LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
AMERICA AND THE WAR.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—Do you care to print still another word of sympathy from America ? The accompanying .verses are offered simply as the heartfelt expression of theesentiments, not of the writer only, but also, I know well, of many of my countrymen and countrywomen, who acknowledge gladly the inner tie with Great Britain, and who also cherish the memory of Norman or Huguenot lines in their ancestry, and feel their old admiration for France deepened by the achievements and the attitude of her people
in this war. We regard with mingled pride and envy those from among us who have had the privilege of serving in hospital, ambulance, relief work, and in other ways.—I am, Sir, &a.,
FROM AMERICA.
The winding leagues of battle ebb and flow, Where men for holy ends endure and dare,— Deeds wherein I, alas! can have no share, Old, in a far-off " neutral " land. Their foe Is ours no less ; at freedom's self the blow Was aim'd. With aching heart, with helpless prays' We wait, while others win and soon shall wear The crown that saviours of the nations know.
But nay ; though years and circumstance dony
The power to serve as eager thought desires,
0 England, cradle of my race, 0 France, Who earlier tamed and shaped my Norman sires, With my blood-brothers now I bless the tie ; In them, dying for me, I too advance.
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