So it is with France to-day. She has
discovered the measure of her soul.
THE NEW WAR
One sees this not alone in the--it is more than contempt of
death--in the godlike preoccupation of her people under arms
which makes them put death out of the account, but in the
equal passion and fervour with which her people throughout
give themselves to the smallest as well as the greatest tasks
that may in any way serve their sword. I might tell you
something that I saw of the cleaning out of certain latrines;
of the education and antecedents of the cleaners; what they
said in the matter and how perfectly the work was done. There
was a little Rabelais in it, naturally, but the rest was pure
devotion, rejoicing to be of use.
Similarly with stables, barricades, and barbed-wire work, the
clearing and piling away of wrecked house-rubbish, the serving
of meals till the service rocks on its poor tired feet, but
keeps its temper; and all the unlovely, monotonous details
that go with war.
The women, as I have tried to show, work stride for stride
with the men, with hearts as resolute and a spirit that has
little mercy for short-comings. A woman takes her place
wherever she can relieve a man--in the shop, at the posts, on
the tramways, the hotels, and a thousand other businesses.
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