twenty others present; even the
waiters seemed to be dejected, probably at the falling off of their
revenue from tips, and we left as soon as possible and went over to
the Royal Automobile Club in search of something brighter. There we
found a cheery log fire and sat in front of it until early morning,
talking of the war.

One heard the Russian and French national anthems very frequently, not
only in the streets, but in the theatres and public performances, such
as those in Queen's Hall. The finest playing of any national anthem
that I have ever listened to was the London Symphony Orchestra's
rendering of The Russian National Anthem one Monday night with
Safanoff conducting; it was sublime. I had heard the same number on
the preceding day in the same hall by another orchestra and the
difference was remarkable;--the first one sounding like an amateur
organization in comparison. No orchestra ever impressed me as did the
London Symphony Orchestra, with the possible exception of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra.

To be in London, not sixty miles from the firing line, in a city
firmly convinced of coming Zeppelin raids and prepared for naval
raids, and find the press discussing the plays and the music of the
day seemed strange indeed. It must have made the men in the trenches
nearly mad to realize that while they were fighting under the most
adverse conditions day by day and being killed in the defence of their
homeland, there were 30,000 slackers at one football match at home.

England is a strange country. We felt that perhaps if a force of
50,000 or 100,000 Germans would land in England she would waken from
the long sleep she had slept since her shores had been invaded by
William the Conqueror. 30,000 men could watch a football match at the
very moment the British line in Flanders was actually so thin that if
the Germans had tried to advance there was nothing to stop them.
Fortunately, for the moment, the enemy, too, was exhausted and before
he could recuperate our reinforcements had arrived.

The dying session of parliament was worth going to see; Bonar Law,
Beresford, McKenna, and Winston Churchill spoke. The latter made his
defence of the Navy which was as famous and as reassuring to the
country as Kitchener's statement in the house of Lords the day before
had been in regard to the Army. Mr. Bonar Law was the smoothest of the
speakers; Churchill gave one the impression of having much force of
character, despite his