FRANCE 
 
 AND THE 
 
 FAITH 
 
 ALFRED 
 
 EVGÉNE 
 CASALIS 
 
 
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 Book_ 
 
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 COPYRIGHT DEPOSfD 
 
FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
ALFRED EUGENE CASALiS. 
 
FOR FRANCE 
 AND THE FAITH 
 
 Letters of Alfred Eugène Casalis 
 
 Translated by 
 WARREN EDWIN BRISTOL 
 
 124 East 28th Street, New York 
 1917 
 
<*< 
 
 Copyright, 1917, by 
 Warren Edwin Bristol 
 
 / 
 
 
 SEP 211917 
 
 
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 6186 
 
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CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. Before the Call i 
 
 II. At the Barracks 9 
 
 III. At the Front 47 
 
 IV. On the Field of Honor . 93 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In the vast literature associated with the 
 War, some of the pages of most priceless value 
 are those which reveal the attitude of mind 
 and heart of young men seeking to bring to 
 bear their religious principles and faith upon 
 the new and searching tests of the moral and 
 physical battlefield of modern warfare — tests 
 which try men's souls by fire. 
 
 These letters of the noble French soldier 
 have served to preserve the ideals and 
 strengthen the faith of young men in the army 
 of France. The English edition has helped 
 many a soldier of Britain to live his life and to 
 fight his battle on the higher levels, and, if 
 need be, to die a truly triumphant death. We 
 welcome this American edition. May these 
 simple records of self-revelation, self-disci- 
 pline, and self-devotion help American young 
 men likewise to stand fast in the faith, to quit 
 themselves like men, and to be strong. 
 
 John R. Mott. 
 
 September i, 1917. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 " They loved not their lives unto the 'death." 
 — Revelation 12 : 11. 
 
 This is not a biography. It is only a mosaic 
 of fragments of letters written to his relatives 
 and intimate friends from barrack-rooms and 
 the front by a very young soldier who fell on 
 the field of honor at nineteen years of age. We 
 had gathered them and arranged them for his 
 family. 
 
 Numerous friends having expressed a desire 
 to see them, they are published, notwithstand- 
 ing their personal and familiar character, in the 
 hope that those who read them will be strength- 
 ened in seeing how, while serving France, this 
 young soldier wished also to serve Jesus Christ 
 and, wearing the horizon-blue uniform of the 
 armies of the Republic, pursued to the end his 
 " Marche à V Etoile." 
 
 IX 
 
I 
 
 BEFORE THE CALL 
 
FOR FRANCE AND 
 THE FAITH 
 
 BEFORE THE CALL 
 
 Alfred Eugène Casalis was born on Feb- 
 ruary 24th, 1896, at Morija, Basutoland, South 
 Africa, where his parents were missionaries. 
 From his earliest childhood he declared his firm 
 intention of following the career of his father 
 and grandfather. This early decision, from 
 which he never turned aside during the course 
 of his classical studies, led him to enter the 
 theological seminary of Montauban. He had 
 just commenced his second year there when the 
 course of events turned his thoughts toward 
 other horizons and imposed upon him other 
 duties. 
 
 Montauban, November 5, 1914. 
 Everything is extraordinarily calm here, the 
 people, the city, the plants, and even the ani- 
 3 
 
4 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 mais. Everywhere there are soldiers. It is 
 the one fact that attracts our attention. 
 
 One feels far, very far, from the war — as 
 if it were taking place somewhere in time and 
 in space, and we had no part in it here. 
 
 But it must not be. One must react against 
 this feeling. It is necessary to feel that if they 
 are fighting and struggling and suffering and 
 dying, it is for us, and that that fact creates for 
 us certain duties ; the duty to think of them, to 
 work in order to make the Patrie which they 
 are defending great and beautiful, and to pray 
 for them if one has the faith. 
 
 And then perhaps our hour will come also. 
 And while waiting until that hour strikes it is 
 necessary to meditate; to open our eyes to the 
 fact of death; to learn how to live with it at 
 our elbows, in order that its coming may not 
 surprise us ; to prepare ourselves to receive it as 
 a distinguished guest who will lead us toward 
 life. 
 
 And then again, one must search to discover 
 if he can fight — if he has a heart sufficiently 
 free from hatred to be able to fight without ani- 
 mosity; if he has a heart vibrating enough with 
 love to fight for others and not merely " to save 
 his own skin "; if he is quite decided to be a 
 
BEFORE THE CALL 5 
 
 champion of right, of justice, and of liberty; 
 if he loves sufficiently the justice which will be 
 brought about afterwards to fight with the cer- 
 tainty that our victory will give one more good 
 workman to the task of world-wide regenera- 
 tion. Then, too, it is necessary to be on the 
 watch — on the watch for the least suffering 
 which surrounds us, in order to relieve it; on 
 the watch for the least injustice within our 
 reach, in order to crush it ; on the watch for all 
 justice which points upward, in order to go to 
 its aid and make it triumph. That is our 
 " Veillée d' armes" and our watchword is 
 " Christ and France." 
 
 November 16th. 
 Since the beginning of the war I have been 
 thinking with infinite gratitude of all those who 
 went to fight in order that we might remain in 
 security and in peace. I was meditating espe- 
 cially about Paul 1 and those who were attached 
 to him by his vision of social justice and by the 
 common desire to deliver humanity from war. 
 I was thinking with admiration of all the paci- 
 fists who, by a painful effort, had succeeded in 
 
 x His cousin, M. Paul Reuss, who fell on the field 
 of honor Sept. 26, 19 14. 
 
6 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 harmonizing their ideal of peace with the neces- 
 sity of fighting. 
 
 He himself will not see the triumph, he will 
 have known only the sacrifice. But we who 
 remain, who are now the " Young France," we 
 take an oath over these freshly rounded graves 
 to take up the work of our elders. May they 
 rest in peace. Our life from now on is con- 
 secrated to their ideal, which has become our 
 own. And with the aid of God, we will make 
 their ideal victorious. 
 
 November 21st. 
 
 My room continues to be the same delightful 
 retreat where I feel so happy. The lamp sheds 
 a circle of light upon all that immediately sur- 
 rounds me, and at a little greater distance every- 
 thing rests in the penumbra, except the hearth 
 where my fire crackles. Upon the table before 
 me I have all my books, written and read also, 
 for the most part, in so much enthusiasm and 
 love. And then you are there, you and father, 
 beneath a bouquet of chrysanthemums. 
 
 Since I left Paris I have not felt so much at 
 peace as this evening. I was asking myself 
 what we would become, if we were called up, 
 we of the classe of 1916. 
 
BEFORE THE CALL 1 
 
 But now my mind is at rest ; we are going to 
 be called before the conseil de revision. All 
 that remains is to await the hour- and while 
 waiting to prepare one's self. 
 
II 
 
 AT THE BARRACKS 
 
II 
 
 AT THE BARRACKS 
 
 In the month of January, after having passed 
 the Christmas holidays with his family at Paris, 
 he presented himself before the conseil de revi- 
 sion, and, not waiting until his class (1916) 
 would be called, enlisted as a volunteer for the 
 duration of the war. 
 
 Montauban, January 7, 191 5. 
 . . . I am a soldier of my own free will, and 
 not because of a whim, either. What else 
 could be done ? It is all very well to be a paci- 
 fist, but under some circumstances nothing can 
 hold one back. To begin with, when one sees 
 what atrocities our enemies are committing, 
 one understands that it is necessary to put a 
 stop to them as quickly as possible, and, if one 
 can be of any aid, he must get into the game. 
 And then when one knows that there are those 
 who shirk their duty, who are ambuscading, it 
 is impossible to resist ; one must be off. 
 11 
 
12 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 And yet you know how contrary this is to 
 my nature, to my ideals, and to my vocation. 
 You know how it has been my desire to be of 
 service and that I have only one ambition; to 
 take a message of sympathy, of hope, and of 
 love to those who suffer, as did the Master 
 whom I love and wish to serve. 
 
 And so here I am at the barracks ! 
 
 Cast els arrasin, January 15th. 
 
 Immediately upon my arrival at Montauban 
 I enrolled with the nth Infantry. On Wed- 
 nesday, the 6th, at 9 :oo a. m. I went to the bar- 
 racks. An hour later I had become one of the 
 most hideous looking infantrymen of France 
 and Navarre. 
 
 In the first place, hair clipped short like that 
 of a criminal ; then I am clad in a uniform as 
 dirty as a uniform could be. The overcoat 
 {capote), ripped in many places, has a large 
 round burn in the lower part of the back ; either 
 caused by a bursting shell, or by its former 
 owner having sat down upon a lighted ciga- 
 rette ! Moreover, in said capote there is room 
 
 enough for M by my side. The coat on 
 
 the other hand is too small for me, and the 
 sleeves — too short — have been darned and 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 13 
 
 resewed, one with white thread, the other with 
 red. Then, too, the trousers also too short evi- 
 dently have caught all the grease of all the mess 
 pans of the squad. 
 
 I might add here that I have not shaved for 
 eight days ! So far as toilette is concerned all 
 one can do is to keep clean. Apart from all 
 this, I look sweet enough to eat ! 
 
 My outfit once completed, I was notified that 
 they would send me to Castelsarrasin where 
 the entire 1915 class of the nth Infantry, to 
 which I am assigned, is receiving instruction. 
 
 Thursday morning I had my knapsack, mess- 
 pan, blanket, rifle, cartridge box, etc. In short, 
 I was ready to leave. But I did not leave then, 
 nor Friday. Saturday I was trying to be over- 
 looked so that I should not leave until Monday, 
 and would be able to pass Sunday at Mon- 
 tauban. 
 
 Unhappily at noon the sergeant jumped on 
 me and had me equip myself as quickly as pos- 
 sible with entire outfit. I went down into the 
 barracks square and left with four other bleus 
 (raw recruits). 
 
 I am quartered in a schoolroom where we are 
 only twenty-five. It is warm here and we 
 sleep well. For exercise they make us hum, 
 
14 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 " barder " — using the favorite expression of 
 the adjutant. I am getting along very well and 
 the life is benefiting me. 
 
 Alas, here my letter desinit in piscem. 
 There is roll-call at 8:15 and now it is 8:05. 
 In order to reach the barracks I have still to 
 cross the city, for I am writing in a café where 
 they have loaned me a dirty table, a broken 
 pen, and muddy ink, in a room where sixty 
 soldiers are reading, shouting, and playing. 
 So please excuse paper, penmanship, style, and 
 the absence of ideas. 
 
 January 17th. 
 
 We have just been inoculated against ty- 
 phoid. There were about 1,500 of us, all the 
 bleus of the nth. The injection did not hurt 
 especially, but at eight o'clock in the evening 
 my arm commenced to get numb. All night 
 long I had fever with a violent headache, which 
 gradually passed away. Now only the spot 
 where the injection was made is at all painful, 
 so you see all is going well. 
 
 There is nothing harder than getting to sleep 
 in our room. Of the fifty poilus who are quar- 
 tered here, there are about twenty peasants 
 from Corrèze, all lodged in the same corner of 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 15 
 
 the barn. Disappointed in having to retire and 
 being no longer able to dance " La Bourrée," 
 they are whistling it with all their might. On 
 my side there are some men from Bordeaux, 
 who, being naturally full of fire, will not allow 
 themselves to be outdone by the Corrèziens 
 with whom they are great rivals. You can 
 imagine the chances for rest! Finally along 
 about ten-thirty silence reigns. Not for long, 
 however, for no sooner are they asleep than 
 they begin to snore, the Bordelais as loud as the 
 Corrèziens. 
 
 Sunday we were confined to barracks because 
 several cases of measles had been discovered. 
 Up to ten o'clock we did nothing, then we had 
 la soupe, after which I strolled along the Mois- 
 sac road and watched an uninteresting game of 
 football. At four o'clock I entered the church 
 to attend vespers. The organ was good and 
 the organist very skilful. Then again mess, 
 and I am writing to you and reading a little 
 before going to bed. 
 
 I have been definitely assigned to the 9th 
 squad. The Quartermaster sergeant gave me 
 a mattress cover and a pillow slip, saying, " I 
 have no straw, hustle around and find some." 
 I wandered around the farms in the neighbor- 
 
16 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 hood and finally found something with which 
 to stuff the mattress, but not without some diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 I am somewhat acquainted with my corporal, 
 as he is from Montauban and, though a Cath- 
 olic, used to attend the Christian Student Fed- 
 eration meetings. 
 
 I have become a member of the Corporals' 
 Training Squad. There are 104 of us and 
 only twenty-six corporals are needed. Natu- 
 rally, in order to make the necessary selection 
 they give us plenty of work. 
 
