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THE BATTLEFIELD.

“Then the camps of the wounded—­O heavens what scene is this?—­is this indeed humanity—­these butchers’ shambles?  There are several of them.  There they lie, in the largest, in an open space in the woods, from two hundred to three hundred poor fellows—­the groans and screams—­the odour of blood, mixed with the fresh scent of the night, the grass, the trees—­that slaughter-house!  Oh, well is it their mothers, their sisters cannot see them—­cannot conceive and never conceived these things.

“One man is shot by a shell, both in the arm and leg—­both are amputated—­there lie the rejected members.  Some have their legs blown off—­some bullets through the breast—­some indescribably horrid wounds in the face or head, all mutilated, sickening, torn, gouged out—­some in the abdomen—­some mere boys—­many rebels, badly hurt—­they take their regular turns with the rest, just the same as any—­the surgeons use them just the same.  Such is the camp of the wounded—­such a fragment, a reflection afar off of the bloody scene—­while all over the clear, large moon comes out at times softly, quietly shining.

“Amid the woods, the scene of flitting souls—­amid the crack and crash and yelling sounds—­the impalpable perfume of the woods—­and yet the pungent, stifling smoke—­the radiance of the moon, looking from heaven at intervals so placid—­the sky so heavenly—­the clear-obscure up there, those buoyant upper oceans—­a few large, placid stars beyond, coming silently and languidly out, and then disappearing—­the melancholy, draperied night above, around.  And never one more desperate in any age or land—­both parties now in force—­masses—­no fancy battle, no semi-play, but fierce and savage demons fighting there—­courage and scorn of death is the rule, exceptions almost none.”—­From Walt Whitman.

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CHINESE CHRISTIANS ON THE WAR.

“The most remarkable attitude yet taken in regard to the war by any body of people in the world is that of the native Christian Churches in China.  I was told a fortnight ago by a missionary just returned from China that the Chinese Christians are holding daily prayer meetings to pray for peace.  They are also praying earnestly that the Christians in Europe may be forgiven for killing each other, and, in particular, that the British and German churches and ministers may be forgiven for the blasphemy of praying to the Common Father for victory over one another, i.e. for Divine assistance in smashing and maiming and murdering more of their fellow Christians.  I am also told that these Chinese Christians appreciate perfectly that for the most part the people to be killed are helpless, innocent workmen, who have had nothing to do with the cause of all the trouble.