et them at
the station?" That's the chief thing they wished to know. When I
said "I did"--that fixed the whole thing on the highest peg of
dignity. They could classify the whole proceeding properly, and
they went off happy. Again: You've got to go in to dinner in the
exact order prescribed by the constitution; and, if you avoid that
or confuse that, you'll never be able to live it down. And so about
Government, Literature, Art--everything. Don't you forget your
water-tight compartments. If you do, you are gone! They have the
same toasts at every public dinner. One is to "the guests." Now you
needn't say a word about the guests when you respond. But they've
been having toasts to the guests since the time of James I and they
can't change it. They had me speak to "the guests" at a club last
night, when they wanted me to talk about Mexico! The winter has
come--the winter months at least. But they have had no cold
weather--not so cold as you have in Pinehurst. But the sun has gone
out to sea--clean gone. We never see it. A damp darkness
(semi-darkness at least) hangs over us all the time. But we manage
to feel our way about.

A poor photograph goes to you for Xmas--a poor thing enough surely.
But you get Uncle Bob[32] busy on the job of paying for an
Ambassador's house. Then we'll bring Christmas presents home for
you. What a game we are playing, we poor folks here, along with
Ambassadors whose governments pay them four times what ours pays.
But we don't give the game away, you bet! We throw the bluff with a
fine, straight poker face.

Affectionately,
W.H.P.

_To Frank N. Doubleday and Others_

London, Sunday, December 28, 1913.

MY DEAR COMRADES:

I was never one of those abnormal creatures who got Christmas all
ready by the Fourth of July. The true spirit of the celebration has
just now begun to work on me--three days late. In this respect the
spirit is very like Christmas plum-pudding. Moreover, we've just
got the patriotic fervour flowing at high tide this morning. This
is the President's birthday. We've put up the Stars and Stripes on
the roof; and half an hour ago the King's Master of Ceremonies
drove up in a huge motor car and, being shown into my presence in
the state drawing room, held his hat in his hand and (said h