AMBULANCE MEN WORKING OVER A GASSED SOLDIER
Photo by International Film Service.AMBULANCE MEN WORKING OVER A "GASSED" SOLDIER.
Photo by International Film Service.
AMBULANCE MEN WORKING OVER A "GASSED" SOLDIER.
Of course I cannot know how much actual painhe felt, as it is possible that the gas deadened his nerves and yet caused him to twitch in this awful manner; but if poor "Frenchie" suffered any worse than I did in those few minutes, he is better off dead than living. Finally he turned a bluish green color and at last gave one great gulp and died. It was with heavy hearts that we carried him out and then I went back to the depot.
The Boches had made a terrific charge on about a quarter of a mile front, but were repulsed with very heavy losses. Naturally our brave boys were exulting over the fact that they had stood their ground and made the Germans quickly retreat, leaving numbers of their men upon the field. I was not very jubilant, however, because the thought of poor "Frenchie" was still in my mind. Then another shock came to me. I had gone back to the depot only to find my other comrade, Jean, lying on a piece of canvas on the floor with a bandage around his head. His face was turned away from me and a man was administering temporary treatment. I asked him what was the matter, and upon hearing my voice Jean answered for himself. "Well, I guess I got mine that time, but you can bet I gave a good account of myself first. It is all forLa Belle France,anyway, and I am damn glad it happened!" He became weak then, and didn't speak any more. As soon as I got the chance, I asked the soldier standing by more particularly about the nature of the wound and he said in a low and faltering voice: "Jean will recover all right, for his wound is not fatal at all, but," and he broke down as he continued, "he'll never see light again. The poor fellow has both eyes shot out."
An then he told me what a wonderful fight Jean had put up first, accounting for four Germans in hand-to-hand fighting. Poor Jean! He will grope his way through life! But the thing that impressed me most was his inner feeling, "It's all forLa Belle France, and I'm damn glad it happened!"
You can't whip a nation like that.
I had a sort of habit, when I had time off from the work, or was "on my own," of sometimes going to the railroad stations of the different towns and more especially those of Paris. A railroad station is an interesting place at any time. It is an educational institution, for there you find all classes of humanity coming and going, just as they are. It is where the ebb and flow of the human tide of life is.
But I think in this time of war, especially, there is no place which so well shows up the psychology of the people as the railroad depot. Often have I stood in those large Paris stations and watched the people come and watched them go. The Gare du Nord, the Gare du Lyons, and the Gare la Chapelle are full of sentiment and pathos.
Once at the last named station I was standing in the background in the shadow of a pillar, where I was unobtrusive and unnoticed, and watched the anxious people. Some of them were looking fortheir loved ones back on leave, and some of them had come to see their loved ones leave, perhaps forever!
I saw a young wife approach the gate with her husband. The brave little woman had escorted hermarito the station as he was leaving for the trenches, to take his place there in the mud and blood. And yet, as she stood there and talked to him outside the gates, she was exceptionally merry and vivacious. Then just as he went through the gates to board the train, she kissed him and waved him a cheeryau revoirand stood smilingly, waving as he went out of sight.
And then—I saw that brave French woman turn around, and, as she walked away or almost stumbled away, become shaken with a paroxysm of sobs and grief, as though the heart were wrenched out of her breast.
How she did weep!
But she would not let her husband see it for anything in the world, for she felt she must keep him up so that he could fight the battle. That was her bit forLa Belle France. And I have seen that same thing repeated very many times.
I have often watched strong men come into the depots with their brothers who were going to thetrenches. And as they talked with those dear ones who were going out to meet the foe, they would be happy and buoyant in their manner, and as they separated, they would kiss each other like young lovers, with prolonged and passionate kisses, for both realized that they might never meet again. And the cheeryau revoirwhich they waved to each other meant "Till we meet again," probably "over West." But they did not then show a trace of sadness. The soldier would board his train and the man who was left behind would turn away, convulsed with weeping; but he wouldn't let his brother see it. It was all forLa Belle France.
