led the steerage of that
ship--not a bunk left; and his wife and daughter are found three
days later sitting in a swell hotel waiting for me to bring them
stateroom tickets on a silver tray! One of my young fellows in the
Embassy rushes into my office saying that a man from Boston, with
letters of introduction from Senators and Governors and
Secretaries, et al., was demanding tickets of admission to a
picture gallery, and a secretary to escort him there.

"What shall I do with him?"

"Put his proposal to a vote of the 200 Americans in the room and
see them draw and quarter him."

I have not yet heard what happened. A woman writes me four pages to
prove how dearly she loves my sister and invites me to her
hotel--five miles away--"please to tell her about the sailing of
the steamships." Six American preachers pass a resolution
unanimously "urging our Ambassador to telegraph our beloved,
peace-loving President to stop this awful war"; and they come with
simple solemnity to present their resolution. Lord save us, what a
world!

And this awful tragedy moves on to--what? We do not know what is
really happening, so strict is the censorship. But it seems
inevitable to me that Germany will be beaten, that the horrid
period of alliances and armaments will not come again, that England
will gain even more of the earth's surface, that Russia may next
play the menace; that all Europe (as much as survives) will be
bankrupt; that relatively we shall be immensely stronger
financially and politically--there must surely come many great
changes--very many, yet undreamed of. Be ready; for you will be
called on to compose this huge quarrel. I thank Heaven for many
things--first, the Atlantic Ocean; second, that you refrained from
war in Mexico; third, that we kept our treaty--the canal tolls
victory, I mean. Now, when all this half of the world will suffer
the unspeakable brutalization of war, we shall preserve our moral
strength, our political powers, and our ideals.

God save us!

W.H.P.

Vivid as is the above letter, it lacks several impressive details.
Probably the one event that afterward stood out most conspicuously in
Page's mind was his interview with Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign
Secretary. Sir Edward asked the American Ambassador to call Tuesday
after