The writer of these letters, a graduate of McGill College, and the Presbyterian Hospital, New York, left New York in the Spring of 1914 with a patient, for the Continent, finally locating at Divonne-Les-Bains, France, near the Swiss border, where they were on August 1st, when war broke out. She immediately began giving her assistance in "Red Cross" work, continuing same until the latter part of November, when she returned with her patient to New York--made a hurried visit to her home in St. John and after Christmas returned to again take up the work which these letters describe. [Illustration: Ambulance Volant, France.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "MY BELOVED POILUS" Divonne-les-bains, France, August 2, 1914. DEAR MOTHER: The awful war we have all been dreading is upon us--_France is Mobilizing_. At five o'clock yesterday morning the tocsin sounded from the Mairie (village hall) and men, women, and children all flocked to hear the proclamation which the Mayor of the village read. It called upon all of military age--between twenty years and fifty years--to march at once, and inside of twenty-four hours five hundred men had gone, they knew not where. The bravery of these villagers--men and women--is remarkable, and not to be forgotten. No murmuring, no complaining,--just, "Ma Patrie," tying up the little bundle--so little--and going; none left but old men, women and children. We have started teaching the women and girls to make bandages, sponges, etc., for the hospital which will be needed here. Divonne-Les-Bains, France. August 23, 1914. Your letter came yesterday--twenty days on the way--but I was fortunate to get it at all; so many of these poor people, whose nearest and dearest have gone to fight for their country, have had no word from them since they marched away, and they do not know where they are. From this little village 500 men left the first day of mobilization; there is not a family who has not some one gone, and from some both fathers and sons have gone, as the age limit is from twenty to fifty years. I am filled with admiration and respect for these people. The courage of both the men and women is remarkable. There is no hesitation, and no grumbling, and everyone tries to do whatever he or she can to help the cause.