England.
As he had settled most of the Canadian strikes he was interested in
unemployment.
I told him the "land fit for heroes to live in" was a less fashionable
resort than was generally supposed; and that thanks to the policy of
"official reprisals" the ground had not been prepared in a manner to
encourage either Craig or Collins to place implicit confidence in the
Coalition. He told me that reprisals had come as a shock to all
thoughtful people; and, pointing to a fine Italian picture of Our Lord
hanging on the wall, asked me if His life had captivated me as much as
it had him.
I said that following in His steps appeared to me to be the only chance
we could ever have of acquiring that purity of heart which would enable
us to see God; and walked up to examine the picture.
It does not take a long sojourn in Canada to prophecy that Mr. MacKenzie
King will need all his courage and independence if he is to stand up to
the hostility of his Conservative and fashionable opponents; but if he
can make himself known to thinking men his administration ought to prove
successful.
The next day I was again the guest of the premier, and met one of the
two sitting members for Ottawa,--Mr. Hal McGiverin; the Hon. Dr. Henri
Beland (Minister of Soldiers Civil Re-establishment), who had been a
distinguished physician in Belgium when the war broke out. He wrote "A
Thousand and One Days in a Berlin Prison" after having been taken
prisoner by the Germans and confined for over three years. During his
incarceration his wife died in Belgium, and he was not permitted to
attend her death-bed or her funeral. The Hon. George Graham, Minister of
Militia, whose only son was killed in the War; the Hon. Sir Lomar Gouin,
Minister of Justice, and the only other lady, Mrs. G. B. Kennedy, made
up our luncheon party. We had general conversation, which my stepson
Raymond once described as a series of "ugly rushes and awkward pauses",
but on this occasion it was successful, as we discussed among other
subjects politics and literature.
I asked my neighbour what the statue was which commanded such a
wonderful view near the Houses of Parliament. He said it was "Sir
Galahad," and had been erected in memory of a deed of heroism, and had
no other inscription upon it. He told me a young man called Henry
Albert Harper was skating with a friend when he observed a couple in
front of him disappear into the river at a sudden break in the ice. He
sent his comp
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