Evening star., 1918-07-07
sBY EDWARD MARSHALL.
pecial Correspondence Of The Star.

LONDON. June 25, 1918.
- HOPE every American woman
VIII read this, think about 1t.
Ill work In accordance with those
lines which 1t suggests to her
American women have done much to
stiraulate American activity.
Each week for long time I fur,
ntshed to a London weekly newspaper
an article which amounted to inter-
pretations Of America. In these SO
far as l was able. told to an eager
British public what America had be-
gun to do toward an allied victory,
why she had been slow when slow
she had been. why she could be ex-
pec'ed In the end to be faster than
anybody else on'earth. tried not to
lei these articles tell where she had
failed until 1t became necessary to ex-
plain why she had failed. But some
others naturally were less careful.
Among them was Sir sydney Low, an
oid friend. and. in the days when we
all thought our dispute with Spain a
real war. colleague. A week or SO
ago ! became wroth because he told
certain facts about our non-delivery
of airplanes. He wrote bitterly. I
chided him In print.
was right? l wonder. Listen to
story or recent night which l shall
ten with as little Introduction as may
be.
" X
have not done active campaigning
IN this war as correspondent be-
cause the Spanish war left me UNIT
for effort of the kind, but 1 have seen
mush in the three fighting countries
England. France and Italy. / have
seen more than l could wish in the
non-nghting country - Ireland - to-
ward which (until saw that which 1
nave seem all my sympathies had
gone, But that Is neither here nor
there. The point is that / have seen
Now the episodes of that recent
night have taken hold Of me more
wholly. think. than might have been
the case. because the little printed
controversy with Sir Sydney Low has
lett Ame worried lest may have lost
an oid and valued friend. and by the
own America may have been quite
Justified, Where are our airplanes?
Wnere were they on that recent,
My London home is in a certain
distlct; The hye-story building is
unusually high for London. The ball.
cony, where I sometimes sit upon
quiet evening. often late at night in
nne weather. is at the head Of q brief
place. which looks into famous
street. This gives me a wide view.
II was IL or thereabouts when my
startled by tiny burst of IRE 1s fols
lowed by a. sheaf of sparks. It made
me think of Fourth Of July skyrock-
cts. Then came the bang" 1 had
chAnced to see a maroon" exploding,
Maroons are fred from theN> roofs Of
LONDON police stations when the
airplanes headed for the great city.
They take to London grim MESA ges
OF warning. That recent night they
seemed to me to have o message also
Tor American women.
Raiders were on the way. We in .
the great German offensive had
started. We had begun to feel quite
comfortable at night. The crowds of
nervous men and women, with their
babies. were going in lessening
numbers for refuge to the tube sta
made i'll by the night air. Some Of the
frightened Jews Of the East End had
reSumed normal life. Among. the
timidly prosperous who had fed from
London. many had begun to think
that high rents beyond the raid
area" were waste.
But here the raiders were again!
They were not too busy at the front
They had not lost too many machines
to make an attack on London seem
reasonable to them. Not even the
reprisals against the German towns,
had been forced with the thought
that tit-for-tat might end all slaugh-
ter OF the innocents On both sides,
had affected them.
My wife was asleep in her own
room. woke her.
4 London retires early In wartime,
but the fat-home quickly now began
to stir. The elevator man rang the
bell at the door OF our apartment.
with. when I opened it:
warnings gone. sir!"
What IL such a message were to
come to your apartment or house
door tonight?
~ *
Presently we were In little hastily
clad crowd. in the corridors below
street level. My wife and / had been
similarly situated many times before
In London. and more than once In
Paris
Top floors are to be avoided in raid
times. for If bomb comes through
the roof!
Second floors of high, buildings are
unsafe. for bomb often passes
through several upper stories to ex-
plode on lower floors.
Ground Cor flrst) floors are undeA
slrable because a bomb falling on
the ground outside, even at a dis
tance, may send fragments through
street-leyel windows. or NAV hIow