -to understand wound shock.</p> - -<p>They undertook extensive and intensive laboratory -work to discover the blood changes that took place in -men suffering from the strange malady. To a great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -extent their work has been successful, and the work -is triumphantly going on.</p> - -<p>The medical research department of the American -Red Cross is now conducting a series of experiments, -and it might as well be admitted at the outset that -these experiments, which are to save men’s lives in -untold numbers, involve destroying some animal life. -For this reason the anti-vivisectionists, and that small -section of the press which supports their views, are -at the present time hotly assailing the research department -of the Red Cross.</p> - -<p>Says one statement of the opposition: “No expensively -equipped laboratory is needed to seek out -wounded soldiers on the battle-fields and give them aid -and comfort in the hospitals; and it will cause deep -sorrow among innumerable contributors to know that -the Red Cross is going beyond the activities of its -charter rights and is supporting a cruel and disputed -form of medical experimentation.”</p> - -<p>Putting aside for the moment all except the first -sentence of this statement, “No expensively equipped -laboratory is needed to seek out wounded soldiers on -the battle-fields and give them aid and comfort in the -hospitals,” the answer is that without the laboratory -the hospitals would be back in the days when gunshot -wounds were treated by having hot oil poured into -them, and when the only way of dealing with shattered -limbs was amputation.</p> - -<p>This war, particularly, has developed maladies and -wound complications undreamed of before. Shock is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> -not exactly new. In civilian hospitals it occurs after -every operation. But the wound shock of this war is -new, and the doctors had to study it as a new manifestation.</p> - -<p>Out of many cases take the following: A soldier -member of a working party, laying telephone wires -one wet and muddy night, was hit by the explosion -of a shell. He was severely wounded, suffering a -compound fracture of one arm and some bad muscle -lacerations. His comrades picked him up and hurried -him to the nearest dressing station, but by the time he -got there his wounds looked like dead flesh. There -was no bleeding and the man’s pulse was still.</p> - -<p>He was conscious and mentally bright. “Hello, -fellows,” he called out to those who worked over him, -and to the surgeon he said confidently: “I’ve got a -blighty, haven’t I?” Meaning a rest in a home hospital.</p> - -<p>Even the surgeon thought so. The case was bad -but the man seemed so fit. Yet within an hour he -was dead.</p> - -<p>There was a sergeant, a hardworking, conscientious -man, loved by his fellows. A piece of shell got -him as he lay asleep at the foot of a dugout. Both -feet were shattered. Within ten minutes the surgeons -had the man on the operating table, but he was another -case of shock. He died while they were working -over him.</p> - -<p>Shock has other ways of showing itself. A soldier, -very badly wounded in the chest and abdomen, was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> -treated in the advanced dressing station, and as he -appeared to be normal in every way he was wrapped -up and sent in an ambulance to the evacuation hospital. -Within a few hours after he arrived, and when he -was sleeping quietly, symptoms of shock appeared.</p> - -<p>He sat up in bed struggling and tearing at the -bandages which covered his chest. “Air!” he gasped. -“I must have air! I can not breathe.”</p> - -<p>Nurses and doctors surrounded the poor man, trying -to alleviate his intense agony. But they knew -that this “air hunger,” as it is called, was almost certainly -a sign of rapidly approaching death.</p> - -<p>The doctors had to find out what caused the conditions. -They could not tell by simply observing the -shocked men. Too many of them died before much observation -could be made.</p> - -<p>It did not help the doctors to observe that the blood -pressure of such patients went down and that most -of the blood in their bodies seemed to disappear. -Where did it disappear? Nobody knew. The men’s -pulses stopped, their wounds ceased to bleed. Why? -Why did they suffer this awful air hunger? What relation -had the low blood pressure to the breathing -capacity?</p> - -<p>There was one way and one only for them to find -out. They had to anesthetize a great many guinea -pigs, rabbits and other small animals and subject them -while unconscious, to conditions as nearly as possible -identical with those under which the men had developed -wound shock. Perhaps in future they will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -find another way. At present that is the only way -we have. Following experimentation they examined -every organ of the wounded animals, analyzed their -blood, minutely studied them, with the result that they -know, if not all about wound shock, at least something. -They know a great deal about the causes and they are -on the track of the cure.</p> - -<p>They know, for example, that tremendous changes -take place in the system following a battle. The men -go into action with their hearts beating abnormally -hard and high. They are in a state of intense excitement. -When they are wounded there occurs a sharp -reaction, both mental and physical, partly because of -the wound, partly because of bad conditions which -often precede going over the top.</p> - -<p>Our men behind the line, even when they are exposed -to occasional shell fire, lead almost normal lives. -They eat and sleep and keep fairly comfortable, even in -bad weather. But in the front trenches, it must be admitted, -only the sublime courage and devotion of the -men enable them to endure their surroundings with -cheerful fortitude.</p> - -<p>They have good food in the front trenches, the -men have told me. But they are sometimes short of -water. They sleep in constantly interrupted snatches. -They are wet to the skin and sometimes very cold. -They work hard, and are tormented with the noise, the -blasting of bullets, the shriek of shells. Often -when they go over the top they are tired as dogs,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> -their circulation is sluggish with cold, their bodies -are full of waste products.</p> - -<p>The mad excitement of battle is followed by the -shock of a wound. Icy cold grips them. Their pulses -stop. They have wound shock. The doctors now know -all this. They have devised, even in the advanced -dressing stations, means of keeping wounded men -warm in heated blankets over alcohol stoves. The hot -tea they give the wounded now contains medicine to -counteract the intense acidity of the blood which experiments -on animals revealed as a part of shock.</p> - -<p>Now, when a poor shocked wounded man struggles -with air hunger, the doctors can do something for him. -A single injection works a miracle. The struggle -ceases immediately. In a few minutes he is asleep. In -a few hours he is smoking a cigarette and joking with -the man in the next bed. Thousands of lives, perhaps -those of your son and my son, have been saved -already, because the doctors now know what to do -to prevent most wound shocks, and to cure the favorable -cases.</p> - -<p>Another thing that has killed thousands in this -war is an infection called gas gangrene. It is unlike -any other gangrene known to the medical world. It -is caused by bacteria bred in the mud and filth of -the trenches, and by foreign bodies, bits of cloth and -the like which contaminate wounds.</p> - -<p>But the gangrene does not always confine itself to -the wound. A man wounded in the shoulder may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> -first show gangrene in the wound in his arm. A few -days later the gangrene may appear in his legs, and -he dies. The blood is not contaminated; that has been -proved. The gangrene just mysteriously moves -around.</p> - -<p>The army physicians have got to find out all about -this frightful condition, and how to combat it. They -can do it only in a laboratory and through animal -experimentation. Why should we sentimentalize about -it? The animals die, but they suffer little, if at all. -Our men suffer most horribly, and all too often they -die.</p> - -<p>Remember also that when we send our soldiers -out into the hell of battle, artillery fire, machine guns, -bombs, shrapnel, liquid fire, poison gas, and all the -other hideous inventions of German science, we are -subjecting them to vivisection of the worst possible -kind.</p> - -<p>They throw their bodies between the murderous -Huns and the rest of the world. Would you save a -few thousand or a few million guinea pigs at the expense -of the ghastly suffering and death of one of -those men? I would not.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVI<br /> - -<small>HOW THE WAR AGAINST TRENCH FEVER WAS WON</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">One</span> day last January four companies of so-called -non-combatant soldiers of the American army -in France were lined up to listen to an address from -their officers. The men were members of the field -hospital and ambulance service. Their officers were -army physicians. Working with them were other eminent -physicians, members of the medical research -department of the American Red Cross. This, or -something like it, is what these physicians said to the -soldiers:</p> - -<p>“Men, we have set ourselves to find out the cause -and cure of one of the worst diseases the allied armies -have to suffer. It is called trench fever. It is not -a fatal disease, but it is slow and painful, and it is so -common as to be almost an epidemic. Its ravages are -so great that it actually hampers the allies in their -struggle to win the war. Something like five hundred -thousand men a year are temporarily pulled out of -armies because of trench fever.</p> - -<p>“The men have to leave the fighting line, go to -hospitals and lie there suffering and helpless for weeks -on end. One fever does not give positive immunity -from others, and it is a fact that many men have recurrent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> -attacks. Trench fever is worst in Flanders, -where the British hold the front, but the French, Belgian -and Serbian soldiers also suffer from it. When -the American army gets here in great numbers we -shall undoubtedly see thousands and thousands of our -soldiers go under from this disease. Before our men -come we want to know what the cause of trench fever -is, and how to prevent it.</p> - -<p>“We believe that the disease is carried by body lice, -but we are not sure. We have tried experiments on -animals, guinea pigs and monkeys, but they have not -developed the fever. Now we have got to try more -experiments, this time on human beings. You remember -that the cause of yellow fever was discovered only -after brave and devoted men allowed themselves to -be bitten by the stegomya mosquito, which was believed -to carry the disease. Some of those men died -and others were brought to the verge of death. But -their deed banished the scourge of yellow fever from -the world. Now we are asking for volunteers to help -us banish trench fever.</p> - -<p>“Men, what we are asking you to do is no easy or -agreeable thing. We are asking you to risk a lingering, -painful and weakening illness, one that will keep -you in bed for five or six weeks and often make you -wish you were dead and out of it.</p> - -<p>“You will not die, but you will suffer. You will -have horrible headaches, pains in your backs, shoulders, -knees, abdomens. This disease has been mistaken -for appendicitis. It has often been called shinbone<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -fever. This will give you some idea of what -trench fever feels like.</p> - -<p>“But we are calling for volunteers because we want -to prevent any more soldiers from having trench -fever. We want to know what causes it, so that we -can find out how to prevent it. Fifty or sixty men, -willing to suffer these pains once, may prevent millions -of men ever again from suffering the same pains. -They will do more, they will keep those men in the -fighting lines instead of the hospitals, and hence they -will importantly help to win the war. We want sixty -volunteers. How many have we?”</p> - -<p>Four entire companies of field hospital and ambulance -soldiers of a certain American division in France -were thus appealed to. The entire four companies, -as one man, stepped forward and volunteered. Of -course they did. That is the kind of soldiers we raised -our boys to be.</p> - -<p>I saw and talked to some of these men when they -were recovering in a hospital near Paris. They were -a fine-looking lot of men, American born, all of them, -and all but one hailing from the New England states. -It just happened so. The division was drafted in the -Atlantic states, and these men were selected, regardless -of their previous residence, simply because among five -or six hundred perfectly fit men they stood out as being -in the absolute pink of health and strength.</p> - -<p>“We thought,” said one of these volunteers to me, -“that we were going to be sent up to a front-line -trench and sleep in the mud with the cooties till we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -got it. But to our surprise, they took us up to a perfectly -good hospital back of the British lines. Nice -clean tents, good beds, and food—um-m! Everything -we could ask for.”</p> - -<p>Even the cooties were clean, in a manner of -speaking, for the doctors were taking no chances with -their experiment. They sent the eggs of those unpleasant -beasts to England, where no trench fever has -ever appeared, and when the eggs hatched out they -put the beasts on trench fever patients. Then they -put them on the volunteers.</p> - -<p>About fifty or sixty of the loathsome insects were -put on a square of cotton cloth and bound to the forearm -of a soldier with strips of adhesive plaster. A -piece of surgical cotton over the cloth was well bandaged -on, and over the whole dressing a stronger cotton -cuff was securely fastened with more adhesive plaster. -No possible chance for the insects to escape remained.</p> - -<p>Thirty-five soldiers were thus inoculated with -trench fever. The rest were reserved for blood inoculation -tests. The men who had their arms bound up -as described endured an endless biting and chewing -from ten to fifteen days until they developed the fever. -It was a tormenting ordeal. Their arms became open -sores from which blood and pus penetrated the dressings. -The first attack of fever and blinding headache -must have come as a welcome relief to intolerable -itching.</p> - -<p>Not a man but that came down with fever. One -man ran a high temperature for forty days and nights<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -without a break, but with most of the men the fever -and the pain were remittent. Some suffered so severely -that the doctors were obliged to inject morphia.</p> - -<p>Those men who were inoculated with the blood of -the trench fever patients developed the malady almost -immediately. They suffered variously with pain and -fever, just as the others did.</p> - -<p>“The monotony of it was bad,” said one of the -men, a big teamster from Boston. “Nothin’ to do but -lay there and burn up and curse the pains in your -blasted legs. Next day you’d feel better, perhaps, but -so weak that you couldn’t move. The nurses were -fine, and there was plenty to eat. But we was too sick -to care whether there were women around or not, and -the best stuff they gave us to eat tasted like sawdust.”</p> - -<p>They agreed that the monotony of existence in -trench fever was worse than the pain. Life was a -dreary waste. The eyes of the patients were so affected -that they were even denied the solace of reading.</p> - -<p>The worst was yet to come for these devoted servants -of science. When the German drive began on -the twenty-first of last March it was found that their -isolation hospital, thought to be so safe, was directly in -the line of attack. Lying in their beds, with nothing -over them but tent walls, their fever-racked bodies and -weakened limbs became tormented by the shriek of -shells and the roar of artillery. German airplanes -chattered over their heads and bombs exploded around -them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>“They wouldn’t let us get up and see the show,” -grumbled one lad in the rest hospital. “Some of us -crawled to the door of the tent and saw a little, but -those English nurses shooed us back, and when it got -hotter they made us dive under the beds. They are -dreadful stern, those English nurses. You have to -mind them as though they were the doc himself.”</p> - -<p>By March twenty-seventh the place had got too hot -to hold invalids, and the men were taken down to -Paris. The journey was a fright. No beds, little food -or water, slow trains which took twenty-four hours to -traverse a distance of fifty-odd miles; but the men -stood it, and when I saw them in the hospital near -Paris all but one was out of bed and on the road to -health. They were eating well, and more than one -begged me to “use my influence” to get them out of -the hospital.</p> - -<p>When a sick man begins to eat like a harvest hand -and begs to get out it indicates that he has only a few -weeks of convalescence ahead of him. At least that -is what the head physician of the hospital told me -when I put in their petitions.</p> - -<p>The cause of trench fever, thanks to our keen army -and Red Cross surgeons, and to the courageous men -who volunteered to help them, has definitely been established. -The trench louse, once called a nuisance, -is now known to be almost as dangerous as the stegomya -mosquito.</p> - -<p>The trench louse must be got rid of, and that, happily, -is not a very difficult affair. Our American army<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> -authorities will take care of that. And our sons, we -may be thankful to know, are going to be spared one -of the most frequent and most painful afflictions of -the war.</p> - -<p>The scientists and physicians who took part in the -experiment by which trench fever is to be abolished -will receive honors and rewards at the hands of their -colleagues and the public. What I would like to know, -is what honors and rewards those simple soldiers are -going to receive.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVII<br /> - -<small>THE GREATEST MOTHER IN THE WORLD</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">John Smith</span>, of Harlem, gave five dollars to the -Red Cross during the last drive. It was a big sum for -a man with his responsibilities and a small income to -part with, but John gave the money, and all over the -country men like him, women, too, and children gave -what they could to help the wounded and the desolated -across the seas.</p> - -<p>I want to tell John and the others how their money -was spent, and I shall ask them first to go with me to -a huge basement room of the Gare du Nord, the big -north station of Paris. The room was taken over by -the American Red Cross at the beginning of the spring -offensive, March twenty-first, and here for days and -nights, terrible days, sinister nights, a stream of refugees -from the invalid district poured in and out, coming -by train from Soissons, Compiegne, Montdidier, Albert, -and from dozens of little villages and farms between -Laon and Amiens.</p> - -<p>The Red Cross fed and clothed and refreshed these -refugees in that basement, loaded them on big motor-trucks -and took them across the city to the Orleans or -the Quai d’Orsay stations and saw them off to the sheltered -south.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>All on your money, you fortunate, generous, tender -hearted givers. We who were over there in those first -desperate days of spring had the privilege only of -helping the Red Cross take care of the stricken men, -women and children who had fled before the German -hordes for the second time since the war began.</p> - -<p>Vividly before me I see that great basement room, -the only kind of a place that is half-way safe in Paris -these days. It is night, or, rather, it is early morning, -nearly two o’clock, and I have spent every minute of the -time since nine o’clock fitting shoes, your gift, to -refugee children.</p> - -<p>When I went on duty early in the evening there -were five or six babies standing at the counter, over -the edge of which their little white, dirty, tired faces -were barely visible, and their round black eyes were -fixed enviously on a huge pile of shoes waiting to be -distributed.</p> - -<p>I picked up the smallest babe, a little boy of four, -and asked him if he needed shoes. “<i>Oui</i>, madame,” -he did, and stockings, too, for his feet were literally -on the ground. I grabbed a bunch of stockings, found -the right size, and explored that great pile of shoes -until that infant was fitted, and then I attended to -the rest, for all those children needed both shoes and -stockings.</p> - -<p>So, it appeared to me that night, did almost every -child in France. They came on and on, some in their -mother’s arms, some toddling along, some leading -other children. I worked steadily, with only a pause<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> -now and then when a new trainload came in and were -fed.</p> - -<p>The shoes were new and they rubbed off, and soon -my hands and face and big gingham apron were -streaked and spotted with black. I was almost as -dirty as the refugees, but still the children demanded -shoes.</p> - -<p>They forgot that they had endured agonies of fear -and horror, they forgot the roar of the shells in the -village streets. They forgot the hunger and thirst -and the deadly weariness of the flight. Their little -stomachs were full, they were warm and safe, and they -had new stockings and new shoes on their feet.</p> - -<p>They had more, for when my part was done other -women took them in hand and gave them new shirts -and gowns and the shiny black pinafores which every -French child, boy as well as girl, looks upon as an -indispensable article of dress. If you could have seen -their smiles, heard their lisping words of gratitude, -felt their warm little handclasps, oh, you fortunate -and generous givers, you would have been repaid a -thousand, thousand times for your gift to the Red -Cross.</p> - -<p>Because the French rarely have large families, it -must not be thought that they do not value children. -They adore children, as a matter of fact, and their -gratitude to the Red Cross for what was done for -children during those days of flight and anguish was -pathetic to see and hear.</p> - -<p>Women came into the basement of the Gare du<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -Nord in a condition of half nudity. When the storm -burst they gathered up their babies, took what they -could carry of household goods and treasures, and -simply fled. Much of what they carried was lost by -the wayside. Their clothes were rags. Some of the -rags were taken off by the mothers that the children -might be kept alive, for the weather was cold and -rainy. But when these poor women came into the -Red Cross room their first thought was always for -their babies.</p> - -<p>“You have need of shoes yourself, madame,” I said -to more than one. She always answered, “Yes, but -<i>le petit</i> first.”</p> - -<p>When you saw a woman who would not eat, who -cared not at all for the new blouse or the warm coat -they offered her, who wept unceasingly or wore a look -of wild misery like insanity, you knew that she had -lost her children in the flight. That happened not infrequently. -Part of the money you gave the Red Cross -is spent to find those lost children and bring them back -to the desolate mother’s breast.</p> - -<p>Late one night during that exciting period in -March the workers at the Gare du Nord found a boy -of thirteen who had been separated early in the flight -from his family. He had walked a distance of twenty -kilometers, twelve and a half miles, before he reached -the railroad station, and he carried with him on that -walk, and on the journey to Paris, two bags of feed -for the horse, four or five pounds of beans in a paper -sack, a cross-cut saw, two axes, some harness and a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -gas mask. When the Red Cross workers discovered -him he was about all in, but he was brave. He sat on -his baggage and ate sandwiches and drank hot chocolate -like a famished tramp.