THE PEAK OF THE LOAD
I
April 20, 1917
Dear Old Girl—
I have had a rather busy two weeks, during which, for many reasons, I have not felt in the spirit to sit down and write you the long letter I know you expect in response to your great epistolary cry of triumph after the Declaration of War.
Personally, after the uplift the decision gave me, came a total collapse and I had some pretty black days. I had to fight against the fear that we were too late, and the conviction that, if we were really to do our part at the front, the war was still to last not one year but years. An army cannot be created in a day, and the best will in the world, and all the pluck I know our lads to have, will not make them, inside of at least a year, into a fighting army fit to stand against the military science of Germany, and do anything more serviceable than die like heroes.
Besides, no matter from what point of view one looks at the case, it does make a difference to think that our boys are coming over here to go into this holocaust.
You must know that, even among officers in the army, who welcome with enthusiasm the
