them to make their daily bread; leaving to the men the
privilege of loving them, of respecting their presences and
of guiding their lives.

The poor woman understood me. We separated. My own youngest
daughter was in my thoughts; and do you not think that the
men who have a wider audience could stir the hearts of the
young women, twenty years of age in France, if they asked
them to perform this act of devotion, and to be the
companions of the mutilated, maimed men of France?...

Then, too, the women who had only their dignity and their high spirit
to defend themselves against the grossness and the insults of the
Prussians, have been the incarnation of the spirit of France.

An old woman who dwelt in a village on the Aisne was spattered with
mud by the Kaiser as he passed by on horseback. He made a gesture
excusing himself. She fixed her eyes on him and said simply:

"It doesn't matter, sir. That mud can be washed off."

A great lady in one of the châteaux in the invaded regions, had to
receive one of the Kaiser's sons. The day of his departure he sent for
her to thank her for the hospitality she had shown him. The old lady,
looking at him, contented herself with replying:

"Do not thank me, sir. I did not invite you here."

And she reëntered her house with all dignity.