</p> - -<p>He had an aunt and a grandmother in Paris, he -said, but he did not know his aunt’s married name. -He knew the name of the street she lived on, though, -and the next morning a Red Cross man went with the -boy to the street, and by simple process of calling at -every house in every block finally located the aunt.</p> - -<p>But that wasn’t all. Eloi, his name was Eloi Beaussart, -needed a job, and the Red Cross gave it to him. -Now that game youngster wears a khaki uniform with -A. R. C. on the collar, and works in a Red Cross canteen. -When I came away Eloi’s family had not yet -been found, but he was serene and hopeful. The -American Red Cross, in his opinion, can do anything -if you give it time.</p> - -<p>Your money did not wait until the refugees got to -Paris before it helped them. In front of the Red Cross -headquarters in the Place de la Concorde crowds gathered -daily to see the great motor-trucks being loaded -with food to be sent up into the fringes of the war -zone. Thousands of loaves of bread, tins of meat, -condensed milk, chocolate, coffee, everything necessary -and practical.</p> - -<p>The Red Cross had a great many stations in the -sections over which the Germans swept, and while the -workers in those stations were helping to evacuate -whole populations, the workers in Paris were rushing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> -supplies to feed them. With guns roaring and shrapnel -bursting around them, the Red Cross camions went -steadily on taking hope and relief and life to thousands -of civilians and wounded soldiers.</p> - -<p>In one station yard, waiting for trains to carry -them to base hospitals down the line, the Red Cross -found and succored three thousand wounded French -soldiers. In the town of Beauvais, almost the last habitable -point near the war zone, a large number of sick -civilians, mostly women and children, were found. -There was no hospital left in the place, which had been -shelled and largely evacuated, and to show you how -promptly your money acts, I am going to tell you what -the Red Cross workers did for the suffering population -of Beauvais.</p> - -<p>Some time in the early morning a hospital was established -on paper. That is, it was decided to establish -a hospital. At ten o’clock that same morning a -partially furnished house was rented. At twelve o’clock -the house was in order, a surgery with full supplies -was installed, two doctors, four nurses and several -helpers were at their posts, and before the afternoon -was half over forty patients were in the beds and being -treated and cared for.</p> - -<p>Wouldn’t you rather feel that you had helped do a -job like that than to have another summer hat?</p> - -<p>In the quaint old city of Toul, through which the -famous Rhine-Marne canal flows, and close to which -our troops first held the line against the Germans, I -saw another hospital, a children’s hospital established<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -and supported by Red Cross money. The four hundred -and sixty-six little children in this place came from -towns and villages which have been bombarded with -gas bombs, instruments of torture invented in hell -especially for the German army.</p> - -<p>Those bombs killed, suffocated to death, a large -number of babies, but the Red Cross rescued many. -There in that hospital on the hill above Toul four -hundred and sixty-six children have had their tortured -lungs cleared of the poisonous stuff, and their -anguished little bodies have been brought back to ease.</p> - -<p>Wouldn’t you be happier helping a gassed French -child back to life than to buy a box of expensive -cigars?</p> - -<p>There is not room enough in one chapter or in a -dozen of them, to tell half of what the Red Cross -has done and is doing in France alone in this war.</p> - -<p>Twenty-three hundred people, doctors, nurses, canteen -workers, business men, social workers and others -are enrolled in France. Twenty hospitals, seventy-six -dispensaries and several sanitariums are in operation. -For wounded soldiers of the allies the Red Cross supplies -nearly four thousand hospitals. It has a model -hospital train; it has innumerable dressing stations, -canteens, health stations, sewing rooms for the destitute. -Nearly three million soldiers a month are served -in Red Cross canteens alone.</p> - -<p>In Paris there are thirteen canteens always busy -serving French soldiers on leave. In Bourg there is a -canteen where thousands of our soldiers going to Aix-les-Bains<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -and Chambéry for their vacations got a real -American home breakfast. I heard many soldiers -speak enthusiastically of that breakfast, served by the -Red Cross women, but purchased by mothers, fathers -and friends of American soldiers right here in the -United States.</p> - -<p>Those sons of ours who are being rapidly transported -to France to join the more than a million already -there soon will be training behind the battle lines -in Lorraine, Picardy, the Aisne. Soon after that they -will be fighting, the fight to death if need be, to clear -the world of that evil thing, war.</p> - -<p>Between them and such suffering as no one who -has not seen it can even faintly imagine stands that -cross of mercy and devotion. To support it is to support -and protect our own children. “Give till it hurts,” -I read on one of the Red Cross posters. Give, if you -have hearts, until your hearts stop hurting.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XVIII<br /> - -<small>FRANCE APPROVES THE EGREC EM SAY AH</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Y. M. C. A. has started a new drive both for -money and for workers. John R. Mott, general secretary -of the National War Work Council of the Association, -has announced that they must recruit four -thousand new workers for France and Italy, and of -course they must have money to support the work -already going and that to be started soon.</p> - -<p>The exact sum has not yet been announced, but -whatever it is the people of this country will give it. -To give to the Y. M. C. A. is to contribute directly -to the comfort, happiness, and, to a very great extent, -the safety of our own enlisted men in France. I have -been in dozens of Y. M. C. A. huts and canteens, and -I say emphatically that our army could hardly maintain -its highest efficiency without these places. They -are the nearest substitutes for homes that were ever -devised for any army.</p> - -<p>When troops are quartered in an interesting old -French city, as some of our troops are, there are many -things in which the soldier off duty can interest himself. -But the vast majority of American soldiers -are not quartered in cities or even in towns. They are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -in camps differing very little from the training camps -at home. Or else they are billeted in villages. In that -case they sleep in barns or in peasant cottages. When -they are off duty there is not a blessed thing for them -to do except walk up and down the muddy streets and -talk.</p> - -<p>Those French villages of the north, especially in -winter, are picturesque in the extreme when viewed -from a motor-car, but as a place of residence they -leave much to be desired. A stranger might have some -difficulty in distinguishing between the houses and the -barns, the huge manure heaps, which are the chief -wealth of the owners, being about equally distributed -before all the buildings. I have seen scores of these -little hamlets, with their signs on each door, giving -the number of officers, men or horses billeted within, -and I have sometimes wondered by what process the -authorities decided which buildings were for -<i>hommes</i> and which for <i>chevaux</i>. Those are the -first two French words our soldiers learn over there.</p> - -<p>But wherever our soldiers are quartered, they must -have a Y. M. C. A. hut. They can not get along without -it. It serves as a club, a night school, a shop, a -library, a theater, lecture room, movie, gymnasium, -writing-room. It is a great place in which to get acquainted -with French people, for next to the Red Cross -the Y. M. C. A. is the most admired of all American -institutions with which the French have come in contact.</p> - -<p>They pronounce it “<i>Egrec, Em, Say, Ah</i>,” and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -most of them have not the slightest idea of what the -letters mean, but they highly approve of the thing itself. -In the towns and cities they flock to the Y. M. C. -A. entertainments, especially the military band concerts. -There is very little music in France just now, -aside from our bands.</p> - -<p>The Y. M. C. A. hut and canteen does its greatest -work in the isolated camps where the soldiers are cut -off from all other recreation. I remember a hut in -one of our largest aviation camps, miles away from -any town or village. Life in an aviation camp is -something like working in a planing mill. The sound -of hundreds of aeroplane motors goes on in a ceaseless -clatter for hours every day. There is always a -strong wind blowing because aviation camps are located -on the biggest, emptiest treeless plains that can -be found.</p> - -<p>The particular aviation camp of which I write was -on the widest, flattest plain in France, I should think. -There were not nearly enough machines there when I -visited it in early April, and the men had very little -to do. Hundreds of our flyers in France have never -had a chance to do any flying at all, and in this camp, -as they said, “If a fellow got a hop once a week he -was lucky.”</p> - -<p>What those boys would have done without their -Y. M. C. A. hut I can not imagine. The secretary had -been a professor of mathematics in a college somewhere. -He was a middle aged, intellectual, rather shy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> -man, and at first I wondered why he had been appointed -to such a post. But when I saw him in a crowd of -soldiers I no longer wondered. He was easy, genial, -sympathetic, tactful, what the politicians call a perfect -mixer. When he stood up to introduce the speaker -of the evening the boys stamped their feet and whistled -through their fingers like kids.</p> - -<p>“How will you ever go back to teaching mathematics -after this?” I asked him.</p> - -<p>“I never will go back,” he replied. “I’m going to -be human for the rest of my life.”</p> - -<p>He was being human in that camp so successfully -that he almost succeeded in offsetting the lack of -planes. At least, he did wonders in keeping alive the -spirit of courage and hopefulness among the men.</p> - -<p>A dozen miles or so from a large southern seaport -where many thousands of our men are at work I visited -another Y. M. C. A. place, one which has become -the social center of an entire French town. In the big -town there is a flourishing Y. M. C. A., and when the -building camps began to string along the river harbor -for miles the secretary in charge saw that extension of -the work would have to be made.</p> - -<p>He picked from his staff a remarkable young Vassar -girl who speaks good French and asked her if she -would go down to a certain small town, the central -point of half a dozen camps, and establish a Y. M. C. -A. headquarters. She went. She found on the main -street, which is also the river front, an old inn where<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> -business was getting duller every day, and she rented -it. There was no electric light in the house, and the -plumbing was early Victorian.</p> - -<p>Within a week the house was scrubbed from top -to bottom and freshly papered and painted. Within -a few more weeks it was wired for electric lights, it -had shower baths for soldiers and the only bathroom -in the entire town. There was a canteen where six hundred -men a day could get a sit-down meal of very good -food and a counter where many more could buy chocolates -and cigarettes. There was a writing- and reading-room, -a room where French lessons were furnished, -another where boxing and wrestling matches -could be held. There was a piano and a phonograph, -and a little way down the street there was a large -hall for entertainments.</p> - -<p>By this time Miss Christy had asked for and was -given an assistant, another live wire of a young woman. -They soon had three or four French women -for cooks and assistants, and they were doing a land -office business. When I visited them the entire house -was so full of soldiers that the two secretaries were deploring -the fact that they had not twice the room, especially -for canteen purposes.</p> - -<p>Everybody in town uses that headquarters. The -mayor goes there to take a bath. Officers from the -camps visit it almost as often as the men.</p> - -<p>These are two samples only. All the Y. M. C. A. -headquarters are doing good work. These two were -notable because of the personality of the secretaries,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -which was above the average. There are many such -working for the Y. M. C. A. There were half a dozen -at Aix-les-Bains, where our men went for vacation -leaves. Some of them had prominent names as well. -Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., was on the staff at the -Aix casino. Her tireless work, her frank and democratic -manners delighted the men. “She works, too,” -they said admiringly.</p> - -<p>In another Y. M. C. A. canteen I saw young Mrs. -Vincent Astor on duty. She walked up and down between -the tables anxiously observing whether Private -Bill Snyder, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Corporal -Joe Morgan, of Weeping Water, Nebraska, got pie -where pie was due, or an extra helping of jam where -requested. Associated with Mrs. Astor was Ethel Harriman, -now the wife of a lieutenant in the army.</p> - -<p>The Y. M. C. A. wants more of those women, not -because they are rich and “fashionable,” but because -they have social experience, good manners, tact, agreeable -qualities. There is no room in the world now for -what used to be called society women. The place for -leisure class women is nursing sick and wounded soldiers -and helping to serve and to entertain well ones. -The Y. M. C. A. wants at least eight hundred more -women. It wants business women, executive women, -talented women. It ought to get the eight hundred and -a big reserve as well.</p> - -<p>Of course, the Y. M. C. A. will get all the money -it needs, and that without any controversy. Never -mind if it has made mistakes. We can criticize the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> -mistakes after we have given the money. And right -here let me say that one of the head men in the Paris -executive headquarters told me that the Y. M. C. A. -was hard at work rectifying some of the mistakes they -made in the beginning, and which were absolutely inevitable -in the face of unknown conditions and unforseen -problems.</p> - -<p>“We know now,” said this man, “that it was a -grave mistake to send over men of draft age. We shall -not do that in future. We know that we have some -useless timber over here, and we are going to weed it -out. We know that a religious man, one who can lead -in prayer and preach a good sermon, is not necessarily -a good executive secretary in a war region. We are -finding that out. We know that not all the women we -have brought over here have made good. We will -replace them. Just give us time.”</p> - -<p>I have heard it mentioned as a mistake of the Y. -M. C. A. that the leaders do not force prayer meetings -on the men, that it has given up some of its religious -quality. In my opinion, the Y. M. C. A. is -much more religious now than it ever was before in all -its history. It lives its religion every hour of the day, -and it has learned a beautiful religious tolerance. To -Protestant and Catholic, Jew and Gentile alike it gives -the same generous and never failing love and charity.</p> - -<p>To me it is an evidence of the true religious spirit -that in Y. M. C. A. huts you may see displayed a notice -that Father Maguire will hear confessions of -Catholic soldiers on Saturday in such and such a room.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> -Or that a Sedar service for Jewish soldiers will be held -on such a date at the following addresses. It is the -only kind of religion that appeals to me. It is the -only kind I ever heard that the founder of Christianity -preached. It is the strongest possible reason why we -should give money, all that is asked for, to the Y. M. -C. A.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIX<br /> - -<small>BEAUTY AS USUAL</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Before</span> the war there were few European peoples -of whom we knew less, whom we misunderstood as -thoroughly, as the French. We had a French tradition -in the United States once, but that was long ago. -New Orleans, St. Louis, and Charleston, South Carolina, -were to a certain extent French cities up to the -time of the Civil War. Old family names, the names -of streets and squares, even a few monuments bear -witness to this. But even in New Orleans the French -tradition is now only a shadow. We have had little -immigration from France in late years. Hence we know -little of the people. There was a vague theory that -they were frivolous, pleasure-loving and rather lax in -their morals.</p> - -<p>The French are not frivolous—they are volatile -and gay. They are not pleasure-loving, any more than -other peoples are. The questionable pleasures of -Paris, the bal masques and the Moulin Rouge sort of -thing, existed for tourists mainly. We thought the -French liked that kind of unwholesome painted stuff -because it was there, and they thought we liked it because -we paid almost anything to get it. It is time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -the two people, French and Americans, understood each -other.</p> - -<p>I think I can not convey a better idea of the French -character, its unquestionable gaiety and indomitable -courage, than by telling how through all risks and -dangers and calamities, their worship of pure beauty -persists. Beauty is a cult with the French. They can -not endure anything ugly. Every national emotion is -expressed in terms of beauty and grace.</p> - -<p>Paris, as we know, has been under bombardment -from the German long-distance guns since March -twenty-third. Almost every day the gun has sounded. -Some days its spiteful boom sounded every fifteen minutes -from dawn until dark. Now one of the effects of -this constant bombardment was that it threatened to -break all the expensive plate-glass windows in the -capital, and the people were advised to paste strips -of paper across their windows. Window glass just -now is not only expensive, but it is very scarce. Once -broken, replacement becomes a serious matter.</p> - -<p>Of course, strips of paper can not stop a shell or -a piece of shrapnel, but they can lessen the shock of -concussion. So Paris overnight blossomed from one -end to the other with paper-stripped window glass.</p> - -<p>But did they just paste on strips of paper, as almost -any other people in the world would have done? -They did not. They invented a new art of window decoration. -Every merchant, every householder, vied -with all the others to make their striped-up windows -things of beauty. They devised color schemes, they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -studied historic design, they made the paper strips advertise -wares. In a word, bombs might fall, but -beauty went on as usual.</p> - -<p>But the most extraordinary manifestation of the -unquenchable spirit of the French was the discussion, -immediately opened, as to what a properly self-respecting -woman, awakened in the night by death-dealing -bombs from the sky, ought to wear when she fled to -the cellar.</p> - -<p>A leading Paris newspaper featured an interview -with a well-known dressmaker in which the subject -was thoroughly threshed out. The dressmaker recalled -the fact that during the Reign of Terror of the -French revolution the doomed aristocrats dressed for -the guillotine as for a function, this being their last -defiance of the mob. Hence it was but proper that -their descendants, the French women of to-day, should -not permit the German terror to interfere with their -duty to look well on all occasions.</p> - -<p>This <i>couturière</i> did not have to urge this duty on -her clients. They overwhelmed her, she declared, -with demands. It had become for them necessary to -make frequent descents to the bowels of the earth, and -that suddenly. What were they to put on? Nothing -in their wardrobe seemed either suitable or practical.</p> - -<p>Thus pressed, madame proceeded to invent a cellar -gown. It sounds funny, but, after all, it may not be. -Remember that the Parisians often had to leave their -houses and walk or run half a block or so to find adequate -shelter from aerial bombs. Hence a warm garment<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> -was called for. A woman is not necessarily -robed for the street and for a damp cellar, twenty feet -underground, when she throws a kimono over her -nightgown. No!</p> - -<p>“It was no small problem, you can readily understand,” -declared madame. “I was obliged to invent -a gown that one could put on quickly, at the first sound -of the <i>alerte</i>. After much thought I decided on a domino -model. By its simplicity and the amplitude of its -dimensions, it is well suited to a rapid adjustment and -a quick flight. It is provided with an ample hood to -cover the hair and to guard against cold draughts.</p> - -<p>“The traditional domino, however, is not provided -with any pockets. These, of course, are very necessary -in present conditions, since a number of indispensable -objects accompany, or should accompany, a -lady to a cave. She wishes to take with her not only -the most precious of her jewels and <i>bijoux</i>, but her -purse, watch, keys, mirror, also divers other small objects; -an electric torch, manicuring tools, a box of -powder, a lip stick, perhaps.</p> - -<p>“She will require a pencil and a pad of paper, in -case she wishes to keep a diary of events. She may -wish to carry with her certain photographs which she -can not bear to lose. Certainly she will need some -morsels of chocolate, and in case the raid is a prolonged -one, something to read. My bombardment -robe contains pockets enough and ample for all emergency -requirements.”</p> - -<p>The color of the bombardment robe, or cellar<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -gown, was an important item. The average cave <i>abri</i> -or cellar is not noted for its spotlessness. One must -look out for that. Hence the proper color of the -gown was something practical—brown, gray or taupe. -However, the inventor of the gown found no ordinary -color exactly to her mind.</p> - -<p>She did not wish one of her clients, in the semi-obscurity -of a cave, to be mistaken for a sack of potatoes, -nor yet to be trodden on by an excited new arrival. -She sought a color which should be neutral and -yet outstanding, and she found it in a tint she called -“<i>chaudron</i>,” the identification of which I shall have to -leave to the experts.</p> - -<p>It must be a very nice color, however. If you -should have to hide in a coal cellar, it was said, the -contact with the coal will not injure your appearance, -but will paint your cellar gown with lovely Rembrandt -effects. Moreover, the hood of this <i>robe au chaudron</i> -is lined with some soft, tender color, which will lend -beauty to the countenance of the wearer, and presumably -make the cold and discomfort easier to endure.</p> - -<p>I never descended to the caves during the air raid, -preferring to take my chances on a lower floor. But -if I did feel constrained to seek a wine cave, or a coal -cellar while boche bombs were hurtling through the -atmosphere, I admit I might like to wear something -becoming. Anyhow, as long as the French go on -making their lives beautiful in spite of air raids and -guns that shoot seventy miles, in spite of devastating -German hordes in the north and a war that shows small<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> -signs of abating, I think they prove themselves bad -to beat, and allies we ought to be proud to claim.