of life in the young, and their despair at the loss of it; but it
was not alone their ruined, blasted youth that pressed on these poor
soldiers,--though that was terrible enough--the worst was not to know
the reason for this sacrifice, and the poisonous suspicion that it was
all in vain. The pain of these victims could not be soothed by the
gross appeal of a foolish racial supremacy, nor by a fragment of
ground fought for between States. They knew now how much earth a man
needs to die on, and that the blood of all races is part of the same
stream of life.

Clerambault felt that he was a sort of elder brother to these young
men; the sense of this and his duty towards them gave him a strength
that he would not otherwise have had, and he charged their messenger
with words of hope and consolation.

"Your sufferings are not thrown away," he said. "It is true that they
are the fruit of a cruel error, but the errors themselves are not
all lost. The scourge of today is the explosion of evils which
have ravaged Europe for ages; pride and cupidity. It is made up of
conscienceless States, the disease of capitalism, and is become the
monstrous machine called Civilisation, full of intolerance, hypocrisy,
and violence. Everything is breaking up; all must be done over again;
it is a tremendous task, but do not speak of discouragement, for yours
is the greatest work that has ever been offered to a generation. The
fire of the trenches and the asphyxiating gases that blind you come as
much from agitators in the rear as from the enemy; you must strive to
see clearly, to see where the real fight lies. It is not against a
people but against an unhealthy society founded on exploitation and
rivalry between nations, on the subordination of the free conscience
to the Machine-State. The peoples, resigned or sceptical, would not
have seen this with the tragical clearness in which it now appears,
without the painful disturbance of the war. I do not bless this pain;
leave that to the bigots of our old religions! We do not love sorrow
and we all want happiness, but if sorrow must come, at least let it be
of some use! Do not let your sufferings add to those of others. You
must not give way. You are taught in the army that when the order to
advance is once given in a battle it is more dangerous to fall back
than to go on; so do not look back; leave your ruins behind you, and
march on towards the new world."

As he spoke the eyes of his young audit