By Réné Gaell—Translated by H. Hamilton Gibbs and Madame Berton
This is the revelation of the soul of a priest, who heard "the call to duty" and went to the battle lines to fight for his country and to relieve the suffering. He tells about his experiences at "A Soldier's Death Bed"; "Mass Under Shell Fire"; "Absolution Before the Battle"; "The Blood of Priests"; "How They Die"; "Confession on a Parapet"; "The Blessed Sacrament"; and "The Last Blessing." The chapters here given on "His Call to Duty" and "The Story of a Wounded Man" is by permission of his publishers, Longmans, Green and Company.
[6] I—STORY OF A PRIEST'S "CALL TO DUTY"
"It's no joke, this time," said my old friend the General.
These words were uttered on the evening of the International Congress at Lourdes.
Hearts and voices were raised in prayer.
I, too, was filled with the thought of a peace which seemed as though it could have no end.
But the General was filled with quite other thoughts. "No," he said, with that fine strength which is capable of facing the saddest emergencies and of stilling the fever which the thought of the dreaded future sends rushing to the brain. "No, it's no joke this time.... War is upon us."
And he began to explain the international complications, the appalling pride of Germany faced by two alternatives, to expand or to perish.