st
be barbarians" (Von Diefurth, Hamburger Nachrichten), while their
philosophers declared that "The German is the superior type of the
species homo sapiens" (Woltmann); a nation whose Imperial Head commended
to his soldiers the example of the Huns, and proclaimed, "It is to the
empire of the world that the German genius aspires" (Kaiser Wilhelm,
Speech at Aix-la-Chapelle, June 20, 1902)--a nation thus armed,
instructed, disciplined, and demoralized had broken loose. Another
Attila had come, with a new horde behind him to devastate and change the
face of the world. In the tumult and darkness which enfolded Europe, the
Werwolf was at large. We could hear his ululations in the forest. The
cries of his victims grew louder, piercing our hearts with pity and just
wrath.

II

But even when the most dreadful things are happening around you, the
regular and necessary work of the world must be carried on. Your own
particular "chore" must be done as well as you can do it.

As the trouble drew near and suddenly fell upon the world, the burden of
enormously increased and varied duties pressed heavily upon the American
representatives abroad. The first thing that we had to do was to make
provision for taking care of our own people in Europe who were caught
out in the storm and the danger.

That was a practical job with unlimited requirements. No one, except
those who had the distracting privilege of being in the American
diplomatic and consular service in the summer of 1914, knows how much
work and how many kinds of work rushed down upon us in a moment.
Banking, postal, and telegraph service, transportation, hotel and
boarding-house business, baggage express, the recovery of missing
articles and persons, the reunion of curiously separated families,
confidential inquiries, medical service (mainly mind-healing), and free
consultation on every subject under the sun--all these different
occupations, trades, and professions were not set down in our programme
when we came to Europe, nor covered by the slim calf-bound volume of
Instructions to Diplomatic Officers which was our only guide-book. But
we had to learn them at short notice and practise them as best we could.
No doubt we often acted in a way that was not strictly protocolaire.
Certainly we made mistakes. But it was better to do that than to sit
like bumps on a log doing nothing. The immediate affair in hand was to
help our own folks who were in distress and difficulty and