Evening star., 1914-11-14
BRITISH ST0|CA[[Y
CARRY WAR BURDEN
Give Up Sports, Politics and
'Society" to Build Up
Great Army.
SUFFRAGE AND HOME RULE
ARE ENTIRELY FORGOTTEN
Rich and Poor Alike Labor for Sol.
diers at Front-Noblemen
Do Relief Work.

Do Relief Work.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.
LONDON, October 30.-Two months
ago London newspaper described
England as "a nation half awake" and
contrasted the unruffled aspect of Lon
don life with the Transformation that
war had cast over Paris and Berlin.
Since then England has become a ma
tion fully awake. This awakening has
been more of an inner than a surface
change, and only those who know Eng
land from within can realize how great
the change has been.
The most remarkable feature of re-
cent British events has been the entire
absence of excitement with which the
country has passed from a condition of
profound and thoughtless peace to a
military status which pervades all the
activities of life and seems almost to
have brought upon the scene a harder
and soberer nation. Sports, politics,
''society"-the three absorbing inter-
ests of the population three months
ago-have disappeared from the col
umns of newspapers, from the talk OF
the people, and have almost vanished
from existence.
The contentious word "suffragette"
has disappeared from the English vo-
cabulary. The suffragist bodies have
turned their efficient organizations to
the care of Belgians and other war vic
Tins. Votes for womer" IS no longer
thrust into the faces of passers on every
corner and in every depot and restau-
rant by young women wearing the tri-
colored ribbon of purple. green and
white. The suffragist papers. like many
others supported by special interests.
have suspended publication. People
read about nothing but the war.
Home rule is forgotten text for
debate, except as echoes of recrimina-
tions come from a few die-hards in
Ulster and the Sim Feiners of the
south of Ireland. All that is left of the
absorbing passion for sport is the foot
ball games, and majority of the first
class professional teams are drilling
in the territorials and Kitchener army.
And it would be brave man of mill
tary age who would be seen carrying
his bundle of golf sticks on the street
these days.
Everywhere Are Soldiers.
Streets and trains everywhere are
filled with soldiers. Khaki is con-
spicuous in all the restaurants. the
gilded and the cheap, and military
equipment and uniforms fill the shop
windows. Recruits are drilling in all
the parks, in public squares. on the
lawn of the temple where barristers
work and live, in all the little open
spaces among the stately law courts,
and in the courtyard of the National
Academy, sacred to art and science.
Groups of men and women stand star
ing at their often awkward movements
quietly and respectfully. Small boys
accoutered with paper caps. wooden
guns and tin drums also are every
where. ...,,.
uniformed and shouldering their rifles.
others in civilian clothes and bareneaa-
ed with blankets slung over their
shoulders, march about the streets
These SQUADS usually sing as they
march Traffic Is held up Wnile eney
pass, the people g stop paises es his o nat but
strangely enough to the American
spectator, there is never any cheering
This is not apathy, it is the English
way.
Britons Conceal Sentiment. .
The Briton has sentiment. but he
conceals it carefully. I'VE feel too
deeply for that" a prominent English
MAJ explained when an American ask
ed why the soldiers did not stir the
populace to demonstrations. The re-
serve battalion of the London Scottish,
the most popular volunteers IN Lon
don and the first to be put in the mr.
ing line in France, klited ana win
bagpipes playing, marched tnrougn
thick crowd around victoria statioh
tonight and never raised a shout.
But there is another Side. The
wealthy classes have given up their
luxuries and their pleasures without
a prumble. London was a city of res
tanrants and theaters, of dinner-giving
and recenfions and balls. All Of this
life has vanished. Half the theaters
are closed. Most of those which keep
going are giving American plays. and
others are producing reviVals OF oid
successes because they cannot anord
to spend money on mounting new
plays. Many have reduced their prices.
Society" has disappeared. ihere are
no social columns in the newspapers,
because there are no social events to
record There is no dinner-giving and
there are no balls or shooting parties
on country estates. Following the
hounds has been abandoned There is
plenty of money yet, but there Is no
desire to spend 1t in foolish ways. All
the restaurants, fashionable and hum
BILE, close at 10 o'clock
Drinking champagne Is as strictly
taboo as carrying golf clubs. Million
aires and dukes appear at dinner in
public, when they appear at all IN
khaki or old clothes and drink whisky
and soda instead of their favorite vim
tages
Mobiles Do Relief Work.