The Henson Journals
Mon 9 July 1917
Volume 21, Page 99
[99]
Monday, July 9th, 1917.
1071st day
O God, make me to learn the lessons of life, to heed its warnings, to take wisdom from its confusions, to gather strength from its warfare. Thou knowest the whole course of my life from its beginning to its end. Thou has ordained my way: preserve me from turning away from it, or falling in it. Make known to me Thy Will, & cause me to love, and pursue it. Bring light to my darkness, & comfort to my sorrow. Cleanse my heart, I pray Thee, & purify my mind, that I may serve Thee in righteousness. Suffer me not, O God, to be counted among the unfaithful, when Thou takest reckoning with Thy servants. Show Thou me the way that I should walk in, for I lift up my soul unto Thee. Into Thy Hands I commend my spirit, O Lord Thou God of Truth. Amen.
We left Manchester by the 11.25 a.m. train, and travelled to Carlton–on–Trent, where we arrived about 4.30 p.m. having changed at Sheffield, Retford, & Newark. The journey was easy and uneventful. Everywhere under the bright sunshine the country was looking at its best. We were received by our hostess, the Countess della Roccetta, connected with Ella in some degree of Cousinhood, and had tea in the garden.
The "Manchester Guardian" published the brief reference which I made to the air–raid, & my repudiation of "reprisals". It had a 'leader' on the Raid, and emphasized the same view. After dinner I had some talk with Mrs Petrie, a lady staying in the house. She appears to be informed and intelligent, and to have travelled extensively. Her account of the state of affairs in Palestine, with respect to which she claims to have private and first–hand information, is distressing and harmonizes completely with an article in the "Morning Post" of today, which I read in the train. The people, cut off by the war from their normal sources of maintenance (the tourists & pilgrims), & no longer possessing their accustomed benefactors (the foreign missionaries, especially Americans), are actually brought to starvation. Cases of cannibalism are reported.