of your grandfather in 1870.

And this next letter is sublime. It was addressed to M. Maurice Barrès
by a lady from the city of Lyons, which is perhaps the most mystic
city in all France. In the newspapers mention had been made of the men
disabled by war, and of all the unfortunates who were mutilated, whose
limbs had been amputated, who were helpless or blinded. The question
was raised of knowing what ought to be done to help them. Then the
lady wrote as follows to M. Barrès:

SIR: One of these recent days, when our troubles have been
so hard to bear, I went to regain my courage into one of the
beloved sanctuaries of Notre Dame.... A lady dressed in
black came in beside me and, as all mothers are sisters in
these trying days, I asked after her men at the front. She
told me sadly that she was a poor widow, and that the war
had taken away her two sons, her sole means of support. One
of them had had an arm amputated--the right arm--and the
hands of the other were cut off at the wrists. She came from
seeing them to pray to the Mother of Sorrows for her
children and herself.

I was deeply moved by her sorrow and by her not complaining.
I sought means to console her. This is the means I have
found, sir, and I tell it to you now....

Let us ask the Virgin, I said to her, to create young women
in France so brave, so strong, and so devoted that they will
gladly and proudly consent to marry the poor, injured men
and to be not only their hearts but the limbs which will aid