The Henson Journals

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Tuesday, October 22nd, 1912.

After breakfast I went across to the University Library, & there – as we had arranged together overnight – I met Dr Burr, a most learned little white–haired man, who knows all there is to know about the History of Witchcraft, & is engaged on a work, which he designs to be his magnum opus, & which will trace the slow development of Toleration. With him I spent an hour most pleasantly. In Dr White's valuable & extensive library is included a great collection of documents illustrating the procedure in trials for Witchcraft, and the gradual change of opinion, which brought that blood–stained delusion to an end. There are numbers of complete reports of German & French trials, confessions of the accused together with a brutally concise account of the successive & advancing tortures under which they were made.

Then we 'took up our carriages' & proceeded to the Railway Station, escorted by our host & hostess. To the last minute Dr White continued to talk most delightfully. He told of the confusion & dismay caused at the Burial of the late King of Saxony, whereat he was himself present as a special envoy, by the long–windedness of the Jesuit preacher who held forth for an hour & 40 minutes, though the sermon had been officially limited to 15 minutes, & all arrangements for the departure of the two Emperors had been made on that supposition! Fifteen minutes is the regulation time–allowance for a sermon at the Court of Berlin.

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As an example of naïvely tactless speech, he gave the case of the Emperor Francis Joseph's remark to a famous pianist, who performed in his presence to great applause, & who had mopped his brow in the intervals of his considerable exertions. The distinguished audience gathered round the artist to hear the Imperial compliment, when his majesty delivered himself thus: "Herr ___ I have heard many great musicians, & among them many eminent pianists: & I never remember to have observed any one who perspired so freely as yourself!"

In walking round the university campus this morning I observed a stone seat bearing the inscription, 'Above all nations is Humanity'. Dr White told me that this seat had been presented by Goldwin Smith, who was responsible for the inscription: & that considerable indignation had been expressed in the religious world of America by words which were interpreted absurdly as a denial of the sovereignty of God. I was shown the great building which has been erected to the memory of Goldwin Smith, & with his bequest. The extract from his will is inscribed on a large tablet in the vestibule, & there are honorific inscriptions to his memory. There is much building in process at Cornell, & more in contemplation. Mrs Russell Sage has given 300,000 dollars to build rooms for the female students. This building is nobly designed & well advanced towards completion. It is superbly situated.

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The railway ran for many miles through a winding gorge, the lofty sides of which were richly wooded to the skyline. A river flows through the valley, & reflected the glorious tints of the trees. The journey was an apocalypse of natural beauty. We were certainly well advised when we decided to traverse this country by day time. The brilliance of the autumnal colouring is now beginning to pass: but the effect is still extraordinarily splendid.

Talking of the Emperor William & Prince Henry, whom he had known when at Berlin, Dr White said that the last spoke English perfectly, but on one occasion he had heard the Emperor make a mispronunciation. His Majesty was reading out the components of the punch, which was to be drunk to his brother's honour in Chicago: & he read the word 'pint' as if it were pronounced in the same way as mint. The Emperor once said to him with reference to the suspicions of the English, "I can't even visit my Grandmother without being supposed to be plotting." Dr White was incredulous of war between England & Germany: but he thought there might be trouble some day over Holland, for the Emperor was immensely vain of his Dutch progenitors, & lost no opportunity of emphasizing his Dutch descent. But Dr White has lived so much in Germany that he, almost inevitably, looks at politics through spectacles which have a Teutonic tint.

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At Philadelphia we had to change stations. A cab conveyed us & our bags to the large new station for 50 cents. There we bolted an immense sandwich, designed one would suppose for the fiercest appetite of a Sunday School excursionist, & then went on board the train for Washington. Our Pullman tickets cost us 1.50 i.e. 75 c. apiece. We travelled to Washington with no greater annoyance than that caused by the tremendous snores of one of our compagnons de voyage; & we arrived 'on time'. Here our troubles began. There was no one at the station to meet us: &, as we had sent Mrs Bryce no more than a curt telegram in the morning, we had a certain dubiety in our minds as to whether we were expected until tomorrow, the day originally fixed for our arrival. In evil hour we determined to telephone to the Embassy: but, though we got into communication with somebody, & carried on a somewhat prolonged but wholly unintelligible conversation, we left the telephone bureau as wise as we entered it. We then chartered a cab and drove to the Embassy, where we found Mr Bryce awaiting us in some perplexity as to how & when & why we had arrived! But our rooms were ready, & we retired to them with alacrity being tired with the journey, & deciding to reserve explanations & apologies until the morning. We did not attempt to recover our baggage from the checked–baggage office!

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