 How one feels the need of meditation after 
 some time of barrack life ! Here one lets go of 
 himself to such an extent and becomes accus- 
 tomed to living outside of any real communion 
 with the Master, to praying with words and 
 formulas only. Oh, that those who can, who 
 have the leisure and strength might pray for 
 those who can not! 
 
 Montauban, February 12th. 
 I have just passed fifteen days at the hospital 
 with the measles. After six days of high fever 
 I gradually became better and have rapidly re- 
 gained my strength, not having had any com- 
 plications. 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 17 
 
 Friday, the fifth, I left the hospital. I was 
 still quite weak, but that was all. When I ar- 
 rived here I was exhausted, done up completely, 
 weighing only fifty-five kilos, with sore eyes 
 and the beginning of bronchitis besides. And 
 I have only eight days in which to get rid of all 
 and be ready to regain my post. 
 
 I have seen the doctor, who ordered rest, not 
 to go out before ten o'clock in the morning, nor 
 after sunset. I am a very good little boy and 
 obey his orders scrupulously. As a matter of 
 fact, I am endeavoring to reenter the ranks as 
 soon as possible in order to leave with the 
 others. It seems that we shall leave for the 
 front between the first and the twentieth of 
 March. I say the front ; in reality it is almost 
 certain that they will take us somewhere into 
 the army zone to complete our preparation 
 there. 
 
 Some people have thought that after the dis- 
 agreeable experiences which I underwent at the 
 barracks, I must regret very much having en- 
 listed! I have sent word to them that if it 
 were to be done over I would do it again and 
 with more enthusiasm than the first time. I 
 only wish that I might have told them so my- 
 self. 
 
18 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 I am happy and at peace, because I know 
 that He is there and watches over all His own. 
 
 Castelsarrasin, February 13th. 
 Many thanks for the package. I appreciate 
 your choice of books very much. 1 I have cir- 
 culated them somewhat. My less fortunate 
 pals are delighted with them; they didn't be- 
 lieve such good literature existed and are simply 
 devouring it. 
 
 February 19th. 
 This morning, weather clear and pleasant — 
 what luck for my first outing since leaving the 
 hospital! We started off without knapsacks. 
 It was delightful to swing along the road in the 
 fresh morning air. I was in fine trim and re- 
 joiced in the physical exercise. We marched 
 rapidly and, in the still air, only one step could 
 be heard. I was glad to have found my place 
 again and not to be any longer on the shelf. 
 We are beginning to work with a snap. 
 
 February 20th. 
 Today I received some news which troubles 
 
 especially certain pamphlets of the "Petite anthol- 
 ogie littéraire idéaliste pour les jeunes." 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 19 
 
 me a great deal, and before arriving at any 
 decision I wish to speak with you about it. 
 
 A competitive examination for entrance to 
 the reserve officers' training camp is going to be 
 held among the volunteers and the soldiers 
 called up of the class 1916. Those who are 
 accepted will be assigned to a special instruction 
 camp, where they will be trained to become re- 
 serve officers. Those who will have done their 
 work well will leave with the grade of aspirant, 
 and later (at the front) will be nominated 
 second lieutenants, evidently an especially great 
 advantage, for the remainder of the service. 
 
 But all that means a delay of at least four 
 months before leaving for the front. Now I 
 ask myself if accepting this delay would not 
 be cowardice on my part. My comrades will 
 be leaving for the front within a month, no 
 doubt. And should I be remaining behind un- 
 der shelter ? I would be leaving only after the 
 hardest work (the driving of the enemy out of 
 the trenches) will probably have been accom- 
 plished ! And then is it not my duty to remain 
 with these comrades in order to help them ? 
 
 This question troubles me a great deal. 
 Pray that I may see my duty clearly and that 
 I may have the strength to discharge it faith- 
 
20 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 fully; either to stick humbly to my post or to 
 work hard, should I pass the examination. 
 
 February 25th. 
 I wish to tell you at once where I stand. I 
 was very much concerned about the subject of 
 the examination for student officers of the re- 
 serve, alternating between " yes " and " no " 
 and not seeing my way at all clearly, when 
 Monday morning an unforeseen event drew 
 me from my embarrassment. It happened at 
 roll-call that morning that the lieutenant asked 
 the company for fifty volunteers to leave for 
 the front. It was no longer possible to hesi- 
 tate. I saw my duty and immediately gave in 
 my name. 
 
 These volunteers will probably leave Castel 
 this week. They will be quartered a certain 
 length of time at Montauban, no doubt, where 
 their preparation will be hastened. Then they 
 will be sent into the second line at the front, 
 and April 1st they will be in the trenches; at 
 least that is what they tell us. Naturally I 
 volunteered. It will only mean a little harder 
 training for some time and when it will be 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 21 
 
 necessary to leave, I shall certainly be in per- 
 fect trim. 
 
 Mother dear, I beg of you not to be con- 
 cerned about me. I have already thought of 
 this possibility for a long time and truly, I 
 could not do otherzvise than offer myself. Our 
 Father who is good certainly can protect His 
 child. 
 
 February 28th. 
 
 They are working us to the limit, and really, 
 I commence to feel that we are soldiers and 
 capable of doing something. 
 
 Friday evening, we had a night march and 
 drill. At 7:10 we assembled in absolute 
 silence, with full outfit. At 7 :25 we departed. 
 It was cool and we marched rapidly. At 8 115, 
 halt ; the weather was clear, the sky a very light 
 blue with a pale gray horizon, and the leafless 
 trees were very striking in the magnificent 
 moonlight. We formed small groups, stacked 
 arms, and seated ourselves, talking under our 
 breath. The scene called to mind Detaille's 
 " Le Rêve." We set off again. At that mo- 
 ment the moon was surrounded by a marvelous 
 halo, the most beautiful I have ever seen; it 
 was so large that the Great Dipper would go in 
 it almost twice over. 
 
22 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 Soon they had us halt again and divided us 
 into sections, each having to post sentinels and 
 organize its guard service. I was on sentinel 
 duty for twenty minutes on the border of a 
 little wood. . . . Soon we returned at a fast 
 pace and we arrived at the barracks at 1 1 :oo 
 p. m. Yesterday afternoon I underwent my 
 last inoculation against typhoid. The others 
 did not amount to much, but this one gave me a 
 violent fever and my arm hurts me up to the 
 shoulder, which is swollen. I hope there will 
 be no complications. 
 
 March ist. 
 I believe I have all the tough luck ! Not feel- 
 ing very well, I went to see the doctor this 
 morning. He said that I had the beginning 
 of an abscess caused by the vaccination and 
 now here I am in the hospital. I suffer a great 
 deal. 
 
 March 2nd. 
 This beastly abscess did not develop and after 
 all was not serious. I again feel quite well and 
 tomorrow I return to my proper place — which 
 I wish I had never left — to shoulder again my 
 gun and knapsack and return to drill. Hip! 
 Hip ! Hurrah ! 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 23 
 
 March 3rd. 
 
 Would you believe it? The doctor would 
 not accept me as a volunteer. Thursday after- 
 noon we all had a medical examination and a 
 third were rejected. I no longer cough at all, 
 but it seems that a touch of bronchitis remains 
 from my measles. Eighteen of us have been 
 left out {laissés en panne). 
 
 . . . The examination was severe because 
 these volunteers are intended for a corps d'élite, 
 especially trained and prepared. You can 
 imagine how badly I felt to have to stay behind. 
 After all one must learn to accept the inevitable 
 and to accept it joyously, especially because 
 there are so many watching us. 
 
 The thought which has permitted me to re- 
 main here quietly, I was going to say almost 
 joyfully, is that I am going to be with these 
 young men whom I know now and who know 
 me and who know vaguely whence I draw the 
 little strength I have. 
 
 If you only knew how much better I now 
 understand the human soul, especially the soul 
 of these humble people who toil, who struggle, 
 who suffer, who are holding on to life only by 
 a thread — some bits of affection, a little in- 
 terest, few pleasures, and above all many habits. 
 
24 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 Ah, yes, often I regret that instinctive aloof- 
 ness of earlier days. 
 
 There are such riches when one can plunge 
 to the depth of these souls ! I have learned to 
 love them and now I am trying to speak to 
 them. Oh, this faith which I felt at certain 
 hours so luminous, so profound — oh, how dry 
 and scholastic it has appeared to me, made up 
 of subtle word distinctions, when I have had to 
 speak to these simple people who understand 
 only life, who never have heard people speak of 
 idealism, nor of the spirit, nor of matter, but 
 who merely live and suffer. There have been 
 moments when I have asked myself if there 
 should not be one religion for the people and 
 another for the intellectuels, and, consequently, 
 also two distinct moral laws. But no, I feel 
 that it cannot be, I know that it cannot be, and 
 I recall the words of the Apostle: Christ is 
 u the same yesterday, and today and forever." 
 And was he not Himself a carpenter? And 
 did he not say, " Blessed are the poor in 
 spirit"? 
 
 These are some of the pangs that pierce my 
 heart. They are true; they are real. In my 
 faith there are many beliefs that are more or 
 less vital; many hopes that play harmoniously 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 25 
 
 in my life only because I am at heart an idealist 
 in the philosophic sense of the term. Without 
 this idealism great chasms would be dug in my 
 faith. But I know, with an unchangeable 
 knowledge and invincible confidence, that the 
 basis of my faith — God as Father, Christ risen 
 and living, man subjected to the law of the duty 
 to love — is indestructible, that it is firmly 
 founded upon the rock. 
 
 So far as the rest is concerned, then, what 
 does it matter? Little by little all will become 
 clear and luminous. If I must renounce such 
 and such an axiom, I will renounce it ; I will cut 
 away until I have reached what life really is 
 and that alone I am searching: first, in order to 
 live and then in order to help others to live. 
 
 We students, intellectuels, we allow ourselves 
 too easily to become absorbed in our " culture." 
 We assimilate it to the point of becoming it. 
 And in doing so we make a great mistake. We 
 must always remember that it is only a way of 
 looking at things and seek to preserve carefully 
 and religiously what can be our point of contact 
 with other souls. 
 
 And I mean by that not only a moral, or 
 strictly speaking a religious or Christian point 
 of contact, but also an intellectual point of con- 
 
26 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 tact, the angle by which we are able to penetrate 
 their lives, to become like them, to become one 
 of them as Jesus did. 
 
 I am writing you just as the words come to 
 me. These facts are old and often restated, 
 but experiencing them at every moment gives 
 them an immense value and one which I regret 
 not to be able to translate better. 
 
 Before the end of the month, perhaps, I 
 shall have left for the front. In my heart I 
 have been meditating over these things. There 
 is also and always that peace which passes all 
 understanding and which He has given us. 
 
 March 5th. 
 Now here I am with the mumps ! Thursday 
 morning my abscess had disappeared but the 
 left side of my face commenced to swell. I 
 made up my bundle and in the afternoon moved 
 to the general hospital. It is a former convent 
 where I sleep in an antique wooden four-poster. 
 We are cared for by a good old sister who is 
 simply charming. Friday my cheek was enor- 
 mous, so large that I could see it without 
 squinting. But I haven't had fever for an 
 instant and am not suffering. One thing 
 pleases me especially, I have not been weak- 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 27 
 
 ened in the least. I have a voracious appetite 
 — but they have given me only magnesia ! 
 
 Mr. Louis Lafon very kindly came to see me 
 and brought me some chocolate, books, and 
 writing material. I truly hope that this will 
 not last long. 
 
 March 7th. 
 
 Am passing a sad Sunday — the saddest of 
 all my hospital Sundays. But one thing makes 
 it easier for me to endure — the certainty that 
 as soon as I shall be able to leave the physician 
 will turn me out. And then, no doubt, I shall 
 have, as the others do, six days' leave, which 
 I shall spend at home — that is, on condition 
 that you wish me ! Write me quickly. But it 
 is only a hope. 
 
 On March nth, as a matter of fact, our dear 
 soldier lad arrived at Paris and spent four days 
 with us. He had quite regained his strength 
 and gaiety. In the evening of Sunday the 14th, 
 he left for his depot. Without knowing it, we 
 had bidden him adieu forever on this earth. 2 
 
 Castelsarrasin, March 15th. 
 Leaving home was difficult, but, at the last 
 
 2 All paragraphs in italics are from the pen of the 
 young soldier's father, M. A. Casalis. 
 
28 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 moment, father and mother were so calm, so 
 confident, that all became easy and one might 
 have looked upon it as a customary parting. 
 Especially when we had all prayed together 
 everything became clear, and we had the abso- 
 lute certainty that it was only a temporary au 
 revoir, since we are awaited. 
 
