And the young wives who are married and left behind, who bear their children with their husbands far away in danger, who have had no real homes yet, but who wait and hope, they are very wonderful in their courage and pluck--and, most of all, everywhere, our women, like our men, wisely refuse to be dreary. There are enough secret dark hours, but in our work we carry on cheerfully, the women know the soldiers' slogan, "Cheero," and to Britain and to "somewhere on the fronts," the same message goes and comes. Of the great spiritual worths and values, it has brought to women very much what it has brought to men. All eternal things are more real, all eternal truths more clearly perceived. When the whole foundations of life rock under us, in where "there is no change, neither shadow of turning," the heart rests more surely in these days. It has brought us agonies and tears, weariness and pain, self-denial and great sorrows, but it has brought such riches of self-sacrifice, such service, such love, has shown us such peaks of revelation and vision to which the soul and the nation can attain, that we count ourselves rich, though so much has gone. To think of what we might have been if we had refused to bear our share--to look back on the evils of luxury and selfishness that were creeping over us, makes us feel that we may have lost some things, but "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." And we have saved our soul. The souls of the nations travail in a new birth through a night of agony and tears. The purposes being worked out are so great, that it is difficult for us to see them with our limited human vision, but in great moments of insight we do see, and having seen, go back to our tasks in the light of that vision, knowing that though now we fight in dim shadows with monstrous and awful evils of mankind's creation, the day is coming nearer and the light will come. An age is dying and a new age comes, and what it shall be only the men and women of the world can answer. RECONSTRUCTION "The tumult and the shouting dies-- The captains and the Kings depart-- Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, An humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts; be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget." --RUDYARD KIPLING. "We shall not cease from mental fight, Nor shall our sword sleep in our hand, Till we have built Jerusalem, In England's green and pleasant land." --W. BLAKE. CHAPTER XIV RECONSTRUCTION And what is to come after? The first and the last and the greatest thing to do is to win the war and to get the right settlement. Unless we finish this struggle with the nations free, there can be no real reconstruction. The greatest work of reconstruction--the fundamental work--will be at the peace table. Those who are giving everything and doing everything to gain victory for the Allies, are the true reconstructors of the world.