ly to my surprise, my wards, with one voice, demurred to the
suggestion. Miss Canbee spoke up, saying--I reproduce her words almost
literally--that a really-truly war would be a perfect lark and that she
thought it would be just dear if they all volunteered as nurses, or
daughters of the regiment, or something. She announced, furthermore,
that she meant to wire that night to her father for permission to enlist
and pick out her uniform the very first thing in the morning. Strangely,
her deluded companions greeted this remarkable statement with seeming
approbation. All speaking at once, they began discussing details of
costume, and so on. I was thunderstruck! It required outright sternness
of demeanour and utterance on my part to check their exuberant outbursts
of misguided enthusiasm.

Nevertheless, another twenty-four hours was to ensue before I felt that
their spirits had been sufficiently curbed to permit of my making
preparations for our departure. Judge of my feelings when I found that
no travelling accommodations could be procured, every departing train
for the coast being crowded far beyond its customary capacity!

Ah, Mister President, could I but depict for you the scenes that now
succeeded--the congestion at the booking offices; the intense confusion
prevalent at all the railroad stations; the increasing popular
apprehension everywhere displayed; the martial yet disconcerting sound
of troops on the march through the streets; the inability to procure
suitable means of vehicular transportation about the city. In those
hours my nervous system sustained a succession of shocks from which, I
fear me, I shall never entirely recover.

Yet I would not have you believe that I lost my intellectual poise and
composure. Without, I may have appeared distraught; within, my brain
continued its ordained functions. Indeed, my mind operated with a most
unwonted celerity. Scarcely a minute passed that some new expedient did
not flash into my thoughts; and only the inability to carry them out,
due to the prevalent conditions and the obstinacy of railroad employes
and others to whom I appealed, prevented the immediate execution of a
considerable number of my plans.

Never for one instant was my mind or my body inactive. I would not
undertake to compute the number of miles I travelled on foot that day in
going from place to place--from consular office to ambassadorial
headquarters, always to find each place densely thronged with