 Here I am this morning again, back at the 
 barracks. I feel marvellously well, full of en- 
 thusiasm, of hope, and of confidence. This 
 afternoon, we did a little march of fifteen kilo- 
 meters in a blistering sun and in the dust ; every- 
 thing went along all right. For more than a 
 year I have not felt in such good physical con- 
 dition and such good spirits. 
 
 March 16th. 
 
 ... In short 3 the true virtue of the Chris- 
 tian soldier is steadfastness : " Hold fast that 
 which thou hast." Unfortunately that cannot 
 be learned in a few days' preparation : it is the 
 lesson of a life-time and one that is never well 
 enough understood. 
 
 In the regiment the most essential thing is 
 
 3 Extract from a letter written for Notre Revue, the 
 journal of the Lycéens chrétiens. 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 29 
 
 not to allow oneself to become brutalized. The 
 mind has too great a tendency to become be- 
 fouled; it is necessary to keep incessantly on 
 the alert, and to that end one must prepare in 
 advance, before leaving, a series of subjects to 
 study, which will furnish food for meditation 
 during the hours of marching or inactivity. 
 
 Some of the most painful hours of regiment 
 life are spent on the march. Then it is that the 
 coarseness of the men comes to light most for- 
 cibly and in the form of the vilest songs. They 
 are so disgusting one guards silence. But a 
 moment comes when even the most calloused 
 have had enough — that is the opportunity 
 which must be seized to strike up a clean, at- 
 tractive, healthful song, and we do not lack 
 that kind. Since in the barracks one is rubbing 
 shoulders with the least agreeable things of life, 
 characters are soon shown up as they really 
 are. One must immediately take a positive 
 attitude to show what he is : a Christian. Then 
 to hold on. If one has fallen in with a bad 
 crowd, he can clear himself by keeping apart 
 from the others, but never forget the command 
 of our Master, " Love one another," translated 
 more especially in this case by the motto of the 
 
30 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 Boy Scouts, " Render service at all times." By 
 this attitude yOu make others respect you and 
 it is the surest way to their hearts. 
 
 March 17th. 
 
 We do not remain here much longer. The 
 hour of departure is very near. In a fortnight 
 we probably shall be at the front. 
 
 I shall leave calmly and with confidence. I 
 shall fight with a good conscience and without 
 fear, I hope ; without hate, surely ; because I be- 
 lieve our cause is just, because France vic- 
 torious will have a mission to fulfil, a mission 
 of civilizing and educating mankind for a 
 greater solidarity. I believe that because I 
 have, for my part, accepted such a vocation and 
 because I know many who have made it theirs. 
 
 I feel filled with unbounded hope which 
 shows me beyond death the beginning of a re- 
 newed and magnificent life. 
 
 March 21st. 
 
 I know a little soldier who would have liked 
 to write you for Sunday, but who did not have 
 the time and regrets it very much. 
 
 Just think, yesterday morning we were awak- 
 ened at 5 :2o and the sergeant shouted to us 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 31 
 
 " In full uni form. " As I was en corvée, I 
 slipped into red trousers, coat, and képi and 
 hurried to the kitchen. Returning, I put on my 
 shoes and gaiters and made my bed. 
 
 The sergeant enters : " All in undress." I 
 had to jump, change at fourth speed, and on 
 the run equip myself with knapsack, gun, etc. 
 
 Scarcely ready when the sergeant returns: 
 " Throw off your outfit and carry your bedding 
 down into the courtyard." We threw off our 
 outfit, carried our bedding down, then climbed 
 the staircase four steps at a time, equipped our- 
 selves, reassembled, and here we are off for 
 Cordes. 
 
 In the freshness of the morning under the 
 clear sky we marched fast. After the climb 
 came a feed, then target practice. We came 
 back rapidly in the heat of the day ; the knap- 
 sack was heavy and the feet sore, but we were 
 glad to get back. 
 
 When, lo and behold, from the door of the 
 barracks we saw all our bedding out in the sun, 
 forgotten. After going up to throw off our 
 things, we went down into the court after the 
 mattresses, etc. As some are ill, there is other 
 bedding to carry up besides one's own. That 
 done, without having had time even to change 
 
32 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 our shoes we ran to get tea and later la soupe, 
 for it was six o'clock. 
 
 When at last we had been able to eat and to 
 scrape the mud off, we were so dead tired we 
 could only crawl to the canteen for a hot drink 
 and then turn in. Thus it was that I didn't 
 write you your Sunday letter. 
 
 These days I am thinking about an article 
 which I owe to C. for Notre Revue, the maga- 
 zine of the Lycéens chrétiens. I believe that I 
 shall write about death, for I am often thinking 
 about it. I am thinking of all these young 
 souls, of these new lives which the war has re- 
 forged and which, intent on sacrifice, have be- 
 come beautiful and great. I think that I shall 
 take my inspiration from these words of Jesus, 
 " Father, I pray not that Thou shouldest take 
 them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest 
 keep them from the evil." But I do not know 
 if I shall be able to write the article. If the 
 ideas and words don't come as I wish, I shall 
 write nothing. 
 
 Do not conclude from this that I believe my- 
 self about to die. No, I have more faith than 
 ever in life. I realize more than in the past that 
 it is necessary to live, and I wish to live. But 
 nevertheless I feel ready, and death, if it should 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 33 
 
 come, will not take me by surprise. However, 
 I should have liked one thing — to attend one 
 more Communion service. At the same time 
 I hope that we shall be far away at the front, 
 by Easter. 
 
 You have no idea of the peace in which Hive. 
 All those I love are near me, very near — . 
 
 We are all now en service commandé and 
 our service is sacred. Perhaps we shall be 
 called to remain alone; those who will have 
 gone before will still be with us and the mem- 
 ory of their effort will live. Besides they will 
 be living in the light which our eyes do not yet 
 behold, very near to us. And we shall be for- 
 ever united in the closest of bonds when we are 
 one in Him, we in Him and He in us. 
 
 March 25th. 
 
 We are still working very hard. Nearly 
 every morning we have an hour's fencing à la 
 bayonnette, and an hour's gun drill. In the 
 afternoon they divide us into two squads, one 
 attacking the other. We advance as skirmish- 
 ers and at every fresh bound each digs a cover 
 for himself. This exercise terminates with a 
 bayonet charge, all shouting like demons. 
 
 Yesterday we had target practice at Cordes. 
 
34 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 Réveil at five o'clock; at 5 135 assembly in the 
 courtyard, with full campaign equipment; at 
 six, off. The weather was fine and cool, and 
 marching was not difficult. It certainly is 
 springtime. Along the hedges the hawthorn is 
 in bloom, and here and there hang long clusters 
 of clematis. Everywhere violets, daisies, and 
 buttercups. The men were in good spirits and 
 hummed tunes all along the way. 
 
 We reached the practice ground about 8 :3c 
 From nine o'clock until noon, rifle shots fol- 
 lowed one another without interruption, and 
 upon a mound at 250 meters the indifferent 
 silhouettes appeared and disappeared every ten 
 seconds. 
 
 One has to fire quite fast. I almost did as 
 one guy who said, "Mon lieutenant, I see 
 double, and, unfortunately, I always fire at the 
 second image ! " 
 
 About noon bugle call and we ate, scattered 
 about at the foot of trees, watching the Garonne 
 flow past, clear and majestic. At one o'clock, a 
 whistle, shoulder knapsacks, and en route. It 
 was torrid hot, the climb stiff, and the knapsack 
 heavy. The first few minutes were trying, 
 then one got into the stride, and the rest of the 
 march went with a swing. 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 
 
 85 
 
 When I do not know what to do, on the 
 march for example, or at exercise, I sing 
 intérieurement; I listen to the music which is 
 slumbering within me. At this moment it is 
 especially Beethoven who is speaking to me. 
 One or two things, these days, have done me a 
 particular amount of good. 
 
 Le Menuetto de la sonate VÏÏ, de Beethoven, 
 
 dolce 
 
 I' Andante delà sonate X, de Beethoven, 
 
 et le 7 e Prélude de Chopin. 
 
 u dolce 
 
 You will excuse me if I do not transcribe 
 them in the right key ; it is only to give you a 
 general idea of what I am writing about. 
 
 March 25th. 
 The Master's call is always ringing in my 
 
36 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 ears, or rather in my heart, and what am I do- 
 ing by way of responding to it? 
 
 I hear the question of Pilate " Art thou the 
 King? " and Jesus replying, " Thou sayest it." 
 And here the Prince of Peace, the Christ-King, 
 is forsaken; His words, His commands, His 
 teachings are contradicted by the life of every 
 day. Oh, my France, what hast thou done 
 with thy King? And all Christendom and the 
 Church, what have you done with your 
 Saviour? He was King, King by right, King 
 by birth, King by the will of God ; and His own 
 have forsaken Him; He is left alone. 
 
 But it can not be thus. He shall be King. 
 The Student Volunteers have promised it. 
 Francis Monod, Robert Prunier, and others, 
 many others, have died thinking of the glorious 
 reign which ought to come, and which is com- 
 ing. Their death is a stride in the coming of 
 this reign, as their life had been. 
 
 And then the new France must arise for this : 
 " To make Christ King." And to those who 
 remain is the task of preparing new laborers 
 for the harvest which is ripening. 
 
 We take the oath, Lord, that we will work 
 that thy Kingdom come ; we will give our life 
 for this ideal. 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 37 
 
 March 28th. 
 
 They have been teaching us how to construct 
 individual entrenchments. We attack en ti- 
 railleurs, elbow to elbow. At the command 
 " halt," we lie down and as quickly as possible 
 take off our sacks and place them in front of 
 us as a protection. The even numbers com- 
 mence firing, and the odds, while remaining 
 flat and sheltered as much as possible, must dig 
 a trough in which they can stretch out full 
 length, a trench deeper at the head than at the 
 foot All the earth removed is piled up in 
 front in such a manner as to form a mask. As 
 soon as the pile is large enough to conceal a 
 man at full length, the rôles are reversed; the 
 even numbers dig and the odds fire. When 
 everybody is under cover, we again change 
 tools, join together, and deepen the individual 
 trenches so as to transform them into trenches 
 for riflemen lying down. The essential thing 
 is to work fast — not easy when one is 
 stretched out full length. 
 
 To give more " pep " to the exercise a line of 
 enemies is placed in a trench already existing 
 in front of the workers, and blank cartridges 
 are served out to them. When they notice a 
 man showing himself a little too much they fire 
 
38 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 at him and the man is declared dead. How- 
 ever, that doesn't prevent him from continuing 
 his digging! 
 
 I think that I am ready to leave, I mean 
 morally speaking. I have tried with all my 
 power to prepare for it. And I have accus- 
 tomed myself to face the idea of death ; it gives 
 me no fear. If I must fall up there, I am 
 ready. I shall die without regret, because I 
 know that others will know how to do better 
 than I the work to which I am consecrated, 
 because I have the assurance that I have found 
 the way, and that the Master will recognize me 
 as one of His own. I am at peace, for I know 
 that the Father will take care of those whom I 
 love and that He will guard me. More and 
 more it seems to me that I can live only to 
 work for this : " Thy Kingdom corne/' 
 
 April ist. 
 
 We feel that the hour of departure is ap- 
 proaching. We must be at Montauban April 
 1 2th, at the latest. I commence to have had 
 enough of this hole of a Castel. I scarcely 
 ever go out now. This evening I went to hear 
 the " Stabat " sung. 
 
 My Corporal having left, I replace him, and 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 39 
 
 must make the roll call. Therefore it is need- 
 less to turn in before 8:15. I am going to 
 profit from these few minutes to read and med- 
 itate over my New Testament. 
 
 I am thinking especially of these words, 
 " With desire I have desired to eat this pass- 
 over with you" (Luke 22:1s). 4 This pas- 
 sage struck me particularly last evening, " Jesus 
 knowing that his hour was come that he should 
 depart out of this world unto the Father" 
 (John 13 : 1), and that promise he made to his 
 disciples is a source of strength to me, " Be- 
 cause I live, ye shall live also " (John 14: 19). 
 May we learn obedience by the things which we 
 suffer (cf. Heb. 5 : 8) and " know him, and the 
 power of his resurrection and the fellowship 
 of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his 
 death," if by any means we may attain unto 
 the resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3: 10, 
 11). 
 
 April 5th. 
 
