The Decadent
SEPTEMBER, 1914, AND SEPTEMBER, 1915
1914 "Now the war begins as we like it."
1915 "But this is not as I wished it to continue."
(Published after the French success in Champagne)
War is a fiery winnower of incapacities. Many reputations have gone to the scrap-heap since August, 1914. None more surely than that of the braggart Crown Prince. It is said that this terrible catastrophe was largely of his bringing about and his great desire and hope.
Well—he has got his desire, and more than he expected.
He was going to do mighty things—to smash through the frontier and lead the German hordes triumphantly through France. And what has he done?
In the treacherous surprise of the moment he got across the frontier, and there the weighty French fist met the Imperial optic, and has since developed many stars in it. He has been held, wasting men, time, opportunity, and his own little apology for a soul. He has done nothing to justify his position or even his existence. He has wrecked his home-life by wanton indulgence. He has made himself notorious by his private lootings of the châteaux cursed with his presence.