I May Be Compelled To

Others Are Writing My Biography, And Let It Rest As They Elect To Make It. I Have Lived My Life, Well And Ill, Always Less Well Than I Wanted It To Be But It Is, As It Is, And As It Has Been; So Small A Thing, To Have Had So Much About It!

It Irritates Me To Be Told How Things Have Always Been Done. I Defy The Tyranny Of Precedent. I Cannot Afford The Luxury Of A Closed Mind.

My Business Is Stanching Blood And Feeding Fainting Men; My Post The Open Field Between The Bullet And The Hospital. I Sometimes Discuss The Application Of A Compress Or A Wisp Of Hay Under A Broken Limb, But Not The Bearing And Merits Of A Political Movement. I Make Gruel--not Speeches; I Write Letters Home For Wounded Soldiers, Not Political Addresses.

I May Be Compelled To Face Danger, But Never Fear It, And While Our Soldiers Can Stand And Fight, I Can Stand And Feed And Nurse Them.

This Conflict Is One Thing I've Been Waiting For. I'm Well And Strong And Young - Young Enough To Go To The Front. If I Can't Be A Soldier, I'll Help Soldiers.