The Henson Journals

[68]

Tuesday, June 5th, 1917.

1037th day

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What were my real opinions of last night's meeting? Certainly there was less "snuffle & cant" than I expected. Applause was not proper to a devotional gathering, & it was rarely given: but I noticed that the most emphatic & spontaneous expressions of approval were evoked by one of Horton's Sabbatarian flights. The "guided intercessions" were led by a clergyman named Ritson, & were reverent, also to many helpful, & harmful to none. The extemporaneous prayers were less offensive than I feared, though far too conventional & rhetorical. One of the orators reminded the Almighty that yesterday was the King's Birthday, & gave Him much information about His Majesty!! Gooch, the Secretary, interposed a rambling & tiresome speech under the plea of making "announcements". I should judge that most of the audience were Adventists in varying degrees of absurdity, Sabbatarians, and Prohibitionists. Horton's speech was curiously gentle in delivery, & violent in substance. He quoted & emphasized Christ's Words "The Sabbath was made for man", as if they were equivalent to an emphatic declaration on His part that the Sabbath was to continue obligatory on Christians. I noticed with interest that Ritson prayed that we might have grace to remember that "the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath". The audience filled about 3/4ths of the Queen's Hall. It was mostly composed of ladies, but perhaps a quarter were men. The latter were (as perhaps was inevitable) mostly middle–aged and elderly. They all take themselves too seriously, and make one think ribald things about the three tailors of Tooley Street, but they mean no harm to anybody, & are really keen to do good. I have been more inwardly revolted by the tone and speeches of more "Catholic" assemblies. An old clergyman who looked like one of Sargent's prophets rushed across the platform when Horton sate down, & asked "as a country clergyman" to be allowed to speak. But Gooch hustled him off the scene!

[69]

After breakfast I walked to the Athenaeum, & there read the papers, & wrote to Symonds at Montreal. Then I called on Linetta at 15 Palace Street: she walked with me as far as Great College Street, where I called on Caröe. He is insistent that a man named Hitch is competent to carve the statues on the Neville Screen. Also, that Italy must be represented by the Annunciation. He approved the notion of Joan of Arc as the representative of France: & thought the proposal of the "martyr–peoples" being symbolized in the 4 upper niches a good one. I walked back to the Deanery for lunch. The heat had made walking a weariness to the flesh. Goodwin, a young soldier–cousin of Kitty's, came to lunch. He is about to return to France. He gives a cheerful account of the military situation, & expects confidently that the fighting will end this year. He professes scepticism as to the alleged German barbarities, & thinks they are not markedly worse than our own. After I had packed my bags, Ralph & I walked as far as the Athenaeum, finding no shade anywhere, & the heat very trying. We "taxied" back to the Deanery, where I picked up my bags, & went off to King's Cross. When I was getting some tea in the Refreshment Room, I was laid hold of by Mrs Loveless, whom I shd certainly not have recognized. My journey was uneventful as far as York, where two officers came into the carriage. Their conversation was extremely interesting, for both had seen much of the fighting, & were eager to talk about it. They described experiences of the most appalling description. Two things impressed me. They were not in the least scandalized by the notion of utilizing the corpses of the soldiers for making glycerine, & rather inclined to think it a smart stroke of the Germans: although they were disinclined to believe the report, as they had seen countless graves of buried Germans. They anticipated that there would be many murders after the war, as the men had become quite indifferent to taking life, which indeed was now grown so familiar to them as to seem the most natural course to take in circumstances of provocation.

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