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VIII. CHRISTMAS, 1914 
much more than an unpleasant rise in prices. We are, 
all of us, anxious about the lives of so many of our dear 
fellow-men, and we can hear from far away the groaning 
of the wounded and the death rattle of the dying.” He 
looked up at me with great astonishment at the time, 
but since then I have noticed that he now seems to see 
something that was hidden from him before. 
We are, all of us, conscious that many natives are 
puzzling over the question how it can be possible that 
the whites, who brought them the Gospel of Love, are 
now murdering each other, and throwing to the winds 
the commands of the Lord Jesus. When they put the 
question to us we are helpless. If I am questioned on 
the subject by negroes who think, I make no attempt 
to explain or to extenuate, but say that we are in 
” front ” of something terrible and incomprehensible. 
How far the ethical and religious authority of the white 
man among these children of nature is impaired by this 
war we shall only be able to measure later on. I fear 
that the damage done will be very considerable. 
In my own house I take care that the blacks learn as 
little as possible of the horrors of war. The illustrated 
papers we receive — for the post has begun to work 
again fairly regularly — I must not leave about, lest the 
boys, who can read, should absorb both text and 
pictures and retail them to others. 
Meanwhile the medical work goes on as usual. 
Every morning when I go down to the hospital I feel 
it as an inexpressible mercy that, while so many men 
find it their duty to inflict suffering and death on others, 
I can be doing good and helping to save human life. 
This feeling supports me through aU my weariness. 
The last ship which left Europe before the declaration 
