his
flask, while the German was endeavoring to stanch my wound with an
antiseptic preparation served out to their troops by the medical
corps. The Highlander had one of his legs shattered, and the German
had several pieces of shrapnel buried in his side.

"In spite of their own sufferings, they were trying to help me; and
when I was fully conscious again the German gave us a morphia
injection and took one himself. His medical corps had also provided
him with the injection and the needle, together with printed
instructions for their use. After the injection, feeling wonderfully
at ease, we spoke of the lives we had lived before the war. We all
spoke English, and we talked of the women we had left at home. Both
the German and the Britisher had been married only a year....

"I wondered--and I suppose the others did--why we had fought each
other at all. I looked at the Highlander, who was falling to sleep,
exhausted, and, in spite of his drawn face and mud-stained uniform, he
looked the embodiment of freedom. Then I thought of the Tricolor of
France and all that France had done for liberty. Then I watched the
German, who had ceased to speak. He had taken a prayer book from his
knapsack, and was trying to read a service for soldiers wounded in
battle. And ... while I watched him I realized what we were fighting
for.... He was dying in vain, while the Britisher and myself, by our
deaths, would probably contribute something toward the cause of
civilization and peace."

Thus wrote this young French officer of cavalry to the lady of his
heart, the American lady to whom he was engaged. The Red Cross found
the letter at his side. Through it she learned the manner of his
death. This, too, is the Pentecost of Calamity.

XIII

And what do the women say--the women who lose such men? Thus do they
decline to attend at The Hague the Peace Congress of foolish women who
have lost nobody:

"How would it be possible, in an hour like this, for us to meet women
of the enemy's countries?... Have they disavowed the ... crimes of
their government? Have they protested against the violation of
Belgium's neutrality? Against offenses to the law of nations? Against
the crimes of their army and navy? If their voices had been raised it
was too feebly for the echo of their protest to reach us across our
violated and devastated territories...."

And one celebrated lady writes to a delegate at The Hague:

"Madam, are you really English?