When war broke out in Europe in 1914, a twenty-six-year-old Harvard writing instructor named Henry Sheahan volunteered with the American Field Service in France. After serving as an ambulance driver on the western front (and witnessing the horrific battle of Verdun), Sheahan, now going by the pen name Henry Beston, began to write children's stories (his fairy tales were immensely popular with the children of his Harvard classmate and close friend...