</p> - -<p>Another thing I admired in the French was their -constant sense of humor. They laughed at the Germans. -The big gun, full of hate as it was, furnished -a subject of jest.</p> - -<p>The cartoonist drew caricatures of it that were -full of wit. When one of the guns burst, killing, as -it must have, a number of German gunners, a cartoonist -pictured the inventor pointing to a miscellaneous -collection of arms and legs which decorated the -landscape, saying proudly: “You see, super-colonel, -how kolossaly powerful my kanon is. It is as deadly -at one end as it is at the other!” The Parisians found -this irresistibly comic.</p> - -<p>They laughed scornfully at the solemn lies published -in the German papers regarding the alleged -panic their bombardment was creating. I have seen -men and women sitting outside the cafés in the Rue -Royale and on the boulevards, sipping their <i>apéritifs</i> -before dinner and enjoying these exaggerations, as -reprinted in the Paris papers.</p> - -<p>They smiled and chuckled over the news announced -in the Stuttgart <i>Neues Tageblatt</i> that Paris would -soon be a mass of ruins; that even the working class -population no longer had the hardihood to remain. The -roads leading to Tours, Orleans, Lyons, cities of the -south, were crowded with interminable convoys, vehicles -drawn by horses, donkeys and even dogs. Sick -women were being transported in baby carriages. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -forest of Fontainbleau was one vast camp of refugees.</p> - -<p>“Listen then to this, <i>mon vieux</i>,” reads a highly diverted -Frenchman to his neighbor at the next table. -“It is not only from fear of the Germans that the entire -population is in flight, but it is from fear of the -French themselves. The capital is filled with deserting -soldiers and other disaffected persons who wait only a -favorable opportunity to overthrow the government. -Do you hear? The <i>Berliner Tageblatt</i> says so.”</p> - -<p>Funniest of all to the Parisians were the tales of -how the whole of Paris not fleeing to the south was -living day and night underground, and how not only -people but all public monuments were being sent to -the caves.</p> - -<p>A cartoon in <i>Le Matin</i>, I think it was, represented -a Frenchman remarking to a friend that the -fog was so thick yesterday that he couldn’t see the Eiffel -Tower. “Oh, haven’t you heard?” exclaims the other, -“Clemenceau has hidden it in the Metro.”</p> - -<p>I write this also to give the American people an -idea of the fantastic “news” with which the Germans -feed their people and keep alive in them the hope that -they can ultimately win this war. Some of these German -dispatches appear in our own newspapers, exaggerated -accounts of victories, absurd estimates of damage -inflicted by bombardments. We should laugh at -them as the French do.</p> - -<p>The Germans tell their hungry populations that -terror is winning the war, that the French civil population<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> -is in flight and that the government is tottering. -It is ridiculously untrue. Many people have left -Paris, just as our people would seek refuge from a like -situation.</p> - -<p>All the people who have summer homes have gone -to them earlier than usual. There is a systematic -movement to take as many children as possible outside -the danger zone. Delicate women and invalids have -generally gone. That is all.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XX<br /> - -<small>BLED WHITE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr. Hoover</span> tells us that we must save more food. -Especially more wheat. With all the sacrifices we have -voluntarily made, with all the ingenuity women have -used to save food and still keep their families well -nourished, the women are called upon to do more. As -far as wheat and a few other staples are concerned, -Mr. Hoover tells us that our shipments abroad are only -now beginning to approach the “minimum requirements” -of our soldiers and of our allies.</p> - -<p>I know that many housewives the country over will -read this announcement with dismay, and will wonder -how much more will be required of them, and how -much more they can contrive to give. I want to say -to the housekeepers who read this, that they can not -possibly know or dream the vast importance of their -part in this war. They can not know what their food -conservation efforts have meant to the French people, -as well as the English, the Italians, and what is left -of the stricken Belgians.</p> - -<p>Every woman who has conscientiously observed -the food regulations, thereby releasing food for our -soldiers and the allies, has almost literally fought side -by side with the men. She has stood by them and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> -fed them, encouraged them, given them physical and -spiritual power to go on, wholeheartedly, in the fight -for civilization.</p> - -<p>A soldier who goes into battle half nourished, one -whose heart is heavy thinking of hungry children at -home, is a soldier half beaten. He who goes forward -with a well-nourished body and a mind at rest is a -soldier three-quarters victorious.</p> - -<p>This is how you have helped fight the battle for -the peace of the world, women of America. And let -me assure you that Europe is fully awake to the fact. -Nothing that President Wilson has done, or Congress, -or the men at the head of our wonderful army in -France, has made a deeper impression on the allies -than what the housekeepers of this country have done.</p> - -<p>Without any compulsion, without any laws, simply -because they were appealed to in the name of humanity, -hundreds of thousands of women, rich and poor, -in great houses and in farm kitchens, have voluntarily -rearranged their whole scale of living, have divided up -their food with people they will never know nor see.</p> - -<p>It has captured the hearts of the people of Europe. -They are lost in admiration. It has taught them what -they never believed before—that the United States, far -from being the land of the dollar, is a land of idealists.</p> - -<p>This was precisely the kind of encouragement our -allies in Europe needed. They needed it as much as -they needed guns, airplanes, soldiers. It was at a very -dark hour in the history of this war that the United -States entered the war.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>I do not mean that our allies were at the breaking -point. But they were near the point of desperation because -of the sudden and unexpected defection of Russia. -The immediate future was heavy with dread.</p> - -<p>Then came the news, “the Yanks are coming.” The -black cloud was lifted. The world was saved. Everybody -knows the difficulties that had to be overcome before -an American army was landed in France. Germany -did not believe that we could land an army -there, but we did.</p> - -<p>And long before that we landed enough food in -France, and in other hungry lands overseas, to enable -the allies to carry on until our men came. That was -one of the big feats of the war, and in it the women -played their part, and more than their part.</p> - -<p>No one has had to call for a congressional investigation -into the women’s share in the war. Because -the men who are in the training camps, on the seas -and in the fighting zone are not soldiers to us. They -are our sons. The French and English soldiers, the -Canadians, the men from Australia, South Africa, -Italy, Belgium, they too, are mothers’ sons, and we -don’t go back on our sons.</p> - -<p>What the mothers of this country have done for -the men who fight, and for their people at home, has -been to bring hope to their hearts and laughter to their -lips. It has enabled them to face danger with a smile.</p> - -<p>Every once in a while since I returned from France -I have heard the phrase, “The English and the French -are bled white.” Don’t you believe it. After nearly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> -four years of appalling carnage, after the loss of millions -of their best and bravest, the courage of our allies, -men and women, is marvelous. Since we came into -the war that courage has become exaltation. Nothing -can shake it.</p> - -<p>For all that we have been able to do in the way of -supplying the allies with food, it will not do to assume -that they have more than enough to keep themselves -in good condition. The English seem to have a greater -shortage than the French, but that is mainly, I think, -because the French know better how to prepare and -serve food, and how to make a simple meal attractive.</p> - -<p>In England I often felt not exactly hungry but a -dissatisfaction which was almost as bad. The diet was -monotonous. Meat was almost invariably roasted, -vegetables were always boiled and served without -sauces.</p> - -<p>In France, on the other hand, they have made an -art of dining, and even now, in war time, they give -you the impression that you are being extremely well -fed. Yet the French are short of breadstuffs. Their -war bread is good, and I had enough of it at every -meal. But the average person in France eats twice -and three times the amount of bread at a meal that is -eaten in America. Bread is literally the staff of life in -France.</p> - -<p>Meat, while expensive, was plentiful all during the -winter. That was because there was so little grain. -They could not afford to feed their cattle and so -slaughtered them. Beginning May fifteenth the French<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> -food authorities decreed three meatless days a week for -the republic, and since France is generally Catholic, that -meant for the majority four days, an additional day, -Friday, being observed by the Catholics.</p> - -<p>There was milk for little children and for invalids, -but, except for a small jug with my morning coffee, -I never saw milk while I was in France. Butter could -be used in limited quantities in cooking, but it was -forbidden to be served at the table.</p> - -<p>Sugar, too, was almost a forbidden article. Some -hotels and private houses served a little sugar with -coffee and tea, but mostly the saccharine substitute -was offered. Just before I left France, at the end of -April, sugar cards were being issued entitling the -holders to a pound of white sugar each month.</p> - -<p>Only plain bread is baked in France. The innumerable -little rolls and crescents, so delicious with the -morning coffee, have disappeared. There is no such -thing as pastry. Sweets are supplied in jams and -marmalades, a limited quantity being allowed once or -twice a day. There are no desserts except fruits, fresh -or preserved.</p> - -<p>I go into this that the American housekeepers who -read these articles may see how cheerfully the allies -are bearing what our people would consider a real food -shortage. They have enough over there, and will have -as long as we give of our store, but we are not by -any means supporting our allies in luxury. On what -they have, however, they live and keep up a spirit that -is truly marvelous.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>One evening in my London hotel I sat down to -dinner near a table where five young people, evidently -brothers and sisters, were quietly making merry. One -of the men was in the uniform of the Royal Flying -Corps, the other, although of military bearing, was -in the correct evening clothes of the British civilian.</p> - -<p>I noticed that the girl sitting next the man in evening -clothes was assiduous in her attentions to him, and -it occurred to me that English women too often spoiled -their brothers, made them selfish. This golden-haired -English girl cut up her brother’s food, even fed it to -him. I thought it a little absurd.</p> - -<p>But when they rose from the table I saw with a -shock that the splendid young man had had both arms -cut off below the elbows. He probably had been an -artillerist. At all events here he was, a helpless cripple. -But from the gay demeanor of that family no one -would have dreamed that they had a care in the world. -They were carrying on, they would have told you.</p> - -<p>I saw more of the French than of the English; -therefore I saw more instances of their incomparable -courage in the midst of war and carnage. I was in -Paris when the long-distance gun of the Germans began -to bombard the city.</p> - -<p>Every fifteen minutes “boom” went the gun, and -you held your breath wondering where the shell had -fallen and how many people it had killed and wounded.</p> - -<p>It was nerve-racking, there is no use denying the -fact. In a battle the shells come tearing through the -sky, screeching and whining as they come. But in such<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -a long-distance bombardment there are no preliminary -sounds. A house explodes before your eyes, the pavement -rises up in a geyser of earth and stones, the -earth of a park or public garden suddenly flies up in -a huge, fan-shaped eruption of smoke and dirt.</p> - -<p>Afterward you hear the BOOM! It seems incredible -that only three or four minutes ago men in gray-green -uniforms, seventy miles away in Germany, -loaded that gun, pulled a string or lever or whatever -they do pull, and started that shell toward Paris.</p> - -<p>It seems impossible to believe that while you stand -there wondering, those same men are loading the big -gun to again bombard an open town, full of women -and children, regardless of where the shell falls.</p> - -<p>One Sunday afternoon, just before I came away, I -went down into the island of the old city, the original -Paris, to say good-by to certain beautiful things I love. -It was a lovely spring day and the quay of flowers -and the Palace quay were crowded with Parisians out -for a Sunday walk. The women wore their spring -finery, and there were many little girls in shining white -dresses and veils of their first communion.</p> - -<p>The long-distance gun had been silent for about -forty hours. It gets out of order easily, or else the -allied airmen had been shelling it. Anyhow, it had -been silent. But suddenly, about fifty yards from -where I stood, the waters of the Seine shot up in a -great waterspout, there was an explosion and the usual -BOOM. A shell had skimmed over the heads of that -Sunday crowd of inoffensive Parisians and landed in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> -the river. In a minute the surface of the water was -sprinkled with dead fish.</p> - -<p>Of course, the object of this bombardment is to -frighten and discourage the French. Let me tell you -how far it falls short of its object. The cables no -doubt carried the story of one shot from that long-distance -gun that struck a maternity hospital, killing -in their beds mothers and new-born babies. A nurse -was killed also, and many women were wounded. The -hospital ward itself was reduced to matchwood. It -was a horrible thing.</p> - -<p>In the midst of all this horror, and as a result of -it, a young woman was prematurely delivered of a -child, a little girl. The mother died, but the little baby -girl lived, and the nurses called in a priest and had that -baby christened Victory.</p> - -<p>One day, through the streets of Paris they were -hauling a captured German cannon, one of the number -which now reposes in the courtyard of the Hotel -des Invalides. The people stopped to watch the cannon -go by, but there was no demonstration of hatred.</p> - -<p>The French respect an honorable foe; it is only -unclean warfare that they scorn. This was demonstrated -right then and there, for as the cannon passed -on “Big Bertha,” as they call the long-distance gun, -suddenly spoke, and somewhere a shell fell in Paris.</p> - -<p>A workman in a white smock raised his fist and -bawled out in the direction of the German frontier: -“That’s right, bark, you cur. This one can no longer -bite!”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXI<br /> - -<small>THE REPATRIATES</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Evian-les-Bains</span> is a charming little French town -situated near the Swiss frontier. Before the war -Evian was a health resort, rivaling Aix-les-Bains, farther -south, in its stimulating climate and its medicinal -baths. It was a place where the rich and the -comfortably circumstanced of almost every country -in Europe went to regain lost health. Now it is a -place where some of the most miserable people in -all the world may be seen. For Evian is the place -where Germany returns to France those French men, -women and children who are no longer of any use as -prisoners and slaves.</p> - -<p>They are mostly the people who were taken in the -first victorious rush of the Germans in 1914. As long -as they could work, or by threats and cruelty could be -induced to try to work, the Germans held them as industrial -slaves. When, through starvation, exhaustion -and disease, they became useless to their taskmasters -they were returned to France.</p> - -<p>I do not know at what rate these victims of Germany’s -ambition and lust for world power are now -coming back, but last autumn and winter, when the -migration was at its height, the repatriates were being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> -received and cared for at the rate of five hundred to -one thousand a day. They came through Switzerland, -a three days’ journey, in rough box cars, often without -food or water, and were nearly always, when they -arrived, in a condition bordering on collapse.</p> - -<p>I want to tell about some of these French repatriates. -I shall not exaggerate or embroider the tale. -It hurts cruelly to remember those poor people. It -hurts to write about them. But I want our people to -know. The next time they sit in a meeting where disloyal -so-called socialists warble their phrases about -this struggle being a profiteers’ war, about peace by -negotiations, and the rest of it, perhaps they will remember.</p> - -<p>The French government created a commission to -handle the stream of human derelicts which Germany -sent back through Switzerland. The people of Evian -lent wholehearted aid to the commission, and all efforts -have been splendidly augmented by the American -Red Cross.</p> - -<p>When the trains came in at the receiving station at -Evian there were always a certain number of the returned -prisoners who had to be taken immediately to -the hospital. They were in advanced stages of tuberculosis, -they were suffering from anemia and starvation -and from all the diseases of neglect. Worst of -all, many women and children were found suffering -from the diseases of vice and crime.</p> - -<p>All these sick ones go to hospitals. The American -Red Cross established a children’s hospital at Evian,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> -since nearly sixty per cent. of the repatriates are children, -and nearly all of them need hospital care. The -French have their local hospitals, and also what they -call houses of repose where those of their countrymen -not actually sick but extremely exhausted are cared -for and put into condition to travel farther.</p> - -<p>The emaciated, hollow-eyed and weary remnant -who could walk that far are, or were, taken to the old -casino, where wealth and fashion used to gather for -bridge and expensive food and drink. There the -mayor of Evian made a touching speech welcoming the -people back to their native land, comforting and cheering -them as well as he could. Then they sat down to -the first good meal they had eaten, some of them, for -years. But first <i>The Marseillaise</i> was sung.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="verse">“Arise, children of the land,</div> -<div class="verse">The day of glory has arrived.”</div> -</div></div> - -<p>Who could listen, without deep stirrings of emotion, -to men and women just released from prison-houses -of pain and horror singing those words? I -can not imagine how they found voices to sing. Some -of them, indeed, could not sing. They could hardly -speak. They just stood there dumb and broken, their -sad eyes streaming with tears. Even freedom and -the sound again of their beloved French language -could not wipe out their terrible memories.</p> - -<p>Some of the repatriates are met at Evian by friends -and relatives. Some are cared for by the French government,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -sent to towns and villages well away from -the war zone. Charity and the Red Cross have done -splendid work for all refugees, but their problems are -often almost unsolvable. Hardly a man among them -is fit for industry. As for the women, the plight of -many of them is pitiable.</p> - -<p>The individual stories of some of these women I -heard from the lips of a woman known throughout -France for her devoted labors in behalf of victims of -German soldiers in the invaded districts.</p> - -<p>This noble French woman bears the beautiful name -of Avril de Ste. Croix. I mention it not because she -would particularly care to have me do so, but because -she is known to a great many women in America. -Madame Avril de Ste. Croix is president of the French -National Council of Women, and as a prominent suffragist -has attended a number of meetings of the International -Association for Woman Suffrage of which -an American woman, Carrie Chapman Catt, is president. -Every one in France and in the United States -who knows Madame de Ste. Croix knows that she is -incapable of misstatement or misrepresentation. What -she told me I am absolutely confident was true in every -particular.</p> - -<p>In Paris there is a house of mercy established and -maintained by patriotic and generous French people -for the rehabilitation of women and girl victims of -German lust, and Madame de Ste. Croix is managing -director of the establishment.</p> - -<p>To this house was brought, about a year ago, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> -woman who, at the beginning of the war, lived with -her husband and five children in one of the French -cities taken by the Germans. They did not destroy -this city, but occupied it and made it a division headquarters.</p> - -<p>Madame Doran we will call her, because it is not -her name, lost her husband’s protection and a good -deal of her income at the mobilization. The husband -joined the colors, and the wife and five children made -a home in two small rooms of a tenement. The whole -town was filled with German soldiers, and Madame -Doran had two men billeted on her. She moved her -family into one room and gave the other to the soldiers.</p> - -<p>From the first these soldiers tried to debauch the -poor woman. She successfully resisted them. They -moved on and two more soldiers were billeted on her. -They in turn attempted the degradation of this decent -wife and mother. She resisted these men also.</p> - -<p>For a year and a half she lived with her children -in that room, separated only by a thin wall from lustful -brutes whose orders were that “the German seal -must be set upon the enemy’s country.” In other -words, they had orders to destroy as many lives and -as much virtue of women as they possibly could.</p> - -<p>Successive German soldiers this brave and virtuous -woman continued to resist. Finally, after a year -and a half of fear and dread and continual struggle, -the soldiers then in her home went to their officers and -reported her as a quarrelsome, contentious woman, one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -who made a practise of insulting German soldiers. -Those unspeakable cowards and brutes did this thing -for revenge.</p> - -<p>The authorities descended on the woman, took her -children away from her by force, sent them to German -institutions and sent her to work in a German-conquered -mine in northern France. There the ultimate -misery became hers. Her husband gone, her children -torn from her, her home taken away, placed at degrading -labor, her spirit broken, she fell a prey to -German lust at last.</p> - -<p>Only by yielding to the soldiers guarding the mine -workers could she buy for herself the least privilege. -Only by becoming worse than a slave could she obtain -the slightest surcease from slavery.