One year on

From ‘The End of the First Year’, The Spectator, 7 August 1915: Terrible as have been the sufferings caused by the war—the agonies of the body for those who have fought and fallen wounded, and the agonies of the mind for those who have seen husbands, fathers, and sons go to their deaths or return maimed or ruined in health—the present writer cannot feel that sense of overmastering horror which the war seems to have inspired in certain minds. Some have been carried away so far by such thoughts that they tell us they wish their eyes had been closed for ever before the national tragedy began. The present writer can take up no such attitude as regards the war. On the contrary, he feels grateful beyond measure that he has been spared to see the heroism of the nation and to watch, even though he has been unable to take part in it, the glorious answer to the call of duty.