Nothing quiets her. My words of Christian hope have no more effect than what the father tries to say to her. For a moment she listens to my account of the poor boy's words of faith, of the communion yesterday, of his prayer this morning. But soon she falls back into her distraction, and I suggest to the husband that he try to occupy her mind, to make a diversion of some kind; the more so, I add, as I must leave to attend a burial. She hears this word: "I don't want him to be taken from me. You are not going to bury him at once!" I explain softly that no one is thinking of such a thing; that on the contrary I am going to take her to those who will let her see her boy. We go then to the office, and I hurry away to commence the funeral of another.
I learn on my return that they have seen their son, such as death has made him, and that on hearing the cries of the mother, three other women, already agitated by the visit to their own wounded and by the funeral preparations, have fallen in a faint.
One day last Fall President Poincaré, accompanied by M. Viviani and General Gallieni, was received at the American Hospital by Mr. Herrick, the American Ambassador, and by the members of the Hospital Committee. Abbé Klein has words of praise not only for Mr. Herrick, but also for his predecessor, Mr. Bacon, and for his successor, Mr. Sharp. His admiration for the devoted American women who are serving as nurses in the hospital is expressed frequently in his pages. He says the labors of the American nurses and those of the French nurses complement each other admirably. Of the founding and maintenance of the hospital at Neuilly, he says:
The resources are provided wholly by the charity of Americans. From the beginning of the war the administrative council of their Paris hospital took the initiative in the movement. The American colony in France, almost unaided, gave the half-million francs that was subscribed the first month. New York and other cities of the United States followed their lead, and, in spite of the financial crisis that grips there as elsewhere, one may be sure that the funds will not be wanting. America has its Red Cross, which, justly enough, aids the wounded of all nations; but, among the belligerents, it has chosen to distinguish the compatriots of Lafayette and Rochambeau; our field hospital is the witness of their faithful gratitude. France will not forget.
Later the abbé recorded in his diary that the 500 beds would soon be filled, but added that the generous activity of the Americans would not end there. They would establish branch hospitals. Large sums had been placed at the disposal of the committee to found an "ambulance" in Belgium and another in France as near the front as prudence permitted. Toward the end of January he recorded the gift of $200,000 from Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, and its use by the committee to establish an affiliated hospital at the College of Juilly, in the Department of Seine-et-Marne. He added that still other branches were about to be founded with American funds.
Abbé Klein writes out of a full and sincere heart, whether as a priest, a patriot, or a man who loves his fellowmen; and, without seeking it, he writes as a master of phrase. His new book probably will soon be translated and published in the United States.
A Trooper's Soliloquy
By O.C.A. CHILD