ted States, from the bedside of his dying wife,
appealed to the nations for some means of reaching peace for Europe. The
last thoughts of his dying helpmate, were of the great responsibility
resting upon her husband incident to the awful crisis in the lives of
the nations of earth, that was becoming more pronounced with each second
of time.

The Pope was stricken to death by the great calamity to civilization. A
few minutes before the end came he said that the Almighty in His
infinite mercy was removing him from the world to spare him the anguish
of the awful war.

The first inclination of America was to be neutral. She was far removed
from the scenes of strife and knew little of the hidden springs and
causes of the war. Excepting in the case of a few of her public men; her
editors, professors and scholars, European politics were as a sealed
book. The president of the United States declared for neutrality; that
individual and nation should avoid the inflaming touch of the war
passion. We kept that attitude as long as was consistent with national
patience and the larger claims of HUMANITY and universal JUSTICE.

As an evidence of our lack of knowledge of the impending conflict, a
party of Christian men were on the sea with the humanitarian object in
view of attending a world's peace conference in Constance,
Germany--Germany of all places, then engaged in trying to burn up the
world. Arriving in Paris, the party received its first news that a great
European war was about to begin. Steamship offices were being stormed by
crowds of frantic American tourists. Martial law was declared. The
streets were alive with soldiers and weeping women. Shops were closed,
the clerks having been drafted into the army. The city hummed with
militarism.

Underneath the excitement was the stern, stoic attitude of the French in
preparing to meet their old enemy, combined with their calmness in
refraining from outbreaks against German residents of Paris. One of the
party alluding to the incongruous position in which the peace delegates
found themselves, said:

"It might be interesting to observe the unique and almost humorous
situation into which these peace delegates were thrown. Starting
out a week before with the largest hope and most enthusiastic
anticipation of effecting a closer tie between nations, and
swinging the churches of Christendom into a clearer alignment
against international martial attitudes,