</p> - -<p>She fell. For about a year she was tossed from -one to another of the Huns in the neighborhood of -that mine. Inevitably she became in time a menace -to health, and then the Huns in Berlin ordered her -deported. She was sent back through Switzerland to -Evian with a card sewed to her rags, a card describing -her as a syphilitic prostitute.</p> - -<p>She was too crushed with suffering to make excuses -for herself or to tell her story. There was nothing -for the French government to do except send her -to a hospital near Paris where such outcasts go to die. -But Madame Doran did not die. She improved under -treatment, and her distraught mind began to clear a -little.</p> - -<p>One day Madame Avril de Ste. Croix came to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> -hospital. Her angel pity and charity extends to the -lowest outcasts among women, and she looks for possible -curables among them everywhere. Attracted by -the pure beauty of this victim, for she still retained -some of her youthful loveliness, Madame de Ste. Croix -spoke to her, and finally drew from her the terrible -tale of her martyrdom.</p> - -<p>At once Madame de Ste. Croix arranged for her -removal to the house in Paris. There the best medical -treatment, good nursing and kindness worked -miracles. Madame Doran was soon on the road to -partially restored life and health.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Madame de Ste. Croix had sought and -found the soldier husband. She told him what had -befallen his wife and children. He heard with horror, -then he dropped his head on the table before him and -wept until his sleeves were drenched with tears. His -bitterest grief spent, he raised his head and said:</p> - -<p>“Madame, whatever my poor wife’s condition, I -can have no reproaches for her. I can remember only -what she was to me in the past, a true, good wife. -I loved her then and I love her now. Give her back -to me, and for the rest of her life I will atone to her -for what she has suffered.”</p> - -<p>This great-hearted French soldier had been -wounded and was now mobilized in industry. He could -make a home for his wife and Madame de Ste. Croix -helped them establish themselves anew. Then she began -a long search for the children. She wrote to the -king of Spain, who is her friend and who, since the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -war began, has often used his influence with the German -kaiser to find lost and imprisoned French and -Belgians. The children of these poor parents were -ultimately found and were restored to their bruised -hearts.</p> - -<p>Four of the five children were restored to them. -The oldest boy, when the Germans broke up their -home, resisted the soldiers sent to take them away. -He was only a child. He did not realize the invincible -majesty of Germany and he protested with all his -young might. A German soldier kicked him, breaking -his back. So he died, slowly and in great agony.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXII<br /> - -<small>FRENCHMEN, NEVER FORGET</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">With</span> Madame Avril de Ste. Croix I visited the -house of mercy in Paris where women and child -victims of German soldiers find refuge.</p> - -<p>I visited this house and I saw there that which -made me an implacable foe of any peace except on -terms of extinction of the power that caused this war.</p> - -<p>“We have very few here now,” said Madame de -Ste. Croix. “I mean compared with the first three years -of the war. When the Germans think themselves victorious -they are ruthless in their treatment of women -and of civilians generally. When they are losing they -are less cruel.”</p> - -<p>I am glad that I did not see the first fruits of German -wrath. I do not understand how any one who -did see it can ever smile or be happy again. What I -have seen is the mild and tempered wrath of a beaten -foe. I saw, in what is called the isolation pavilion -of that house of mercy, seventeen girls in a condition -of health which made it impossible for them to associate -with others.</p> - -<p>This pavilion had room for twice the number, and -in former times, from 1914 to 1917, this one refuge -was crowded, crowded with ruined and diseased<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> -French and Belgian girls. Now the German army has -no time and less opportunity for such bestiality. -There were only seventeen girls in the isolation pavilion -of that house of mercy in Paris. The youngest -girl was fourteen.</p> - -<p>They have comfortable rooms, a little parlor with -books and a piano, and a kind and devoted house -mother. She is a teacher as well, and the education -of these pathetic young creatures is carried on daily, -as though they had a normal destiny, as indeed some -of them have. Recovery, even from their dread malady, -is not impossible, and the best medical care in -Paris is given them freely.</p> - -<p>In another pavilion of this house I saw another -group of girls much better off. They had lived through -horrors, but their health was somehow preserved. The -youngest of these girls was twelve years old, and the -hideous thing had happened to her two years ago. -I think I have never seen a more tragic figure than this -little girl. Her face was white and solemn and her -eyes were old. She seldom spoke.</p> - -<p>While we were looking at the sewing work and -some of the girls were busy making us tea, a friend of -the house came in to play the piano for the girls to -sing. This is her regular contribution to the work. -They sang, these poor little larks, standing around -the piano, sang of home and love and all things beautiful.</p> - -<p>I sat and listened and thought of peaceful America, -where the war is still little more than an abstraction,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -a fact hardly realized except by the mothers and -fathers and wives of men who have gone over.</p> - -<p>Perhaps it was unworthy of a reporter, but the -sight of these young French girls who have been -forced, in the most ghastly fashion possible, to realize -what this war means, was, for the moment, more than -I could bear. I slipped away and ran to the farthest -end of the enclosed garden.</p> - -<p>Out of the sound of their voices I sat down and -let the most unbearable part of the pain flow away in -tears. As I sat there on that garden bench I heard -a little soft exclamation. Looking up I saw the youngest -girl, the little one who at ten years had had her -life wrecked by a Hunnish criminal, more than one, -for all I know. This child with the white solemn face -and the old eyes stood there, pitying me for a trouble -she did not understand. But for her there was only -one trouble, and she assumed that I was weeping -for that.</p> - -<p>She reached out a timid little hand and laid it on -mine.</p> - -<p>“Ah, madame,” she whispered, “is it not terrible, -the war?”</p> - -<p>It is terrible, but it has brought to the surface a -heroism and a grandeur of soul that few of us knew -the French people possessed. I asked Madame de Ste. -Croix to tell me of the women and girls who had -borne children to the German invaders. “What will -you do with those boche babies?” I asked her.</p> - -<p>“We shall assimilate them,” she said proudly. And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> -she added that the mothers, married or unmarried, as -a rule loved their forlorn little babes. “I have known -only two women who wished to get rid of their children,” -she assured me.</p> - -<p>Nature is stronger than convention. The heart of -woman is a mother heart, and nothing can ever change -it. It was man and not woman who invented the -myth of the illegitimate child.</p> - -<p>Yet over there in France, even the men have risen -above that harsh and cruel tradition. Madame de Ste. -Croix, who takes on herself the painful duty of telling -men what happened to their women when the Germans -came, told me how nobly and bravely French -men have stood by and sheltered them.</p> - -<p>There was a girl who came under her care shortly -before her baby was born. It was a fine little boy, -fortunately the image of its mother. She had lost -everything in the war, father, mother, home, and she -clung passionately to her child. Only, at times, she -wept bitterly thinking of the young soldier she had -hoped to marry, and who was ignorant of what had -befallen her.</p> - -<p>Madame de Ste. Croix looked up the young man, -found his regiment, and arranged a meeting with -him. His agony when she told him was great, but not -for an instant was his allegiance to his sweetheart -shaken. He had mourned her as dead and he blessed -the noble woman who restored her to him again.</p> - -<p>“What has happened is not conceivably her fault,” -declared this fine young soldier. “I love her more for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> -what she has suffered. If I could I would marry her -to-morrow and be a father to her child. But I am not -sure that I can. I am not sure that it would be for -her happiness.”</p> - -<p>With tears in his eyes the man told Madame de Ste. -Croix that he was under twenty-five, and until after -a man has passed that age he may not, according to -French law, marry without the consent of his mother. -This young man’s parents, he explained, were small -town folk with a small town point of view.</p> - -<p>Their morality was a little narrow-minded, and he -feared that they would never consent to his marriage -with a girl who had suffered at the hands of the Hun. -They would pity her, of course, but they would not -want her for a daughter. They would never be able -to love the child.</p> - -<p>“Let me go away now,” he implored, “and try to -think what is best to be done.”</p> - -<p>A week later he returned with a radiant face. He -had obtained leave and had gone home to see his -mother. There, on his knees, he had told her a lie, -one that must have been recorded in Heaven to his -favor. He told her that he was the father of that -girl’s baby, that he had wronged her, and now begged -permission to right the wrong by marrying her.</p> - -<p>The mother’s reproaches were severe, and the poor -young man had the pain of seeing her suffer for what -she thought was his guilt. But after she had been -induced to look at the baby’s picture her good heart -was awakened. She agreed to the marriage and promised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> -to love and care for the mother and child until -the end of the war.</p> - -<p>This man was a simple soldier, a child of working -people. He did not know that he was heroic, and in -fact what he did has been matched by scores of men -in France. Very often after the Germans violated -women and children in the invaded towns and villages, -they murdered them cruelly. Those left alive have -been cherished by their men, only too thankful that -they were spared.</p> - -<p>“Not that the men do not suffer,” said Madame de -Ste. Croix. “We prize virtue and stainlessness in -women. But we love justice more. And if this dreadful -thing is hard on men whose betrothed are wronged, -how much harder it is on a man whose wife has borne -children to the brutal boche.</p> - -<p>“He may forget what she has gone through, but -how can he endure the presence of the child? What -will be the future of those children, intruders in the -family? I do not know.”</p> - -<p>What has happened to thousands of women and -girls in invaded Belgium and France could just as -well happen in this country. It would happen without -the smallest doubt if the Huns landed on our shores. -Can you picture it? Can you imagine what it would -be, fathers and mothers of America, to stand with -German guns leveled at your heads while beasts in -human form violated your young daughters before -your eyes?</p> - -<p>Can you imagine what it would be for our soldiers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> -to come home from the war and find their wives and -daughters with German babies in their arms? This -is what many French and Belgian soldiers have had -to endure. You will not persuade any of these men -to listen to arguments in favor of a peace without -victory.</p> - -<p>All over France you will see in homes, in shop -windows, on blank walls a poster. There are just three -words on this poster: “Frenchmen, never forget!” -In the upper right-hand corner of the poster there is a -picture of some woeful thing that has happened since -the German hordes began to overrun the world.</p> - -<p>Sometimes the picture is of a burned and desolated -village, a shattered hulk of what was once a -beautiful old church. Oftener it is a picture of ruined -womanhood, blasted childhood.</p> - -<p>In the lower left-hand corner of the poster is a -picture of a smooth German salesman trying to sell -something in France. “Frenchmen, never forget!” -They never will forget. They have tenacious memories, -our French allies.</p> - -<p>Can any one who has visited Paris forget the statue -of Strasbourg in the Place de la Concorde? It is one -of eight splendid monuments in that square, each representing -a city of France. When the Germans filched -Alsace and Lorraine from France, after the war of -1870, Strasbourg was lost to the French. On that -day they laid funeral wreaths on the statue in the -Place de la Concorde, and they have kept funeral -wreaths there ever since.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>Until August, 1914. Then they took away the -emblem of mourning, because they knew Strasbourg -would be theirs again. The statue is gay with flowers -now, and with flags of all the allies. Our flag is -there, the flag the French call <i>le drapeau étoilé</i>, the bestarred -banner. May it stay there until what it has -gone to France for has been accomplished, until the -utterly crushed and vanquished German army has been -pursued beyond the Rhine, until something of what -the women of France and of martyred Belgium have -endured has been paid for.</p> - -<p>Not in the same coin, however. The men who -have suffered so bravely are incapable of such crimes.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIII<br /> - -<small>THE NEW WOMAN IN FRANCE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> long-distance gun which has been bombarding -Paris has not terrorized the civil population, as the -Germans intended. I was in and out of the city for -a month after the gun began to do its deadly work, -and I can attest to that fact. But I remember three -occasions when the wrath of the Parisians rose to -such a height that I shuddered to think of the retribution -that was piling up for Germany.</p> - -<p>The first time was when a shell struck an historic -old church, killing seventy-five Good Friday worshipers. -The second was when the shell burst in a ward -of a maternity hospital, making victims of mothers -and newly born babes. The third time was when a -factory was struck, and at least seven women workers -were savagely slain. The shell struck the front of the -factory, killing the head foreman who was just leaving -the place. The man was torn limb from limb.</p> - -<p>The entire front wall of the factory crushed inward -and fell upon the women seated at their work. -Six were killed outright, one died on the way to the -hospital, and thirty were desperately hurt. They were -nearly all war widows, wives of soldiers and refugees, -those slain women and their comrades in the factory.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>“After the church, after the nursery, the sewing -room,” wrote the editor of <i>Le Matin</i>. “It will be -said that the barbarians respect nothing.” Not religion, -not infancy, not womanhood.</p> - -<p>What deepened the indignation in the minds of the -French public was the almost sublime courage shown -by the women in that factory. There was not a single -moment of panic. Instantly picking themselves up, -those who were unhurt began to lift out of the mass -of bricks and shattered timbers the dead and wounded. -They vied with one another in their calm, quick efforts -to save life, and by the time the ambulances arrived -all the wounded had received first aid. The next morning -at the usual hour every woman, except the seriously -wounded, reported for work. Not one stayed at -home.</p> - -<p>“France can not spare workers now,” said one -woman to President Poincaré, who personally visited -the wrecked factory to congratulate these heroines.</p> - -<p>Such is the metal of French wives and mothers, -who have always, until this war, lived rather secluded -lives within their own homes. In sheer admiration the -French men, who have hitherto monopolized the higher -fields of industry, and who have laughed at the idea -of women in political life, are now ready to yield to -any demands that women may in future put forth.</p> - -<p>French women can probably have the vote for the -asking. They have not made up their minds, in great -numbers, that they want to vote. But the suffrage -movement is well started, it has good leaders, women<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> -of education and social power, and there is no question -as to the outcome.</p> - -<p>War has wrought great changes in the status of -women in all the countries directly involved, and in -France it has almost overturned the whole social theory. -The rigid system of chaperonage of girls has -been greatly relaxed.</p> - -<p>For this the Red Cross has been responsible to a -certain degree. Thousands of young women who -never in their lives before saw a man except in the -presence of their mothers now work in station canteens -at all hours of the day and night, cooking, serving, -feeding soldiers and refugees, waiting on the sick and -weary with tireless devotion.</p> - -<p>I have spoken of the dearth of conductors on the -French trains. There is one train attendant who -never fails, and that is the young woman who collects -funds for the Red Cross. Every time a train stops it is -boarded by girls and women in white uniforms, who -go through all the carriages shaking tin money receptacles. -These are about the size and shape of a quart -milk bottle, and the girl who holds it neglects nobody. -“<i>Pour la Croix Rouge! Pour les blessés!</i>” she cries, -and everybody drops small change into the milk bottle’s -insatiable maw. In the course of a long journey one -contributes rather heavily. But then, one should.</p> - -<p>The educated women of France have gone in for -hospital nursing as never before. No part of unpreparedness -in France was more serious than the neglect -of the nursing profession. Formerly almost all nursing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> -was done by the religious orders, and to tell the -truth, it was not very scientific nursing. If a sister -happened to be a born nurse, so much the better. But -even the best of them were untrained in the modern -sense.</p> - -<p>When the religious orders were broken up in -France little or nothing was publicly done to replace -the nurses. I visited a house in Paris, a sort of a -nurses’ settlement, where for some years a highly -educated and philanthropic woman has maintained a -small training school of her own.</p> - -<p>This woman, whose name, unfortunately, has -slipped my memory, lives and works in a crowded -quarter of the city where there is much tuberculosis. -She established her nurses’ training school in connection -with her tuberculosis work, which is extensive. -She induced a number of educated girls to take up -nursing, and many of them in 1914 went into war -work. But they were a drop in the bucket. They -were dozens where thousands were needed. So the -women had to leave their homes, as our leisured women -will have to, if this war outlasts 1918, and made themselves -capable and devoted trained nurses.</p> - -<p>These are the new women of France, and it would -be extraordinary if, after finding freedom from the -old restrictions and conventions, they should ever go -back to the old ways. I met several women who were -as emancipated as any young American feminist, and -who seemed very happy in their new independence.</p> - -<p>At Aix-les-Bains, where our soldiers went for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> -their first vacation leaves, there was a young girl who -was an almost startling example. She was about -twenty years old and very pretty, in a delicate, patrician -way. Before the war this girl would never -have gone out of the house unattended. She had been -educated in a private school with girls of her own social -class, and but for the war would have been married -by this time to a man chosen for her in the family -council.</p> - -<p>Now she was driving her own little Ford ambulance -for the benefit of the American soldiers. She -had joined the American Y. M. C. A., wore its becoming -gray and blue uniform, with a boy’s soft hat pulled -down over her bobbed black hair, and she was as busy -as a maternal little wren.</p> - -<p>I don’t know where she and the little car had operated -before, but when the boys began to arrive at -Aix she drove down from Paris, entirely alone except -for a girl chum, an English girl, I believe, and a -dozen times a day she sat at the wheel speeding between -Aix and Chambéry, four miles away, carting -supplies from one Y. M. C. A. headquarters to the -other, and taking soldiers back and forth as well.</p> - -<p>Mademoiselle Marcelle spoke English quaintly but -fluently, but she was not a very conversational young -person. She was grave and very dignified, and she -loved all American soldiers too well to favor any one -very much. They treated her like a princess and were -ready any minute to clean the car, or oil it, or spend -half a day doing things to its insides.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span>She was a charming little creature, Mademoiselle -Marcelle. My son confided in me one evening that he -didn’t think he would have to look farther for his life’s -ideal, but then, so did at least a dozen other doughboys, -so I considered his chances rather slim.</p> - -<p>Even before the war the position of the French -girl showed signs of change. The quality of her education -had immensely improved, and in fact was practically -the same as that of boys. Coeducation was unknown -in the schools and in higher institutions, but -in the Sorbonne, the oldest of all French universities, -men and women attended the same lectures.</p> - -<p>There have been individual parents who desired -the fullest freedom for their daughters, and who educated -them for the professions. There are not many -women doctors in France, but the woman lawyer is -highly respected and even encouraged.</p> - -<p>One daughter of such modern parents is at present -rendering good service to her country in the French -foreign office. Mademoiselle St. René Taillandier is a -member of the press section of the foreign office, and -because of her fluent English is of the greatest assistance -to English and American correspondents, especially -women correspondents.</p> - -<p>Mademoiselle St. René Taillandier’s father is a veteran -member of the diplomatic corps, and her mother is -a very modern minded woman. Having lived in many -countries of the world, and observing the constantly -widening field of women’s activities, they agreed that -their daughter should be brought up as an English or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> -an American girl. She was given a sound education, -part of it in England, and she was allowed the fullest -possible freedom of choice and action.</p> - -<p>Very recently having received at the Sorbonne a -degree corresponding to our master of arts, this fortunate -young French woman has entered upon a most -promising literary career. She has acted in the capacity -of secretary to the famous novelist, Paul Bourget, -and it was he who discovered her literary gift and -insisted upon her developing it. Her first stories were -published in the dignified <i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i>, -and have just appeared in book form.</p> - -<p>These changes in the status of women are going -to be very good for France and her people. Already -one sees their broadening effect. In the old days the -French showed a certain lack of hospitality to strangers. -You had to be very well known to a French -family before you were invited to visit the house. This -is the real reason why the French have been so little -understood.</p> - -<p>It has been said of them that they had no word -for home, hence they must be less domestic than other -people. They have a word for home. It is “<i>foyer</i>,” -which means literally hearth. The family hearth was -to them so sacred that they couldn’t bring themselves -to admit foreigners there.