... A lady dressed in
black came in beside me and, as all mothers are sisters in
these trying days, I asked after her men at the front. She
told me sadly that she was a poor widow, and that the war
had taken away her two sons, her sole means of support. One
of them had had an arm amputated--the right arm--and the
hands of the other were cut off at the wrists. She came from
seeing them to pray to the Mother of Sorrows for her
children and herself.
I was deeply moved by her sorrow and by her not complaining.
I sought means to console her. This is the means I have
found, sir, and I tell it to you now....
Let us ask the Virgin, I said to her, to create young women
in France so brave, so strong, and so devoted that they will
gladly and proudly consent to marry the poor, injured men
and to be not only their hearts but the limbs which will aid
them to make their daily bread; leaving to the men the
privilege of loving them, of respecting their presences and
of guiding their lives.
The poor woman understood me. We separated. My own youngest
daughter was in my thoughts; and do you not think that the
men who have a wider audience could stir the hearts of the
young women, twenty years of age in France, if they asked
them to perform this act of devotion, and to be the
companions of the mutilated, maimed men of France?.
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