consolidating their forces in the great strongholds where later
they held the Italians in absolute check. The Italians advanced
cautiously in small groups, and the Austrians abandoned the frontier
villages soon enough to avoid serious encounters, but not a minute
sooner.

In the Alps in these days of May, 1915, the Great War was fought much
as wars have been fought in times we are accustomed to regard as the
age of true romance. The Italian King visited the Alpine troops and
surprised his men and redoubled their devotion by showing his skill as
a mountain climber. "You forget," he told an officer who remonstrated
with him as he was about to scale a particularly difficult position to
examine a gun "chamois hunting is my favorite sport."

If certain portions of the Italian population seemed lukewarm toward
the war during the period of diplomatic negotiations, there was no
doubt of the temper of the nation after hostilities actually began.
The chord of national feeling was struck by King Victor Emmanuel in an
order issued upon taking supreme command of the army and navy.

"Soldiers on land and sea," said the order, "the solemn hour of the
nation's claims has struck. Following the example of my grandfather, I
take to-day supreme command of Italy's forces on land and sea, with
the assurance of victory which your bravery, self-abnegation, and
discipline will obtain.

"The enemy you are preparing to fight is hardened to war and worthy of
you. Favored by the nature of the ground and skillful works, he will
resist tenaciously, but your unsubdued ardor will surely vanquish him.

"Soldiers, to you has come the glory of unfurling Italy's colors on
the sacred lands which nature has given as the frontiers of our
country. To you has come the glory of finally accomplishing the work
undertaken with so much heroism by our fathers."

The stormy scenes which followed the resignation of the Salandra
cabinet gave way to a confident calm. From his seclusion in the
Vatican the pope addressed a letter to Cardinal Vannutelli, breathing
a spirit of resignation and faith, but carefully refraining from any
expression of partisanship in the great struggle.

"The hour which we are traversing is painful," he said, "but our
prayers will go out more frequently and more fervently than ever to
those who have in their hands the fate of nations." The pope recalled
that in his first Encyclical issued at the beginning of the war he
exhorted the bellig