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A volume entitled _Friends of France: The Field Service of the American
Ambulance_ (SMITH, ELDER) has appeared in a happy hour to remind one, if
that were necessary, that in the great nation that awaits Mr. WILSON'S call
there have always been found some eager to give their services and, if need
be, life itself to prove their love for the other great Republic. I don't
think either you or I will grudge such an affection at this date, founded
historically though it may be on a mutual dislike of ourselves, and
consequently it is a very pleasant impression that is produced by this
record of American efficiency and courage in Red Cross work on the French
front. This being clearly remembered one need not be afraid to admit that
in detail the book will be of interest mainly to the friends of those
concerned, since the method of multiple authorship adopted necessarily
involves overlapping, and a good deal of the volume is given up to
monotonous, though undoubtedly well-earned, "tributes and citations" from
the French authorities. Neither is the bulk of the matter, most generously
illustrated though it is, particularly intriguing, for by now one is
sufficiently familiar with accounts of the removal of wounded under fire
and the sort of work at which these four hundred American University men
proved themselves so adept at half-a-dozen points between Flanders and
Alsace. Americans, long at odds with "ruthlessness" (and at last forced to
the inevitable logical conclusion in regard to it), may well be glad to be
able to point, amongst other creditable things, to this history of service
given without hesitation in acknowledgment of their debt to the
civilisation of the Old World; and we also shall be no less glad to
remember it.

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