The soul of the French is a wonderful thing. They have a calm confidence that finally the invader will be vanquished, and that confidence goes a long way toward the goal. Not so many years since, the French were looked upon by many as being an enervated, effeminate people. I suppose the tourists who visited Paris had taken their impressions from a few of the men and women whom they had observed in the cafés and public places. At any rate, a great many Americans thought that as a nation she was degenerating and decaying, but France has proven to the world thatsuch an impression is not true, and no one has learned this lesson better than the German. Today I believe Germany respects France more highly than any other of her enemies. This great Republic has conducted through these years such a remarkable war, and all the while kept up such a magnificent spirit that she has placed herself in the very front rank of the world's great powers. The secret of it all is the wonderful psychological attitude of the French people who go to make up the country, and if America can demonstrate a spirit which parallels it in the trying days to come, it will bode well for the outcome of the war.
I am glad I went. My part, though humble, in this great struggle for human freedom, has done worlds for me, and I shall always rejoice that I had that profound experience. Physically, I overdid things, yet I wanted to do more. Everybody does. I often took foolish chances as I now see, but I am not sorry for it. I got little sleep and insufficient food, but I was happy in my work. Not infrequently as I worked I had realized the danger, but I didn't seem to care. Forgetting my own best interests, I guess I often did more than I should have done. But these things cannot last forever. The body wearies, the braintires, the nerves fatigue, there comes about a physical condition when the members of the body simply refuse to obey orders. Such a condition I suppose had come upon me. For some time I had felt it coming, but I still did not let up, though I was working like a man in a dream.
At last, however, my nerves completely gave way. I saw that I must give up the work entirely and with great regret was forced to do so. I was given my release and a military ticket, but I was loath to leave the country which had opened my eyes to the deeper values of life. The people that I had met and the atmosphere in which I had labored had brought a new meaning to the words "Life" and "Liberty," and I felt I was better fitted for my duty toward humanity. I had gained a something over there which I never got before in all the years of my academic education and a strange emotion tugged at my heart at the thought of leaving France. I vowed that if possibility presented itself I would return again to help the poilus.
Out there on the Western front a marvelous spirit seems to have possession of the people. I doubt if the world ever saw such a close and intimate communion of millions upon millions of men banded together for one mighty purpose, namely, the preservation of Liberty on the earth. Men endure suffering and women undergo hardships such as they never dreamed to be possible. In every age Liberty has had its champions and morality its martyrs, but there never was a time when such hosts of crusaders from every corner of the world with one accord marched forth to sacrifice for a common cause. Men seem to vie with one another as to who can do the most. Hardship is accepted with a jest. Women with sleepless eyes watch over sufferers on beds of pain, never thinking of self but rather losing themselves in the great purpose for which it is all endured. They seem to have a vision which is almost superhuman. Most of us can see only today and its security andhappiness; but these messengers are looking to the welfare of their children's children to the third and fourth generation. To them the general good of Humanity looms up and eclipses all considerations of personal comfort or convenience. And so they keep on toiling and enduring through the months.
At one time when I was in a hospital I made my way down to a room where the ladies were serving four o'clock tea. I arrived just a few moments too late, and much to my chagrin the ladies were clearing away the dishes. I saw a woman carrying a plate full of cakes—all that were left—out of the room and up to the wounded soldiers above. I stopped her, jokingly, saying, "I'm going to steal one of those cakes. I came late." She graciously held the plate out to me while I helped myself, saying as she did so, "You boys deserve them if anybody does. We can't do enough for you."
A moment later she stepped out, and I said to the lady who handed me a cup of tea, "I almost lost my cake today as I was late. What is the woman's name who took the plate upstairs?" Her answer stunned me. "That's Mrs. Vanderbilt," she said modestly.
And then I began to think. What was Mrs. Vanderbilt doing over there working in a hospital?What are all the influential and wealthy people doing now, to lighten the burden and help the cause? There is certainly a sympathy between the high and low which was never known before anywhere in the world.
This day as I sat there, I suppose with a rather serious expression on my face, a nurse put in her appearance. "Why, my friend," she said, "what makes you look so sober?" "Oh, nothing," I said, and tried to smile. "Yes, but there is and you must tell me," she persisted. "I was thinking about America's pacifists," I answered. "I used to be one myself, but I now see that they are injuring the cause that these brave fellows are dying for, and they ought to be severely punished. My own effectiveness is hampered and has become insignificant because of my former attitude, but from now on I am going to stand up for the fighting soldier every time."