</p> - -<p>That, too, is changing. Not only middle class people, -but people of wealth are opening their homes, especially -to Americans. I received the most unexpected -invitations to the homes of almost strangers. One<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -woman of prominence whom I met for the first time -told me that she had a country house in Brittany -which she wanted to place at the disposal of American -soldiers this summer.</p> - -<p>“I have lost several near relatives in the war,” -she said, “and it would be a consolation to me to feel -that I was doing something for the ally that came in -time to save our France from perishing. I want to -know the American young man. If your son should -be so unfortunate as to be wounded I hope I can take -him to my house for his convalescence. I would -gladly receive him and any of the American soldiers.”</p> - -<p>The kaiser’s atrocious war, meant to crush and -alienate and enslave the English, French and Americans, -has had quite another effect. It has brought us -into new and noble friendship. It has forged ties that -never will be broken.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIV<br /> - -<small>POUR LA PATRIE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> one of the most widely read of French magazines -I came across a story which illustrates the wonderful -spirit and loyalty of the French mother. She -loves her children with a devotion unsurpassed anywhere. -But more deeply and more deathlessly she -loves France.</p> - -<p>The story was contained in an article written by -a French correspondent who witnessed the repatriation -at Evian-les-Bains of a large number of women and -children long held prisoners by the Germans. Among -them was a woman and her two little boys, Jean, aged -five, and Gilbert, three. The mother was in the last -stages of tuberculosis, and she had just managed to -live long enough to get her children to Evian. Then -she died. But before she died she said to the French -Red Cross representative who had promised to care -for the little ones: “I want you to make workmen -of them. The country will so much need skilled workers.”</p> - -<p>This heroic mother, who with her last breath dedicated -her children to the rebuilding of France, was a -simple, plain woman of the people. It is hardly likely -that she had ever said a single word about patriotism.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> -She lived it, and so do all French women. And there, -I verily believe, is the secret of the vitality and the -unconquerable strength of the French nation. At -their mother’s knee the men of France learn that the -first love and allegiance of their hearts and lives are -due their country. They never forget that lesson.</p> - -<p>I do not know who ever invented the fiction that -French women are not maternal. It is true that they -do not, as a rule, have many children, but that is easily -understood when one studies the French economic and -social conditions. In all families outside the wage -earning class the girl children must be provided with -dowries. It is the custom, and a dowerless girl has -a difficult time getting married. Also, under French -law, all children inherit equally their parents’ estate. -Land holdings, as a rule, are very moderate, and if -there were many children it would be impossible to -educate and equip them for life.</p> - -<p>It has never been the custom, as with us, for girls -of the middle classes to earn their living. Until very -recently the <i>jeune fille</i>, the young, unmarried girl, -hardly ever went out unescorted. The prototype of -our American college bred, tennis playing, independent, -self-supporting girl did not exist in France. The -one ideal of the gently reared French girl was marriage -and a home. And in the home she became a -real power.</p> - -<p>Theoretically all women are powers in their homes. -The power of the French wife and mother is not -theoretical, it is real, it is legalized. A Frenchman<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> -who does not consult his wife in every business matter -is the exception. A son who does not refer all -his affairs to his mother’s consideration is a bad son. -Under French law the family council, which includes -near relatives as well as fathers and mothers, settles -most questions involving minor children. It is in -the family council where marriages are arranged and -marriage contracts agreed upon.</p> - -<p>Women rule these family councils to a very great -extent. Their voices in all domestic matters are listened -to with respect. You will see bearded men -give up a cherished project, even a love match, because -<i>Maman</i> could not be persuaded of its wisdom. A -man can not legally marry without his mother’s consent -until he is twenty-five years old.</p> - -<p>Because of their great power in the home French -women have not left the domestic life to the same -extent that English and American women have done. -They have not insisted on entering all the trades and -professions. They have not demanded the vote. But -the war has brought great changes into French life, -and the women of France will never again be as they -were before. They, too, must go out and work. They -must accept the responsibilities of political life. They -must socialize their maternal love. They are doing -it already.</p> - -<p>When the Germans invaded northern France in -1914, when most of the men were swept away into -the fighting, the women assumed the burden not only -of family life but of community life as well. Often<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> -the German commander, entering a town or village -and demanding the presence of the mayor, would be -met by a stout, gray-haired matron who would calmly -announce, “I am the mayor.”</p> - -<p>So she was, and had been since <i>monsieur le maire</i> -had been mobilized, or perhaps murdered by the invading -Huns. Many a French town and village with -its hapless population has been saved from utter annihilation -by the intrepid courage and determination of -a woman in authority. More than once the woman -was a nun.</p> - -<p>France knows better than ever of what stuff its -women are made, and the future status of the women -is absolutely theirs to decide. There is plenty of evidence -that they will decide on more independence and -a wider range of activities.</p> - -<p>I visited French munitions works, including the -famous Citroen factory in Paris, where shells for -France’s celebrated 75’s are turned out. I sat down -at luncheon in the vast canteen of the factory with -thousands of workers, fully half of them women. -Before the war most of those women would have been -engaged in sewing work at home, at very low wages. -Seclusion of women went with family self-respect.</p> - -<p>Now the girls were working in a shell factory. -They were in overalls, some of them, and they were doing -men’s work. All through this tremendous establishment -I met girls driving motor shell carriers at high -speed. I saw them working in the flaming forge -rooms. I saw them cutting through steel bars with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> -acetylene torches. I saw them at lathes shaping shells. -I saw them making bullets. They work ten hours a -day, where eight had been the legal limit before the -war. They do not complain. It is for France, <i>pour -la patrie</i>.</p> - -<p>There has not been, as there was in England, a -great pouring into industry of the women of the -middle classes. The women workers were recruited -from the home workers and from the luxury trades, -so-called. There were many more of these in France, -which was the finery mine for all the world, than in -other countries. Thousands of girls and women who -made clothes and hats and <i>bijoux</i> were thrown out of -work and were easily transferred to the munitions -trades.</p> - -<p>They seem to like the change. They are a much -more coquettish class than the English workers. They -do not wear any hats, as a rule, but they spend a good -part of their wages on their hair. Even in the factory -a girl in overalls working at a forge has her black -hair elaborately coiffured and shining with brilliantine. -Usually her hair is dressed with bright pins and -sidecombs. What the French working girls would -do if the war lasts long enough to exhaust the world’s -supply of rhinestone combs I really do not know.</p> - -<p>The French woman who escorted me through the -Citroen factory deplored the fact that the working -girls are beginning to wear dressy clothes and high -heeled boots. It did not used to be so, she said. I -pointed out that the girls formerly hadn’t the money<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> -to buy these things, and that the evils of democracy -were cured only by more democracy. Women can’t -learn, all at once, how to spend wisely.</p> - -<p>The women of the French middle classes and those -of the old aristocracy have gone into war work, if -not into war industries. The advent of so many more -women in factory work brought a new sense of responsibility -to the more fortunately placed women. -They have done a great deal for the workers to keep -them in health and strength, to take care of the children -of married workers, and even to raise wages.</p> - -<p>The Citroen factory is such a model establishment -that it has been written about in half a dozen American -papers and magazines. It pays very good wages, and -the minimum for piece work, eight francs a day—about -a dollar and forty-five cents—is shared by men -and women alike. Most of the workers average ten -and twelve francs a day.</p> - -<p>In this factory an excellent noon meal is served at -cost, about thirty cents, with wine extra. The meal is -prepared by professional cooks in spotless kitchens -and it is well served. But not every factory has a canteen, -and many have been established and are maintained -by women of wealth for the benefit of the -workers. I visited one of these in company with the -principal founder, formerly a woman of the exclusive -“great world,” but now a hard and indefatigable -worker.</p> - -<p>“These girls must have good food,” she said. “It -is a tradition in France, and if we lose it we lose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> -something national. We who have time must feed -those who have no time except for toil.”</p> - -<p>The luncheon served at this canteen was as dainty, -and it was perhaps even more carefully composed, -than an expensive repast in a Fifth avenue tea room. -The rich lady and her American guest sat down and -ate it with the girls from the munitions factory a -block away, and we enjoyed it as much as they did.</p> - -<p>Every American woman knows the beautifully embroidered -French underwear, which over here is rather -expensive but in France could once be purchased for -very little. The Paris “white sales” before the war -was the trade event of the year for women. But what -few women took into consideration when buying this -lovely underwear so cheaply was that the women who -made the garments received appallingly low wages for -their work.</p> - -<p>The underwear was made by women working at -home. Pride kept them from leaving home, and besides, -there were often young children to care for. So -the home workers toiled far into the night, sewing and -embroidering the dainty things that were to adorn the -soft bodies of richer women. For their long toil they -often received less than a franc a day.</p> - -<p>I met the woman who was chiefly responsible for -the alleviation of this great blot on the civilization of -France. Her name is Madame Viollet, and she has devoted -her life to the problems of the poor, in much -the same wholehearted way as Jane Addams, Julia<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> -Lathrop, Lillian Wald and other well-known American -women have. Like them she lives with her poor.</p> - -<p>The problem of the home worker was long her -chief province, and since the war she has succeeded -in having a minimum wage law passed through the -French Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, giving to -the women who work at home four or five times as -much as they ever received before.</p> - -<p>“I do not wish all women to work in factories,” -she said to me. “Expectant mothers, women with -young children, delicate women, ought to stay at home. -And, since they must earn, it is the business of the -state to see that they are not cheated.”</p> - -<p>Not only did Madame Viollet secure for the home -workers a minimum wage, she organized them into a -<i>syndicat</i>, or union, to enforce the law, and to raise -their own status in various ways. This was a remarkable -thing to do, because French women are totally -unused to the idea of trade unions. The men -rarely admit them to their unions, and the strong -woman labor leader of England and the United States -is practically unknown. But the home workers are -organized now, and after the war we shall pay more -for our French embroidered underwear.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXV<br /> - -<small>BY WAY OF DIVERSION</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">I shall</span> never hear that musical classic, <i>Where -Do We Go From Here?</i>, without remembering a -young lieutenant I tried to be a mother to in France. -I really led the young man terribly astray, and but for -a bit of luck at the end I might have got him court-martialed.</p> - -<p>The whole thing grew out of the fact that so many -of the men in France are mobilized that they haven’t -enough left for train conductors and station guards. -You can travel for hundreds of miles in France and -never have your ticket taken up by anybody. I have a -collection of French railroad tickets which I bought -and used, but never had to show to a conductor.</p> - -<p>One of these tickets entitled me to ride first class -from Bourges to a certain large American military -camp. I bought the ticket one morning last spring -and was informed by the polite Frenchman behind the -wicket that it would be necessary for me to change at -a junction about midway in the journey.</p> - -<p>“They allow you barely five minutes to make the -change,” he warned me, “but you can not miss the -train. It is the Paris express.”</p> - -<p>We were slightly delayed, and when I reached the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> -junction I made a quick leap to the station platform -and looked around for my train. There were several -standing there, so I ran, suit-case in one hand and typewriter -in the other, in search of a guard. There was -only one, but I hailed him and asked him to indicate -the Paris express.</p> - -<p>“Platform three,” he exclaimed. “But, hurry, hurry, -madame. Already the train he marches.” And surely -enough the queer little tin whistle which is a characteristic -of French trains was shrilling its starting signal -and the doors of the carriages were slamming.</p> - -<p>I dashed across the tracks and almost into a young -officer who was looking wildly around and calling in -English for a porter. Seeing my O. D. uniform, he -recognized a compatriot, and implored me to tell him, -if I knew, which train he should take to go to Y——.</p> - -<p>“Come along,” I flung back at him, for I was still -racing for that moving train. “I’m going there, too.”</p> - -<p>We just made it, flinging my suit-case and typewriter -in, and falling in after them ourselves. The -lieutenant had no luggage.</p> - -<p>I was tired, having been up late the night before, -and without any more conversation I curled up in a -corner and went to sleep. I must have slept for an -hour, and after I awoke the train rolled on for another -hour without coming to Y——.</p> - -<p>We were alone in the compartment, and no conductor -appeared. So I spoke to the young officer. -“I thought Y—— was only about an hour and a half -from the junction,” I remarked.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>“I thought so, too,” he answered. “But I don’t -speak a word of French, so I don’t always get very -precise information.”</p> - -<p>“Well, the guard told me that this was the Paris -express,” I said. “We must be on the right train.”</p> - -<p>We commented on the singular lack of train conductors, -and the lieutenant said yes, you could travel -all over France free if you had luck. He had traveled -for forty-eight hours for one franc and eighty -centimes. At least, the only ticket he had been asked -to surrender cost one franc eighty. The rest were in -his pocket.</p> - -<p>But he didn’t enjoy traveling alone in a foreign -country. He couldn’t even ask for a match in French, -much less inquire about trains. I resolved that I would -be nice to that young man and see that he got safely -to his destination. But when another hour went by -and we still didn’t reach Y—— it occurred to me that -I might not be very much of a guide. I opened my -suit-case, got out a map of France, found the junction -from which we had started and watched for the name -on the next station.</p> - -<p>We were on the Paris express all right, but we -were going to Paris instead of away from it, as I had -intended. We were within a mile or two from the city -of Orleans. I broke the news to the lieutenant and he -turned a little pale. He simply had to get to Y—— -that night, he said. He was on a special mission and -had been charged to deliver his message as quickly as -possible.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>“Even if we get there this evening,” he added, “I -don’t know how I am going to get out to the camp. -They don’t allow officers to sleep in the town, you -know. They know I’m on the way because I sent all -my luggage on ahead.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps there is a train back very soon,” I suggested. -“We’ll get off at Orleans and I will inquire.”</p> - -<p>We did, the lieutenant carrying my suit-case, and -both of us hurrying as fast as we could to the ticket -office. What was the next train for Y——? The next -train was about to start. “Hurry, hurry, madame and -monsieur. You will miss it unless you run. It is necessary -to change at X,” mentioning the very junction -where our unfortunate lives had been joined.</p> - -<p>We ran, without stopping to buy tickets, and -scrambled breathlessly aboard the moving train. Nobody -asked us for any tickets, and we actually traveled -the entire distance back to X without paying the -French government a single <i>sou</i>. We arrived about -seven o’clock, dusk, with our final destination still forty-five -miles ahead. Moreover, there was no train before -midnight.</p> - -<p>The young lieutenant was very blue, but he agreed -that there was no use worrying, and we might as well -go up-town and get some dinner. We would have to -go together, whether we liked it or not, because he -couldn’t get along alone. We had a good dinner, and -by the time it was finished it selfishly occurred to me -that I had had about enough of that strange young -man’s society. It was obvious that he had had enough<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> -of mine, because it is a little bit dangerous for an -American officer to be seen in a lady’s company in -France. Officers are not supposed to have women -friends or relatives on that side of the ocean, and if -a member of the military police were to see him carrying -a woman’s suit-case through a civilian town the -policeman soldier might develop a little curiosity. And -what a fishy story we had to tell after all. Childish!</p> - -<p>“I think,” said I to the lieutenant, “that you can -get along all right now. I am very tired and I believe -I will take a room in this hotel and stay over until to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>He brightened up amazingly and said that it was a -capital idea. But when I asked for a room the little -<i>patronne</i> declared that she didn’t have a bed in the -house. Perhaps I could get one at the hotel opposite -the station. I couldn’t, nor did I find a room vacant in -any one of the other hotels.</p> - -<p>“Well,” I said, “I’m not going to get into Y—— -after midnight. It’s a small place, and I am not sure -I can get a room there. I’m going back to Bourges. -There are large hotels there, and there’s a train at ten.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t get to Y—— after midnight either,” -gloomed the lieutenant. “There won’t be any place -for me to stay, and at that hour I couldn’t telephone -the camp to send an ambulance for me. I’ll have to -go to Bourges, too.”</p> - -<p>To Bourges we went, and in addition to getting a -room for myself I had to take the lieutenant along and -get a room for him. Why had I ever met the man?<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> -Why had he ever met me? Would we never get rid -of each other, or were we tied for life?</p> - -<p>The next day we met at an early luncheon and -again we set out for X. “Remember,” I warned him, -“we shall have barely time at the junction to make -that other train. I know which track it is on now. -We’ll all be ready to jump when this one stops.”</p> - -<p>But our train was shunted on to a side track a little -way out of Bourges, in order to let some troop trains -pass. We were late, and we got into X just in time -to see the train for Y—— disappear around a curve.</p> - -<p>“See here,” I said to the pale and despairing man, -“I do not propose to spend the rest of my life traveling -between this wretched junction and the city of Bourges. -I have already spent twenty-four hours traveling thirty-five -miles. At this rate I might die of old age -before I got back to America. You go up-town and -find a motor-car, anything that will go, and we’ll finish -the journey in that.”</p> - -<p>“How can I expect to find a motor-car?” cried the -lieutenant. “You know as well as I do that no pleasure -automobiles are allowed to run in France, and this -hole won’t have any taxi-cabs. Besides a taxi down to -Y—— would set us back two or three hundred francs.”</p> - -<p>“Never you mind about that,” I retorted. “You -do what you are told. You go straight up-town and -look for a car.”</p> - -<p>We quarreled by this time, like a real married pair, -and with quite the air of a defeated husband he departed -on his quest. In a short time he came back.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -Of course, there was no motor-car to be had, he reported, -but he had had some luck. A colonel’s limousine -had broken down somewhere in the neighborhood -and it was being towed down to Y—— by an -army truck. He had heavily subsidized the doughboys -who were accompanying the truck, and they had agreed -to stop on a certain corner long enough for us to surreptitiously -get into the limousine.</p> - -<p>It was a beautiful car, apparently in pre-war days -the property of some woman of fashion. The upholstery -was pale French gray and there were all sorts -of scent bottles, tablets and flower holders in silver and -cut glass. But it was a terribly open limousine, all -windows, and the lieutenant and I were conspicuous -objects. The old truck that towed us made a lot of -noise, and at every village we passed through the -people ran to the doors and windows and cheered -vociferously with delighted laughter.</p> - -<p>The worst was getting into the camp at Y——, -but here the bit of luck appeared. It began to rain just -before we arrived, and when we rolled in the rain was -coming down in such sheets that everybody except the -men on guard were under cover. Nobody saw us but -the soldiers who examined our passes. So the lieutenant’s -military career was saved.</p> - -<p>We never met again. The lieutenant, I am sure, -hopes we never shall.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVI<br /> - -<small>WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Should</span> you happen to be in Paris or in any other -French city in the early spring, you will witness an -amusing and at the same time an inspiring sight; the -carnival of the military class of the year before going -into training camps.</p> - -<p>France has lived next door to a burglar nation -for nearly half a century. Ever since Alsace-Lorraine -was stolen from her in 1871, France has known this, -and she has therefore retained the system of compulsory -military service.