ought really more terrible than the thought of
unnumbered shattered bodies and hopeless hearts?

How ineffectual so far are all European attempts at democracy! Carlyle's
satire about the thirty men of Dumdrudge called out, they know not why,
to kill thirty men from a Dumdrudge elsewhere is not referred to in
these days; but it still expresses the essential absurdity of wars.

Here is an extract from the _Labour Leader_ of August 19, 1915:

My friend must not be identified. But here is an incident he
told me I can safely relate. During the unauthorised Christmas
truce of eight months ago so chummy did a British officer and a
Saxon officer become that the Saxon officer gave his enemy "an
invitation to visit him in Germany at the end of the war," and
"stay as long as you like," he added. The British officer is
still carrying the address in his pocket in the hope that one
day he may be able to accept the invitation.

The _Labour Leader_ is much disliked by the orthodox of England, as is
the _Vorwaerts_ by the orthodox of Germany. It seems to me that both may
be rendering a fine service to the cause of humanity, and one may surely
say this without implying complete agreement with the opinions or the
policy of either.

WOUNDED ENEMIES.

Writing home to his mother in Somerset, a member of the R.A.M.C. says:
"You will find inside a German button for a souvenir. It was given me
by a wounded German prisoner. After he had had his wound dressed, he
pointed to his buttons and made signs for me to cut one off. He hardly
knew how to thank us after he had finished his tea, and his eyes gleamed
with gratitude as he looked around at us." (_Daily News_, August 26,
1915.)

From a private letter: "The following is first hand, and of interest.
Dr. S. lectures on first aid to C.'s squad. During the course of a
lecture on the heart he referred to a visit paid to the local hospital.
In the hospital was a man who had been a prisoner in Germany. Dr. S.
asked the man about his treatment. In the course of the talk the man
said that if he had his choice he would prefer to be in a German
hospital! Dr. S. smiled when he related this. 'This is not the kind of
statement,' he said, 'that is published in the newspapers!'"

There comes into my mind the photograph of a British prisoner in a
German camp. The boy's mother was delighted to see him looking so well.
The photograph was the more striking as the lad was wo