"Your idea is right," answered the nurse. "The pacifists back in the States who have been objecting to the government's policy and who have dodged and evaded their duty, ought to be put in jail. But," and she emphasized her statement with her index finger, "you are a bit hard on yourself, I think, and your work is notinsignificant. You have tried to do your little bit here to atone for having been a pacifist and now it is possible that you may do much in the States by your voice and pen to rouse the people of America to their patriotic duty. You may teach them many lessons."
"I myself have learned one great lesson over here," I said. "I have learned that in order to find happiness one must lose himself. He must give up himself in a worthy cause."
"I understand," replied the nurse. "I can see that you have become imbued with the spirit of sacrifice which seems contagious here in this land. Everybody has it."
"Well, I don't know about that," I said, "but whatever you may say, I do know this: I know that those poor fellows out there in the mud have given all they've got to make the world safe from Germany, and we ought to do the same. The one who is a pacifist now, is a slacker, a traitor, and in reality, a murderer. He is prolonging the war and thus sacrificing additional lives. I know that the Man who gave His life on the cruel cross, two thousand years ago, gave it for liberty, the same as these soldiers are doing today, and when I read in the American papers now and then of some ofthe obstructionists in our own country, who are railing at the President and scoffing at what is being done to prepare our army, I can't express myself."
"You must be patient though," she said, "for such men will come to their deserts, and I am so glad that I have had the pleasure of knowing you, and as you take your departure, I want you to know that I shall always remember you in the first capacity in which I knew you, as an ambulance worker, and because of your activity in saving lives—for that above all is the one thing I am interested in."
The blackest aspect of the sin which Germany has committed in this war is not to be found in the ruined churches and the devastated homes. The vandalistic crime which asserted itself in destroying school-houses and libraries and works of art, in desolating the fields and laying low the country, sinks into the background when compared with the wickedness of sowing that heritage of hate in untold millions of hearts—a hate which will endure and bear fruit against her long after the present conflict has passed into history.
Ernest Lissauer, in his well-known "hymn" expressed the venom and hatred of Germany for those of other nations who do not concede her the right of world conquest, and was decorated for it by the Emperor. And although an attempt was made to suppress the hymn after the Germans realized its detriment to themselves the seed had been sown far and wide and could not be recalled.Germany had spread race hatred in the world, and that is the greatest barrier there is to human progress.
DESTRUCTION OF A FRENCH HOSPITAL BY A GERMAN BOMB
Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.DESTRUCTION OF A FRENCH HOSPITAL BY A GERMAN BOMB.Utter disregard of humanity's laws is the German way of fighting. The photograph shows the basement of a hospital after it had been deliberately bombed by the Germans. To the left can be seen a mass of iron beds and human bodies intermingled. Such is German "Kultur."
Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
DESTRUCTION OF A FRENCH HOSPITAL BY A GERMAN BOMB.
Utter disregard of humanity's laws is the German way of fighting. The photograph shows the basement of a hospital after it had been deliberately bombed by the Germans. To the left can be seen a mass of iron beds and human bodies intermingled. Such is German "Kultur."
Universal brotherhood for which Jesus lived and died, and for which the noblest men have always lived, has been turned back a thousand years by Germany, and that is her great crime. That is the accusation for which her military leaders will have to answer before the bar of God on the solemn Judgment Day. She sowed to the wind and she reaps the whirlwind. Not only has she stirred up bitterness and hate in the breasts of her own people, but by her foul deeds, the offspring of that hatred, she has planted a hate in the very beings and natures of the people of her enemy countries which almost equals it. In the earlier days of the war it was occasionally said that there was no hatred between the opposing soldiers and that the people of the conquered territories often fraternized with the German invaders. It was a lie. Although the men of France and Belgium were very scarce in the towns and cities, because most of them had gone to the trenches, and although the women were perhaps lonesome for companionship, yet woe be to that insulting German soldier who attempted to converse or walk with a French girl onthe street, for he would receive such a withering look and answer as would make the blood run cold in any man with an ounce of self-respect. The girls of the conquered countries today would rather play with serpents than hold any kind of conversation or have any social intercourse with the haughty invaders.
In the beginning they tried to force their obnoxious attentions on the women; but they soon learned better and in the regions which they arrogantly possess today the German soldiers are the most shunned and lonely people that ever lived. Little babes just learning to talk are schooled to hate the Germans. Many a time I have seen young mothers with painstaking care drilling the little ones to lisp vengeance upon their enemy. Instead of the affectionate terms of "papa" and "mamma" which all nationalities first teach the infant the outraged inhabitants pronounce the wordsLes Allemands Boche, andThe Kaiser Kaput. "The Germans are contemptible" and "Cut the head off the Kaiser."
