THE greater part of these verses dealing with the war were written in
France during my recent seven months’ sojourn there, and for the purpose
of using in entertainments given in camps and hospitals to thousands of
American soldiers.
They were the result of coming into close contact with the soldiers’ mind
and heart, and were intentionally expressed in the simplest manner,
without any consideration of methods approved by modern critics. The
fact that I have been asked to autograph scores of copies of many of
these verses (and one of them to the extent of 350 copies) is more
gratifying to me than would be the highest encomiums of the purely
literary critic.