Evening star., 1940-11-21


felt my sweet tooth aching was to
order a dessert that might require
powdered sugar-like blackperries
or rice pudding. The powdered sugar
in shakers did not seem to be quo
| taed.
Daily Debate.
Butter-Like sugar, butter also
comes individually served and like
sugar in three very small parts.
This is definitely not as much but
ter as |, am used to eating at a
meal. Each day at breakfast I de-
| bated With myself whether TO eat
two small pieces of toast, which is
all that could be we'll buttered with
the ration, or spread it thinner over
four or five. tOn the sugar rationing
side. by the way, marmalade for
breakfast is still available 1t cid
! not mean much to me because 1
| don't like it,
Bacon-The rationing is apparent
in the fact that bacon and eggs
come with two small strips Of ba-
con, whereas as 1 remember bacon
and eggs in England used to mean
two or three times this amount.
Meat-The order of England is
that in any given meal one may
| have a meat course or fish course,
but not both.
Volume-My own gain in weight
is the oest evidence I know. All the
| time I was in England l was very
active. I walked four or five times
as many miles daily as I ever do at
home and slept less. I probably
drank two or three highballs day
more than l Gid normally. l OBJ
served no quota on liquor. A meal
of hors d'oeuvres or soup, followed
by a course of meat or fish and then
dessert is certainly a fair meal,
particularly since almost every
where I went vegetables were served
III variety and as many helpings as
one liked. Also bread. AT the Eng
lishman's fourth meal-tea-he
consumes more bread, cake and
pastry than I would guess many
Americans eat in a day. At tea on
a train. for instance. the waiter
served q tray with four or five kinds
of break, cake and pastry not twice
but three or four times to almost
every one in the car except myself.
In the Towns.
In the provincial towns 7 found
the rationing in the hotels less
strict than in London-the portions
were larger and there was definite
tendency to leave how much bacon
one took from large individual
platter up to the individual con-
science.
While 7 was in England I ate in
several different hotels, two restau-
rants and one private house. I never
ate alone, even at breakfast. I
heard practically no conversation
about rationing except the gentle
Joking about the sugar Nor did I
feel that the people l met and talked
with felt the ratiOning either i'm
posed or an imposition. I did feel
quite strongly-that the people re-
garded the conservation Of food as
patriotic and believe that il would
be difficult for a man who took
advantage Of the laXnesS Of the ra-
tioning regulations to keep his fellow
COuntrymen'S respect. But I cannot
document this.
That first day in the police station
when I cot my food booE, I was
fascinated with it Within a few
days had forgotten all about it.
Volunteers.
While the policeman was busy fill |
ing in forms and counting coupons /.
We talked. After his long hours in |
the bureau he worked at night as a
volunteer His talk about his work |
at night did not make much sense !
to me then for I didn't know how .
much work there is to be done at
night in a city that is being bombed /
Later, as 7 went about the city after .
dark. most of the men and women
I met who were holding down re-
7ponslble Jobs-eXCeptlng the fire .
and police departments-Were vol I
untoer workers. That first day I
did not know enough to be impressed .
by Patrolman McLean's cheerful
ness. Il was neither forced nor pro- .
fcssi0nal II was simply free and
easy. Just as We were finishing, the
policeman at the door blew his
whistle again and said "All clear" /
Again nobody paid any attention to /
him
When I got back TO the hotel Ben .
Robertson was waiting for me. I |
had a lot to talk to him about and /
to learn from him. I thought we
might spend a quiet afternoon |
planning the next few days there,
have a quiet dinner at the end of my |
first day. 1t was then l O'Clock in |
the afternoon. Exactly IA hours /
later I got to bed
Two days before left my appoint .
ment with Mr.. Churchill came
through. He would see me at 11:30 |
I was excited about the prospect /.
of meeting the man on whom so /
much history depends. Since I had |
been in London I had come to feel
quite definitely about what the Eng
lish call the war effort-that it was
less OF d Ollb-IIldll SllON lIldll L lldu
believed. Before I flew to London l
had felt that the weight Of Eng
land was too precariously balanced
on the health and success of a sim
gle man. Now I found it impossible
to think of the English ceasing their
effort to defeat Hitler regardless of
what happened to their Prime Min
lister and not withstanding his OBJ
viously dictatorial position in the !
government. But that did not make |
me any less curious about what he |
was like.
Ministers Under Fire.
Ten Downing Street is short |
alley opening off Whitehall. which |
is a busy avenue along which buses |
run and in the center Of which there .
are lanes of parked taXis. There is
no exact parallel in New York geog- .
raphy, although you might think of .
it as being on side street just off
10 tl,o T@r