ADIEU TO A SOLDIER

TURN O LIBERTAD

TO THE LEAVEN'D SOIL THEY TROD



NOTE


The Introduction is reprinted, by permission, from _The Times_ Literary
Supplement of April 1, 1915.



INTRODUCTION


When the first days of August loured over the world, time seemed to
stand still. A universal astonishment and confusion fell, as upon a flock
of sheep perplexed by strange dogs. But now, though never before was a
St. Lucy's Day so black with "absence, darkness, death," Christmas is
gone. Spring comes swiftly, the almond trees flourish. Easter will soon
be here. Life breaks into beauty again and we realize that man may bring
hell itself into the world, but that Nature ever patiently waits to be
his natural paradise. Yet still a kind of instinctive blindness blots out
the prospect of the future. Until the long horror of the war is gone from
our minds, we shall be able to think of nothing that has not for its