Here is a typical letter from a bereaved husband in New York State: "The enclosed blanket was knitted by Mrs. age 70 years, while suffering from a broken ankle last winter. She desired that it be sent to France. As the National Geographic Society maintains several hospital units there, we concluded it would be proper to present it to you for one of them. Shortly after finishing the blanket Mrs. died suddenly of heart trouble." A short time ago there came to the Editor's desk this eye-dimming missive: "It is not much I can do, as I cannot afford to, as I am a Civil War veteran's widow. But I want to do anything I can for our dear boys who have shown their love of country and their loyalty, too. I am 81 years old. I hope you will like the wash-cloths. I have never knit anything before. If I can do anything else, please let me know." Here, indeed, is inspiration for another. parable of the Widow's Mite. And, at the other end of life's scale, the day's mail brings a package of towels, comfort bags, and one wash-cloth knitted by the eight-year old daughter of a Vermont mother whose son is in the army. From New Orleans there comes a "happiness quilt," with a letter which adds, "If you want more such quilts for our convalescents, all right, you will get them; for, when off duty, as a lawyer (a woman), I can knit and, better yet, I have lots of friends I can press into service." A HERO OF 1861 KNITS FOR THE HEROES OF 1918 From Springfield, Mass., comes the following: "I am writing you in. the interest of my father, who has been a subscriber to the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE for some time. We recently read in one of the issues an article on a Paris hospital, two rooms of which are furnished by the Geographic Society for the benefit of American soldiers. My father is 85 years old, a G. A. R. man, and his grandsons-my three boys are now in the service, two of them in France. He has been for the past year industriously knitting, until now he has completed two afghans, which he very much desires should be sent to that very hospital in which you are interested." Comfort bags, made and filled by mothers of Annapolis graduates during June week; six afghans, knitted by the young ladies employed in the headquarters of the National Geographic Society; comfort bags, designed as Christmas gifts for each boy occupying a bed in the Geographic Wards; scrap-books from Camp Fire Girls; an afghan from Cuba; boxes of sheets, pillows, and other supplies from many women's clubs; two great boxes of hospital supplies from the women of Ohio; afghans knitted in small squares by the school children of many Statesthese are some of the contributions which have flowed into these offices continuously since the first announcement of the need for them, and will continue to be received, for that need is not yet satisfied, with tens of thousands of wounded men still in France. Not all of the contributions have come through the mails. A few mornings ago there called at the editorial offices of the Society a matron in whose eyes tears gleamed as she confessed that her health was such that her efforts to assist in Red Cross work had proved futile. "All I can do is give," she added. "My son enlisted in the British army before Ámerica entered the war, but he has since been transferred to our own expeditionary forces, and I want to feel that I have aided in giving comfort to some one of his associates who may be stricken on the firing line. Will you allow me to endow one bed in one of the Geographic Wards for a year? I would like to contribute, in addition to the $600 for the support of that bed, $5 a month to buy the 'extras-fruits, chocolates, and 'smokes'-which Mrs. Corey mentioned in her account of her visit to the wards." YOUR PERSONAL INTEREST DESIRED Thus have members of the National Geographic Society responded to an opportunity afforded them to establish a direct personal bond with the men who have suffered for us Over There, while we have endeavored to sustain them and our common cause Over Here. THERE WAS NO PLACE WHICH RADIATED THE SPIRIT OF HOME FOR THE BOYS AT THE FRONT MORE EFFECTUALLY THAN THE SALVATION ARMY KITCHEN The distribution of doughnuts was invariably accompanied by something less tangible but infinitely more important in the maintenance of morale-a smile and word of good cheer. The little demons of homesickness fought a losing fight whenever they came in conflict with the spirit of cheeriness which was always in evidence in the presence of a Salvation Army lassie. Geography. Word Prational by legraphy and the may san treated is sure Eme andblike it finl ruly HOW THE SPIRIT OF THE GEOGRAPHIC AFFECTS THE SPIRITS OF THE WOUNDED SOLDIER A post-card greeting received from one of the American boys who is being nursed back to health and usefulness in one of the Geographic wards in American Military Hospital. No. 1, at Neuilly, a suburb of Paris. The need for these splendid wards will not cease for many, many months, and it is hoped that the opportunity presented the membership for taking personal part in the operation and upkeep of the Geographic Wards, will be embraced, especially since every dollar subscribed is applied directly, there being no salaries or overhead expenses of handling the fund. T "THE RACES OF EUROPE" NUMBER HE next number of THE GEOGRAPHIC will be devoted to "The Races of Europe," by Edwin A. Grosvenor, LL. D. This will be one of the most important monographs ever issued by the National Geographic Society, because the complexities of the race problem in Europe, which must be surveyed and settled, are of more vital interest to the world today than ever before in human history. It is impossible to appreciate the variety and the seriousness of the racial questions now being discussed by peoples everywhere without a clear idea of racial origins, racial characteristics, and racial boundaries as distinct from political boundaries. Dr. Grosvenor's authoritative and at the same time entertaining and dramatic story of the "Races of Europe" will prove of absorbing interest to the casual reader and of invaluable assistance to the student of European conditions. It will be accompanied by numerous striking illustrations, and as a supplement there will be issued with the magazine a remarkable map, printed in 19 colors, which will prove a key and guide not only to the accompanying text, but to the day-to-day news from across the At lantic. VOL. XXXIV, No. 6 WASHINGTON December, 1918 THE NATIONAL THE RACES OF EUROPE The Graphic Epitome of a Never-ceasing Human Drama. BY EDWIN A. GROSVENOR, L. H. D., LL. D. PRESIDENT UNITED CHAPTERS, PHI BETA KAPPA, AND RECENTLY PROFESSOR OF MODERN GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL LAW IN AMHERST COLLEGE Dr. Grosvenor, the author of this article, has devoted fifty years to the study of the racial conditions of Europe. Twenty years as Professor of History in Robert College, at Constantinople, gave him unusual opportunity to observe intensively the subject with which he deals, for nowhere else in the world has the racial tide ebbed and flowed in such remarkable fashion as in the Balkans, and nowhere else has the teacher of history found more need for an intimate knowledge of his subject. There is not a country in Europe which he has not visited and among whose people he has not personal acquaintances and friends. He is the author of "Constantinople," two volumes; "Contemporary History," "The Permanence of the Greek Type," of some three hundred articles on Eastern subjects in various cyclopedias, was Editor of the Reference History of the World in Webster's International Dictionary (last edition), and has translated, with revision, Duruy's "History of Modern Times" and "History of the World" from the French and "Andronike" (the most popular Greek novel) from the modern Greek. E UROPE is the smallest, except one, of the six continents. Of about the same size as Canada or Brazil, one might question, regarding merely territorial extent, whether Europe should be called a continent at all. Siberia exceeds it by more than a million square miles. On the map of the Eastern Hemisphere it appears insignificant. It is dwarfed on the south by the ponderous bulk of Africa, while Asia, to which it clings, thrusts it disdainfully away toward the northwest. Were it attached to Asia by a distinct isthmus, as is Africa or as are North and South America to each other, it would, as a well outlined peninsula, possess an easily recognized existence of its own. Instead, an indefinite border land, more than two thousand miles in length, makes it impossible to tell where Asia ends and Europe begins. The interjection of the Caspian Sea breaks this border-land into two great stretches, one between the Arctic and the Caspian, and |