 Yesterday I had twenty- four hours' leave 
 which I spent at Montauban. Today, Easter 
 Monday, we are free from noon on. I went 
 
 4 He had hoped to pass Easter at Montauban and to 
 take communion there. This pleasure was accorded 
 him. 
 
40 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 out with five or six comrades; we took along 
 books, paper, and fishpoles. Then we went 
 and sat down on the bank of the canal, dropped 
 our lines into the water and basked in the sun- 
 light, chatting like kids. The canal, in spring, 
 is the only agreeable sight at Castel. The very 
 clear sky of a pale blue, the rippling water, the 
 trees on all sides which were becoming green, 
 the sun, the red trousers and the peaceful 
 barges — all that made a very picturesque and 
 restful scene. 
 
 When I wrote you last week that I was a 
 little tired, I meant by that simply as every 
 evening. After having done an hour of bay- 
 onet fencing and an hour of gun drill in the 
 morning, marched ten or twelve kilometers in 
 the afternoon, practiced skirmish attacks and 
 dug shelter trenches, only one idea comes to us, 
 to turn in as soon as possible. I am marvel- 
 lously well and at Montauban I was compli- 
 mented on my ruddy complexion and even on 
 being fat! 
 
 Here is the story of my leave. Last Thurs- 
 day, we went to Cordes for rifle practice. 
 When it came time to return, the lieutenant 
 said to us, " Let us try to catch up with the 
 4th Company, which left here twenty minutes 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 41 
 
 ago." Accordingly we stretched out more and 
 more, which was quite easy as our knapsacks 
 were empty or nearly so. Arrived at the top 
 of the slope, we saw the 4th Company a kilo- 
 meter and a half ahead, so we lengthened our 
 stride. But after a while they saw that we 
 were giving them the chase and struck up a 
 quicker pace. Seeing that, our lieutenant each 
 time that a turn concealed us from their view 
 put us at double quick. As soon as this was 
 discovered, the 4th did likewise. Thus we 
 gave them a frantic chase until within a kilo- 
 meter of Castel, where we stopped to await the 
 stragglers ; we were then only fifty meters from 
 the 4th! And the ten kilometers had been 
 covered in one hour and a quarter ! 
 
 The lieutenant was delighted. Moreover at 
 roll call in the evening he had it announced that 
 those who wanted a leave had only to see him. 
 
 Then and there I put in a request, and Sat- 
 urday morning it was signed. I left Castel at 
 3 o'clock, took tea with the L's, and dined with 
 Madame C. Sunday I lunched at Madame 
 L's, who had invited me and had prepared a 
 monstrous meal fit for Pantagruel. Notwith- 
 standing my very remarkable appetite, I could 
 not eat enough to satisfy her. 
 
42 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 In the afternoon I heard a fine sermon by 
 Mr. Louis Lafon on the text, " He shall wipe 
 away every tear from their eyes, ,, followed by 
 a Communion service which was very beauti- 
 ful and helpful after the loneliness of Castel. 
 You can imagine how I enjoyed my Easter 
 Day! 
 
 Just think! The other day on the barrack 
 stairs I heard a raw peasant from Limousin 
 whistling à tue-tête the Minuet of the 7th 
 Sonata of Beethoven! He had picked it up 
 from hearing me hum it on the march. 
 
 Tomorrow we take up the usual work. As 
 for our departure we know nothing. 
 
 Montauban, April 7th. 
 
 Here I am again at Montauban for a few 
 hours, and this time it is for the departure. I 
 leave with a detachment of 120 men to go to 
 reen force the — th at the Hurlus front. 
 
 Monday evening, at 5 o'clock roll call, six- 
 teen volunteers were called for from the com- 
 pany. As I had been excused from roll call I 
 was not there, but I was informed in the eve- 
 ning that thirty volunteers — or involontaires 
 — had been taken, sixteen to leave at once, the 
 others in case some of the first lot were re- 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 43 
 
 jected by the doctors. Tuesday morning at 
 6:15, drill; the medical examination had to be 
 passed at 7 o'clock. When the lieutenant ar- 
 rived a comrade and I told him of our desire 
 to go, and he authorized us to be examined. 
 We went and found that it was a long exami- 
 nation. The doctor said to me, " You can go, 
 no danger of your being rejected." It was 
 8:05 and I was in undress. I rushed into the 
 dormitory, changed, made up my sack, and 
 gave to the quarter-master everything I didn't 
 need. At half past eight, downstairs. At 
 nine, we took the train. On arriving here, I 
 found the Rev. Mr. P. Galley and lunched with 
 him at the mess of the non-commissioned of- 
 ficers, he being an adjutant. Then we went to 
 his room where I found Robert Dieterlen, the 
 missionary, who is corporal in the — th Chas- 
 seurs. 5 
 
 This afternoon they gave us a new outfit, 
 fancy gray coat, capote of mist blue, small 
 light blue képi, and excellent shoes. Besides 
 there are rest shoes, a large sleeping sack of 
 waterproof canvas, canteen, knapsack, shelter 
 tent and pegs, tools, and a camp kettle. When 
 
 5 Missing since the great offensive of September 25, 
 1915. 
 
44 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 all will be included the knapsack will weigh 
 about twenty- four kilos! At nine o'clock this 
 morning we shall be passed in review, and 
 probably leave in the course of the afternoon. 
 I leave contented, confident, at peace. I 
 thank you, father, and you my darling mother, 
 for all the love and tenderness you have given 
 us, for all the confidence in life and in our 
 Lord, and for all the hope you have inspired in 
 me. Thanks also, that on leaving, we are as- 
 sured that you will not grieve too much, be- 
 cause you know how we are protected. I em- 
 brace you with all the love in my heart. 
 
 April 7th. 
 
 Now we are off! I leave joyful at the 
 thought that at last I am going to be able to do 
 something. 
 
 I am not afraid to die. I say this in all sin- 
 cerity; I have made the sacrifice of my life. I 
 can do it without any fear. 
 
 In the first place I know that to die is to be- 
 gin to live ; not to live in an eternal rapture of 
 contemplation, but to live truly. I believe that 
 the dead live close to the living, invisible but 
 present, and perhaps it is they whom God sends 
 us in response to our prayers, in order that 
 
AT THE BARRACKS 45 
 
 their spirit which is His spirit may guide us 
 and inspire us. 
 
 And then I hope to have left behind me in a 
 few hearts some seeds which will spring up in 
 the Lord's good time. And all that I have 
 lived for, all that I wished to be and to do — 
 all that, I feel, will live again and not perish. 
 
 Do not believe because you and others re- 
 main behind without taking part in the struggle 
 that you are useless — quite the contrary. 
 There is something you can do, pray. Pray 
 for those who have left for the front, and who 
 need to be upheld. Pray for those who suffer. 
 Pray the Master to send laborers into His 
 harvest. Prayer itself is a struggle. It must 
 be a combat where we conquer our desires and 
 impulses in order that we may say to God, 
 " Thou, thou knowest better than we do what 
 is necessary for us; enable us to place all in 
 thy hands, knowing that thy will, whatever it 
 may be, is a will of infinite love." 
 
 I speak to you about death, because I am 
 thinking about it, because my entire effort is 
 spent in preparing for it, since it may come. 
 Whatever happens, remember, " He shall wipe 
 away every tear from their eyes." But I have 
 faith in life, faith in God. "Fear nothing, 
 
46 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 only believe." Trust Him confidently, and 
 pray also on behalf of those who are fighting 
 and who can not, themselves, find the time to 
 pray aright. 
 
Ill 
 
 AT THE FRONT 
 
Ill 
 
 AT THE FRONT 
 
 Cahors Station, April 7th, 8 p. m. 
 We left Montauban at 4:21 p. m. We are 
 traveling in a cattle car, thirty-two of us. 
 Beautiful weather. Thus far good trip. Un- 
 fortunately Cahors lunch counter closed, im- 
 possible to get anything hot. 
 
 Châteauroux, April 8th, 2 p. m. 
 Rained all night. The car roof leaked and 
 we were pretty well soaked. Had to change 
 cars and now we are royally settled in first- 
 class compartments. Great welcome every- 
 where; cars bedecked with flowers! No dra- 
 goons at the station, so could not find out if 
 the fourth squadron is still at Baccarat. 1 All 
 goes well. 
 
 1 Squadron in which his oldest brother was serving 
 as brigadier. 
 
 49 
 
50 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 Troy es, April 9th, 8 a.m. 
 Delightful night in our first-class carriage, 
 slept like a king. Everything continues to go 
 along first rate. Able to have a good wash 
 and shave this morning. Going on in the 
 direction of Neufchâteau. All's well. 
 
 Bar-le-Diic, April 10th, 4p.11. 
 
 We arrived here last night at 10:15. We 
 were all snoozing in the train, when some one 
 
 cried, "Le th en bas." Immediately we 
 
 were getting ready, digging out knapsacks and 
 guns. Many men had paid no further thought 
 to their knapsacks or guns since leaving Mon- 
 tauban; therefore for a few minutes there was 
 an admirable little " pagaille." 
 
 Finally we left the station and crossed the 
 city. We are quartered in an old factory 
 where we have a little straw, but it is cold as a 
 barn. Having no blankets we were freezing; 
 slept well until three o'clock just the same. 
 Since then I have dressed and brushed up. 
 We are going to start in a minute, by railway 
 train as before, for the front which is only 
 some thirty-five kilometers away. Naturally 
 we are going in an unknown direction. 
 
AT THE FRONT 51 
 
 Des 'Armées de la République, 
 
 Sunday, April nth. 
 
 Our trip ended yesterday afternoon, and 
 now we have joined our regiment. At five 
 o'clock we left our Bar-le-Duc factory, crossed 
 the city, and took the train. Slowly, at an 
 average rate of fifteen kilometers an hour 
 perhaps, we passed over a series of hills in the 
 direction of Verdun. It rained, it snowed, 
 it froze; but soon we no longer thought any- 
 thing about it. Right and left we were leav- 
 ing behind us bombarded and burned villages 
 and fields ploughed up by shells. Everywhere 
 there were shell sockets, empty " boites de 
 singe" small lines of trenches and graves; 
 graves already almost levelled by the rain and 
 wind, bearing a modest cross of wood, most 
 often nameless, and here and there adorned 
 with a képi, an empty socket or a bayonet. 
 How sad these tombs are, half -hidden in the 
 fields which are becoming green! 
 
 At eleven o'clock we get off at Souilly-sur- 
 Meuse at about twenty or twenty-five kilo- 
 meters from Verdun, whose cannon can be 
 heard roaring. It is raining. The roads are 
 covered with a very soft chalky mud and 
 everybody is more or less plastered with it. 
 
52 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 We fall into line, haversacks on our backs, 
 in a field, and we start off for the cantonment. 
 The rain has stopped. Between the clouds the 
 sun risks itself a little. For three hours and 
 a half we paddle in the mud and finally arrive 
 at Heippes-sur-Meuse, where we still are. 
 
 Heippes is a very small village encircled by 
 hills. Here one sees soldiers almost exclu- 
 sively. All of the — th Army Corps is in this 
 region, au repos for the first time since the 
 beginning. What is going to be done with 
 it? No one knows. 
 
 The soldiers are horribly dirty; uniforms 
 torn, burned, and covered with mud. That 
 is readily understood, when one sees the life 
 they lived in the trenches, sleeping on damp 
 soil, crawling in the mire, and spattered with 
 mud by the bursting shells. 
 
 My company is quartered in a large barn. 
 There are cows below us. Above and to the 
 right of the door are the first and the second 
 sections, sleeping on straw and having for 
 light only that which enters by the door or by 
 the chinks between the tiles. A little farther 
 up and to the left are the other two sections. 
 We are packed one against the other, side by 
 side. Plenty of water, and it is very good; 
 
AT THE FRONT 53 
 
 food excellent and quite abundant. On the 
 whole we are better off than at the barracks 
 and I have slept like a king; but — there are 
 some many-footed inhabitants of all colors, 
 forms, and thicknesses. 
 
 Naturally we receive many tips, but espe- 
 cially this one, " Lighten your sack as much 
 as possible." Accordingly we throw over- 
 board (** balancer ") the extra shoes, tent pegs, 
 kettle, six out of ten biscuits, two of the three 
 cans of preserves, and, as soon as it commences 
 to trouble us, the sleeping-bag, for it seems the 
 tent canvas is a good substitute. Just imagine, 
 thus lightened the knapsack still weighs from 
 fifteen to twenty kilos and in addition each 
 one of us carries 96 cartridges though we 
 should have 250. 
 
 Above Heippes there is a hill which the Ger- 
 mans were occupying and which was captured 
 between the 6th and 14th of September by 
 seven regiments, nearly all from the reserve. 
 They fought bitterly. And on the summit 
 is any number of graves. They say there are 
 three thousand men up there, French as well as 
 Germans. 
 
 Over the principal mound there is a cement 
 block bearing a tall cross of carved wood, with 
 
54 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 inscriptions. On one of the graves there is 
 also a large cross of white wood and a wreath 
 with these words: "En souvenir de Roger 
 Couve." 
 
