lady from Oklahoma City to me]

We were beginning to realize slowly what a hell of torture and
disease and suffering this war means to France. Half a million
tuberculars in her homes, spreading poison there; two million homeless
refugees quartered beyond the war zone; millions of soldiers living
in the homes fifty miles back from the line, every month bringing
new men to these homes left by their comrades returning to the
battle front; air raids by night slaying women and babies; commerce
choked with the offering to the war god; soldiers filling the
highways; food, clothing and munitions taking all the space upon
the railroads; fuel almost prohibitively high; food scarce; and
always talk of the war--of nothing, absolutely nothing but the
war and its horrors. That France has held so long under this curse
proves the miracle of her divine courage! As we sat under the shrouded
torches in the inn courtyard and considered what life really means
to the men and women of St. Dizier, once more we wondered how we at
home would react under the terrific punishment which these people
are taking; what would Wichita do with her houses bombed, her homes
crowded with refugees; her parks and schools and public buildings
turned into barracks, her stores filled with gaping empty shelves,
her railroad yards clogged with munitions, and ever the mourners
going about the street and man to his long home. How would Emporia
act with the pestilence that stalketh in darkness for ever near
her; with her women and children slaughtered, merely to break the
morale of the people and cause them to plead for peace; with cripples
from the war hidden away in a hundred sad homes, with fatherless
children and children born out of wedlock among the things that
one had to face daily? Perhaps our young Jewish friend thought we
were wearying of her. For she rose and said, "Well, good-night,