The morale of her nice phrases had been shattered seemingly beyond restoration.
"D--n this war!" began one letter to her mother.

"We had influenza aboard coming over and three nurses died and were buried at sea.

Also, one of our convoy foundered in a storm; I saw men clinging to the wreck as she went down.
"Can it be that I once lived in that funny little town where they make a fuss about dead people--flowers and a casket and a clergyman and careful burial?
With us it's something to get out of the way at once.

And life has always been this, and I never knew it, even if we did take the papers at home.

Ha, ha! Yes, I can laugh, even in the face of it.