riving at your hospital exclaimed, "This is
wonderful!" his comrade who had been ahead of him would answer in a tone
of admonition: "That surprises you? You do not know then that it is done
by the Americans, by the people from the United States?" In this refusal
to be astonished in the face of remarkable achievements, when they come
from you, there is a tribute, a praise of high quality which your
feelings and your patriotism will know how to appreciate.

I have said that all that comes from you which is good and great seems
natural to us, and I have given you a reason; but there is another. In
France we are accustomed to consider the Republic of the United States
as an affectionate, distant sister. When one receives a gift from a
stranger one is astonished and cries out his thanks, but when the gift
comes from a brother or from some one who, on similar occasions, has
never failed, the thanks are not so outspoken but more profound. One
says: "Ah, it is you, my brother. I suffer. I expected you. I knew that
you would come, for I should have gone to you had you needed me. I thank
you."

And, indeed, we are closely bound together, you and we. Without doubt,
common interest and an absence of possible competition helps to that
end, but there is something more which unites us--it is our kindred
sentiments. It is this kinship which has created our attraction for each
other and which has cemented it; it is our common ground of affections,
of hatreds, of hopes; our ideals rest upon the same high plane. To
mention but one point, one of you has said: "The United States and
France are the only two nations which have fought for an ideal." And it
is that which separates us, you and us, from a certain other nation, and
which has served to bring us two close together.

We love you and we are grateful for what you are doing for us. When the
day came for my departure from France to represent here the French
Academy I asked of Mr. Poincare, who had visited the American Ambulance
at Neuilly, if duty did not forbid me to go. "No," he said to me. "Go to
the United States. Carry greetings to the great nation of America." And
he gave to me, for your President, the letter with which you are
familiar, where he expressed the admiration and the sympathy that he has
for you.

I have been traveling North and South in the Eastern part of the United
States. I have had many opportunities to admire your power and the
extent of your efforts. Today, i