Is it not useless to hope that this war will be the last? So long as men are actuated by motives of commercial profit and agrarian gain, the dream of Universal Peace must remain a chimæra; and the present upheaval, essential to the checking and wiping out of Germany's abnormal line of development, is destined to be only the first step towards the Ideal of Progress which Europe (the Central Powers included) had flattered herself to be following.
Most astounding of all is the utter obliviousness on the part of all at home to the seriousness of the shell campaign, illustrated by the ridicule hurled at those of us who uphold the Northcliffe Press.
As I settled into the corner of the railway carriage, after a delightful week-end with a dear friend in Surrey, a batch of illustrated journals and the Morning Post were pressed upon me.
No one can be a more devout devotee of the Morning Post Court Circular than my humble self, knowing full well that to miss that interesting document means a gradual drifting without the pale of one's many acquaintances. Nevertheless, I asked meekly for "The Daily Mail, please!"
"That you, with your love of literature, should read such stuff!" she groaned.
Then, confidently:
"My dear, at any other time I should have cut you dead for such a thing."
There was no time to explain, as the train steamed out, that I go to my newspaper for news and not for literature.
Yet I could not refrain from marvelling at the contumely showered on the only organ strong enough to bring the truth before the public and combat the weaknesses of a desultory Government.
The second astounding thing at home is the fact that no one seems to realise the difference between the Front and the Base.