</p> - -<p>Every year, on the eighteenth of April, all able-bodied -young Frenchmen who have reached the age of -twenty go up for a two years’ military training. Just -before the war the term was lengthened to three years. -Their term completed, they are placed in the reserves, -ready at any time to be mobilized and fight.</p> - -<p>The world well remembers how in late July, 1914, -the tocsin sounded all over France, calling from field -and factory, counting room and office the glorious -citizen army that rushed out against the barbarian invasion, -turned it at the Marne, and saved the life of -civilization.</p> - -<p>I believe that after this war some form of compulsory<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> -military service will be enacted in this country. -Let us rather call it required military service, -since in a democracy such service is agreed upon as a -wise policy and is not forced on the people without -their consent. The American form might well be -something like that of France.</p> - -<p>Proof that military service there is not in the least -oppressive is the gaiety with which the young cadets -greet their term of training. It has long been the -custom for the year’s class to make a carnival of its -going. Beginning two or three weeks before the date -set for their encampment, groups of these lads, fantastically -arrayed and decorated, would parade through -the streets, singing their favorite choruses, making a -great deal of noise between songs, shouting and chaffing -the passers-by.</p> - -<p>No youth considered himself properly dressed -without a huge <i>boutonnière</i>, sometimes of flowers but -oftener a paper monstrosity as big as a cabbage. Sometimes -a lad appeared with a buttonhole bouquet of vegetables. -Anything for a joke. Thus dressed, furnished -with a guitar or an accordion, “the bunch,” as our -slang would call them, fared forth to have a last good -time before going under discipline. For the time -being they owned the town, and nobody complained -of their noise or their pranks.</p> - -<p>I had seen this before the war, but I was unprepared -to see the custom retained. Yet this April in -Paris, in Bordeaux, and several other cities I saw the -same singing groups, the same absurd decorations, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> -same fun-making. The class of 1918 was younger -than the class of 1914, but it was every bit as exuberant. -Four years of war and desolation, of sickening -anxiety and cruel bereavement, were powerless to depress -the spirit of young France.</p> - -<p>Early on the morning of April eighteenth I started -on a journey from the Orleans station, and there, filling -the place with laughter and excited conversation, I -saw about a hundred of the class of 1918 leave for -their cantonment.</p> - -<p>Their mothers and fathers and sweethearts were -there seeing them off, just as we have been seeing our -boys off to training camps this year. But these French -fathers and mothers have suffered bitter losses. Hardly -a family in France that has not known bereavement. -Most of the women I saw that April morning wore -deep mourning.</p> - -<p>Even though they wept in their hearts, they sent -their boys away with laughter and brave cheer. With -bantering words on their lips, their hearts were saying: -“O France, loved Mother, take one more of my sons. -Like those who have died he was mine only until you -needed him more.”</p> - -<p>Their train left the station ahead of mine, and until -it was far down the line these great fathers and mothers -continued to wave and cheer. Then they clasped -hands and silently went home.</p> - -<p>After four years of war. It made me ashamed -of every wavering moment I have allowed myself since -we entered this conflict.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>This is a time when the women of America must -take stock of themselves, when they must consider -whether or not they have grown up to the stature of -the women overseas; whether they can keep step with -the men who have gone over to fight beside the -French, English, Belgian and Italian soldiers. For -those women of the world war are very great in mind -and spirit. Those young Americans are growing fast. -They will never be the same again.</p> - -<p>We sing about keeping the home fires burning, -“Till the boys come home.” But we have got to face -one big fact. When the boys come home they will -have become men, and men of a totally different type -than any to which we have been accustomed. They -will be bigger, broader, finer, in body and mind. They -will be better educated. They will expect more of -their women.</p> - -<p>In the first place our men, when they come home, -will be such perfect physical specimens that they will -be astonished to see women who are flat chested, or -fat, sallow skinned or heavy-eyed. They won’t have -much patience with indigestion and headaches. That -kind of thing goes with slacking over there.</p> - -<p>There ought to be a great big, earnest health movement -among women in this country during the rest of -the war. We see signs of it in the farmerettes, the -campers, the women police.</p> - -<p>The men in France are learning new things every -day. They have traveled. They have had a chance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> -to compare their country with others, their compatriots -with other people.</p> - -<p>We have been called a nation of boasters. We -boasted of our achievements because most of us never -had a chance to see anything of the achievements of -other nations. These men have.</p> - -<p>They know now that French cities are often far -more beautiful than American cities. If they lack -skyscrapers they have ancient castles and châteaux. -What the French build they build beautifully and for -the ages.</p> - -<p>You never hear any boasting from Americans in -France. Our men are learning humility. They know -that we do some things well, but they know that we -have much to learn from the older civilizations, and -they are out to learn.</p> - -<p>A young engineer over there told me how when the -Americans began to double track the French railways -and to build the miles on miles of switches necessary -to handle trainloads of supplies for the armies, the -French were shocked at the shoddy work done.</p> - -<p>“You know how it is with us,” he said. “When -we are doing a hurry job in laying rails we drive spikes -in every other tie. The French drive them twice in -every tie, and they rivet them after they are driven -through. We do that now, over here. The French -won’t stand for anything else. They say they won’t -risk railroad accidents for their troops.”</p> - -<p>Our men are getting a wonderful education, not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> -only through their army experience and their faculties -of observation, but through the Y. M. C. A. department -of lectures and entertainment. At first the idea -was simply to entertain the men in their leisure hours, -to furnish music and moving pictures and vaudeville. -But the men themselves soon called for better things, -and the Y. M. C. A. is preparing to give what amounts -almost to university extension courses in the camps. -Books in unlimited quantities are being shipped overseas -by the American Public Library Association. -Text-books, reference books for every branch of study.</p> - -<p>This spring Anson Phelps Stokes, secretary of -Yale University, went to France, and was made head -of the committee on education in the Y. M. C. A. in the -field. Mr. Stokes made a thorough canvass of the -situation, visiting many camps, consulting with army -authorities and with the men themselves. He visited -the camps and canteens of the English Y. M. C. A. in -order to compare their work with ours.</p> - -<p>The programme of education was not complete -when I left, but I saw a tentative plan which by this -time must have been worked into something truly admirable. -The men of our army are going to be given -a real practical education. Those behind the lines -who wish to continue a college or technical course, -dropped when the draft law went into effect, will be -able to do so. Those whose early education was neglected -will have a chance to go back to elementary -school.</p> - -<p>Men who do not care to take up any serious studies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> -will hear lectures, if they choose, in which they will -learn a great deal about French and English history. -In the very region, perhaps the very town, where great -events of history took place, they will hear the story -told. The past will become real. It will help our -men to understand the present.</p> - -<p>I know that our soldiers are thirsty for this kind -of an education. I was asked by the Y. M. C. A. -to lecture in some of the camps on what I saw of the -Russian revolution. It was with great reluctance that -I agreed to try one lecture. It did not seem possible -to me that soldiers, tired with the day’s labor, would -care to listen to such a subject.</p> - -<p>“I will try it once or even twice, if you like,” I -told the secretary, “but I’m afraid it won’t get across.”</p> - -<p>It did. I spoke something like thirty times, and -every time to crowded rooms. I spoke in sheds, tents, -theaters, town halls, and even in the open. I never -had such audiences. Their eyes were keen and bright -and they drank in every word. Afterward they crowded -around asking questions.</p> - -<p>These men are not going to be interested in women -who never read anything but novels and the cheap -magazines, who know nothing about geography or history -or politics. They will want to talk over their experiences -with their mothers and sisters and wives, -and if they can not listen intelligently the men are -going to be disappointed.</p> - -<p>Hundreds of soldiers with whom I talked showed -me pictures of their women at home. They said loving<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> -things, proud things, but the women they were -proudest of were those who were doing some kind of -real war service. “My sister Elizabeth is the head -of the Red Cross canteen at the union station in my -town. They feed hundreds of men every time a troop -train goes through.”</p> - -<p>“My wife is pretty busy these days, with the children -and her surgical dressings classes.”</p> - -<p>These are the things the men like to think of their -women doing while they are away. They see the -women workers in the canteens of the Red Cross and -the Y. M. C. A. in France. They see nurses and -women ambulance drivers working regardless of weariness, -careless of danger. They see all around them -unselfish, courageous service. The spirit is in the air -over there, and the men like to feel that their women -at home are like that, too.</p> - -<p>When the boys come home they want to come -back to women who have been born again into high -and noble patriotism. “Not only hats off to the flag. -Sleeves up for the flag.” That slogan, adopted by the -men in the steel industries who are speeding up the -building of ships, ships, and more ships, is the patriotism -our men are living every day in France, and -it is the kind they have a right to expect of the women -at home.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVII<br /> - -<small>WHAT KIND OF WAR WORK</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mrs. Rothschild</span>, of Kensington Palace Green, -a street in an exclusive residence district of West -London, is president of a society for the distribution -of Jewish literature among English Jews serving at -the front, or wounded in hospitals. Not long ago -the society held a large mass meeting in a seaside -resort where many wealthy Jewish people go in summer.</p> - -<p>The object of the meeting was to raise money, and -Mrs. Rothschild made a special journey from her country -home, a distance of twenty or thirty miles, to the -resort. She did this in her zeal to make her pet war -work a success, but—in so doing she broke a law of -Great Britain, got herself arrested and was fined sixty -shillings, about fourteen dollars and fifty cents.</p> - -<p>For Mrs. Rothschild, ignoring the fact that gasoline -is so scarce in England that most pleasure motor-cars -have been retired and automobiling, except for -war purposes, has been practically eliminated, deliberately -hired a car to take her from her home to the -meeting.</p> - -<p>The zealous Mrs. Rothschild knew the law. She -could not help knowing it, because every private car -in Great Britain and almost all taxi-cabs have huge<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> -gas bags on top, and are driven by gas instead of petrol, -as they call it there. But all she thought of was -her war work and her mass meeting.</p> - -<p>There are not many such women in Great Britain, -but every once in a while they are caught and fined. -Marie Corelli, the novelist, an ardent patriot on the -surface, was heavily fined for food hoarding. At a -time when food was terribly scarce in England, when -even the rich went without meat, butter or sugar, and -many working people ate dry bread and canned salmon, -Miss Corelli’s secret larder was found to be -stocked with hams, bacon, butter, sugar, tea, and all -manner of delicacies to last for nearly a year.</p> - -<p>I remember another woman of prominence who -had seventeen Persian cats for whom she managed -somehow to buy cream. When she was arraigned she -pleaded in extenuation that the cats were used to -cream, and that she gave three days every week to -canteen work at one of the railroad stations. The -flinty-hearted judge fined her nevertheless and threatened -her with a prison sentence unless the cats’ diet -was placed on a war footing.</p> - -<p>These instances are mentioned in order to illustrate -a condition of things to which we here in the -United States are not altogether strangers. I was -in Europe ten months out of the first year of our -participation in the war, and when I returned in May -I was naturally delighted to find signs that the country -was thoroughly awakened, and to learn that almost -every woman I knew was up to her eyes in war work.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>I knew already that American women generally -were aiding food conservation, saving meat, wheat and -sugar for the allies, for what the United States has -voluntarily sacrificed to feed Europe has done more -to earn the friendship and gratitude of our allies than -anything else we could have done. It is placed on a -par with our war loans of money. It has redeemed -us from the reputation of being dollar worshipers.</p> - -<p>There is no question of our zeal and our generosity. -There may be a question of our efficiency as war -workers. It is not enough to conserve food. We -must conserve effort as well. There is no reason why -we should repeat the mistakes made by our allies in -the beginning of the war. Just as we are benefiting -from their experience in fighting Germans in the -trenches, we should take advantage of their experience -in war service behind the lines.</p> - -<p>Their experience has convinced them that it is better -to have a few large organizations at work than -to have many small ones. It is better for various -reasons. One reason is that every community has -people like Mrs. Rothschild and the lady with the -seventeen Persian cats. They give with one hand and -waste with the other.</p> - -<p>Another reason why it is better to support the -Red Cross and the Y. M. C. A. than, for example, to -form a society for furnishing enlisted men with special -comforts, is that many such societies mean a -duplication of effort. There are seven large organizations -working officially in the war zone. Besides<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> -the two just mentioned the Salvation Army, the -Knights of Columbus, the Jewish Welfare Board, -the American Library Association and the Young -Women’s Christian Association are doing excellent -work. Among the seven our soldiers get about all -the little food luxuries they need.</p> - -<p>Soldiers are omniverous candy eaters, and they -deserve all the candy they want. But ship space is -precious. It is so precious that the War Department -had to deprive us of the great privilege of sending -packages to our sons. Only essentials, asked for by -the soldiers and approved by their officers, can be -shipped now.</p> - -<p>The Y. M. C. A. has to work hard to keep its -canteens supplied, for not only is shipping space limited, -but the railroads all over France are congested -with freight. The Red Cross uses its own motor-trucks -except for long hauls. So it seems a real duty -to ship as little as possible overseas, and to distribute -as much as possible through one of the seven official -organizations.</p> - -<p>That is the economical way, and the only way in -which the cost of distributing can be kept down. Every -separate society means more overhead charges.</p> - -<p>But what becomes of individual effort? it is suggested. -We want to do something more than give -money. We want to give personal service. Of course. -I should like to see women in the United States in -the same close personal touch with the government<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> -and with the army and navy as the women of England -are. I should like to see over here an organization -of women like the British Women’s Army Auxiliary -Corps, the “Wacks” as they are called. These women -are regularly enlisted members of the army. They -sign up for the duration of the war, they are under -the war ministry, they are subject to discipline, they -have their own officers, a uniform, they live in barracks -and they are paid by the government.</p> - -<p>The “Wacks” are organized to take the places of -men who are needed to fight. They do all kinds of -clerical work, they cook, wait on table at officers’ -mess, they have charge of supplies, they have almost -entirely taken over the signal branch, telephoning and -telegraphing and the like. There really seems to be -little that the “Wacks” haven’t taken over in the way -of civilian tasks. They even assist the veterinarians -in taking care of sick and wounded horses and mules.</p> - -<p>There are about twenty thousand women in this -branch of the British service. Some of them work in -Great Britain and others in France. Often they have -served under fire, and always with great bravery. The -telephone and telegraph operators have been cited for -coolness and devotion to duty under shell fire and air -raids. Great Britain is proud of her Women’s Auxiliary -Army.</p> - -<p>She is proud also of the Women’s Royal Naval -Service, known as the “Wrens,” of the great land -army of women who work on farms and help feed the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> -country and the army in France. Altogether there -are over a million women in Great Britain who have -signed up for government controlled war work.</p> - -<p>I talked with General Pershing about the possibility -of organizing women in America to release men for -the trenches. I told him that it distressed me to see -men in uniform working at card indexes, sorting mail, -pounding typewriters and attending to telephones. -He said that it was only a question of time before -some of this work, at least, would be taken over by -women.</p> - -<p>“I know that we shall have to have women telephone -operators,” said the commander. And within -a few months the first women telephonists were actually -in France.</p> - -<p>General Pershing told me at the close of our conversation -that he should, if consulted, recommend that -the work of our women be begun at home, in the cantonments. -That strikes me as an excellent idea.</p> - -<p>Women ought to be signed up for clerical work, -garden work and especially for housekeeping work in -all the cantonments. A uniform is absolutely necessary, -and the women should be officered and disciplined -by women. They should take over most tasks -not actually military, thus releasing officers and men -to drill. In this way the work of speeding up a huge -army would be greatly accelerated.</p> - -<p>Our army in the cantonments and in the field abroad -is very well fed, but there is no standard which has -to be maintained in all the regiments. If a company<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> -has a good mess sergeant the food is good, well selected, -well cooked and served. If it has a poor mess -sergeant the food is abundant but not well cooked or -served.</p> - -<p>If the officers of a regiment are as zealous, -thoughtful and resourceful as they ought to be the men -are as well taken care of as they would be at home. -I have in mind as a model officer a young first lieutenant, -a Yale man, in command of a company of negro -stevedores, at one of the great ports which we -are using in France.</p> - -<p>These men were all from the cotton fields of -Georgia and Alabama and the levees of the lower -Mississippi. They were magnificent physical specimens, -but fully seventy-five per cent. were illiterate. -Some officers would have looked upon them as animals -only fit to work. But this officer was a real person, and -to him each stevedore was an individual.</p> - -<p>He made out of scanty materials a comfortable, -sanitary, up-to-date camp for his regiment. He had -a bath house and a swimming pool, a laundry, a big, -cool, screened kitchen, a club for officers and a sitting-room -for the men. He had a cooking squad that was -the envy of the neighborhood and meals that were famous -for miles around.</p> - -<p>He told me how he did it. He said that he felt -sure that among all those negroes there must be a -lot of individual talent, and he went to work to find it. -He found one man who was a soup and meat cook -when he was not a cotton picker, and this man was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> -made soup and meat cook. He found another cook -to whom he entrusted the vegetables. Another man -was taught in the town to cook desserts and pastry.</p> - -<p>When spring came this resourceful young lieutenant -planted a garden, detaching certain men from -their stevedoring long enough to spade, cultivate and -plant. He had one of the happiest, healthiest, most -efficient working forces I saw in France. Why? Because -he possessed many of the housekeeping instincts -of a woman.</p> - -<p>Not all, perhaps not many, officers in our army -have housekeeping instincts, nor have they time to do -what this young Yale man did. The housekeeping -work of the army ought to a very great extent be in -the hands of women. It is the work they know how -to do. It is important, and women would be as proud -to succeed in it as the soldiers are to win victories.</p> - -<p>I would not like to be interpreted as being against -all small organizations for war work. Many of the -existing ones are doing good work. I know that all -women can not leave their homes for regular work -in any organization. But unless some miracle ends -this war within a year, I hope to see a great army of -American women enlisted like soldiers, for the duration -of hostilities uniformed and paid workers behind -the battle line here and in France, Italy, and wherever -else the war calls for workers.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> - -<small>THE DARK OCEAN LANES</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">In the</span> quiet little hotel which is my home when -I am on this side of the Atlantic, there have been -staying until recently a group of army nurses. There -were about one hundred and thirty of these nurses, -fine, strong, skilled women, and they were in New -York on their way to France.</p> - -<p>They didn’t know where they were to be stationed. -They were a California nursing unit and their goal -was a base hospital—but in what part of France the -base hospital was to be located, they knew no more -than I did.</p> - -<p>All they knew was that they were anxious to be -off. They were as eager to get to work in that hospital -as our soldiers are to get to the front. They -fretted at the delay, and they asked me a thousand -questions about France, about the medical service -corps, about the hospitals. Soon after their arrival -at the Atlantic coast the German submarines made -their sudden, savage attacks on American shipping. -American waters were reported full of these vipers of -the sea.