The writer has also drawn on the treasures of the older English poetry with which some modern children are not too well acquainted. It is her experience that children instinctively respond to the best in literature, and also that lines which to their elders may seem hackneyed keep all their old power to thrill and uplift the young imagination.
Moreover, Belgium and France are rich in historic and literary associations, and the writer has ventured to refer to books such as Tristram Shandy, Vanity Fair, and Villette, which children ought to know about now, and to read when they are older.
As to the sources from which the deeds of valour and of chivalry recounted are taken, they range from the brilliant, highly literate accounts written by war correspondents to extracts taken from the wonderfully vivid and picturesque narratives contained in letters written home to mothers and wives by soldiers and sailors just after the actions described.
To all these unknown helpers to whom the best part of her book is due, the writer tenders her grateful thanks.
TOLD IN GALLANT DEEDS
CHAPTER I
BELGIUM
“Now tell us what ’twas all about,”
Young Peterkin, he cries.
And little Wilhelmine looks up
With wonder-waiting eyes;