To me the most amazing social change which the war has brought about is the transformation of our army from a small command of miscellaneous volunteers into a gigantic union of the fighting citizens of the Nation. More than a million men, selected for their youth, their courage, and their virility, are to present America to Europe in the guise of warriors, and in all the pictures which we have been permitted to see of them they are so unmistakably of the New World that only a glance is needed to distinguish them from a group of French or British soldiers, fine, upstanding though they may be.

Our army is a citizen army. It is composed of our brothers, our cousins and our sons. Nothing like it has been seen in America even in the days of '61, for at that time the volunteer system alone determined the service. The American Army in France is ourselves in khaki. All classes are represented. It is entirely democratic in its personnel and in its spirit. It is an army to be proud of and to be cared for. It is far from home and it will not be strange if many of the boys become homesick-especially if the winter campaign settles down to a dreary siege in the trenches.

To lighten this gloomy routine, to maintain a close and hearty interest in this body of American citizens detailed for special duty, to support them not merely with munitions of war but with those supplies in which we can put pure admiration, our gratitude and our love, is our duty-a duty which we should grasp as a privilege. Our men will be none the less warriors because we remember them with letters and gifts. They are carrying our burdens, upholding our honor-and I for one desire to express as best I can the deep personal obligation I owe the youth who has taken my place in the ranks. I want him to know my feeling. I want him to know that so far as my means and strength will allow, I intend to back him up in his cheerful and splendid service.

To help him in his hours of recreation is almost as essential as to see that he is properly cared for in the field. We have the right to make his burden as light as we can and he has the right to receive whatsoever we can do in this spirit. Our men cannot all come back to us, but my wish is that those who do may be greatly ennobled by their battles as we should greatly gain by the sacrifices which we are willing to make for them. -HAMLIN GARLAND.