But with a little patience and a few thoughts about you I can be happy.
How kind this first half of November has been! I have not suffered once
from cold. And how lovely it was! That All Saints' Day was nothing but a
long hymn--from the night, with its pure moonlight on the dark amber of
the autumn trees, to the tender twilight. The immense rosy dream of
this misty plain, stretching out towards the near hills. . . . What a
song of praise! and many days since then have sung the glory of God.
Coeli ennarrant. . . .

That is what those days brought to me.

[Footnote 2: Part of this note-book has already been given.]

_November 15, 7 o'clock._

Yesterday the wild weather, fine to see from the shelter of our billet,
brought me apprehensions for to-night's departure, but when I woke the
sky was the purest and starriest that one could dream of! How grateful I
felt!

What we fear most is the rain, which penetrates through everything when
we are without fire or shelter. The cold is nothing--we are armed
against it beforehand.

. . . In spite of all, how much I appreciated the sight of this vast plain
upon which we descended, lashed by the great wind. Above the low horizon
was the wide grey sky in which, here and there, pale rents recalled the
vanished blue.--A black, tragic Calvary in silhouette--then some
skeleton trees! What a place! This is where I can think of you, and of
my beloved music. To-day I have the atmosphere that I want.

. . . I should like to define the form of my conviction of better things
in the near future, resulting from this war. These events prepare the
way to a new life: that of the United States of Europe.

After the conflict, those who will have completely and filially
fulfilled their obligation to their country will find themselves
confronted by duties yet more grave, and the realisation of things that
are now impossible. Then will be the time for them to throw their
efforts into the future. They must use their energies to wipe out the
trace of the shattering contact of nations. The French Revolution,
notwithstanding its mistakes, notwithstanding some backsliding in
practice, some failure in construction, did none the less establish in
man's soul this fine theory of national unity. Well! the horrors of the
1914 war lead to the unity of Europe, to the unity of the race. This new
state will not be established without blows and spoliation and strife
for an indefinite time, but without doubt t