egiment it would have been
well spent. The people who heard him, read American utterances,
American history, American news in a new light. And most of his
talk was with little groups of men, much of it even in private
conversation. He did no orating or "lecturing." A hundred such men,
if we had them, would do more for a perfect understanding with the
British people than anything else whatsoever could do.

Yours sincerely,
WALTER H. PAGE.

_To Arthur W. Page_

Sandwich, May 27, 1918.

DEAR ARTHUR:

... I do get tired--my Lord! how tired!--not of the work but of the
confinement, of the useless things I have to spend time on, of the
bad digestion that has overtaken me, of London, of the weather, of
absence from you all--of the general breaking up of the world, of
this mad slaughter of men. But, after all, this is the common lot
now and I am grateful for a chance to do what I can. That's the
true way to look at it.

... Worry? I don't worry about anything except the war in general
and this mad world so threatened by these devil barbarians. And I
have a feeling that, when we get a few thousand flying machines,
we'll put an end to that, alas! with the loss of many of our brave
boys. I hear the guns across the channel as I write--an unceasing
boom! boom! boom! That's what takes the stuff out of me and gets my
inside machinery wrong. Still, I'm gradually getting even that back
to normal. Golf and the poets are fine medicine. I read Keats the
other day, with entire forgetfulness of the guns. Here we have a
comfortable house, our own servants (as many as we need), a
beautiful calm sea, a perfect air and for the present ideal
weather. There's nobody down here but Scottish soldiers. We've
struck up a pleasant acquaintance with them; and some of the
fellows from the Embassy come down week ends. Only the murderous
guns keep their eternal roar.

Thanks, thanks, a thousand thanks, old man. It'll all work out
right.

... I look at it in this way: all's well that ends well. We are now
doing our duty. That's enough. These things don't bother me,
because doing our duty now is worth a million years of past errors
and shortcomings.

Your mother's well and spry--very, and the best company in the
world. We're having a great time.