So much of the material was obviously intended to form the basis for an autobiography that the executors came to the conclusion that it would be a thousand pities to withhold it from the public, and at some future date it is very much hoped to produce a complete life of Miss Macnaughtan as narrated in her diaries.  Meanwhile, however, the publisher considers that Miss Macnaughtan’s war experiences are of immediate interest to her many friends and admirers, and I have been asked to edit those volumes which refer to her work in Belgium, at home, in Russia, and on the Persian front.

Except for an occasional word where the meaning was obscure, I have added nothing to the diaries.  I have, of course, omitted such passages as appeared to be private or of family interest only; but otherwise I have contented myself with a slight rearrangement of some of the paragraphs, and I have inserted a few letters and extracts from letters, which give a more interesting or detailed account of some incident than is found in the corresponding entry in the diary.  With these exceptions the book is published as Miss Macnaughtan wrote it.  I feel sure that her own story of her experiences would lose much of its charm if I interfered with it, and for this reason I have preserved the actual diary form in which it was written.

To many readers of Miss Macnaughtan’s books her diaries of the war may come as a slight surprise.  There is a note of depression and sadness, and perhaps even of criticism, running through them, which is lacking in all her earlier writings.  I would remind people that this book is the work of a dying woman; during the whole of the period covered by it, the author was seriously ill, and the horror and misery of the war, and the burden of a great deal of personal sorrow, have left their mark on her account of her experiences.

I should like to thank those relations and friends of Miss Macnaughtan who have allowed me to read and publish the letters incorporated in this book, and I gratefully acknowledge the help and advice I have received in my task from my mother, from my husband, and from Miss Hilda Powell, Mr. Stenning, and Mr. R. Sommerville.  I desire also to express my gratitude to Mr. John Murray for many valuable hints and suggestions about the book, and for the trouble he has so kindly taken to help me to prepare it for the press.

Betty salmon.

ZILLEBEKE, Waltham st. Lawrence,
Twyford, Berkshire,
October, 1918.

MY WAR EXPERIENCES IN TWO CONTINENTS

PART I

BELGIUM

CHAPTER I

ANTWERP

On September 20th, 1914, I left London for Antwerp.  At the station I found I had forgotten my passport and Mary had to tear back for it.  Great perturbation, but kept this dark from the rest of the staff, for they are all rather serious and I am head of the orderlies.  We got under way at 4 a.m. next morning.  All instantly began to be sick.  I think I was the worst and alarmed everybody within hearing distance.  One more voyage I hope—­home—­then dry land for me.