nformation. So it is that the flying forms in the
upper air become for the soldier below so many symbols of help and
protection. He is restless when they are not there. And let us remember
that aeroplanes were first used for artillery observation, not three
years ago, in the battle of Aisne, after the victory of the Marne.

But the night in the quiet village wears away. To-morrow we shall be
flying through the pleasant land of France, bound for Paris and
Lorraine. For I am turning now to a new task. On our own line I have
been trying to describe, for those who care to listen, the crowding
impressions left on a woman-witness by the huge development in the last
twelve months of the British military effort in France. But now, as I go
forward into this beautiful country, which I have loved next to my own
all my life, there are new purposes in my mind, and three memorable
words in my ears:

"_Reparation--Restitution--Guarantees!_"

No. 7

_May 10th_, 1917.

DEAR MR. ROOSEVELT,--We are then, for a time, to put France, and not the
British line, in the forefront of these later letters. For when I went
out on this task, as I think you know, I had two objects in
mind--intimately connected. The first was to carry on that general story
of the British effort, which I began last year under your inspiration,
down to the opening of this year's campaign. And the second was to try
and make more people in this country, and more people in America,
realise--as acutely and poignantly as I could--what it is we are really
fighting for; what is the character of the enemy we are up against; what
are the sufferings, outrages, and devastations which have been inflicted
on France, in particular, by the wanton cruelty and ambition of Germany;
for which she herself must be made to suffer and pay, if civilisation
and freedom are to endure.

With this second intention, I was to have combined, by the courtesy of
the French Headquarters, a visit to certain central portions of the
French line, including Soissons, Reims, and Verdun. But by the time I
reached France the great operations that have since marked the
Soissons-Reims front were in active preparation; roads and motor-cars
were absorbed by the movements of troops and stores; Reims and Verdun
were under renewed bombardment; and visits to this section of the French
line were entirely held up. The French authorities, understanding that I
chiefly wished to see for myself some of the wrecked