No man need tell me that this universal feeling will soon die away and that when peace comes about normal relations will soon be restored. It is not human nature. Like the snake in the gardenof Eden which brought the hatred of the race upon itself so that evermore "the heel of mankind shall crush the serpent's head," so has Germany brought down the maledictions of the human race upon her head, so that for a long time to come the hand of every man will be against her. This is the sad part of it all and this is the crime for which Germany will yet give account. I heard one soldier, who had had more than ordinary experience with their method of atrocity, say: "I'd like to have every man, woman, and child in Germany killed without mercy and I'd like to be there with the bayonet to finish up the job!"
I maintain that if God be just, not that man, but his enemy who drove him to that attitude will be held to account for his fearful hatred. When history is written and when Germany, instead of profiting by her sin, shall be eating the bitter fruits of her own unrighteousness then shall the Scripture be fulfilled in her ears, "Ye cannot gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles." "The way of the transgressor is hard," and "In like manner as ye sow, so shall ye reap, full measure, heaped up, shaken together, running over."
It is not merely a penalty placed by the Allied nations upon an offending country. It is notsimply that we shall say we will "get even with her" and will take revenge for all her inhuman outrages, but it is that the immutable fiat of God goes forth, and that the one who flings himself against that great law shall pay to the uttermost farthing.
My fists are now clinched! I am fighting now. My experience as I have here given it, drives me to this inevitable conclusion. Germany, as she now is organized, cannot be tolerated in a modern world. She must be vanquished! Bloodshed is not the worst thing in life. The slaughter of the men who are enslaving and killing millions is today a Christian duty, so help me God!
To me has come the Great Awakening. I have surrendered myself to Him. America, the strongest democracy of history, has undertaken to fight and defeat the Kaiser. Every man, woman, and child in this nation must be mobilized in order to guarantee this outcome. In this supreme, vital hour, the pacifist and the slacker shall suffer the damnation of hell! Fighters are patriots—pacifists are traitors. The whole nation must undergo a rigid system of preparedness to accomplish this great task of safe-guarding our own and the world's liberties, and further than that, to make amore stalwart citizenship than we now possess. We need a more robust young manhood than we have. We are living in the greatest Republic the world ever saw. We have more liberty than any land on earth—more than some people know how to use sensibly. But "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," therefore, my people, arouse! I plead, and get behind the government with every ounce of energy and support that you can muster. Buy Liberty Bonds, give to the Red Cross, conserve the food, encourage the drafted men, enlist yourself in some branch of the Service and Help to Win This War! If you can't go, remember this: You must equip the brave fellows who do go. As my friend said to me, "None of us must think his part insignificant."
Out there, it is a fact that the spirit of sacrifice is contagious. No man counts his life dear to himself. It must become so here. Every shoulder is required at the wheel, as our foe is a monstrous one.
I labor under no delusions as to the weakness of the enemy. Germany is still powerful and will fight with the desperation of an animal that is cornered, and we must prepare for a long, hard battle. Universal Service today is the one thing which issaving America and civilization. Always remember that. And our youths need it to make men of them mentally and physically. Our boys need it for their own good and the good of the future. It is a preparation for life that we need in America and with it we will be prepared for anything.
We have had perhaps too much liberty in our land, and it has often made boys a lawless, careless, disrespectful, slouchy crowd, thinking only of what they can get out of life and not of what they can give in the way of service. These are not my personal opinions. They are well-known facts and the highest army officers have bitterly complained of them. Even the father who is against Universal Service will admit their truth. The boys of America need to learn courtesy, obedience, respect, efficiency. Their hearts are right and the present fault is not entirely their own. They have not been disciplined. Let us now be wise.
I am closing up my little book. I'm back from hell. Back from the hell made by the Kaiser and his German hordes in Europe. But also, and more significantly, back from the hell of pacifism, when God is crying, "Militancy, my son!" Back from the hell which says, "Sleep on, thou sluggard, inthy peace and cowardice, while God, and the other nations are awake and doing, against the wicked adversary." Back from the hell which whispers, "Lose thy soul, but save thy skin." Back from the hell in which men like David Starr Jordan and Mr. Bryan and my humble self have been. Pacifism is hell, when heaven challenges the soul to fight. So I am going to fight. I have found my soul through war. I'm a saved man. I'm happy at last and I am going to preach it now. I am going to speak and write as long as I have power, to help America win the war primarily, and then to help make America a better country by making her people better citizens, and thus help to make this place we live in a better world.
