EDITH CAVELL
Reading edition
By
George Edward Woodberry
The world hath its own dead; great motions start In human breasts, and make for them a place In that hushed sanctuary of the race Where every day men come, kneel, and depart. Of them, O English nurse, henceforth thou art, A name to pray on, and to all a face Of household consecration; such His grace Whose universal dwelling is the heart. O gentle hands that soothed the soldier’s brow, And knew no service save of Christ the Lord! Thy country now is all humanity! How like a flower thy womanhood doth show In the harsh scything of the German sword, And beautifies the world that saw it die!
By permission of Scribner’s Magazine and author.
Painting by Joseph Cummings Chase.
Corporal John R. O’Brien
Second Division, 23rd Infantry, Company K
After his platoon commander had been severely wounded and his sergeant had been killed on June 6, 1918, he assumed command, kept the men on the line, controlled their fire, and by good advice and judgment conserved life.