</p> - -<p>They were said by some to be accompanied by a -“mother ship” which would keep them supplied for -an indefinite stay. There was talk of a possible base<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> -in Mexico from which whole fleets of U-boats would -come and go. Did all this have the slightest effect -on those nurses or on their eagerness to sail? Not -a bit of it. They simply said, wouldn’t it be the limit -if Secretary Daniels stopped all sailings? But of -course he wouldn’t.</p> - -<p>One morning I opened my door and saw a group -of these California nurses standing guard over an -enormous pile of hand luggage, suit-cases, satchels -and hold-alls. The women greeted me with broad -smiles.</p> - -<p>“Well,” I said, “you look as if you had packed all -your troubles in your old kit bags.”</p> - -<p>“We have,” they chorused. “Nobody’s got a trouble -in the world. We sail ‘from an Atlantic port’ -this afternoon!”</p> - -<p>Right out into the submarines. Across three thousand -miles of peril. Into the unknown. Without a -fear. This is not exactly what the war lords planned -when they sent their biggest submarines to blockade -the American coast. They did not hope, of course, -to stop all shipping from this side. But they undoubtedly -counted on terrorizing the American people, -especially the women.</p> - -<p>Not even the inflated German mind conceived the -notion that their submarines would prevent the sailing -of army transports. But we can easily imagine the -kaiser and his councilors reasoning that the mothers -and fathers and wives of the soldiers would be so -terrified that there would be trouble in the United<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> -States, trouble for President Wilson and Congress. -Riots in the streets, maybe. Breakdown of American -morale. They must have licked their lips at the -thought.</p> - -<p>The German psychology has been curiously twisted -before on this terror question, but it persists in spite -of the fact that nothing they have done in this war, -not even the ultimate horrors they committed in Belgium, -Serbia and Armenia, ever frightened anybody -except the immediate victims. The nations that are -bent on crushing out the authors of horror have never -been terrorized.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless I know that the mothers and fathers -and wives of soldiers, and the immediate relatives of -trained nurses who are crossing the seas in these perilous -times, must suffer great anxiety. Perhaps it may -give them a little comfort to know that the travelers -suffer less fear than they do. Perhaps they might -like to know what a sea voyage is really like in war -time. Some know, for they have crossed. The majority, -however, have not.</p> - -<p>I have crossed the Atlantic four times since we entered -the war, twice in a neutral boat, once in an -American, and once in a French boat. The first two -voyages scarcely count because the lane through which -we traveled was out of the submarine zone. Making -due allowances for the shifting of the zone, and for -the boche’s criminal practise of sinking neutral boats -“by mistake,” our steamer was lighted up at night like -Coney Island, and her name and nationality was displayed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> -on both sides of the hull in letters which could -be read at a great distance.</p> - -<p>In sharp contrast, the American and French boats -were kept as dark as pockets all the way over. They -were camouflaged in a manner that made me laugh -when I went aboard. All portholes were painted a -dark green, and they were locked every day at sundown. -No lights were shown, and travelers were -strictly forbidden after dark to smoke or to light a -match on deck.</p> - -<p>Of course, there was no music, no band on board. -No loud noise of any kind was permitted. The American -boat was peculiarly constructed, in that the passageways -leading to the main gangway had portholes -and doors looking out on deck. Because of the necessity -of showing no lights these passageways were -inky dark at night. When we went down to dinner -we found our way by taking hold of a rope stretched -from one end of the passageway to the companion -and then down to the dining saloon.</p> - -<p>The first thing that happens on a voyage nowadays -is a life-boat drill. A typewritten list is posted prominently, -giving each passenger’s life-boat assignment. -At the designated hour, shortly after sailing, the passengers -all put on life preservers and report at the -life-boat station to which they have been directed. A -ship’s company just now is overwhelmingly masculine, -and when all passengers are assembled the women find -that there are about two of them to each life-boat, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> -that their boats are generally filled with responsible -men and commanded by an officer.</p> - -<p>The officer in command of the life-boat visits each -boat station and calls the roll to make sure that no -one has failed to attend the drill. The officer makes -a speech at each station, telling the passengers exactly -what to do if the danger signal is sounded. They -must immediately make for their assigned places, fastening -on their life belts as they go. The sailors assigned -to the various boats will be the first to arrive, -and they know their duties. As for the passengers, -the women are to get into the boats before the men. -When all are in their seats the boat will be lowered.</p> - -<p>You get into the habit of lingering near your assigned -life-boat. The locality has a homelike feel. -You time yourself to see how long it takes to get from -your stateroom to the life-boat, and it gives a certain -confidence to learn that you can easily make it in two -or three minutes without running.</p> - -<p>At night you put your warmest clothes where you -can get into them quickly. Your life belt is always -where you can grasp it in a second. When you approach -the danger zone the life belt is never out of -sight. It hangs on the arm of your steamer chair, it -goes to the table with you. Soldiers, officers, nurses -and Red Cross members are required to wear their life -belts all the time while in the zone.</p> - -<p>No fear enters into these things. Nobody shows -fear, nor do I think that many feel fear. The vision<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> -of sudden death is present, but only as a mental conception. -Like being at the front. One gets used to it.</p> - -<p>On my American boat there was a very fine young -naval officer in command of as splendid a gun crew -as you would care to see. The ship was mounted -with eight guns, and one day in mid-ocean we had a -gun drill. The gunners, who had never left a single -piece unmanned for a minute, night or day, now had -an opportunity to show the passengers that they could -shoot as well as they could keep guard.</p> - -<p>A target hardly larger than the periscope of a submarine -was nailed to an empty barrel and thrown -overboard. When it was distant a quarter of a mile, -and only faintly to be seen by unpractised eyes, the -commander gave the word and the six-inch guns forward -blazed away at it. The ship meanwhile was -zigzagging just as she would in a real submarine attack. -In a minute or two this brought the aft guns -into play. One after another they flashed and roared; -and although the target was not struck at the first -shots, every shell fell near enough to have struck the -U-boat had the target been its periscope.</p> - -<p>The firing kept up for twenty minutes or more, -the boat continuing its gyrations the while, then she -settled down to her steady gait, and the commander -came in for felicitations.</p> - -<p>“That zigzag the captain has figured out,” he said, -modestly ignoring his own part in the performance, -“would make a submarine crew cross-eyed trying to -follow it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>Three days before we reached the British shores -both the captain and the commander vanished from -sight. They never came into the dining saloon again -during the voyage. They spent their time on the -bridge tirelessly watching. Up in the crow’s nest two -sailors also watched. With strong glasses they swept -the horizon and never ceased.</p> - -<p>The life-boats which hitherto had been swung high -up and level with the boat deck, now were lowered -to the level of the promenade deck. Everything was -in readiness. Far out across the gray and tumbling -sea the early dawn had seen the approach of two -American destroyers, the swiftest, slimmest, smartest -little craft afloat. It is no secret that these American -destroyers are and have for some time been patrolling -British waters, and magnificent work they have done.</p> - -<p>Exactly how many submarines our little destroyers -have sent to the bottom has not been given out, but -Mr. Lloyd George has more than once in the House -of Commons reported that the American boats were -having continuous successes.</p> - -<p>All the rest of the way those two swift destroyers -convoyed us. They swept in great circles all around -us. They plowed through the waves like dolphins, the -water sometimes completely engulfing them. They -never rested, and the passengers sat all day and -watched them with fascinated eyes. Nothing could -happen with those destroyers at hand.</p> - -<p>Such is the sea voyage on which our sons and -our daughters are traveling in these times of great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> -peril and uncertainty. As far as it is humanly possible -their lives are safeguarded against the enemy. There -is little difference in the precautions taken to defend -the transports. That each ship has traveled back and -forth so many times in safety is one of the marvels -of the war.</p> - -<p>To sink an American transport with several thousand -soldiers on board, any U-boat commander in the -Germany navy would almost barter his chances in -the next world. Can you imagine to what fame he -would spring overnight? They would have to invent -a new decoration to express the kaiser’s gratitude—his -and Gott’s. But nobody has won that decoration -yet, and nobody stands much chance of winning it, if -only the American father and mother keep cool and -stand by their government.</p> - -<p>We have sent over, Secretary Baker told us in -early July, more than a million soldiers, and we have -lost less than three hundred men at sea. Think of it! -The sea at that rate, even now, with U-boats on both -sides of the Atlantic, is safer to cross than Broadway -and Forty-second Street. Shall we keep it safe? Or -shall we do what the kaiser is probably praying for -every day of his life? Shall we please him, help him, -by demanding that some of those destroyers be sent -home to guard our shores? Never, while we keep our -intelligence.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIX<br /> - -<small>CLEMENCEAU THE TIGER</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">It must</span> be plain to everybody, even to the people -of the German empire and her vassal states, that the -allies will certainly win the war. The only thing that -could possibly alter that fact would be for one of the -great powers, England, France or the United States, to -make a very serious political blunder. We need not -be afraid now that such a thing will happen. We know -that President Wilson will stand firmly by the policies -which have brought him fame and gratitude throughout -the civilized world.</p> - -<p>Great Britain has had her worst political crisis, -and she has survived it. We trust David Lloyd George -to work wholeheartedly with Woodrow Wilson for a -fight to the finish with German militarism. But what -of France? What manner of man is at the helm in the -French capital? What about Clemenceau?</p> - -<p>All I knew about Clemenceau, when I went to -France last January, was that he was the editor of a -newspaper which seemed to attack everybody in the -French government, and which was frequently suppressed -by the censor. I had never seen a copy of the -paper. I knew that Clemenceau had had a long political -career, had been a member of the French Senate,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> -and also of the Chamber of Deputies, which -corresponds to our House of Representatives. For -a brief period also he was prime minister.</p> - -<p>Always Clemenceau appeared to be opposing something. -I thought of him as a firebrand with a talent -for writing ironic newspaper articles. Therefore, when -I reached Paris, when I began to read the French -papers and found them filled with praises of a -man they had previously denounced as a Judas; when -I heard the most conservative people speak of him as -the savior of France, I was filled with curiosity. I -began to ask everybody to tell me all about Clemenceau.</p> - -<p>To see him was difficult. To interview him an -impossibility. He spends half his time at the front, -and the other half working. Rarely did he find time -to visit the Chamber of Deputies. His speeches came -at rare intervals, and were never announced beforehand. -So the foreign office informed me.</p> - -<p>The best I could do was to sit down with people -who knew the prime minister and get from them the -extraordinary history of the man. Added to that I -followed day by day in the newspapers the amazing -progress of his policies announced last November when -he took office.</p> - -<p>“You ask my war aims?” he said to the Chamber. -“I have only one—to win.”</p> - -<p>Part of the programme of winning the war was the -suppression of the tribe of traitors and defeatists that -disgraced the name of France. These, including the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> -unspeakable Bolo and the former minister, Caillaux, -Clemenceau had fiercely attacked in his newspaper.</p> - -<p>When he told the Chamber that he intended to -push the prosecution of the accused men to the finish, -some one called out unbelievingly, “What! Caillaux?” -naming the man who wielded immense power, and who, -while Clemenceau was making his speech of acceptance, -was seated in the Chamber a few feet from the -tribune, a cynical smile on his lips.</p> - -<p>Thus challenged, Clemenceau paused just long -enough to turn and fix his blazing black eyes on the -man he had so often accused. He did not say a word. -He just looked. Turning furiously red, Caillaux half -rose from his seat. Clemenceau’s fierce eyes bored -him through, and, try as he might, Caillaux could -not return the gaze. He sank in his seat with averted -head.</p> - -<p>Turning once more to the deputies Clemenceau -said simply that as a newspaper man he mentioned -names, but as premier he would merely deal with indicted -criminals.</p> - -<p>He has dealt with them. Bolo has been executed. -Almereyda, one of the worst of the lot, died a violent -death in prison, Duval followed Bolo to the fatal -glade in the Park of Vincennes, Humbert was exiled -and Caillaux is in prison with the strongest possible -prospect of being shot as a traitor. A whole raft of -smaller treason mongers have received prison terms.</p> - -<p>Clemenceau is doing what the former governments -seemed to find impossible. He has adjourned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> -politics. And when I found that out I understood -why this man, the “Tiger,” as he is styled, is also -called the savior of France. For France has been -cursed with politics and politicians, and it is no affront -to the most universally loved and admired of all -nations to make that admission.</p> - -<p>I have no intention of trying to explain the political -parties of France, or the minute shades of opinion -that separate them. The Chamber of Deputies has a -right, or conservative, a left, or radical, and a center. -But every one of the three has a right, left and center, -and each one of the subdivisions seems to have. This -explains why France, or at least Paris, has more newspapers -than any place in the world.</p> - -<p>Scores of newspapers are displayed on the news-stands, -and there are some that are not displayed at -all, but are circulated none the less. Most of these -papers have only four pages and some have only two. -They are supported not by subscriptions or sales, much -less by advertising. The political group which each -represents does the supporting.</p> - -<p>With all these warring political parties represented -in the Chamber of Deputies, it is a wonder that anything -in the way of legislation is effected. But the -French people managed very well, until the war. Then -it was time to call a truce. But no prime minister before -Clemenceau was able to bring about a truce.</p> - -<p>Clemenceau, who had been out of office for some -years, thundered away in his paper, <i>L’Homme Libre</i>, -the <i>Free Man</i>, excoriating, abusing, calling down invectives<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> -on all party leaders alike. The mildest term -he applied to President Poincaré was Nero. The censor -suppressed one issue of the <i>Free Man</i> cutting -out everything in it except the head-lines. Clemenceau -changed the name of his paper to the <i>Man in Chains</i>. -The censor ignored him for a time and he changed it -again to the <i>Man Less Chained</i>.</p> - -<p>Everybody read the paper, because it was so brilliantly -written, especially the two columns of invective -which Clemenceau signed every day. Nevertheless, it -was a scandal. Nobody was spared. The “Tiger” respected -nor wealth nor power.</p> - -<p>Things were at a troublous pass in France during -the year 1917. The war did not approach an end. -There was a serious shortage of fuel. Agricultural -affairs were in a tangle. Russia, which owed France -vast sums of money, had collapsed. Traitors were -abroad in the land. While the real France fought gloriously, -immortally at Verdun, and at Ypres, the politicians -in the capital wrangled the hours away.</p> - -<p>People began to say, “We must have a strong government. -There must be unity. Who is the man to -give it to us?” One after another man they tried, -splendid men. Ribot, the diplomat, the grand old aristocrat, -who could talk familiarly with kings, the man -who had made the Franco-Russian alliance. Painlevé, -the intellectual, one of the greatest mathematicians -in Europe. Other statesmen. One by one they had -fallen. Clemenceau was usually responsible for their -fall. He kept after them until they got too unpopular<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> -to last. He is said, in the course of his entire career, -to have wrecked sixteen ministries and he certainly -removed one president.</p> - -<p>People began to say: “That man Clemenceau, that -‘Tiger,’ who has been such a firebrand, such a thorn in -the side of all the governments, that man has usually -been right in his judgments. He was right about Salonica. -We should never have sent General Sarrail -there. He was needed for France. Clemenceau said -so at the time, and he was right.</p> - -<p>“He was right about Bolo, too. He probably knew -what he was talking about when he accused Caillaux -of trying to persuade Italy to sue for a separate peace -with Germany. He was right when he said there -ought to be a generalissimo at the head of the allied -armies. Nobody, not even his worst enemies, ever -accused the ‘Tiger’ of being anything but a good patriot. -Why, he is the biggest and most single-minded -patriot in France. What if we had to have Clemenceau -for prime minister?”</p> - -<p>At first the idea was laughed at. Then it was discussed, -but then everybody said: “It can’t be done. -The Unified Socialists have declared against him in -advance. Poincaré may nominate him, for he is big -enough to forget that he was called a Nero, but without -the vote of the Unified Socialists the Chamber of -Deputies can not confirm any nomination.” The Unified -Socialists, it seems, is a party that hangs together -better than some of the other radical groups.</p> - -<p>Last November there was a real crisis in France.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span> -No use going into details now, because it is past. But -when the crisis was at its height the people discovered -that Clemenceau was not a firebrand after all. He -was the voice of France.</p> - -<p>His opposition had almost always been opposition -to hypocrisy and incompetence. His fiery invective -was fierce common sense, the common sense of the -good, brave, clear-visioned French mind. Here, at -least, was a man, not a politician. The Unified Socialists -alone clung to their opposition, confident that they -could block Clemenceau’s appointment. They had -blocked both Ribot and Painlevé in their efforts to -form ministries. They were ready to keep Clemenceau -from office.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, Poincaré sent for Clemenceau and -asked him to become prime minister. He accepted -bruskly, appealed to the Chamber of Deputies in a -speech full of patriotism and intelligent statements of -facts. He was accepted as prime minister by every -vote in the house except the fifty Unified Socialists and -fifteen extreme radicals. The vote stood four hundred -and eighteen to sixty-five.</p> - -<p>Clemenceau formed a cabinet which rather astonished -the French at first. He appointed two men who -were not even members of the Chamber of Deputies. -He included two of his old associates of former days -who had been almost as unpopular as himself. The -newspapers, while speaking moderately of all this, accused -Clemenceau of being a dictator. “He rules with -a rod of iron,” they complained. “He won’t let his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> -ministers mention the word peace in his presence. He -works everybody to death.”</p> - -<p>This old man of seventy-six is a fiend for work. -He once said that one reason he wrecked those ministries -was because they wasted so much time. He -opened the allied conference at Versailles with the -shortest speech on record. “Gentlemen, we are here -to work. Let us work.” The speech is shorter still -when it is turned into French.</p> - -<p>Soon most of the newspapers were supporting the -prime minister. He may have been a dictator, but -he got results. He took treason by the throat and -strangled it. He took hold of the army and strengthened -it. At least three times a week he motors to the -front, going so close to the firing line that several -times he has been in great danger, and once he narrowly -escaped being captured by a German patrol.</p> - -<p>If that patrol had captured Clemenceau the kaiser -would have issued a new medal and had all the church -bells in the empire rung, for the prime minister is, of -all Frenchmen, the most feared and hated by Germany.</p> - -<p>He has always seen through the Germans. His -newspaper has exposed their intrigues time out of -mind. About ten years ago the Germans tried to seduce -France into a huge colonial expansion scheme, -and if they had succeeded France and Great Britain -might have become hopelessly involved.</p> - -<p>That was one of Germany’s objects. Another -was to take France’s mind off Alsace-Lorraine. Jules<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> -Ferry, then prime minister, fell into the trap, but not -so Clemenceau. He denounced Ferry’s colonial policy, -called it by its right name, German intrigue, so -tigerishly and so long, that the people woke up and -Ferry went out of office.</p> - -<p>Once when Clemenceau was prime minister before, -the German government took offense at something -that was said or done to one of its consuls in -Morocco. The chancellor sent for the French ambassador -in Berlin and demanded an apology. If it were -not quickly forthcoming the German ambassador at -Paris would be recalled. When this was transmitted -to Clemenceau he sent for the German ambassador. -He told him without any preamble that there would -be no apology. “If you want your passports they are -ready for you,” he added. Germany backed down.</p> - -<p>Clemenceau’s diplomacy is like that. When the -Austrian premier dared to put forth the slander that -Clemenceau had sent a peace emissary to him the public -clamored for a statement. The prime minister, on his -way to the front, paused long enough to say over his -shoulder to the interviewers: “Count Czernin lies.” -And so it proved.