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 is more gratifying to me than would be the highest encomiums of the purely literary critic.
