oducer, took
me up to the King's study--that King whose life his skill had saved.
There a most courteous gentleman made me perfectly at home, and talked
of Labrador and North Newfoundland and our work as if he had lived
there. He asked especially about the American helpers and interest,
and laughed heartily when I told him how many freeborn Americans had
gladly taken the oath of loyalty to His Majesty, when called up to act
as special constables for me in his oldest Colony. He left the
impression on my mind that he was a real Englishman in spirit, though
he had spoken with what I took to be a slight German accent. The
sports and games of the Colony I had noticed interested him very much,
and all references to the splendid seafaring genius of the people also
found an appreciative echo in his heart. When at last he handed me a
long box with a gorgeous medal and ribbon, and bade me good-bye, I
vowed I could sing "God save the King" louder than ever if I could do
so without harrowing the feelings of my more tuneful neighbours.

When later, as a major in an American surgical unit in France, I was
serving the R.A.M.C., the ribbon of the Order was actually of real
service to me. It undoubtedly opened some closed doors, though it
proved a puzzle to every A.D.M.S. to whom I had to explain the anomaly
of my position when I had to go and worry him for permission to cross
the road or some new imaginary line. In England, and even in America,
I found that the fact that the King had recognized one's work was a
real material asset. It was a credential--only on a larger scale--like
that from our Minister to the Colonies, the Marquis of Ripon, who
kindly had given me his blessing in writing when first I visited
Canada.

How far signs of superiority are permissible is to my mind an open
question. Hereditary human superiority does not necessarily exist,
because selective precautions are not taken, and the environment of
the superior is very apt to enfeeble the physical machine, anyhow. The
question of the hereditary superiority of a man's soul, being outside
my sphere, I leave to the theologians. History, which is the school of
experience, belies the theory, whatever current science may say. As
for the giving of hereditary titles, it is significant that they do
not as a rule go to scholars or even scientific men, but to physical
fighters, being physical rewards for material services. When these are
in the possession of offspring no longe