"I think the mothers and wives and sweethearts are as much to be pitied as the fallen soldiers.

The men _know_ what has happened, but the women don't.

It isn't so bad when they're killed outright; the family gets a medal to indicate that their hero has died for his country.

But the wounded are lost sight of and must suffer in silence, with no loving hands to soothe their agony." "My dears!" pleaded Uncle John, plaintively, "why do you insist upon flavoring our breakfast with these horrors?
I--I--there! take it away; I can't eat." The conversation halted abruptly.

The girls were likewise unnerved by the mental pictures evolved by their remarks and it was now too late to restore cheerfulness to the morning meal.