Not a wrinkle in your faces escapes me.  Not one of your pains, not one of the tremors of your lacerated flesh.  And I write them all down, just as I note your simple words, your cries, your sighs of hope, as I also note the expression of your faces at the solemn hour when man speaks no more.

Not one of your words leaves me unmoved; there is not one of your actions which is not worthy of record.  All must contribute to the history of our great ordeal.

For it is not enough to give oneself up to the sacred duty of succour.  It is not enough to apply the beneficent knife to the wound, or to change the dressings skilfully and carefully.

It is also my mission to record the history of those who have been the sacrificial victims of the race, without gloss, in all its truth and simplicity; the history of the men you have shown yourselves to be in suffering.

If I left this undone, you would, no doubt, be cured as perfectly, or would perish none the less; but the essence of the majestic lesson would be lost, the most splendid elements of your courage would remain barren.

And I invite all the world to bow before you with the same attentive reverence, with hearts that forget nothing.

Union of pure hearts to meet the ordeal!  Union of pure hearts that our country may know and respect herself!  Union of pure hearts for the redemption of the stricken world!