| THE CONQUERORS | |
|---|---|
| PAGE | |
| THE SPY | [3] |
| THE ATROCITY | [26] |
| BALLAD OF THE GERMANS | [45] |
| THE STEAM ROLLER | [48] |
| MY EXPERIENCE WITH BAEDEKER | [66] |
| GOLDEN LADS | |
| THE PLAY-BOYS OF BRITTANY | [79] |
| "ENCHANTED CIGARETTES" | [95] |
| WAS IT REAL? | [113] |
| "CHANTONS, BELGES! CHANTONS!" | [127] |
| FLIES: A FANTASY | [152] |
| WOMEN UNDER FIRE | [168] |
| HOW WAR SEEMS TO A WOMAN | [192] |
| LES TRAVAILLEURS DE LA GUERRE | [234] |
| REMAKING FRANCE | [253] |
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| The Play-boys of the Western Front | [Frontispiece] |
| Peasants' cottages burned by Germans | [8] |
| The home of a German spy near Coxyde Bains, Belgium | [13] |
| The green pass, used only by soldiers and officers of the Belgian Army | [33] |
| Church in Termonde which the writer saw | [42] |
| One of the dangerous Belgian franc-tireurs | [51] |
| Fifteenth century Gothic church in Nieuport | [69] |
| Sailors lifting a wounded comrade into the motor-ambulance | [87] |
| Door chalked by the Germans | [105] |
| Street fighting in Alost | [123] |
| Belgian officer on the last strip of his country | [134] |
| A Belgian boy soldier in the uniform of the first army which served at Liège and Namur | [139] |
| Belgians in their new Khaki uniform, in praise of which they wrote a song | [145] |
| Breton sailors ready for their noon meal in a village under daily shell fire | [187] |
| Sleeping quarters for Belgian soldiers | [206] |
| Belgian soldiers telephoning to an anti-aircraft gun the approach of a German taube | [215] |
| Postcards sketched and blocked by a Belgian workman, A. Van Doorne | [229] |
INTRODUCTION
By Theodore Roosevelt
On August 4, 1914, the issue of this war for the conscience of the world was Belgium. Now, in the spring of 1916, the issue remains Belgium. For eighteen months, our people were bidden by their representative at Washington to feel no resentment against a hideous wrong. They were taught to tame their human feelings by polished phrases of neutrality. Because they lacked the proper outlet of expression, they grew indifferent to a supreme injustice. They temporarily lost the capacity to react powerfully against wrongdoing.
But today they are at last becoming alive to the iniquity of the crushing of Belgium. Belgium is the battleground of the war on the western front. But Belgium is also the battleground of the struggle in our country between the forces of good and of evil. In the ranks of evil are ranged all the pacifist sentimentalists, the cowards who possess the gift of clothing their cowardice in soothing and attractive words, the materialists whose souls have been rotted by exclusive devotion to the things of the body, the sincere persons who are cursed with a deficient sense of reality, and all who lack foresight or who are uninformed. Against them stand the great mass of loyal Americans, who, when they see the right, and receive moral leadership, show that they have in their souls as much of the valor of righteousness as the men of 1860 and of 1776. The literary bureau at Washington has acted as a soporific on the mind and conscience of the American people. Fine words, designed to work confusion between right and wrong, have put them to sleep. But they now stir in their sleep.
The proceeds from the sale of this book are to be used for a charity in which every intelligent American feels a personal interest. The training of maimed soldiers in suitable trades is making possible the reconstruction of an entire nation. It is work carried on by citizens of the neutral nations. The cause itself is so admirable that it deserves wide support. It gives an outlet for the ethical feelings of our people, feelings that have been unnaturally dammed for nearly two years by the cold and timid policy of our Government.