The Lloyd George of ten years ago was the most hated and hooted man in Britain.  He is not the Lloyd George of ten years ago to-day, he is the Lloyd George of the present—­the most loved and respected man on earth.

The American people and the British are fundamentally alike.  They are of the one stock.  They have the same ideals and principles.  If the English did not make sacrifices in other days, to-day they are making a sacrifice as great, or maybe greater, than others of the Allies.

The joining of the peoples of America and Britain in a tie which can never be broken is imminent.  The knot is in the making.

In keeping with the dastardly methods of “frightfulness” in Europe, the German propagandist has thought on this side to strike at the women—­to terrify the mothers.

It is terribly hard for women to let their men go.  We know that.  Our women know it, but they are ashamed should one of their men attempt to hold back.  The German lie-mongers whisper:  “It is the last time you will see your boy.  It is certain death on the western front.”

It is not so.  The Canadian troops altogether have used up some four hundred fifty thousand in three years.  Of this number, in the three years of severe fighting, only five per cent. have been killed.  Of the four and a half million, approximately, who have been wounded in the fighting of three years, only two and a half per cent. have died of their wounds.

It is bad enough, but it is not nearly so bad as the German scare manufacturer would seek to make out.  Boys come through without a scratch.  Not many, certainly, but they come through.  There is every reason to believe that you will get your boy back.  There is still more reason to believe that if you hold that thought before him while he is still with you, and hold that thought before yourself when he is gone, he will come back.

Women have a tremendous responsibility in this war.  Wars are always women’s wars, mothers’ wars.  We boys have courage and we need it, but we also need the greater courage of those women we have left behind to back us up.  They have to bear the brunt of the war, which to them is a fight of endurance and eternal, everlasting waiting—­waiting—­waiting.

Do not think of the sorrow of his leaving, think of the pride of his going.

The martial spirit is not actively abroad on this side of the Atlantic yet.  Wait till the boys get over to France; wait till they see the outrages on women and on nature, and all the blood of their fighting ancestors will boil with indignation and rage.  They will thank God that they have come to prevent such a devastation on the soil of their own homeland.