Berlin sang all night to the tune of "Die Wacht Am Rhein," in celebration of the opportunity given the fittest of the Vaterland to slaughter and be slaughtered by the pick of the neighboring countries. But the reason and purpose for the slaughter they did not know. Russia, famous for its barbaric cruelty to the Poles and Jews, asks for the sacrifice of the races and thinks itself a generous Christian if in return it promises to give what is left of them the right to their mother-tongue and the privilege to worship God in their own way. And what of the women? For the first time I felt the real greatness of the women's fight and the sad futility of it before man's ignorance. For the first time I felt the real tragedy of the women of Europe whose business it is to bring up sons for the man's _game of war_. And to see them now is to see death--a calm bitter death surrounded by panic and catastrophe. Children of War EUNICE TIETJENS Out of the womb of war we cry to you, We who have yet to be, We who lie waiting in the strong loins of time, unformed and hesitant, We who shall be your sons and your slim daughters. In the womb of war shall you beget us, and with the seal of the war-god shall we be sealed; In ditches shall we be begotten, of lust-crazed soldiers on the screaming women of the enemy. Of camp followers and scavengers shall we be conceived, of the weakling and the sick. We shall be begotten in secret, stolen meeting of man and wife, drunk with weariness the man, and blind with terror the woman. In bitterness of soul shall we be borne, and deeply shall we suck the pap of hatred. Revenge shall be our daily bread, and with blood-lust shall we be nourished. Yea, in our bodies shall we bear the seal of the war-beast. Our hearts shall be thin and naked as your sword-blades, and our souls ruthless as your cannon. And we shall pay--year by year, in our frail bodies and our twisted souls shall we pay For your glorious patriotism. Out of the womb of war we cry to you, We who have yet to be! Grocer Shops and Souls A very eminent American professor has recently declared that American literary criticism is deficient, that the commercialism of publishers is largely responsible. The first proposition is obvious, the second defensible. The professor further argues for a criticism based on academic standards, which he says are as immutable as the ten commandments; and he couples this with the declaration that criticism finds its justification in the desire of the public to know what it is buying. The immutable standards are to correspond with the government-approved weights and measures of the grocer-shop.