in the great realm of the human mind, kept the European comity of
that realm loftily and even ostentatiously above the rancors of
the battle-field. Tearing the Garter from the Kaiser's leg,
striking the German dukes from the roll of our peerage, changing
the King's illustrious and historically appropriate surname (for
the war was the old war of Guelph against Ghibelline, with the
Kaiser as Arch-Ghibelline) to that of a traditionless locality.
One felt that the figure of St. George and the Dragon on our
coinage should be replaced by that of the soldier driving his
spear through Archimedes. But by that time there was no coinage:
only paper money in which ten shillings called itself a pound as
confidently as the people who were disgracing their country
called themselves patriots.



The Sufferings of the Sane

The mental distress of living amid the obscene din of all these
carmagnoles and corobberies was not the only burden that lay on
sane people during the war. There was also the emotional strain,
complicated by the offended economic sense, produced by the
casualty lists. The stupid, the selfish, the narrow-minded, the
callous and unimaginative were spared a great deal. "Blood and
destruction shall be so in use that mothers shall but smile when
they behold their infantes quartered by the hands of war," was a
Shakespearean prophecy that very nearly came true; for when
nearly every house had a slaughtered son to mourn, we should all
have gone quite out of our senses if we had taken our own and our
friend's bereavements at their peace value. It became necessary