were deluged with the terrific rain of steel that accompanied the German drive toward Verdun, when the British and the Canadians underwent the tortures of the first gas attacks at Ypres, the issue was not how many miles of territory would be yielded or held, but whether the courage and confidence of the troops would endure. The real defeat of the Germans lay in their inability to break the spirit of the defenders of France and Belgium.
Military men call this spirit morale. It has been defined as "the moral pulse of armies," and it is said that since before the days of Julius Cæsar the skill of every great commander has depended chiefly upon his ability to feel and appreciate this intangible thing. It is morale that enables men to endure hardships, hunger, and pain, to face death again and again, and yet to keep on fighting. It springs from the spirit of the individual soldier and sailor. As long as he continues to be cheerful and to feel confident of himself and his officers, so long does the morale of the army and the navy continue to be strong. Let but one man become discouraged, let but one man worry and he will become a drain upon the vitality of all those who are fighting near him. That is why the soldier with a buoyancy of spirit is more valuable to a regiment than a squad of sharpshooters. That, moreover, is why the Red Cross is one of the most important factors in the winning of the war, for it is the knowledge that all is well this side the trenches, in the United States, that will encourage a man to fight with the best that isin him. Failing that knowledge he will know only anxiety, and will lose the spirit of victory. The most vulnerable part of the army or the navy,