 There has been a great deal of righting in 
 this vicinity, on all sides, destroyed and burned 
 villages. It is frightfully sad. 
 
 But I will go. I have no fear. I am at 
 peace. I feel ready. It is of infinite value 
 to me to know that the prayers and thoughts of 
 those who love me follow me everywhere. Be- 
 sides have we not said : 
 
 " Dans la joie et la souffrance, 
 Je veux te suivre en tout lieu, 
 Toute ma vie à l'avance, 
 Je te l'apporte, ô mon Dieu ! " 
 
 Very often I think of this France which is 
 going to come, which will be born of the free- 
 dom-bearing war. It is necessary that she un- 
 derstand her duty to be human. One must 
 know what he is and what he is doing that all 
 may live in the conscious presence of le De- 
 voir. 2 It is not a case of having a duty be- 
 
 2 "The English sense of the word 'duty' — 
 1 Stern Daughter of the Voice of God ' 
 — hardly corresponds to that of the beautiful French 
 
AT THE FRONT 55 
 
 cause one lives, but of living because one has 
 a duty; and in so much as one has one and 
 knows it, to live for it. 
 
 Enclosed are two or three violets from here : 
 spring is everywhere the same sweet, fresh 
 messenger of hope. 
 
 C our celles-sur- Aire, April 13th. 
 
 Last Monday we left Heippes in order to 
 go farther south to Courcelles-sur-Aire, 
 where we have remained ever since. 
 
 The place is truly charming, in the midst of 
 its circle of hills and bordered by small groves 
 of ash trees and firs. The weather is always 
 delightfully clear, cool, and sunny. Below 
 the village runs a swift stream of very cold 
 water, the Aire. Yesterday afternoon I spent 
 two or three hours upon its bank writing, read- 
 ing, and doing my washing. Besides I gath- 
 
 word devoir, which recurs so often in these letters and 
 which signified in chivalry the devout and willing, as 
 well as faithful fulfilment of knightly obligation. 
 Devoir was the watchword of this young hero's life, 
 and in the letters which follow, it stands out 
 for all that free and joyful service which it was his 
 heart's desire to render, not only to the land that 
 claimed his earthly allegiance, but to the Kingdom of 
 God."— G. W. Mackintosh. 
 
56 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 ered a quantity of wild chicory for salad. If 
 it is still as fine this afternoon and we are 
 free, I shall return there to fish. 
 
 Five or six of us have clubbed together for 
 mess, a sort of cooperative society. Each 
 brings his contribution. Thus yesterday we 
 had, besides the regulation soup and meat, a 
 wild chicory salad with two hard boiled eggs, 
 some fried minnows, wine, and milk — truly a 
 feast for a king. 
 
 I have, as they say, discovered the filon 
 ("struck ore"). My regiment, being from 
 the South, drinks a great deal of wine, and 
 from the moment of its arrival at the en- 
 campment all the men make a rush on the wine 
 merchants, the grocers, and even the inhabit- 
 ants : result, impossible to be served. So while 
 the others are scrambling for wine, I hurry 
 off to look for some milk, and, if possible, one 
 or two eggs. So much the better, because the 
 milk is very good around here and I prefer it 
 to wine. 
 
 Notwithstanding my fears, last night was as 
 restful as the preceding ones. The straw was 
 plainly damp ; but I slept upon my doubled up 
 tent canvas, rolled up in my good blanket, 
 with my head upon the knapsack, and I was as 
 
AT THE FRONT 57 
 
 happy as a prince. We are, however, so 
 closely packed against each other that it is 
 necessary to sleep on the side, and I had all 
 the difficulty in the world turning over during 
 the night. 
 
 In the morning, jus exquis (excellent 
 coffee). It had been freezing, the sky was 
 fresh and blue, and without thinking I com- 
 menced to whistle Grieg's " Matin " with all 
 my might. 
 
 Seven o'clock, corvée (fatigue duty) after 
 wood. There were twenty of us. We did 
 practically nothing for two hours except to 
 warm ourselves in the sun and breathe the pure 
 air. At nine o'clock we came back slowly 
 with our wood. It was while on corvée duty 
 that I gathered the enclosed violets. 
 
 The report has just been read; that is to 
 say, the lieutenant has announced that there 
 is nothing to report ! Drill this afternoon. 
 
 April 14th. 
 We are still at Courcelles, and they are not 
 yet talking of sending us away; but it is alto- 
 gether plain that we shall not remain here long. 
 The cannon commenced their fire this morn- 
 ing. We are doing next to nothing, eating 
 
58 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 well, and sleeping the same. If this régime 
 continues it will not be long before we are 
 big and fat. 
 
 Yesterday at one p. m. started off without 
 knapsack, canteen, or musette. We climbed 
 slowly the hills opposite. Then we were sent 
 to the edge of the trenches which are up there, 
 made to examine them, and finally went 
 through some combination drills, returning by 
 four o'clock. 
 
 Here, also, there was much fighting during 
 the battle of the Marne. Here our right wing 
 drove back the German left. In every direc- 
 tion there are shell craters, shell sockets, 
 splinters from bursted shells, fuse caps, load- 
 ers, crushed canteens, and torn knapsacks. 
 And then the graves — ! Here and there one 
 sees a cross or simply some trenches, where 
 the bodies have been thrown, and which later 
 have been filled in. 
 
 But life is taking on more and more its 
 normal course. The engineering corps has re- 
 paired the bridges and the roads ; little by little 
 the inhabitants have begun rebuilding; bom- 
 barded dwellings are being repaired tempora- 
 rily, the walls reenforced and covered with a 
 makeshift roof. 
 
AT THE FRONT 59 
 
 Many of the fields are being ploughed, 
 seeded, and irrigated. Grain is coming up. 
 Yesterday evening on returning from drill we 
 found ourselves face to face with an old, old 
 peasant, very wrinkled, but who was straight- 
 ening himself up proudly to sow the field which 
 his children could no longer cultivate. Though 
 older, he resembled " The Sower " of Burnand. 
 It was truly an impressive sight. 
 
 This afternoon, again, we went out on drill. 
 We did barely more than ten kilometers, in a 
 slight sprinkle of rain. For my part, I found 
 the tramp delightful; the country is beautiful, 
 there are interesting things to see, and it is 
 an excellent exercise. 
 
 April 15th. 
 Throughout the day, an important move- 
 ment of troops has taken place in our neigh- 
 borhood. From 6 130 a. m. regiments passed, 
 headed by their bands. Then passed the motor 
 trucks, the ambulances, the artillery, the cav- 
 alry, and still more infantry. During the 
 afternoon, from time to time, troops were still 
 going by. Moreover, we are asking ourselves 
 if we shall not be leaving in our turn this night 
 or tomorrow. 
 
60 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 As a matter of fact, this afternoon they came 
 after us at the moment we were going to start 
 drill. We were taken back to cantonment 
 rapidly, and there took place the fête of the 
 battalion, which was not to have been cele- 
 brated until Saturday next! 
 
 There were foot races (ioo meters flat) 
 and wrestling. I ran, but having fallen, came 
 in only second in the semi-final, and won a 
 pencil for my trouble! 
 
 This morning I took a tramp on the hills. 
 It was truly delightful. The weather was 
 fine and warm. All the valley was bathed in 
 a blue haze, almost transparent, and the mo- 
 tionless poplars seemed to be tall pages sleep- 
 ing beside the silvery road which wound 
 through this garden of the " Belle au Bois 
 Dormant." One heard only the larks, and 
 the formidable bass of the cannon which have 
 not ceased booming all day long. 
 
 At one o'clock off for drill. It was very 
 hot. At first we skirted the side of the hill, 
 then we passed over the summit, and into a 
 grove where we halted. It was in that spot 
 (there had been hot fighting there) that I 
 gathered the periwinkles and anemones en- 
 closed. 
 
AT THE FRONT 61 
 
 The periwinkles made me think of Moraja; 3 
 you recall the alley which led from the terrace 
 of the Mabilles' house to the little gate under 
 the eucalyptus! 
 
 Poor mission fields! I often think of 
 Francis Monod. Could you send me the 
 Journal des Missions f Could father also 
 write a word to our chaplain in order to tell 
 him where I am? 
 
 Could R. send me the words of Stevenson's 
 " Requiem " ? I like it so much, especially the 
 music, that I should like to try to translate 
 it. 
 
 Do not be astonished that my style and ideas 
 are so flowery; while writing I am support- 
 ing the paper on my canteen. It is true that 
 it has contained only milk for the last three 
 days! 
 
 April 1 6th. 
 We thought that we would start last night, 
 but for a change we are still here. Beautiful 
 day as usual, and ideal temperature. The can- 
 non of Verdun are no longer heard, but to 
 be sure the wind is now always from the west. 
 
 3 The mission station in Basutoland where he was 
 born and lived several years. 
 
62 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 Therefore everything is perfectly calm except 
 for the autobuses and motor trucks which pass 
 almost without interruption. Moreover, there 
 are aides-de-camp going and coming all the 
 time. Finally, they have notified us that we 
 are in cantonnement d'alerte until further no- 
 tice. 
 
 This afternoon, bayonet drill. As two cor- 
 porals were missing R. and I (the two 
 "bleus" of the squad) had to replace them 
 as monitors. You can see us making a bunch 
 of old veterans work, none of whom were un- 
 der forty years of age! 
 
 Finally, for the second part of the program, 
 there were some games. We played barres 
 and petits paquets. These soldiers (many of 
 them territorials) formed an astonishing spec- 
 tacle running after each other and enjoying 
 themselves like little kids ! 
 
 Besides, the funniest part of it was that 
 when we had had enough of it and wished to 
 stop, the non-commissioned officer shouted at 
 us, " If you do not play, I will run you all in." 
 And what's more he would have done it. 
 
 We sleep all night and sometimes during 
 the daytime. We eat at all hours, whenever 
 anything comes our way. When it is our turn, 
 
AT THE FRONT 63 
 
 we go on corvée duty. This morning, for 
 instance, I commenced by sweeping the road 
 in front of the post and cleaning the borders 
 of the said post, after which I picked up the 
 old bones, tin cans, bread crusts, and papers 
 which were wandering around the camp. We 
 are passed in reviews, we drill, etc. 
 
 Sunday, April 18th. 
 
 I would have liked to be able to attend 
 church service today, for there must be one 
 in some part of the sector. But I was unable 
 to find out where, and it would have done me 
 no good anyway, for we have been told to be 
 ready to move any hour of the day or night 
 without previous warning. Consequently the 
 men must not go more than 500 meters from 
 camp. 
 
 I assure you that the long rest begins to 
 wear on me, and that I would much rather be 
 doing something. All the more since the can- 
 non of Verdun are again heard, and it is hor- 
 rible to think that while one is here doing 
 nothing there are those who, very near us, are 
 being killed. More and more in the face of 
 those who have struggled and who are dead, 
 in the presence of the immense effort which 
 
64 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 has been made, I think of the France which 
 is to come, of the divine France which must be. 
 I could not fight if I did not hope in the birth 
 of that France for whom it will have been 
 worth while to kill and to be killed. 
 
 I try to profit from these days of rest in 
 order to prepare myself still more. I have 
 time to read and meditate. In the morning I 
 try to slip away to the hillside to pray, and in 
 the evening I pass a moment in church where 
 a few soldiers come. 
 
 If you knew how I regret not having known 
 how to live and serve my Sunday school boys, 
 my Boy Scouts, and my friends! But re- 
 gretting serves no purpose. My heart is full 
 to overflowing of things I should like to say 
 to those who suffer, who weep, who wait, and 
 hope. 
 
 For me the military life has simplified every- 
 thing. Things have taken on their true values 
 and full significance. Some difficulties which 
 seemed insurmountable have disappeared. In- 
 tellectual sacrifices which I thought I could 
 never accept have taken place almost of them- 
 selves, without a pang. And there results a 
 new vitality, a desire for intense action. And 
 
AT THE FRONT 65 
 
 then, there is always peace. However, I fear 
 this peace both for myself and for those I 
 love, because too often it is only human. By 
 this I mean that it is weakness and resigna- 
 tion, in place of being the full consciousness 
 of a positive duty and a real force. And I 
 often pray as follows for myself and for those 
 I love: 
 
 Lord, our God, our loving Father, stir up 
 our souls in order that they may not be like 
 stagnant waters. Do not permit us to sleep 
 in a cowardly security, in a lifeless calm, be- 
 lieving that it is peace. On the other hand, 
 give our hearts the power to suffer intensely in 
 communion with all grief, to revolt against all 
 injustice, to be thrilled by the appeal of every 
 noble and holy cause. Lord, our Christ, thy 
 Son, suffered. He wept over the death of 
 His friend. He wept over thy rebellious peo- 
 ple. He wept over His work which threat- 
 ened to end with His earthly life. But He 
 lived so intensely and humanly that He was 
 able to say to us men, " I am the life." Lord, 
 make our hearts alive. Then will thy peace 
 descend upon them, not as the snow which be- 
 numbs and freezes, but as the warmth of the 
 
66 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 sun which revives the sap in the very veins of 
 the earth. O Lord, may thy Peace be with us ; 
 thy peace and not the peace of men. Amen. 
 
