ct from the
generous womanhood of America.

We mothers of Belgium no less than the mothers of America have for
generations instilled in our children the instincts and the love of
peace. We asked no greater boon than to live in peace and friendship
with all the world. We have provoked no war, yet in defense of our
hearthstones, our country has been laid waste from end to end.

The flow of commerce has ceased and my people are faced with famine.
The terrors of starvation with its consequences of disease and
violence menace the unoffending civilian population--the aged, the
infirm, the women and the children.

American officials and citizens in Belgium and England, alive to
their country's traditions, have created an organization under the
protection of their government and are already sending food to my
people. I hope that they may receive the fullest sympathy and aid
from every side.

I need not say that I and my people shall always hold in grateful
remembrance the proven friendship of America in this hour of need.

Elisabeth.]

_Brussels, Sunday, December 20, 1914_--Jack got off to London yesterday
after a visit of six weeks. Had it not been for the nearness of
Christmas and the knowledge that he was needed at home, he would have
been prepared to stay on indefinitely. His grief at leaving was genuine.
He invested heavily in flowers and chocolates for the people who had
been nice to him, endowed all the servants, and left amid the cheers and
sobs of the populace. He is a good sort, and I was sorry to see him go.
By this time he is probably sitting up in London, telling them all about
it.

To-day I went up to Antwerp to bring back our old motor. Left a little
before noon, after tidying up my desk, and took my two Spanish
colleagues, San Esteban and Molina, along for company. I had the passes
and away we went by way of Malines, arriving in time for a late lunch.

Antwerp is completely Germanised already. We heard hardly a word of
French anywhere--even the hotel waiters speaking only hotel French. The
crowd in the restaurant of the Webber was exclusively German, and there
was not a word of French on the menu.

The Germans took over the garage where our car was left the day they
came in, and there I discovered what was left of the old machine. The
sentries on guard at the door reluctantly let us in, and the poor