A Letter from a French Soldier in the Trenches

August 15th 1914.
Dear Mother, ―Our departure has been delayed for a day or two. If you knew how little it matters to me! I go gladly, knowing that, whatever happens, I am safe.
Yes, now I can say it―I am saved. It almost astonishes me myself. I who up till now had been deaf to all the calls of God! I who was the most dissipated and worldly of all those children of Christian parents who have given up all religion! How great is the mercy of God! It was necessary that the War should break out in order that my eyes might be opened! If you knew how happy I am! The War! I don’t think any more about it now. Show my letter to uncle, and ask him from me to read it at the meeting, to show the Christians that their prayers have been granted. Good-bye all. I do not know what awaits me in the future, but I do know one thing: it is that “whereas I was blind, now I see.” T.L. 35 d’Infanterie.