In the trenches the boys compare the merits of their mothers.  It is a wonderful thing, that spirit of mother love which surrounds us, blesses us and leads us on to higher things.  We gather together in the trench and we talk of mother—­mother—­mother.  The lad whose mother cried and fainted when he left quietly drops out from the group.  We always know him.  He is just a tiny bit afraid that we will ask him how his mother sent him off.  He never shows his letters from home, because it is possible that she writes him laments and moanings.  He is ashamed.  But those of us who have a home courage of which we talk—­how we boast!  Mother is a mighty factor in the winning of the war.

Out to France we go for Flag and Country.  “Over the top” we go for Mother.  And mother, that one simple word, embraces the whole of womanhood.

Remember that your boy is going for you.  Talk to the French mother, to the English mother, who has lost all.  Ask her about the war, about peace.  “Peace, yes, we all want peace, but not a German peace.  If all the menfolk die and there is no one else to go, why, we will carry on!”

And here I want to ask:  What is the pacifist in this country doing for peace?  Nothing.  He is only trying to put off this war, for a worse war.  Every man, woman or child who talks peace before the complete defeat of Germany is a Kaiser agent, spreading German poison gas to the injury and possible destruction of his own countrymen.

Back at home we must have the United Spirit which is inspiring us at the front.  After all, it is not the body which is going to take us through to ultimate victory; it is the Spirit.  And because American arms ultimately will be the deciding factor in this war, so will American womanhood.  From what I have seen already, I have no hesitation in saying that the American mother will be just as true to herself as the English and French mother has been.

Let him go with a smile, and if you can’t smile, whistle.  You can never know how much it means to him.  We at the front are undaunted.  If there ever had been a thought of defeat, to-day, with the American arms beside us, we are certain of a sure and glorious victory.

Because we know that if Caesar crossed the Rhine for Rome, and Napoleon crossed it for France and autocracy, so shall we, the Freemen of the world, not only cross the Rhine, but will march even to Berlin for the sake of Liberty, of Love, of Right and of Democracy.

CHAPTER XVII

THE LAST CHAPTER

by

“HERSELF”

War!  It was the first of August, 1914, and I almost ran home from the city to tell the news to my people.

War!  It was like we’d be in it.  War between England and Germany.  That war we had all heard of and knew was inevitable.  The war of the ages was imminent.

I had been free-lancing in Fleet Street for the past three months.  Left The Daily Chronicle over the Home Rule questions, as well as other things.