CHAPTER VI 



AN AUTUMN FISHING 



" II faut cultive?' son jar din,'' said the 

 wise Voltaire, thereby bequeathing to 

 distressed humanity the ultimate word 

 in human experience. 



Mankind to-day is coming to a like 

 conclusion. Amidst the blatant reek 

 of war, with all its weariness, its brute 

 stupidity, its pain, its quivering wounds, 

 its long scarred lines of trenches — amidst 

 all these man glimpses his rightful 

 heritage — a flower kingdom far far more 

 real and less unkind. These are poor 

 pigmy times despite the giant guns and 

 high explosives. We in France are not 

 persuaded by smug platitude, nor have we 

 found this war a cleansing fire — but rather 

 an eruption of bestial materialism, which 

 though it cannot crush out man's innate 

 goodness, yet brings to the surface those 

 traits which are most vile. Still one thing 



159 



