Thus it continued--until now, even now, when
under the irresistible pressure of the French, the English and the
Americans, the German wall is crumbling. At last it will be broken, and
the victorious flood of the armies of democracy will pass through. Then
our invaded provinces and the sacred soil of Belgium will be freed; then
the conditions of just and honorable peace among all the nations of the
earth may be dictated on the banks of the Rhine--or farther, if
necessary.
[Sidenote: Patience and tenacity are necessary.]
But to support, while we waited, the monotonous trench-life to
accomplish the rapid nocturnal raids or the formidable exploits of the
great days and weeks of offensive, required more than that brilliant
quality of our fathers, the _furia francese_ that was the synonym of
overwhelming courage and the ardor which commands victory. Patience to
wait, resignation to accept, tenacity to prolong efforts, deliberate and
indomitable will to overcome trials, within and without and to press on
to the distant goal of final victory were above all things necessary.
[Sidenote: "To the end!"]
These qualities, summed up in one expression: "To the end!" so
profoundly different from those which hitherto have passed as
characteristic of our race, were the ones most noticeable in our
combatant of the fourth year of the War. Youthful enthusiasm was no
more; each man numbered the dangers run, each man took clear account of
those to come.
[Sidenote: Patriotism becomes a passion.
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