We must fear God and down the Kaiser. And I do not know of any more fitting words that could be used in closing up this little war message to the American people, from a common, humble helper, than those of our great National Anthem:
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,And this be our motto:—"In God Is Our Trust."The star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,And this be our motto:—"In God Is Our Trust."The star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,And this be our motto:—"In God Is Our Trust."The star-spangled banner in triumph shall waveO'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto:—"In God Is Our Trust."
The star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.
AMERICAN HOSPITAL AT NEUILLY TRANSFERRED TO GENERAL PERSHING
Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.AMERICAN HOSPITAL AT NEUILLY TRANSFERRED TO GENERAL PERSHING.The ceremony at the transfer of the American Hospital at Neuilly to General Pershing. The hospital was the first American monument of sympathy for the French Republic.
Copyright, Underwood & Underwood, N. Y.
AMERICAN HOSPITAL AT NEUILLY TRANSFERRED TO GENERAL PERSHING.
The ceremony at the transfer of the American Hospital at Neuilly to General Pershing. The hospital was the first American monument of sympathy for the French Republic.
And may the ideals of that flag and the flags of our noble Allies guide the destinies of the world, and Christ again become the guide of human life and Prussianistic Militarism be speedily ground to powder.
No true social order can be erected upon a false foundation. Autocracy is false, pernicious, and rotten from top to bottom. Therefore it must be annihilated root and branch before the peoples of the earth can find freedom and happiness. The old structure must be entirely torn down and the social order built on a new foundation.
The United States has consecrated herself to this task. Stupendous as it is, she can accomplish it. France has done her part, Britain has performed her duty, but France and Britain today are calling to us. Not in any spirit of boastfulness therefore, but in a spirit of deep humility coupled with a determined confidence must we respond to their urgent plea. We must go, we must give, we must sacrifice. If America is to save the situation, as I believe she is, she must know beforehand that it will be at a price such as she has never paid before. Widows will pine and daughters will mourn. Rachel will weep in the midnight forher sons because they are not and orphans will cry themselves to sleep. But out of the blackness the consolation which comes to me is that through it all we will find our soul and we will obey the summons of a just and righteous God. To do less were craven.
America, like other nations, may sometime go down. When we have accomplished our mission we too may pass off the stage of action. But, please God, when the names shall be called from the great Book of Life and the records of the nations now gone, shall be read, lack of vision and failure in duty shall not be charged against America; and, in the new and better world, America's part in making possible the higher order of things shall be recognized and acknowledged.
Every man has his duty. Every woman her sphere. There is nothing worth living for in the present hour but to assist in defeating Germany. And let me sound a warning here and now, loud and clear, that the person who is found unwilling or inactive in the accomplishment of this one goal will sooner or later feel the bitterness of what it is to be "a man without a country." He will come to hate himself.
On the other hand, he who does his part, whogives himself unstintedly in this hour of the world's woe, and who does not calculate the personal cost, will have the boundless and undying gratitude of future ages. These will have a part in the greatest humanizing and redemptive work since earth began and "the generations shall rise up and call them blessed." They also will be able to boast the honor of having been true Americans.
As for myself, I know not what the future holds. My personal fortunes are in the hands of God and my country. The pastorate which I resigned has been filled by another.
But I do know this: that I have been used in the great cause of democracy in a hundred times larger way than I ever was before or ever could have been, had I not gone to the war and been converted to militant justice. I am hoping to go back again, but in the meantime the government has been using my humble services in a way which is most gratifying to me. I have traveled from one end of the continent to the other delivering lectures to American citizens and trying to rouse them to their duty. I have probably spoken to a million people, and I hope this book, with the same object in view, may reach as many more. And the people have been most kind to me. In places likeTremont Temple, Boston; Carnegie Hall, New York; and Orchestra Hall, Chicago, audiences of thousands have given me memorable ovations. And when I spoke for Dr. Hillis, in Henry Ward Beecher's old church, the congregation applauded to the echo, even though it was the Sabbath day. And all I ask for the future is that my life may be worn out for God and my country.Au Revoir!