Produced by Marcia Brooks, Ross Cooling and the Online Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE CHILDREN'S STORY OF THE WAR [Illustration] By Sir Edward Parrott, M.A., LL.D. THE CHILDREN'S STORY OF THE WAR Once more we hear the word That sickened earth of old:-- "No law except the sword Unsheathed and uncontrolled." Once more it knits mankind, Once more the nations go To meet and break and bind A crazed and driven foe. * * * * * No easy hopes or lies Shall bring us to our goal, But iron sacrifice Of body, will, and soul. There is but one task for all-- For each one life to give. Who stands if freedom fall? Who dies if England live? Rudyard Kipling. _(By kind permission.)_ [Illustration: How the Boy Scouts helped. The war found the Boy Scouts true to their motto, "Be Prepared." In London alone 25,000 Scouts were organised to help the various Government departments by acting as messengers. Along the south and east coasts nearly 3,000 went on duty to guard culverts, telephone and telegraph lines, railway stations, reservoirs, etc. Numbers of Scouts also worked as harvesters in the place of men who had joined the Army. The boys above are "doing their little bit" by carrying soldiers' baggage to the railway station.] THE CHILDREN'S STORY OF THE WAR BY SIR EDWARD PARROTT, M.A., LL.D. AUTHOR OF "BRITAIN OVERSEAS," "THE PAGEANT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE," ETC. From the Beginning of the War to the Landing of the British Army in France THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, Ltd. LONDON, EDINBURGH, PARIS, AND NEW YORK _THIS STORY OF THE GREAT WAR_ _recounting for Children the Triumphs of_ _British Valour and Endurance by Land and Sea_ _is_ _DEDICATED_ _by special and gracious permission of_ _Her Majesty the QUEEN_ _to_ _H. R. H. PRINCE GEORGE._ CONTENTS. I. A Bolt from the Blue 1 II. The Seething Whirlpool 16 III. The Beginnings of Prussia 35 IV. The Great War Lord of Europe 49 V. How the Great War Lord Fell 65 VI. The Man of Blood and Iron 74 VII. Clearing the Path 81 VIII. Preparing for War 86 IX. "The Cockpit of Europe" 93 X. A Terrible Struggle 97 XI. France under the Harrow 113 XII. The Boyhood of the Kaiser 121 XIII. Crown Prince and Kaiser 129 XIV. The Dawn of "The Day" 145 XV. Fateful Days 155 XVI. Why Britain went to War 161 XVII. The Submarine that Failed 177