And then they went on--to what? For a few weeks, or months, they will
be the objects of much kindly sympathy. In the little towns where they
live visitors will be taken to see them. The neighbourhood will exert
itself in kindness. But after a time interest will die away, and
besides, there will be many to divide sympathy. The blind man, or the
man without a leg or an arm, will cease to be the neighbourhood's
responsibility and will become its burden.
What then? For that is the problem that is facing each nation at
war--to make a whole life out of a fragment, to teach that the spirit
may be greater than the body, to turn to usefulness these sad and
hopeless by-products of battlefields.
The ravages of war--to the lay mind--consist mainly of wounds. As a
matter of fact, they divide themselves into several classes, all
different, all requiring different care, handling and treatment, and
all, in their several ways, dependent for help on the machinery of
mercy. In addition to injuries on the battlefield there are illnesses
contracted on the field, septic conditions following even slight
abrasions or minor wounds, and nervous conditions--sometimes
approximating a temporary insanity--due to prolonged strain, to
incessant firing close at hand, to depression following continual lack
of success, to the sordid and hideous conditions of unburied dead,
rotting in full view for weeks and even months.
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