ing out. They would
look more beautiful if only the pieces of them would stay up there after
they burst. I was in Oxford Circus one night when a hatful of shrapnel
fell about 20 feet away. One piece was about 5 inches long. Imagine that
falling down from a height of 3 miles and hitting a fellow on the head.
It would go clear on down through to your toes. Before any American city
is raided I hope some chemist will invent a barrage shell which will
dissipate all its energy and substance in the bursting. Surely an
airplane can be wrecked by concussion.

An Australian soldier and a girl were standing in a doorway near me
watching the shells burst. His was that common case--a soldier in London
on leave, speculating on where the shrapnel would fall, and becoming
peeved as he thought of it. "A hell of a place for a man to come on
leave! I came here to get rest and quiet, and I run into this gory
mess!"

While waiting the permission of the British authorities I learned that
all a correspondent's troubles do not come from foreign censorship. An
American newsman had cabled over something which did not please one of
our admirals then in London. Meeting that same admiral, I put in a word
for my trip to the naval base, thinking that he might warm up and hurry
things along for me. He warmed up, but on the side away from me. He
recounted the enormous villainy of that newsman, and in conclusion said:
"Perhaps, after all, the best way to do is not to allow you newspaper
men to send a word at all!"

Such an air of finality! He spoke as though he owned the navy; also the
press.

One now and again grows up like that. By taking care not to die, and in
the absence of plucking boards, they rise to be admirals. Then
side-boys, the bosun's pipes, the 13 guns coming over the side--all this
ritual goes to their heads. They get to thinking after a while that the
whole business is a tribute to their genius, or valor, or something or
other personal. Perhaps all this one needed was a little salve; but I
thought it up to some writer to fire a shot across his bows. So I came
back with: "That's all very well, sir, about your not allowing a word to
be sent, but there may be another point of view. There are 110,000,000
people over in our country, and some of them may not look on our navy as
the sole property of its officers. They may want to know what that navy
of theirs is doing over here. And perhaps no harm in telling them--or
some day they may de