 April 20th. 
 
 Upon the sparse grass behind the barn, in 
 the shade (?) of some plum trees which as 
 yet are only in bud, there are some thirty men 
 stretched out face downward, or, with their 
 képi over their eyes, flat on their backs. 
 Nearly all are sleeping; I alone am writing. 
 If it were not for a delightfully refreshing 
 breeze from the northwest, nothing would re- 
 main in the skull but a " thick and blood- 
 streaked paste" (bouille épaisse et sanguinol- 
 ente), as my neighbor Corporal A., says. 
 
 Those who are not here are snoring their 
 loudest in the stable, except for some philos- 
 ophers who are fishing from the bank of the 
 little stream. 
 
 The bank of this brook is a Utopian spot. 
 Unhappily it is 200 meters from the canton- 
 ment and if you go to sleep there and miss the 
 drill hour, no one will go to wake you up. 
 Result: eight days in the guard house. 
 
 By the way, the prison is a most original 
 affair. Normally the prisoners are kept in 
 
AT THE FRONT 67 
 
 the lock-up, some room of the cantonment. 
 But as they are very numerous at this time 
 — "rapport au vin" — the prisoners are en- 
 closed (?) in a square traced upon the ground 
 with the bayonet by the chief of the guard. 
 At the four corners of this original cell, 
 guards are stationed with fixed bayonets, and 
 a corporal is appointed chief jailer! Now I 
 return to my brook. 
 
 It passes through some fields, sometimes 
 bordered with bushes and reeds, sometimes 
 with quite high trees. There it certainly is 
 fine. I went down there a few minutes ago 
 to wash. It is very picturesque, this view 
 of the soldiers' torsos against the green of the 
 meadows ! 
 
 One would scarcely expect such descriptions 
 from a warrior. But all we are doing is eat- 
 ing, sleeping, drilling, reading, and writing. 
 
 April 22, 1915. 
 My dear Friends: 4 
 
 From the front where I am often thinking 
 of you I send a message of affectionate en- 
 
 4 Letter addressed to the group of Scouts which he 
 had founded at Montauban, supplied by the chief of 
 the troop, Mr. Garrisson. 
 
68 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 couragement. You have before you a mag- 
 nificent task. Your fathers, your brothers, 
 and your friends have fought and are righting 
 still in order to protect the soil of France, and 
 especially in order to make the French spirit 
 of righteousness, justice, and liberty victori- 
 ous. They will make it triumph beyond our 
 borders; it is up to you to make it the spirit 
 of our entire Patrie, that each Frenchman 
 may have only one ideal : to bring in the reign 
 of justice. 
 
 While looking at some soldiers' tombs, I 
 was repeating to myself these words : " They 
 did not love their life, they had no fear of 
 death." Their duty was to die if necessary. 
 When they received the order, "A l'assaut!" 
 they saw the enemy at the loopholes of the 
 trenches ready to deal certain death, almost 
 at the end of the muzzle, and they charged 
 without hesitation. Many died; the rest are 
 conquerors. 
 
 Your duty, yours, is to live — not as plants 
 and animals, that merely exist, but as men who 
 have a purpose in life and struggle to attain 
 it. Our elders had no fear of death; you 
 should not fear to live. For you to live means 
 to be as well and as vigorous as possible, to 
 
AT THE FRONT 69 
 
 be as straightforward, as loyal, as faithful, as 
 devoted to others, and as pure as lies within 
 your power. That means to try very hard 
 each day to do, not one good turn, but only 
 good turns. In fact that means to be true 
 scouts, men who blaze the way for others, in 
 order to show them how one must live and 
 where to find the strength to live aright. 
 
 If you accept this ideal, your elders will not 
 have suffered in vain, and you will have the 
 right in your turn to enter the race. There- 
 fore let your watchword be " Faithful even 
 unto death." Unto death — that is to say, 
 during all our life we will remain faithful to 
 Him who has shown us what a man's life can 
 and must be; we will remain faithful to the 
 Christ, the supreme Scout. 
 
 I wish you one and all to be able to live thus. 
 Your friend and brother Scout. 
 
 April 25th. 
 Thursday morning, arose at half-past three. 
 At five-thirty we were off. It was beautiful 
 weather, and one could march without fatigue, 
 but the day promised to be hot. As a mat- 
 ter of fact, the heat increased little by little 
 and the dust became thicker. But there was 
 
70 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 a cool breeze striking us from the side, which 
 carried away the dust, and as I was marching 
 on the side of the column, I did not receive 
 any. 
 
 We made few halts — five minutes every 
 hour, and we were marching relatively fast, 
 considering the stops necessary because of the 
 crowded four corners. We crossed many vil- 
 lages and small cities which have been de- 
 stroyed — Vaubécourt, Rambercourt, etc. 
 Finally toward one o'clock, we reached Lai- 
 mont, having covered about thirty kilometers. 
 They lodged us in a barn, and there we spent 
 the night and the following day. 
 
 Friday evening we left at eight-thirty, tak- 
 ing the train four kilometers away, at 
 Revigny, in cattle cars. We were forty-four 
 in each car and the maximum capacity is forty. 
 To sit down each had only the space occupied 
 by his knapsack on the floor of the car, and 
 one slept with his head supported upon his 
 knees — not very comfortable! The night 
 was relatively calm. 
 
 Little by little, we approached Paris, and 
 soon one could make out the Eiffel Tower, not- 
 withstanding the mist. We came to a stand- 
 still in the Noisy-le-Sec station and remained 
 
AT THE FRONT 71 
 
 there about thirty minutes. 5 Then we de- 
 parted by way of Creil, toward the north. 
 
 The hours passed very slowly. Happily I 
 had some lectures of Mr. Raoul Allier to 
 read, which I received from the Federation. 
 We were installed for the night, but at nine 
 o'clock réveil sounded suddenly. It was neces- 
 sary to leap from the train, equip ourselves 
 in all haste, and form up on the platform. 
 Then it was a departure into the dark night. 
 A fine cold rain fell which pierced to the skin. 
 On the outskirts of the village of Agricourt in 
 the Somme Département we heard the cannon 
 very near; we even saw the reflection of the 
 firing. 
 
 The first two villages to which we came were 
 already full of soldiers. It was necessary to 
 start off again in the rain. New wandering 
 Jews, grumbling over the humidity and fa- 
 tigue (we had just spent twenty-three hours 
 on the train), we went from village to village, 
 finding soldiers everywhere and no room left. 
 
 Finally we found a cantonment and there 
 
 5 Speaking of the passage through the station of 
 Noisy-le-Sec, in a letter to a friend, he added : " Eleven 
 kilometers from home! You can understand how it 
 made my heart swell a bit ! " 
 
72 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 was fresh straw in abundance. But it was 
 four o'clock in the morning and we had been 
 on the march since 9:30 p. m., almost never 
 halting and in the rain! Bunches of men had 
 stopped along the way, having neither the 
 strength nor the courage to go farther. I 
 don't know how I stuck it out jusqu' à bout 
 (to the end). Exhausted by the railway 
 journey, famished, with shoulders raw from 
 the fact that the straps of my knapsack were 
 too narrow, I said to myself many times, " I 
 flop down here." And yet I managed to hold 
 out to the end. But as soon as I had my shoes 
 and clothes off, I rolled up in my blanket and 
 immediately fell asleep. 
 
 Sunday morning we did not arise until 
 noon, and as soon as mess was swallowed we 
 had to dry our soaked clothes, clean our guns 
 carefully, and install ourselves in the canton- 
 ment. Finally evening arrived without my 
 having had more than fifteen minutes of rest, 
 during which time I hastily went through my 
 personal devotions. 
 
 On the other hand yesterday I was very 
 quiet. I received Foi et Vie and some of Mr. 
 Allier's lectures. I enjoyed them very much 
 
AT THE FRONT 73 
 
 and passed them around somewhat among my 
 comrades. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon I was called by Major 
 Ch. Schmuckel. He proposed to take me into 
 the ist Battalion, and since this morning I 
 have been assigned to the 4th Company. 
 
 My new battalion is the most distinguished 
 
 of the Army. The Major is very much 
 
 loved because he is fair and always ready to 
 render service. He is an excellent man with 
 a high sense of duty, as he proved by leading 
 his men to the attack of the S.K. trench at 
 Perthes in such a masterful manner that his 
 battalion was cited in a war order and deco- 
 rated with " ta croix de guerre." 6 
 
 6 The Chief of the battalion, Charles Schmuckel, Com- 
 mandant en second of the military school of St. Maixent, 
 had been cited à l'ordre de l'armée in these terms: 
 "Thanks to his skill and admirable enthusiasm with 
 which he knew how to inspire his battalion, he has suc- 
 ceeded in capturing strongly fortified and defended 
 works. By his energy, his ardent spirit on the offensive 
 and his remarkable spirit of decision, he hurled back 
 some very bitter counter-attacks of the enemy, succeed- 
 ing, not only in maintaining conquered territory, but 
 also in gaining ground." 
 
 Fell on the field of honor, at Anzin-St. Aubin, the 
 15th of May. 
 
74 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 We are held in reserve and very severely 
 restricted in the cantonment. They fear that 
 we may be located by enemy aeroplanes and 
 as soon as one of them is signalled, they notify 
 us by three bugle calls. Then every one has 
 to hunt cover. We are still waiting until they 
 need us for un coup de main. 
 
 April 26th. 
 
 I have nothing to tell you. My life, is 
 empty, made up of drill and more especially of 
 rest. But this only apparently so. I feel 
 that I am living ardently and intensely. 
 Never have I lived with such keenness, even 
 in civil life. There is within me a very vol- 
 cano of emotions and ideas. Certainly I 
 shall never be the same as before. 
 
 I would like you to read some of Raoul Al- 
 liens lectures — the list is found in Le Chris- 
 tianisme — and an article by Pierre Chavan- 
 nes in Foi et Vie (April 15, 1915) entitled 
 " Emmaûs, méditation laïque." The entire 
 article is worth studying closely, for it is mag- 
 nificent. You will find in it some ideas which 
 are troubling me at this very minute. 
 
 I am much concerned as to the legitimacy of 
 this war. I have confidence that our cause 
 
AT THE FRONT 75 
 
 is just and good, and that we have the right 
 on our side. But it is necessary that this war 
 should be fruitful and that from all these 
 deaths a new life should spring forth for hu- 
 manity. 
 
 I am thinking incessantly of the France of 
 tomorrow, of this young France awaiting its 
 hour. It is absolutely essential that it should 
 be a consecrated France, where each person 
 shall have but one reason for being — le De- 
 voir. Every one will live only in so much as 
 he understands his duty and struggles to ac- 
 complish it. And it is up to us Protestants, 
 or rather to us " believers,' ' to reveal this new 
 life to the world. It is our duty to be apostles ; 
 and that duty is clear, for Jesus defined it: 
 " Ye therefore shall be perfect as your 
 heavenly Father is perfect." Perfect in our- 
 selves: which means to develop our personality 
 jusqu' à bout, to make it give all that it can 
 give, to push it even to the perfect stature of 
 Christ. And then perfect in others (for we 
 believe with all our might in the communion 
 of the saints, do we not?) : which signifies to 
 pray for others, in order that they may know 
 how to submit their conscience and their will 
 to the royal will of God. 
 
76 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 April 27th. 
 
 You can not realize the intensity of my life 
 at the present time, during these hours of rest, 
 blessed hours, in which self-imposed tasks 
 shaped by traditional formulas and moulds 
 have been replaced by a free development of 
 the soul. 
 
 I have often dreamed of this hour, when 
 I should enter into the reality of life. But 
 I did not believe that it would come so soon. 
 And now I am enjoying it profoundly. 
 
 The only thing which I regret is not to have 
 time enough to coordinate my thoughts. 
 That will take place naturally, little by little, 
 and the links between my ideas then will be 
 vital, and organic, no longer artificial. But 
 what a lack of tranquillity for praying aright. 
 
 Pray for me and ask God that I may have 
 the patience necessary to await at this time 
 the hour of going under fire, and to await 
 well. 
 
