Fighting For Peace

the regular and necessary work of the world must be carried on. Y

uties pressed heavily upon the American representatives abroad. The first thing that we had to do was to m

(mainly mind-healing), and free consultation on every subject under the sun-all these different occupations, trades, and professions were not set down in our programme when we came to Europe, nor covered by the slim calf-bound volume of Instructions to Diplomatic Officers which was our only guide-book. But we had to learn them at short notice and practise them as best we could. No doubt we often acted in a way that was not strictly protocolaire. Certainly we made mistakes. But it was better to do that t

n. Excuse the perso

ready money for American travellers in flight. As a rule they carried little hard cash with them. Paper money would be at a discount; chec

nd Foreign Minister Loudon, a

American travellers' checks and drafts on letters of cre

suggestion had already been formed

of the American Government. If you will get the authority from Washington to indorse, the Bank of the Net

ining that I would take in each case the best security obtainable, whether in the form of a draft on a letter of credit or a personal note of hand with satisfactory refere

n two Governments was introduced. I believe

torium was on. Why not make the drafts directly on New York? Why not call on the signer of the letter of credit for

rk bankers to whom I related this experience later laughed immensely. They also made some remarks about "amateur

e and to get to the United States. But not money to buy souvenir spoons, or old furniture and pictures. "Very sorry," we explained, "but our Government is not dealing in antiquitie

umoredly and cheerfully. I think they understood, though not always clearly, that our Government was do

e first use we made of part of it was to take up the American checks and drafts on which the Bank of the Netherlands had advanced the money. Then we sent the paper to America for collection and repayment to the National Treasury. I

of them roam! There were young women travelling alone or in groups of two or three. There were old men so feeble that one's first thought on seeing them was: "How did you get away from your nurse?" There were people with superfluous funds,

f her automobile. When I explained that, to my profound regret, it was impossible, because three American gues

or and deserving. "Please make as sure as you can of the poverty," said she, "but take a chance, now and then, on the deserts. We can't confine our kindness to saints." This gift amounted to

nces from home had not arrived and that he was penniless. He added by way of personal description: "My social

nd hoped to find work. We did it with alacrity. Then she wrote asking us to forward certain legal papers in connection with a divorce which she contemplated. We did it. Then she sent us some of her newspaper articles and a lot of clippings fro

d them in getting to him. We found the only way that was open, a little-known route through the northeast corner

" wanted to go to his family in one of the northwestern States. She had no money. We paid her expense

d of peace work in war times at The Hague. Thousands and thousands of Americans, real or presump

or, filling the street and reaching over into the park. Two Dutch boy scouts, capital fellows in khaki, volunteered their assistance in keeping

ria, Russia, and parts of Switzerland, came pouring out our way. There was no end to the extra work. Many a night I did not get my cloth

Brown, of Princeton, former Minister to Honduras, gave his valuable service. Professor F. J. Moore, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, took charge of the registration bureau. Hon. Charles H. Sherrill, former Ambassador to the Argentine, and Charles Edward Russell, the Socialist, a

; and the Consolation Room, where the really distressed, as well as the slightly hysterical, came to tell their troubles. Some of them were tragic and some comic. The most agitated and frightened persons were among the fat commercial men. The women, as a rule, were fine and st

a score of our passing friends, went out under the spreading chestnut-tree in the back garden for a half-hour of tea and talk. It was all