ght for liberty, and to help them, France sent
soldiers, ships and two great generals, Rochambeau and La Fayette. You
owe France for that, but since then you have incurred other debts.

"Though you may never have visited France, her art, literature, her
discoveries in Science, her sense of what is beautiful, whether in a
bonnet, a boulevard or a triumphal arch, have visited you. For them
you are the happier; and for them also, to France you are in debt.

"If you have visited Paris, then your debt is increased a hundred fold.
For to whatever part of France you journeyed, there you found courtesy,
kindness, your visit became a holiday, you departed with a sense of
renunciation; you were determined to return. And when after the war,
you do revisit France, if your debt is unpaid, can you without
embarrassment sink into debt still deeper? What you sought Paris gave
you freely. Was it to study art or to learn history, for the history
of France is the history of the world; was it to dine under the trees
or to rob the Rue de la Paix of a new model; was it for weeks to motor
on the white roads or at a cafe table watch the world pass? Whatever
you sought, you found. Now, as in 1776 we fought, to-day France fights
for freedom, and in behalf of all the world, against militarism that is
'made in Germany.'

"Her men are in the trenches; her women are working in the fields,
sweeping the Paris boulevards, lighting the street lamps. They are
undaunted, independent, magnificently capable. They ask no charity.
But from those districts the war has wrecked, there are hundreds of
thousands of women and little children without work, shelter or food.
To them throughout the war zone the Secours National gives instant
relief. In one day in Paris alone it provides 80,000 free meals. Six
cents pays for one of these meals. One dollar from you will for a week
keep a woman or child alive.

"The story is that one man said, 'In this war the women and children
suffer most. I'm awfully sorry for them!' and the other man said, 'Yes
I'm five dollars sorry. How sorry are you?'

"If ever you intend paying that debt you owe to France do not wait
until the war is ended. Now, while you still owe it, do not again
impose yourself upon her hospitality, her courtesy, her friendship.

"But, pay the debt now.

"And then, when next in Paris you sit at your favorite table and your
favorite waiter hands you the menu, will you not the more enjoy you