Evening star., 1914-11-01

ushered to table at dinner and finding
Ambassador Won Bernstorff as his VISA
Wis.
Imagine the thick. clammy, arctic chill
that would descend upon the whole ROOM
Imagine the tingles of agonized. appre-
hensiye embarrassment that would chase
themselves over and through and around
the person of every other diner Ana
imagine, if you have an especially quick
acting. rapid-fire imagination. the celerity
with which a waiter who could be guilty
Of such a faux pas would find himself
in search of another job.
To guard against even the possibility
of such a tragedy has been the problem
with which the board of governors and
the clubs manager have had to cope
since the beginning of the war. or course,
even at the very outbreak of hostilities,
the members of the club recognized the
necessity of curtailing or wholly elm
mating discussion of the various phases
of the tremendous struggle.
To avoid the imminent possibility of
smoking room or card room unpleasant
nesses the club members have for weeks
censored their conversation as rigidly as
any French, English. German, Russian
or Austrian official bureau has censored
the actual war news. So it is that Am
bassador Bakhmeteff may enter smok-
ing room without walking into silence
so profound. and so recent. as to indicate
plainly that war news from Petrograd
had been under discussion.
Likewise, Mr.. Havenith may stroll Into
any room of the club without interrupt
ing a disquisition on the valor and the
achievements of the kaiser's troops and
the effectiveness of Germans huge siege
guns as demonstrated at Liege or
Antwerp.
So, with the club members them
selves, the amenities are practically
safe. and the tact of each Individual
member may be depended upon to pre-
vent the occurrence of anything that
would ruff1e the feelings of the diplo-
mats whose countries are enbattled
one against the other.
AS winter approaches and club men,
bers who have spent the summer else
where return to the capital the merest
word will be sufficient to enlighten
them as to conversational topics that
are taboo, SO that it will not be neces-
sary for every one to go around with
the air of momentarily expecting to
feel the impact of sandbag on the
back of his head. or OF being shot
through the ceiling by sudden ex-
piosion.
And the entire list of attaches and
employees of the club have been as
carefully coached as are the princi-
pal actors in some tremend usly i'm
waiter down to hat boy eac employe
has been instructed as tho -oughly as
repeated adjuration emphatically i'm
parted, and with the penalty of nom
observation plainly stated, could do
the work.
Every employe knows by sight and
by name every diplomat who dimes
or lunches at the club, even occasional
ly Every doorman, every messenger,
every waiter, every other employe, has
had the lineaments of each European
diplomat ineradicably engraved on the
tablets of his memory; and the re-
suit has been that SO far no unpleas-
ant happening has marred the atmos-
phere of calm within the clubs mag
nificent. home.
How long it may be until somebody
forgets for moment is another story
"a story that is craving little lines
of worry around the eyes and on the
foreheads of those who hold the club s
proper management and control i'll
their hands But how long that some
body will remain an employe of the
club after he does forget can be ac-
curately prophesied by any individual
in the clubs small army of employees.
lust about as long as it will take him
to change his clothes and go away
from there.
Europe, or within a week thereafter.
each employe OF the club had received
instructions Since then these fnstruc-
tions have been repeated. reiterated and