</p> - -<p>The greatest thing that Clemenceau has done was -to unite the allied armies under a generalissimo. President -Wilson wanted it done long ago. The wisest -among the English wanted it done. But there were -difficulties that seemed insuperable. Then came the -almost fatal break in the British line last March. -Clemenceau rushed up to the front, and what he said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span> -there has never been revealed. But it was to the -point, and it smashed all the insuperable obstacles at -one blow. Foch took command. The disaster was -averted.</p> - -<p>“I am not old,” said Clemenceau humorously to -a friend. “I am just aged.” That is true. At a time -when most men are ready to retire he is crowning his -life’s work. He is the most thoroughly alive man in -France and one of the greatest men in the world.</p> - -<p>His newspaper, again <i>L’Homme Libre</i>, is still -published, but Clemenceau’s name appears merely as -founder. It is still a good newspaper, better in some -respects than before, because one of the first things -that Clemenceau did after taking office was to trim -the censorship down to zero. They have a fairly free -press in France now.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXX<br /> - -<small>FROM ALL FOES, FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">No statesman</span> is so great that he is admired and -supported by his entire community. Monsieur Clemenceau, -the splendid prime minister of France, who -has done so much in a few short months to unify his -nation and to bring the allied armies together under -one commander-in-chief, is no exception to the rule. He -has with him in the Chamber of Deputies the solid -vote of the right and center, the conservative and moderate -vote, and he has also some of the left or radical -vote. He is opposed by the radical socialists only.</p> - -<p>Some of the radicals with whom I talked in France -urged me, if I were to understand the French mind, -to see and talk with the leader of the opposition, Albert -Thomas. So one morning I went, by appointment, -to the modest apartment in the neighborhood -of the Chamber of Deputies which is the home of -Monsieur Thomas, and the center of activities of the -radical socialists of France.</p> - -<p>Accompanying me was Mademoiselle St. René -Taillandier of the French foreign office, a young woman -of exceptional intellect and an accomplished linguist. -Speaking English as well as her native French, Mademoiselle -St. René Taillandier agreed to go with me to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> -interview Monsieur Thomas, lest any shade of meaning -in what he said to me might be lost.</p> - -<p>Monsieur Thomas speaks no English, and I, of -course, have an imperfect knowledge of French. Whenever -I failed to understand some idiom or figure of -speech I halted the conversation until it could be interpreted -into English.</p> - -<p>I wanted to be fair to Monsieur Thomas and his -political group. My previously conceived admiration -for Clemenceau made me all the more anxious to understand -exactly why he was so vigorously opposed. -We talked for nearly an hour, and when I was down in -the street again, walking along the glittering Seine, I -said to my friend: “We have them like that in the -United States, honest, sincere, intelligent idealists; -with blinders on.”</p> - -<p>Judging from what I saw and heard in the apartment -of Monsieur Albert Thomas that morning, France -must have a considerable group of such idealists. We -were early for our appointment and waited for ten minutes -in the reception room, which was more like an -office, with a long table strewn with socialist literature -and propaganda pamphlets, and around the walls a -row of stiff cane seated chairs.</p> - -<p>A little girl in a black cambric pinafore attended -the door, which frequently opened to admit more visitors. -During my talk with Monsieur Thomas the -same little girl appeared half a dozen times bearing -cards and notes. There is no doubt that Monsieur -Thomas is the leader of a strong group.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>The head of the radical socialists in France is a -man of forty something, short, thickset, with blue, intelligent -eyes behind steel rimmed spectacles. He has -rather long brown hair, a beard of a lighter shade of -brown.</p> - -<p>His speech is quick and animated, with a little too -much oratory in it. Every question I asked him was -answered by a speech. It made me think of Gladstone -of whom Queen Victoria said: “He addresses me as -if I were a public meeting.”</p> - -<p>I asked Monsieur Thomas to tell me the spirit of -the French working people during the war. Were they -wholeheartedly patriotic, or was there any of the industrial -unrest that had made itself felt in England.</p> - -<p>“Our French working class is more stable than -the British,” he replied. “Every French man and -woman worthy of the name wants the allies to win -the war. In the Chamber of Deputies there have been -only three men who have not shown themselves genuinely -patriotic.</p> - -<p>“Those three went to Switzerland and discussed -the war with certain Germans. Their act was denounced -by all other socialists as well as by the bourgeois -deputies. The men have absolutely no following.”</p> - -<p>“Is the French working class solidly socialist, or -has it a majority of socialists?”</p> - -<p>“It has not a majority in numbers, but the socialist -element is very powerful, much more powerful -than surface indications show. In time of strikes the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> -party always wields great influence. It is impossible -for a stranger to understand the extent of socialist -opinion throughout France. Reading the newspapers -would not convey the facts to the stranger, because -unfortunately the press and the people here are not -together.”</p> - -<p>“Is your socialism revolutionary?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“No, it is more philosophical than revolutionary,” -was the reply. “The opinions of your President Wilson -are almost exactly ours. His war aims as stated -by him find absolute echo in the French popular mind. -Much more so than in the mind of the government.” -This with a flash and a gesture that spelled “Clemenceau” -very clearly.</p> - -<p>“We are not Bolsheviki, we are French,” he added -with emphasis.</p> - -<p>“I wish you would explain to me, if you are solidly -in favor of a peace with victory for the allies, why -your group, and especially you as leader, wanted to -go to the Stockholm conference and discuss peace -without victory with the Germans.”</p> - -<p>Monsieur Thomas demurred a little at my way of -putting the question, and right here I began to notice -the blinders.</p> - -<p>“It is true that I was and am warmly in favor of -the Stockholm conference,” he began. “I regret very -much that Mr. Gompers and the American Federation -of Labor have misunderstood my attitude and my -object in wanting to meet in Stockholm representatives -of the workers of all nations. They seem to think<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> -that my object was to fraternize with the Germans. -Not at all. My object was to tell the whole German -people the allies’ war aims, and their stated terms of -peace.</p> - -<p>“The German people do not know these aims. The -imperial government keeps the people in ignorance. -The press censorship is so complete that the real terms -on which we are willing to make peace have never -been published. We can not get at the German people -through their newspapers.</p> - -<p>“We could have talked to them through the Stockholm -conference, because even the censored press -would have published the proceedings of that conference. -The Germans then would have known the -truth.”</p> - -<p>“What makes you think that the censored press of -Germany would have been permitted to publish the -proceedings of the Stockholm conference?” I asked. -“It was not permitted to publish the war aims speeches -of President Wilson or Mr. Lloyd George.”</p> - -<p>“Why,” exclaimed Monsieur Thomas, with what -appeared to me a childish innocence, “their own loyal -Germans would have attended as delegates, and of -course the people would insist on hearing their reports.</p> - -<p>“Don’t misunderstand me,” he said. “I admit -that such a conference with the enemy, at a time when -the allied armies are engaged in killing that same -enemy on the battle-field, would be morally and sentimentally -a grave thing. But I am certain that the advantages -would have outweighed the disadvantages.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> -All the French socialists, except a group on the right, -agree with my point of view.</p> - -<p>“After the war the working classes in all the -countries will have to stand together, will have to have -a common programme, that they may force their point -of view on the governments. The Stockholm conference -would have furthered that solidarity. I regret -that the American working class can not see that.”</p> - -<p>I turned the question to the Russian collapse.</p> - -<p>“Ah, Russia, a great mystery, is it not? When -you think she is about to commit a treachery you see a -Brousiloff offensive. When you think she is about to -be sublime you behold the Brest-Litovsk surrender. -Anarchy! But Russia is too great to fall permanently.</p> - -<p>“Why are not France and America there now, -helping poor, wounded Russia? All we do is to send -a message to the Moscow soviet: ‘Russia will emerge.’ -<i>Mon Dieu!</i>”</p> - -<p>“To whom would you offer your help, Lenine -and Trotzky?” I asked. “Do you think that we can -help the Russian people through men who are daily -delivering them piecemeal to the Germans?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I do not think Lenine and Trotzky are -exactly German agents, although it is evident that they -took German money,” was the extraordinary reply. -“They are not traitors, they are fanatics. They see -nothing except their propaganda. Here was money -offered them, money they needed for their propaganda.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span> -German money—true, but what of it? They would -take any money!”</p> - -<p>Monsieur Albert Thomas evidently could not see -that men who would take German money were incapable -of being honest leaders, sincere prophets, or anything -in the world but liars, thieves and traitors. No -man can exist half crook, half honest.</p> - -<p>“They see nothing but their propaganda.” That -is a perfect description of Monsieur Albert Thomas -and all the other misguided idealists who walk with -blinders obscuring their eyes. They think and talk as -though unaware that the world around them was in -flames.</p> - -<p>On a battle-front of seventy-five miles our allied -soldiers are enduring such hardships, are performing -such miracles of labor, are suffering such wounds, such -horrible mutilations, that no imagination can compass -the facts. Every day some of these heroic men give -their blood, their beautiful young lives for the freedom -of the world.</p> - -<p>They die for our liberty without a murmur. And -while they are suffering and dying, a whole section of -the community in every allied country continues to -ignore them for one or another fatuous dream.</p> - -<p>In France when these dreamers beat at the Chamber -of Deputies to be allowed to go to Stockholm, -Clemenceau answered them: “I understand your idealism, -and I share it. But where we differ is that I am -under no illusion regarding the reality of facts.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span>The only important fact in the world is that we -are fighting the greatest war in history, “in order that -government of the people, for the people, and by the -people shall not perish from the earth.” Nothing else -matters. Nothing. Every other question is a side -issue, something to be considered and acted upon after -we have won the war.</p> - -<p>In this country we have our Bolsheviki who would -take advantage of the fact that our best beloved, our -sons, are fighting, giving their lives in a far land, to -seize power for their “class.” We have fanatics whose -paranoia finds expression in “radical” magazines. We -have propagandists who find supreme satisfaction in -going around the country making defeatist speeches, -and we have a public which exclaims in horror when -one of these talkers is arrested and given a well-merited -prison sentence.</p> - -<p>We have lawmakers, men in Congress, whose devotion -to their propaganda is so limitless that they -are willing to risk losing army appropriations, delaying -the progress of the war, in order to hasten a little -the prohibition campaign.</p> - -<p>We have theorists who can not think very much -about the war because they are so occupied with getting -on good terms again with a people who never were -honestly on good terms with anybody except themselves. -After all these years of slaughter these theorists -would smilingly get together with the men who -willed the slaughter and talk about a league of nations, -a society to abolish war.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span>“A league of nations!” exclaimed Clemenceau to -the Unified Socialists of France, led by Albert Thomas. -“What will a league of nations mean without Germany? -I for one will not let Germany in. You would -do so, and on what guarantees? Ask Belgium!”</p> - -<p>What are we Americans, those of us who walk -without blinders, who see and know the awful realities -of the hour, going to do about the class fanatics, propagandists, -egotist individualists, the sentimental theorists, -big and little? They are traitors to the world -that is struggling to be free. Whether they know it -or not, they are traitors. They fight side by side with -Attila.</p> - -<p>Rather, they are the camp followers of the Hun, -for they rarely do any fighting. When justice overtakes -them they nearly always throw up their hands -and cry “Kamerad.” They almost invariably claim -that they didn’t mean to be disloyal.</p> - -<p>The only thing to do with these people is to snatch -the blinders from their eyes and make them look at -the reality of a world at righteous war. As soon as -one defeatist comes within the law, seize him, imprison -him. Whether he is an I. W. W. criminal or a university -professor, or even a United States senator. Keep -on doing it. Treat women exactly as the men are -treated. It wouldn’t take long before the blinders -would begin to fall without assistance.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXI<br /> - -<small>LAFAYETTE, WE’RE HERE</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the great moments of this war was when -General Pershing, newly arrived in France, was -escorted in state to the tomb of the man who, in his -ardent youth, left the most luxurious court in Europe, -crossed the seas and offered his sword to George -Washington.</p> - -<p>The President of the French republic, the commander -of the French army, with other dignitaries of -the state and army, were in that escorting party, and -when they approached the tomb they paused in silence, -with bared heads, to hear what General Pershing -should say. They expected a formal speech, but -I do not think General Pershing could have made a -speech just then. What he felt was too deep and too -moving. His hand touched the hilt of his sword and -then the hand went out toward the marble, and General -Pershing said simply:</p> - -<p>“Lafayette, we’re here.”</p> - -<p>After the passing of a hundred and forty years -we are in France to pay our debt, to offer our sword, -the sword of America, to the cause of liberty. Whoever -says we are fighting a profiteers’ war or a politicians’ -war utters a lying slander. Whoever intimates that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> -we shall ever sheathe the sword of America until the -war is won, and the world is safe, simply does not -know the facts, nor the temper of our army.</p> - -<p>To make the world safe for democracy. That -phrase has been repeated so many times that it has -become almost a colloquialism. It is used in jest -sometimes. But it is written on the hearts of the -millions of men who have gone out to die, if need be, -to make that dream a reality.</p> - -<p>Whatever confusion of thought there may have -been in the minds of the first armies that rushed out -against the German invasion, there is no confusion -or misunderstanding in the minds of those who fight -to-day. The Belgians and the French fought first to -save their homes. The British fought because they -knew that their homes would next be endangered. -The Russians and the Italians fought because they -were attacked.</p> - -<p>No doubt there was in the consciousness of some -European statesmen the hope of territorial gains, or -diplomatic advantages to follow after an allied victory. -But that has all vanished now, drowned in the blood -of the brave at Malines, Louvain, the Marne, Verdun, -Rheims, Cantigny, Château Thierry, St. Michiel. -Europe, except that part of it still ruled by Attila and -his slaves, has purged itself of the old statesmanship, -the old sinuous, scheming diplomacy.</p> - -<p>There will never be any more Metternichs, or Talleyrands -or Castlereaghs, never any more secret agreements -between kings and statesmen. The old order<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> -has perished and now we have freemen fighting under -leaders like Wilson, Lloyd George, Clemenceau, to -make the world free.</p> - -<p>The hope of the toiling masses all over the world, -the vision of seers and prophets and poets since the -dawn of time; the dreams dreamed in garrets, in city -slums, in the snows of Siberia, on gallows high, on -the sacred cross. The world set free. Free from the -oppression of tyrants claiming divine rights; free from -the cold exploitation of privilege; free from poverty -and all the crime and prostitution and death that rise -like a hideous miasma from the mire of poverty; free -from war!</p> - -<p>That is the free world for which our sons have -crossed the seas to fight. That is the freedom for -which almost every country in the world has united -against the only remaining countries that do not want -it, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Bulgaria.</p> - -<p>In these pages I have tried to tell America, and -especially the mothers of American soldiers, the meaning -of the war, as it was shown to me over there. I -have tried to picture to them how their sons are preparing -to take their part in the war. How they are -growing up to their task, how they are building the -strong structure of an army, how they are laying the -foundation of true internationalism, how we through -our army are forming with the democratic peoples -of the world a holy alliance much greater and more -permanent than anything kings or statesmen ever -planned.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span>When this is being written the year is barely finished -that saw the first American transports sail for -France. Yet over hundreds of miles of territory behind -the battle lines our men, with hard and grueling -labor, have built the industrial forts that in this practical -age are necessary to an army’s life. They have -established a base of supplies for millions of fighting -men. They have built barracks, airdromes, hospitals, -warehouses, factories and repair shops.</p> - -<p>They have laid railroads, built wharves, dredged -a great river. They have done more, our men, than -dig themselves in trenches over there. They have -shown Europe and the world the true heart and metal -of America. What they have built will remain a -monument for generations to point to and admire.</p> - -<p>In Paris there stands a noble monument to our -Washington, and at no great distance there is another -to the rugged giant Abraham Lincoln. Each February -the French people go and lay wreaths on these -monuments. For years they have done this, and since -April 6, 1917, they have kept their colors entwined -with ours there.</p> - -<p>Those statues are symbols of the historic friendship -of France and America. I like to think that after -the war, when great ships sail out of an ancient port -of France, the sailors will remember that once they -had to wait for the highest tide, but that American -brawn and engineering skill scooped out the centuries -of sand and silt that their biggest transports might -pass with ease.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span>I like to believe that France will grow and prosper -because of the railroads we laid down, the wharves -and warehouses we built. Not in a spirit of boastfulness, -but of love and gratitude do I wish that -France may benefit from the things we have created -on her soil.</p> - -<p>I like also to think that the France of to-morrow, -and the Belgium which will be reborn, will be healthier, -happier, stronger of mind and soul for the work -of our Red Cross, for all the relief and succor we -have been able to send there. They will never forget, -those martyred Belgians, those hard pressed French. -Our troops never pass through a village, our flag never -appears that the children in the street fail to salute.</p> - -<p>Once they had reason to believe, those brave allies -in Europe, that we were merely generous of money, -that we were willing to give only out of our overflowing -pockets. But since we began to give our men -they think otherwise. They know now that everything -we have, everything we are, is pledged to the fight -against tyranny and the world’s woe.</p> - -<p>This spring and summer will see the preliminary -work of building an army well nigh completed, and -the men who have been handling picks and shovels, -those who have been learning the war game, the men -in camps and army schools will be ready to fight. Already -they have won their spurs in several fierce engagements, -and not yet has any fight of theirs been -lost. Already American soldiers are in Lorraine and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> -Alsace, fighting on what Germany calls her soil, but -which will never be hers, even in name, again.</p> - -<p>Can you imagine the wild joy, the renewed hope, -the quickened spirit that fills the hearts of the men -who have been fighting for nearly four years? -Against terrible odds, against one ally which German -cunning poisoned to death, almost against hope our -allies have fought. Thank heaven that we came up in -time.</p> - -<p>There is one question every returned correspondent -is asked, and the question has been put to me but -I have never answered it. When will the war end? -I am going to answer it now. Not in terms of years, -because I, no more than the greatest general, can do -that. The war is going to end when it is won. Not -a day, not an hour before. Much fighting, horrible -suffering, enormous sacrifice lie between us and victory, -but victory is sure.</p> - -<p>We shall lose thousands, hundreds of thousands, -it may be. But for every American soldier that falls -eight Germans will die, be sure of that. The only -army in the world that is absolutely fresh and untired -is the American army. Our men will tire, but before -they do all the Germans left alive will be exhausted.</p> - -<p>The pæan sung by William the accursed to glorify -the thirtieth anniversary of his succession to the throne -of the Hohenzollerns is the last one he will ever sing. -The first battle in France by an American division -sealed the doom of the Hohenzollerns. It was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> -beginning of the last act of the world’s bloodiest -drama.</p> - -<p>Lafayette, we’re here. The countrymen of Washington -and Lincoln could not keep out of this fight. -We shall never stop coming, never stop fighting until -the war to free the world is won. France, Italy, Belgium, -Russia, wherever the red tide leads take our -sons. Spare us all useless sacrifices, for they are very -dear to us, those young, bright lives.</p> - -<p>But take them, take them all if need be, leave -this generation wholly bereft and mourning, rather -than surrender to the hordes of Attila. Better for -us any sacrifice of blood and tears than to lose the -dream, now at last so nearly realized, of the world -set free.</p> - -<p class="center">FINIS</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.</p> - -<p>The Table of Contents does not appear in the original but was created by the transcriber for the convenience of the reader.</p> -</div></div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SOLDIER'S MOTHER IN FRANCE ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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