militarily and
economically I should feel happy about Serbia," says Bishop Nicholas on
his return from America. But Jugo-Slavia--one must think of the whole
new State--is not strong in any way yet. Her strength is very great
and mysterious but is still potential. Some day In the future perhaps
five years hence, or ten, if Jugo-Slavia still holds together, we shall
have a great State here with Belgrade as a worthy capital. Austria
will have moved south. There are at least prospects of enormous
commercial prosperity, and on that basis the Arts will surely flourish.
All depends on the Slavs holding together and forgetting their
differences. The Spirit will blow where it listeth, and one day it
will be with Serbia and on another it will be gone.

[1] Slav name for Croats.

LETTERS OF TRAVEL

VI. FROM BELGRADE (II)

Up on the cliff one evening a party of Serbs were listening to a
Russian soldier, one of Wrangel's army invalided to a hospital camp
near Belgrade. "Which of these rivers is the Danube?" said he.

The Serbs pointed out where the Save joined the main stream, like a
thread of silver joining a silver ribbon.

"Ah," said the Russian. "And my grandfather was killed on that river,
fighting to free the Slavs. Defenceless little brothers, the Slavs!
When the war began the enemy was right into your capital of Belgrade at
once, but we Russians plunged into East Prussia. Yes, I was there,
brothers, and was wounded and marched back to the Niemen with my wound
open----"

He recounted where he had been in the war, and was so circumstantial
that one by one the Serbs said good-bye and wished him luck and went
away. And he was left standing there alone, looking over the gloomy
Austrian plain below where night was descending fast.

"Would you like to have tea?" I asked. "My lodging is quite close."
He readily agreed, and so we went across to the "Patriarchate" and up
to Bishop Nikolai's white room.

Budomir, Nikolai's servant, a shell-shocked soldier, struck a posture
of pleasure and stoked up the fire to boil some water. Budomir had
been a student and now could multiply numbers of four figures in his
head though he could do little else. He was devoted to Nikolai, and
insisted on serving me because I was Nikolai's friend. The Russian
soldier marvelled to find himself in a room so strongly Orthodox in its
appearance, and he did not fail to cross himself elaborately.

Then he showed us the vari