y the daughter of the lord of a mayor whose
clothes he used to cut before the war.

"The age of great adventure," were the words used by Mr. H. G. Wells to
describe this epoch as we discussed it. And a large proportion of the
descendants of those who have governed England for centuries are
apparently imbued with the spirit of this adventure, even though it may
spell the end of their exclusive rule. As significant of the social
mingling of elements which in the past never exchanged ideas or points
of view I shall describe a week-end party at a large country house of
Liberal complexion; on the Thames. I have reason to believe it fairly
typical. The owner of this estate holds an important position in the
Foreign Office, and the hostess has, by her wit and intelligent grasp of
affairs, made an enviable place for herself. On her right, at luncheon
on Sunday, was a labour leader, the head of one of the most powerful
unions in Britain, and next him sat a member of one of the oldest of
England's titled families. The two were on terms of Christian names.
The group included two or three women, a sculptor and an educator,
another Foreign Office official who has made a reputation since the
beginning of the war, and finally an employer of labour, the chairman of
the biggest shipbuilding company in England.

That a company presenting such a variety of interests should have been
brought together in the frescoed dining-room of that particular house is
noteworthy.

The thing could happen nowhere save in the England of today. At first
the talk was general, ranging over a number of subjects from that of the
personality of certain politicians to the conduct of the war and the
disturbing problem raised by the "conscientious objector"; little by
little, however, the rest of us became silent, to listen to a debate
which had begun between the labour leader and the ship-builder on the
"labour question." It is not my purpose here to record what they said.
Needless to add that they did not wholly agree, but they were much nearer
to agreement than one would have thought possible. What was interesting
was the open-mindedness with which, on both sides, the argument was
conducted, and the fact that it could seriously take place then and
there. For the subject of it had long been the supreme problem in the
lives of both these men, their feelings concerning it must at times have
been tinged with bitterness, yet they spoke with courtesy and