Needless to say, I did not enlighten him. I was saved that time, but a few months later I saw other signs of disfavor.
I remember that at that time I had to see General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, that grand old man for whose humanity and love I had a great respect, in spite of his methods of conversion, with scarlet coats and tambourines. He was angry with something I had written, and was violent in his wrath. But then he forgave me and talked very gently and wisely of the responsibilities of journalism, “the greatest power in the world for good or evil.”
Presently the old man seized me by the wrist with his skinny old hand, and thrust me down on to my knees.
“Now let us pray for Alfred Harmsworth,” he said, and offered up fervent prayer for his wisdom and light.
I don’t know what effect that prayer had on Harmsworth, but it seemed to have an immediate effect upon my own fate. I was “sacked” from The Daily Mail.
VIII
After my time on The Daily Mail, I joined The Daily Express for a few months before becoming one of the literary editors of The Daily Chronicle.
On The Express I came to know Sir Arthur Pearson before the days of his blindness, and did not admire him so much then (though I liked him) as in those later years when, by his magnificent courage, and his devoted service to all the blinded men of the war, he was one of the truly heroic figures of the world.