She was to learn other things--that America knew more, through
a free press, of war conditions than did England. And she was to
learn what never ceased to surprise her--the sporting instinct of the
British which made their early slogan "Business as usual." Business
and pleasure--but only on the surface. Underneath was a dogged and
obstinate determination to make up as soon as possible for the
humiliation of the early days of the war.
Those were the transition days in England. The people were slowly
awaking to the magnitude of the thing that was happening to them. Certain
elements of the press, long under political dominion, were preparing to
come out for a coalition ministry. The question of high-explosive
shells as against shrapnel was bitterly fought, some of the men at home
standing fast for shrapnel, as valuable against German artillery as a
garden hose. Men coming back from the Front were pleading for real help,
not men only, not Red Cross, not food and supplies, but for something
more competent than mere man power to hold back the deluge.
But over it all was that surface cheerfulness, that best-foot-forward
attitude of London.
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