e concocted
no letter. I've been down here a week--a week of sunshine, praise
God--and people are not after me every ten minutes, or Governments
either; and my most admirable and efficient staff (now grown to one
hundred people) permit few letters and telegrams to reach me. There
never was a little rest more grateful. The quiet sea out my window
shows no sign of crawling submarines; and, in general, it's as
quiet and peaceful here as in Garden City itself.

I'm on the home-stretch now in all my thoughts and plans. Three of
my four years are gone, and the fourth will quickly pass. That's
not only the limit of my leave, but it's quite enough for me. I
shouldn't care to live through another such experience, if the
chance should ever come to me. It has changed my whole life and my
whole outlook on life; and, perhaps, you'd like to hear some
impressions that it has made upon me.

The first impression--perhaps the strongest--is a loss of permanent
interest in Europe, especially all Europe outside of this Kingdom.
I have never had the illusion that Europe had many things that we
needed to learn. The chief lesson that it has had, in my judgment,
is the lesson of the art of living--the comforts and the courtesies
of life, the refinements and the pleasures of conversation and of
courteous conduct. The upper classes have this to teach us; and we
need and can learn much from them. But this seems to me all--or
practically all. What we care most for are individual character,
individual development, and a fair chance for every human being.
Character, of course, the English have--immense character, colossal
character. But even they have not the dimmest conception of what we
mean by a fair chance for every human being--not the slightest. In
one thousand years they _may_ learn it from us. Now on the
continent, the only important Nation that has any character worth
mentioning is the French. Of course the little nations--some of
them--have character, such as Holland, Switzerland, Sweden, etc.
But these are all. The others are simply rotten. In giving a free
chance to every human creature, we've nothing to learn from
anybody. In character, I bow down to the English and Scotch; I
respect the Frenchman highly and admire his good taste. But, for
our needs and from o