then came the war!

—which meant that thousands of boys and girls were suddenly snatched away from their homes and parents, flung out into the heat of life, under conditions of abnormal, and wholly vile, excitement. they had to act and think for themselves without guidance, training, or experience: to face problems almost entirely new to young and old alike.

practically, there were no safeguards.

it was not that men rebelled against and defied the established traditions: these simply did not apply to life as it burst upon our sons and daughters. normal existence was wiped out by a flash of lightning. the old duties, habits, manners, responsibilities, were rudely cast aside: for what seemed, and perhaps was, a higher call. the whole of life was revised in a few hours; and it is no exaggeration to say that none knew their way about the new world.

[13]only a clear understanding of what war really meant for us, can reveal the special problems of to-day in their relation to the permanent, which are the only real, emotions and instincts of human nature.

to a large extent, the mental and moral growth of all young men was abruptly stopped short. those who have come back, physically fit, are—in all the essentials of character—five years younger than by the calendar, though more "fixed" in their few ideas. many are further hampered and—in a sense—abnormal; maimed, diseased, or nerve-shattered; definitely unbalanced in some way; only half themselves, liable to sudden loss, or defiance, of self-control.

for five years they were not men, but screws in a vast evil machine. they had, indeed, experience of death; none of life. they had, practically, no responsibility towards, or for, themselves; no sense of duty before them except obedience; no aim beyond a standardized efficiency. they lost every influence of home, neighbourliness, citizenship, and above all the refinement and sanctity of love. to live for the moment became their ideal; in a vision of noble patriotism and sublime self-sacrifice. it was not for them to [14]plan, look forward, build up life and character for themselves.

this unnatural and irresponsible existence, moreover, was to be spent among scenes of appalling savagery and the worst primitive passions.

"the place was rotten with dead; green clumsy legs

high-booted, sprawled and grovelled along the saps;

and trunks, face downward, in the sucking mud,

wallowed like trodden sand-bags loosely filled;

and naked sodden buttocks, mats of hair,

bulged, clotted heads slept in the plastering slime."

only devils can serve the devil of war; and the supreme sacrifice our sons made for us was the sacrifice of their humanity.

to "do their bit," they put away themselves.

but this abnormal, unreal existence, these lives in the flame of hate, hardened and coarsened by the day's work, positively had to discover some outlet; quick, sure ways to forget. quite unused to the normal "decencies," [15]without experience in "ordering" themselves, the sex-instinct became explosive, a sense-riot unrestrained. remember, that to men (and women, for that matter), hard working at high pressure, leading a strained and feverish life, the sex-thirst springs out. there is no drug for worn-out bodies and souls so easy and so sweet-savoured, so prompt in its effects, for the moment so complete. in those days few stopped to count the cost, face the consequences, or note the weakening of the will. with death "round the corner," why stop to think? life was all snatching; action meant a shrewd blow, careless of what, in ourselves or in another, we killed by the way.

and for girls and young women there was one rule of life—"give the men a good time." i know the inspiring motive, however little conscious in some, was a generous self-forgetting. to give is always ennobling, and god forbid one should ever, by thought or word, belittle the selfless heroism born in woman.

but then, our daughters had no chance to know and choose, no test between real emotion and fevered desire—their own or another's. inheriting a beautiful home-womanliness, [16]the flower of sheltered innocence, they had to make and be themselves in the open of a new world. nobility shone out among us in those days, miracles beyond belief of what woman can do and suffer for big, or small, men: a new vision of the mothering of humanity that brought god to our side. also, alas, terrible shattering of english girlhood, ugly staining of the pure in heart, feverish unrest, a fury of overdoing, a hard glitter of cold joy. always haste, never growth. wherefore to-day our morality is an ash-heap, which some weep over, others kick up.

dare we refuse to face the black awakening to disillusion?