tiny baby, neglected by
Madame, except that she bathed and fed it. The neglect was so pronounced
that our curiosity was aroused. The explanation came through the
_estaminet_ gossip, and later from Madame herself. A Hun captain of
cavalry had stayed there a few days in August, '14, and not only had he
allowed his detachment full license in the village, but had abused his
position in the house in the accustomed manner of his bestial class. As
Madame told us her story; how her husband had rushed off to his unit
with the first call for reserves, leaving her alone with two children,
and how the blond beast had come, our fists clenched and we boiled with
rage. That is German war! but it is not all. What will be the stories
that come out of what is now occupied France? This Frenchwoman's story
was new to us then, but, like other things in the war, as we moved
through the country it became common enough, with here and there a
revolting detail more horrible than anything we had heard before.

Now and then Germany expresses astonishment at the persistence of the
British and the French. They are a funny people, the Germans. There are
so many things they do not, perhaps cannot, understand. They never could
understand why Americans, such as myself, who enlisted in a spirit of
adventure, and with not a single thought on the justice of the cause,
could experience such a marked change of feeling as to regard this
conflict as the most holy crusade in which a man could engage. It is a
holy crusade! Never in the history of the world was the cause of right
more certainly on the side of an army than it is today on the side of
the allies: We who have been through the furnace of France know this. I
only say what every other American who has been fighting under an alien
flag said when our country came in: "Thank God we have done it. Some
boy, Wilson, believe me!"

2. Ceremonial Control[262]

If, disregarding conduct that is entirely private, we consider only that
species of conduct which involves direct relations with other persons;
and if under the name government we include all control of conduct,
however arising; then we must say that the earliest kind of government,
the most general kind of government, and the government which is ever
spontaneously recommencing, is the government of ceremonial observance.
This kind of government, besides preceding other kinds, and besides
having in all places and times approached nearer to universality