edentials and any others that may eventually
be added to them, and perhaps some day I shall be able to paper a room
with them.

In the course of the morning there were several matters of interest
which made it necessary for me to go to the Foreign Office. All their
messengers are now gone, and in their place there is a squad of Boy
Scouts on duty. I had a long conference with van der Elst, the
Director-General of the Ministry. In the course of our pow-wow it was
necessary to send out communications to various people and despatch
instructions in regard to several small matters. Each time van der Elst
would ring, for what he calls a "scoots," and hand him the message with
specific instructions as to just how it should be handled. The boys were
right on their toes, and take great pride in the responsibility that is
given them. Some of them have bicycles and do the messenger work through
the town. Those who have not, run errands in the different buildings and
attend to small odd jobs.

The Red Cross is very much in evidence. I went around to the headquarters
after my call at the Foreign Office, to make a little contribution of my
own and to leave others for members of our official family. The
headquarters is at the house of Count Jean de Merode, the Grand Marshal
of the Court. The entrance hall was filled with little tables where
women sat receiving contributions of money and supplies. I had to wait
some time before I could get near enough to one of the dozen or more
tables, to hand in my contributions. This is the headquarters, but there
are any number of branch offices, and they are said to be equally busy.
The society has been quite overcome by the way people have come forward
with gifts, and they have been almost unable to get enough people
together to handle them as they come in. The big cafes down-town nearly
all have signs out, announcing that on a certain day or days they will
give their entire receipts to the Red Cross or to one of the several
funds gotten up to take care of those suffering directly or indirectly
from the war. Many of the small shops have signs out of the same sort,
announcing that the entire receipts for all articles sold on a certain
day will be handed to one of the funds. They must have gathered an
enormous amount of money, and I don't doubt they will need it. The
wounded are being brought in in great numbers and many buildings are
quite filled with them. In nearly every street there is a Red C