Life is a curious thing. In time of war Life is itself the extraordinary and Death seems the only ordinary thing possible for men. In time of war man is but a straw thrown into the Wide ocean. If the tossing waves do not engulf him he can do no more than ?oat on the surface. God alone knows his destiny. This book, Under the German Shells, is another instance of war's uncertainties. Sent by my government to America to join the new Amer ican army as instructor, I wrote the greater part of the book on the steamer which brought me. The reader will, perhaps, read it when I am dead; for another steamer is about to carry me back to France, where I shall again be under the German shells, before the book will see the light.