The Little Review, October 1914 (Vol. 1, No. 7)Various
General
The Little Review, October 1914 (Vol. 1, No. 7)
Various
Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals
As we came back from Bath, on Monday, we were told that gasolene was
over five shillings a can. That was practically saying that England had
gone to war. But she had not, nor did she, until twelve o'clock that
night. When we reached our hotel we found a state bordering on panic.
There was no money to be got, and all day long, for two days, people
(Americans) had been arriving from the Continent. Without their trunks,
naturally. There was no one to handle trunks at the stations in Paris.
These refugees were all somewhat hysterical; perhaps they exaggerated
when they spoke of disorder in Paris; later arrivals seemed to think so.
But we are untried in war--war round the corner. It is a terrifying
nightmare which we cannot take for reality. Or could not. For it is now
three weeks since the war burst over us, and already we accustom
ourselves to the new condition. That is perhaps the most horrible part
of it.
But that first night in London I shall never forget. A great crowd of
people with flags marched down Piccadilly, shouting: "We want war! We
want war!" They sang the Marseillaise, and it sounded savage,
abominable. The blood-lust was coming back, which we had hoped was gone
forever from civilized races.
But the Londoners are a wonderful people. Or perhaps they have no
imagination. London goes on, and goes on just as it did before, as far
as I can see. I understand that the American papers, possibly taking
their cue from the German papers, say that London is like a military
camp, that soldiers swarm in the streets, and that its usual activities
are all stopped. It is not true. "Business as usual" has become a sort
of motto. And it is as usual,--perhaps a bit too much so. The mass of
the people cannot be brought to realize the possibility of an invasion.
In vain the papers warn them, they believe the navy to be invincible.
And Heaven grant that it is!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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