 April 28th. 
 
 This afternoon the fête of our Company 
 
 takes place. There will be songs, choruses, 
 
 recitations, etc. A pretty little stage has been 
 
 decorated with pine boughs and it seems there 
 
AT THE FRONT 77 
 
 are some artistes who are quite good. But 
 we were not permitted to go unless we left all 
 together in column by four. Those who were 
 not ready had to remain at the cantonment, as 
 has been the case with me. 
 
 I had finished putting on my knapsack, and 
 was binding the shaky edifice with the last 
 strap, when the whole thing collapsed in my 
 hands. The strap buckles had given way all 
 at once. So I had to mend them all and it 
 required too much time to be ready at the ap- 
 pointed hour. 
 
 Here I have found my comrade D., which 
 pleases me very much. He is a very fine lad, 
 originally from Papeete, and a student in the 
 Bordeaux High School of Commerce. He 
 knows the missionaries Moreau and Vernier 
 very well. 
 
 April 28th. 
 It is wonderfully fine, at a moment like this, 
 to feel that there are others around us and 
 behind us, who have the same ideal as our- 
 selves and are following the same " Marche à 
 l'Etoile/' Others besides us, if we can not 
 do it, will labor at the great task of conquer- 
 ing the world for its King, our King. Others 
 
78 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 will be able to raise high the torch which we 
 had dreamed of carrying forward. 
 
 Others — but I have too much faith in life 
 and its value to pause at this hypothesis. I 
 do not wish to prepare myself for death, but 
 for life — for life eternal, without doubt, but 
 more immediately for the life on earth. Cer- 
 tainly when I return, like every one else, I shall 
 have to be different; I shall no longer have 
 the right to be what I was before. Otherwise 
 how would the war have served me? Have 
 we not this conviction, that it is necessary to 
 renew humanity? And is it not our duty to 
 be renewed, ourselves, first of all ? 
 
 And to begin with, it seems to me that we 
 must develop and infinitely enlarge the con- 
 ception of our ministry. Pastors, yes, no 
 doubt (I take the term in the sense in which 
 it is currently used today, that is to say, as 
 guides, preachers, and counsellors of a par- 
 ish) — we must be that, and missionaries also. 
 But we must be more than that, we must be 
 men; still more, apostles. We must shine be- 
 yond our circle and group around us all men 
 of good will. In addition, we must struggle 
 that every will with which we come in contact 
 may become a good will. 
 
AT THE FRONT 79 
 
 First, there will be our preaching to change. 
 All that consists in empty formulas, beautiful 
 as they may be, powerfully as they may have 
 contributed to nourish souls; all the formulas 
 which are today empty because our philosophic 
 or religious thought, our experiences or our 
 conception of life have outgrown them or 
 caused them to burst their frames — all such 
 formulas must disappear. And what we shall 
 substitute for them as our statement of faith 
 will be not less great, not less beautiful, not 
 less true, if we search for it in the depths of 
 souls in union with God. And it will not be 
 less Christian, for the Spirit of Christ is a 
 spirit which lives, which develops — never re- 
 maining for a moment in any fixed form. 
 
 Our spiritual ministry must include a spe- 
 cial concern for the young. Without doubt, 
 we always must speak, and indefatigably, of 
 consolation and hope. But our church must 
 not become an asylum of the hopeless and the 
 crushed. Above all, it is necessary to speak 
 of life, which is summed up in this one word: 
 le Devoir. A total consecration to its com- 
 plete duty must be the life of the new human- 
 ity. 
 
 They have just announced to us that we 
 
80 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 are to leave this evening; whither, I have no 
 idea. Therefore I shall doubtless be obliged 
 to shorten my letter. Probably we are going 
 nearer to the firing line. 
 
 You will find attached a clipping from a 
 sermon of Georges Lauga, concerning the in- 
 fluence of men after death — just a little 
 memorandum for you to use as you like. In 
 my letter to L. I forgot an idea to which I 
 attach considerable importance: the develop- 
 ment of one's own personality. I refer you 
 to three lectures by Raoul Allier, entitled 
 " Semeurs de vie" " Dans le mystère de 
 l'ame," and " La mystérieuse conquête." 
 
 Finally there remains prayer. We have al- 
 ready spoken of it, but the subject is inex- 
 haustible. I do not refer to prayer of inter- 
 cession for others, that they may know how 
 to shape their lives to the Father's will of in- 
 finite love and that their vision of the duty to 
 accomplish may be ever clearer and more 
 vivid. 
 
 There is also prayer for ourselves. We 
 must pray to be pardoned. Pardon is at first 
 the destruction of habits and associations of 
 ideas which grow in us so as to paralyze us. 
 Briefly, we must ask God to renew our liberty 
 
AT THE FRONT 81 
 
 without ceasing. Speaking on this subject, 
 do you recall the conclusion of the course of 
 lectures by Mr. Bois on liberty and in particu- 
 lar that we are free at each moment of the 
 volitional act? 
 
 There is more than that in pardon : to believe 
 that God is love is to imply that He can suffer 
 and that He actually suffers from each of our 
 shortcomings, as He rejoices in our joys and 
 our successes (cf. many of the sayings of Jesus ; 
 P. Gounelle : " Le livre qui vit" dans Foi et 
 Vie, 1914; Fallot: "Le Dieu masqué" etc.). 
 We must humble ourselves for making HIM 
 suffer and have communion in His suffering. 
 
 We ask God for strength. Remember the 
 word addressed to Gideon: "Go with the 
 force that thou hast " ; it surely holds true for 
 us also. We are strong, but we ignore the 
 fact often voluntarily; we are afraid of this 
 strength which is in us, for, if we used it as 
 it should be used, it would direct us perhaps 
 where we do not wish to go. Let us ask 
 God that we may recognize this strength and 
 that we may know how to use it that it may 
 bring the greatest returns for Him. 
 
 Neither do we know about the subconscious 
 self in prayer, where it plays, I believe, a great 
 
82 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 rôle (cf. Rom. 8:26-31, and, for the mean- 
 ing, I Cor. 14: 1-26). I do not yet seize the 
 real significance of this fact very well; I 
 merely indicate it to you. 
 
 Pardon me for not writing more. I must 
 stop in order to buckle on my knapsack in 
 view of an immediate departure. But I was 
 anxious to send you these few thoughts which 
 draw us together. 
 
 April 30th. 
 
 We left Epagny at 8:15 to take the train. 
 We were better off than formerly, only forty 
 men per box car and with straw on the floor. 
 We made a long run in the direction of the 
 coast, then came back toward the interior. 
 
 Leaving the train at 9 o'clock, we were piled 
 into motor-trucks. We were thirty per car 
 and packed like sardines. Absolutely tropical 
 heat and horribly dusty. The sweat mois- 
 tened our faces so that the dust stuck; then 
 later when we marched the perspiration traced 
 magnificent marble effects on the face. Really 
 we were sights! 
 
 After 25 kilometers by auto we set off on 
 foot (it was noon) and covered a march of 
 only a few hours, though fatiguing because of 
 the heat and dust. 
 
AT THE FRONT 83 
 
 Finally we are quartered near Arras. We 
 sleep here tonight in the open air. We are 
 quite at the front. Before us there are only 
 the trenches, three kilometers away, and be- 
 hind us the soldiers au repos and the artillery 
 which is firing over our heads. Our aero- 
 planes are flying in every direction and the 
 Germans are cannonading in vain. We will 
 go to the trenches doubtless tomorrow. 
 
 May ist. 
 
 Just think, this morning we were baptized 
 with fire. Oh ! the baptism was not very damp 
 this time nor very serious, but it is the be- 
 ginning. 
 
 On all sides we are surrounded with artil- 
 lery. Already yesterday afternoon the field 
 pieces were letting loose, but at nightfall they 
 introduced the great valse. Shells were fired 
 from every side, and I assure you we heard 
 the shots plainly. And it lasted like that 
 until morning. Then they grew less fre- 
 quent; one here, another there, from time 
 to time. But at 9:45 the heavy pieces on 
 our right, close at hand, opened a fire by 
 volleys to which the Germans lost no time in 
 replying. 
 
84 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 As a matter of fact at the moment when 
 they had just served us la soupe I heard in 
 the air toward the left, a noise like that of a 
 locomotive puffing rapidly up a steep grade; 
 the sounds were very short and close to- 
 gether. Instinctively I raised my head to see 
 the thing pass and naturally, nothing doing! 
 Two seconds later, a terrific explosion. A 
 105 marmite, it seems, had burst 300 meters 
 from us ! We watched the smoke ; they must 
 have been firing at the artillery. 
 
 A few minutes passed, then another locomo- 
 tive, much nearer. This time — a tableau! 
 One would have thought himself in the midst 
 of an Arab camp at the hour of prayer, and 
 the little tents added to the illusion. Subito, 
 almost all of the men fell face downward, ly- 
 ing flat on the ground for the most part, or 
 crouched as low as possible, or kneeling on 
 the ground with the bodies bent over double. 
 For an instant no one moved. I heard a slow, 
 soft whistling, p-s-s-st, then a dull thud, paf ! 
 It was a shell fragment striking the tree 
 against which I was leaning, about five meters 
 above the ground. 
 
 Then everybody arose, and the few who had 
 remained standing showed us where the frag- 
 
AT THE FRONT 85 
 
 ments had struck and where the shell had 
 fallen. This time it was closer; less than 200 
 meters away, it seems. The firing appears 
 to have been a curtain fire, the shells falling 
 with the regularity of a scythe stroke, sweep- 
 ing over a wide space. So when one hears 
 a new marmite coming along, everybody drops. 
 
 But the blows are finding our left again. 
 Evidently it is the artillery they are after, and 
 they do not know that two companies are 
 bivouacked so near. And so, when two other 
 marmites passed over every one remained 
 standing and went on calmly eating. 
 
 Rather long silence, then, suddenly our 
 155's reply. And since then, the firing has 
 never stopped. There is at least one shot 
 every two minutes, sometimes volleys of three, 
 four, and five in succession. 
 
 Otherwise all goes well. I had an excel- 
 lent siesta from one to two. Now I have 
 just drawn twelve packages of cartridges 
 which make me 200 " prunes " in all. This 
 evening we shall no doubt hustle forward to 
 relieve the others in the trenches. 
 
 May 2nd. 
 Here I am in the famous trenches! Yes- 
 
S6 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 terday evening at 8:45 they assembled us in 
 front of the cantonment, and, knapsack in 
 position, each one carrying a dish or a kettle 
 in his hand, we left in the greatest silence. 
 The artillery, at that moment, was not work- 
 ing and there was no light except that of the 
 rockets hurled abruptly from time to time by 
 the Germans or ourselves, and the pocket 
 flashlights of the officers. It was truly im- 
 pressive, this night march of the entire bat- 
 talion. 
 
 After having crossed a destroyed village 
 we entered into the boyau (communication 
 trench). Dug out in the thick clay, it sufficed 
 to hide us completely. As we approached the 
 real trench, the noise of the fusillade became 
 more distinct and some balls commenced to 
 whistle above our heads. Instinctively, one 
 ducks ! 
 
 After more than an hour and a half of 
 marching in the boyau, we reached the trench 
 and relieved the regiment which was occupy- 
 ing it. We have some very comfortable rest 
 rooms dug in the wall of the trench. There 
 are such inscriptions as : " Attention, danger- 
 ous bend " ; " Look out for women and chil- 
 dren " ; '* Carriage road leading to the Ger- 
 
AT THE FRONT 87 
 
 mans, climb the opposite bank and march 
 straight ahead ! " etc. 
 
 Naturally the first moments passed in the 
 trenches are quite exciting. On all sides bul- 
 lets whistle; shells and bombs pas. c over head. 
 But one quickly gets accustomed to it and by 
 the end of an hour no longer trembles. 
 
 An amusing thing is the very diversity of 
 the sounds heard in the trenches : the German 
 dry, sharp, vibrating detonations; ours, a 
 deeper bass; those of the different cannon, 
 gatling guns, and trench mortars; the variety 
 of the noises which the shells make in passing 
 and exploding; the metallic sound of bullets 
 striking some hard objects; the rockets; the 
 aeroplane motors; and, finally, the song of 
 the larks, for in the well-started fields of grain 
 separating the trenches, they sing as if noth- 
 ing were going on. 
 
 You can not realize how near you seem, you 
 and mother, and how delightful that is to me. 
 
 Roclincourt, May 3rd. 
 
 About 9 p. m. yesterday, the — th Company 
 
 came to relieve us, and now we are quartered 
 
 in the village of Roclincourt, or at least, in 
 
 what remains of this village. We are lodging 
 
88 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 in a house that has more windows than the 
 architects intended, thanks to the shells; and 
 we are sleeping on straw, pêle-mêle with the 
 rats that swarm here. 
 
