I meet Lady Rocksavage and Sir Philip Sassoon.
Next day there is to be a ceremonial in the schoolhouse, when a memorial is to be unveiled. It is in honour of the boys of the town who had fallen. There are mothers, fathers, and many old people, some of them old in years, others aged by the trials of the war.
The simple affair is most impressive and the streets are crowded on our way. I was to blame for an unhappy contrast. Outside people were shouting, "Hooray for Charlie!" while inside souls were hushed in grief.
Such a discordant note. I wished I had not been so prominent. I wanted everyone to bow in respect to these dead. The crowds did not belong outside.
And inside, on the little children's faces, I could see conflicting emotions. There is the reverence for the dead and yet there is eagerness as they steal glances at me. I wish I hadn't come. I feel that I am the disturbing element.
From the school Sir Philip and I went to the Star and Garter Hospital for wounded soldiers. Sheer tragedy was here.
Young men suffering from spinal wounds, some of them with legs withered, some suffering from shell shock. No hope for them, yet they smiled.
There was one whose hands were all twisted and he was painting signs with a brush held between his teeth. I looked at the signs. They were mottoes: "Never Say Die," "Are We Downhearted?" A superman.