Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-04-02

began to tire of the long round of work
and distractions he commenced to think
seriously of a visit to America.
His experience at the war had sobered
him down. He was now thirty-two years
of age, the time when most men, who
have not arrived there already, think
seriously of settling down to matrimony.
In other respects he wanted to be free.
He was tired of obeying orders; even Of
giving them. The war was over and
Britain was at peace with the world. Had
there been still fighting going on any
where such thought would not have oc-
CURED to him; he would still have wanted
to be in the thick of it. But the long
months of waiting and inactivity I e
endless routine, the impossibility of doing
anything which would have an i'm
mediate effect: all these things had worn
out much of his patience and stirred the
natural restlessness of his disposition.
AT home there seemed no prospect of fol-
lowing soldering in the way he wished
some form in which excitement had part.
Indeed the whole scheme of war and
army seemed to be shaping themselves on
lines unfamiliar to him. The idea of the
old devil-may-care life which had first
attracted him and Of which he had had a
taste did not any longer exist, or, If 1t
existed, it was not for him. Outside actual
fighting the life of a soldier was not now
to consist of series of seasonable
amusements. And even if 1t did the very
routine of amusements not only did not
satisfy him. but became irksome. What.
after ALL he thought, was to a grown
man a life of games in succession. Polo
and cricket, fishing, shooting, hunting in
due course, racquets and tennis. yachting
and racing were all very we'll individually.
But they did not seem to lead anywhere.
In fact such pastimes now seemed in
adequate to man who had been actively
taking part in the biggest game of them
all-war
When once the idea had come to him it
of hfvr1 oph a n
the untitled expectation of interest, drove
ii further and further home. There was
everywhere a lack of his old companions;
always crowd of new faces The girls
he had known and liked because they
were likable had got married within the
few years of his absence. The matrons
had made fresh comprehensive which
held possession. Bridge had arisen as a
new society fetish which drew to itself
the interests and time of all. A new or
der Of South African millionaires had
arisen who by their wealth and ex-
travagance had set at defiance the old
order of social caste and largely changed
the whole scheme of existing values.
When he fled away from London he
found something of the same changes
elsewhere. In the stir of war, and even
In the long WEAKNESS of waiting which
followed it. the whirling along of the
great world was. If not forgotten, un-
thought of. The daily work and the daily
interest were SO personal and so absorb
ing that abstract thinking was not
In the country of course, the changes
were less, but they were more marked.
The few years had their full tally of loss.
OF death and decay. The eyes that saw
them were so far fresh eyes that I'M
checked memory had not perpetual ease
Of comparison.
For a while he tried hard to find a
fresh interest in his work. But here
again was change with which he could
feel neither sympathy nor liberation.
90 -.
schemes of organization. of recruiting, of
training. The ranks in the service. of
which he had experience. were becoming
more mechanical than ever. Had he by