"Why have you changed your mind? It might be interesting to hear," and again there was the suggestion of a sneer in the voice.
"I read some German books, and got to know what the Germans actually thought; I realised the ideas which lay at the heart of Germany, and then I knew that if Germany won this war, all liberty would be gone, all our free institutions would be destroyed, and that the spirit of war would reign more and more throughout the world. I saw that what to the Germans was right, was to us wrong; that the Germans' Gospel was different from ours."
"Different! How?"
"I saw that the Germans gloried in war; that they regarded it as necessary; that to them those who asked for peace committed a crime. I heard one of our Members of Parliament say that he had been in Berlin at a Peace Conference, but that Conference was broken up by the order of the German Government. I read the works of authors whose words are accepted as gospel by the dominant party in Germany, I realised the Germans' aim and ambitions, and I knew that if they succeeded, peace would for ever be impossible in the world. Then I knew I had a call from God, and then I no longer hesitated."
"Ah, you are a dreamer, I see. So you joined the Army; but are your beliefs common in England, may I ask?"
"Throughout the major portion of England they are common," replied Bob. "The great feeling in the hearts of the English throughout the whole country is—we must destroy this War God of Germany. Against Germans as individuals we feel nothing but kindness, but this War God, before which the people fall down and worship, is a devil."
"And you say that is the belief throughout England?"
"That is so, especially among thoughtful people."
"Then why is it you have so few volunteers?"
"Few volunteers, sir! I do not understand."