Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/398

 MARK TWAIN

other young generals, but they were not girls; young generals, but they had been soldiers before they were generals: she began as a general; she commanded the first army she ever saw; she led it from victory to victory, and never lost a battle with it; there have been young commanders-in-chief, but none so young as she : she is the only soldier in history who has held the supreme command of a nation s armies at the age of seventeen.

Her history has still another feature which sets her apart and leaves her without fellow or competitor: there have been many uninspired prophets, but she was the only one who ever ventured the daring de tail of naming, along with a foretold event, the event s precise nature, the special time-limit within which it would occur, and the place and scored ful filment. At Vaucouleurs she said she must go to the King and be made his general, and break the Eng lish power, and crown her sovereign &quot;at Rheims.&quot; It all happened. It was all to happen &quot;next year&quot; and it did. She foretold her first wound and its character and date a month in advance, and the prophecy was recorded in a public record-book three weeks in advance. She repeated it the morning of the date named, and it was fulfilled before night. At Tours she foretold the limit of her military career saying it would end in one year from the time of its utterance and she was right. She foretold her martyrdom using that word, and naming a time three months away and again she was right. At a time when France seemed hopelessly and perma nently in the hands of the English she twice asserted

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