 This morning I was sleeping peacefully 
 when they came to call me, as well as another 
 soldier, named D. The lieutenant has nom- 
 inated us artillerymen. D. is range finder 
 and I am server for a cannon of 37 mm. which 
 shoots very pretty little percussion shells. 
 The animal is situated quite on the first line, 
 in a covered shelter. When it is not in use, 
 the loophole can be blocked up with sand bags. 
 It is a good plan, for the Germans locate and 
 fire well: for instance, this morning while we 
 were making some trial shots, several bullets 
 struck right beside the loophole. 
 
 It is a responsible post. 
 
 May 4th. 
 
 There are many experiences which I re- 
 joice in having at this hour. 
 
 In the first place, the experience of mingling 
 with men. During these hours when, at each 
 instant, one is risking his life, they show them- 
 selves exactly as they are, boasting neither 
 good nor evil. All that is superficial, all 
 
AT THE FRONT 8 9 
 
 masks, disappear, and the man alone stands 
 out. Thus one makes the acquaintance of 
 souls, under conditions which doubtless • will 
 never be found again. 
 
 Next comes the experience of the "com- 
 munion of saints." At no moment have I 
 felt so near to my dear ones and to all those 
 I love. Never could I have believed that, not- 
 withstanding the distances, we could be joined 
 so closely with those who are with us in the 
 struggle. This is true also of certain friends, 
 of the Student Volunteers in particular, and 
 of those who while not being " Volunteers " 
 have replied also, "Here am I, Lord, send 
 me." And this brings me to the best of these 
 three experiences, to the unique and marvel- 
 lous experience of prayer. 
 
 Do you not believe that if our Monday 
 morning prayer meetings were sometimes so 
 cold, it was because we made prayers instead 
 of prayin g? Read again Romans 8:26, 27. 7 
 
 7 And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our in- 
 firmity: for we know not how to pray as we ought; 
 but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with 
 groanings which cannot be uttered ; and he that search- 
 ed the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, 
 because he maketh intercession for the saints accord- 
 ing to the will of God. 
 
90 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 These meditations lead me, moreover, to 
 Henri Bois whose sane and human philosophy 
 I enjoy more and more. 
 
 May 5th. 
 
 It seems that we are going up to the trenches 
 this evening. I am not sorry at the thought 
 for there at least there is something doing. 
 The artillery duel is going on over our heads, 
 but one pays no more attention to it. 
 
 May 5th. 
 
 Our village is nearly in the center of the 
 zone of fire of the two artilleries. Since yes- 
 terday afternoon the bombardment has been 
 quite violent; but it is really nothing as yet, 
 and when the preparation for the attack com- 
 mences we shall see something very different. 
 
 Moreover, one gets quickly accustomed to 
 all these noises and even pays no more atten- 
 tion to them, while the first days we ducked 
 our heads at each burst or whistling which 
 seemed a little near ! 
 
 You hope that this trial will do me much 
 good. Thanks. I already feel changed. 
 The abstract being within me is gradually dis- 
 appearing. Many realities of the spiritual 
 world which before were only phantoms have 
 
AT THE FRONT 91 
 
 become flesh and life by an experience re- 
 newed at every instant. I am learning to 
 live. 
 
 But a solemn hour is approaching. To- 
 morrow or the day after we are going to at- 
 tack. We must go up with fixed bayonets, and 
 the assault will be terrible because it is no 
 longer one trench which must be captured, 
 it is a question of several kilometers. If I 
 remain up there, know that I die without fear 
 and in peace. I ask only one thing — that the 
 little strength which I have been able to con- 
 secrate may in some measure react on those 
 who have loved me and whom I have loved, 
 upon all my companions in labor and ideals. 
 
 May 6th. 
 I am in good health and I embrace you. 8 
 
 May 8th. 
 
 Since Thursday evening I have been back 
 
 in the trenches, knowing that the big attack 
 
 is near at hand. And since that time my life 
 
 has been one tense and anxious watching for 
 
 8 These lines were written upon a postcard. They 
 were the last which he mailed through the Quarter- 
 master. 
 
92 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 the coming hour. But I am at peace, I fear 
 nothing, I shall be able to do my duty with 
 the aid of God. 
 
 The bombardment is becoming more and 
 more violent. Today, particularly, the artil- 
 lery is firing without a stop and one can hear 
 only the noise of the shells. They whistle 
 through the air, on a level with the trench, like 
 a great heart-rending sob. Then they explode 
 over yonder with a dry crash, and everything 
 flies — earth, wood, and iron. Finally come 
 the shell splinters, reaching up to where we are 
 and falling on all sides. And to think that it 
 is scarcely the fiftieth part of the artillery sur- 
 rounding us which is firing! What will it be 
 like when all belch forth at once? Therefore 
 I am hopeful. The attack can not fail to suc- 
 ceed. There will be some wounded, some 
 killed, but we shall go forward and far — 9 
 
 9 The letter was unfinished and was found in the 
 pocket of his capote when he was buried. 
 
IV 
 ON THE FIELD OF HONOR 
 
IV 
 
 ON THE FIELD OF HONOR 
 
 The 9th of May, in Artois, the general of- 
 fensive was begun which ended in the glori- 
 ous capture of Neuville St. Vaast, of the Laby- 
 rinth, of Carency, and of other places, whose 
 names will remain engraved on the hearts of 
 many a French father and mother. 
 
 Exactly at ten o'clock, certain companies of 
 the — th battalion left the trenches of Roclin- 
 court. Some seconds later, running by the 
 side of his lieutenant in a bayonet charge, the 
 young soldier fell, never to rise again. How 
 fully he was prepared, under the watchful eye 
 of God, to face this supreme hour without fear, 
 is plain enough from his letters. 
 
 Others have informed us as to how he per- 
 formed his duty and gave his life. Let them 
 tell the story. 
 
 Letter from Major Ch. Schmuckel 
 
 May 12th, 1915. 
 I had charged your dear son to tell you that 
 I welcomed him into the battalion with joy; 
 95 
 
96 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 and several times we have had the opportunity 
 of praying together. I was not slow to ap- 
 preciate all that this modest youth held in re- 
 serve: his kindness, his calm, his quiet cour- 
 age, his intellectual and moral value. 
 
 When we attacked, May 9th, two or three 
 times, alas without result, with a number of 
 other obscure heroes he fell or at least dis- 
 appeared. Is he a prisoner, has he been 
 killed, or else wounded and picked up by some 
 ambulance? Alas! I can give you no cer- 
 tain information. I immediately had a search 
 made for him, but have had no news of him, 
 and any supposition is permissible. 
 
 I did not write you sooner because I wished 
 to know something definite. All that I can 
 write you now is that we have not been able to 
 bury him, and that a shadow of hope remains. 
 Our beloved battalion, already mentioned a 
 V ordre de l'armée has heroically and dearly 
 paid its debt. As a friend, as a relative, as a 
 leader, I mourn for all my dear soldier boys 
 but especially for yours, who had prayed with 
 me on the eve of the battle. 
 
 Yours, sorrowfully moved, 
 
 Ch. Schmuckel. 
 
ON THE FIELD OF HONOR 97 
 
 P.S. A comrade, charged with the search for 
 the missing, again comes back and still with- 
 out news. In any event you may have this 
 consolation — the comrades of your dear son 
 went into the attack with an enthusiasm which 
 won for us the thanks of the Colonel com- 
 manding the brigade, and they charged hero- 
 ically against all odds, against an enemy 
 formidably entrenched, which it was neces- 
 sary to hold back at any price in order to win 
 the success you have heard of. Three times 
 we went forward for the sake of Honor and 
 our Patrie! 
 
 Three days after he wrote to us the Major, 
 himself ', was killed by a shell in the trenches. 
 We were informed of it by a letter from a 
 comrade of oar son. His message showed as 
 that there was no longer ground for cherish- 
 ing the faint hope which the uncertainty of 
 earlier news had authorized us; and that our 
 child would return to the family hearth no 
 more. 
 
 Here is the soldier's letter. It merits a place 
 beside that of the glorious officer. Together 
 they suggest this thought — -such leaders are 
 
98 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 worthy to command such men. France links 
 them together in a common and devout grati- 
 tude. 
 
 Letter from Mr. H. R. 
 
 Roclincourt, May 17th. 
 
 Major Schmuckel was killed two days ago 
 and I do not know if his death coming so 
 quickly did not prevent him from informing 
 you of some sad news, news for which you 
 have needed or will need all your courage and 
 all your confidence in the beyond, so painful 
 and cruel will it be to you. I am sure that, 
 God helping, you will bear it, seeing there only 
 a trial — alas, how sad ! — coming from Him 
 who is the Master of all. 
 
 Alfred Casalis, your son and my friend, is 
 dead. On the morning of May 9th, he dashed 
 courageously forward in the attack on the 
 German trenches, and the bullets which do not 
 choose between the good and the bad brutally 
 mowed him down. 
 
 Since entering the instruction camp of Cas- 
 telsarrasin, we had never left each other's com- 
 pany, and I believed that we were going to 
 fight together. Because of his change to the 
 — th Battalion I was not with him when he 
 
ON THE FIELD OF HONOR 99 
 
 died. When I learned of his glorious death 
 I was starting for the trenches, and so it was 
 impossible for me to make inquiries about him. 
 On coming back an repos I endeavored to find 
 out what had become of Alfred's body. It 
 was only yesterday I learned that it had been 
 placed in a common grave dug on the battle- 
 field near the place where he fell. 
 
 Today I went to recite a prayer over the 
 grave of this dear fallen friend. He is buried 
 near the village of Roclincourt within the town- 
 ship of that name. His memory will remain 
 engraved in my heart as that of a comrade and 
 sincere affectionate friend. I am a Catholic, 
 he was a Protestant, and this difference of re- 
 ligious opinion in no way interfered with the 
 bonds of friendship which were drawing us 
 closer together every day. 
 
 Lonely as I was when he left the squad to 
 which we both had been assigned, the loneli- 
 ness which I experience now that he is no 
 longer is infinitely greater. Would that my 
 grief might lessen yours, that of his beloved 
 mother, and of all his other relatives. 
 
 While waiting the hour of victory which 
 he will see from the heights of a better world, 
 an hour which unhappily will not strike before 
 
100 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 having plunged many families into mourning, 
 accept, dear Sir, once more the assurance of 
 my very sincere participation in your terrible 
 sorrow. 
 
 You who more than I speak with 6od, be- 
 cause of your vocation and ministry, pray for 
 France and her children. 
 
 H. R. 
 
 On the same day the pastor, Benoit-Bergis, 
 Chaplain of the Army Corps, sent us this mes- 
 sage: 
 
 " The eve of the day when he had to ad- 
 vance to the attack, instructed of the dangers 
 he was going to run, your son had prayed with 
 his Major and some others of his battalion. 
 He asked God to guard them amidst the shot 
 and shell and in the heat of action. 
 
 " His prayer was heard otherwise than we 
 could have desired; but may the faith which 
 sustained him up to the end help you to endure 
 without a murmur the will of our Heavenly 
 Friend. And may so many sacrifices willingly 
 offered and so many tears poured out for her 
 render us still more devoted to our dear 
 Patrie/' 
 
ON THE FIELD OF HONOR 101 
 
 One last comforting certainty was granted 
 us: our child had not remained, as we at first 
 had feared, for long hours and perhaps days 
 in agony on the battlefield. The machine guns 
 had mowed him down in full charge, and death 
 was instantaneous. 
 
 When, at the price of great efforts, the 
 bodies could be brought back and devoutly 
 buried, they found in the pocket of his great- 
 coat his will, written in a firm hand four days 
 before the attack. It concludes as follows: 
 
 " Know that at the moment of departure, 
 looking steadfastly within, I believe that I can 
 say without arrogance and also without false 
 shame, that * I have fought the good fight, I 
 have finished the course, I have kept the faith ' 
 and I would that all my friends, all those who 
 are every moment with me and whose hearts 
 beat with mine, could repeat the word of our 
 hope : ' Because I live, ye shall live also.' " 
 
 A. E. Casalis. 
 Roclincourt, May 5, 191 5. 
 
 Thus ended his short life upon this earth. 
 But the impulse which carried him forward to 
 the attack was not broken by the bullet which 
 
102 FOR FRANCE AND THE FAITH 
 
 laid his body low. He continued his course, 
 the soldier boy, and went onward into the 
 Paradise of God where he achieved his 
 " Marche à l'Etoile." 
 Paris, January 15, 191 6, 
 
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