The Henson Journals

[89]

Monday, July 15th, 1918.

1442nd day

I wrote a cheque (£250) for Messrs Robson & Sons to pay for their charges in removing my furniture from Durham to Hereford. Compston went back to London after breakfast. Beyond writing a number of letters, and having an interview with the Bishop of Sodor & Man, I did nothing worth speaking of. After lunch I wrote more letters, and rolled the lawn. The rain which had threatened all day came on to fall heavily at eventide. At 8 p.m. I presided at a lecture in the interest of S.P.C.K. in St Peter's Institute. The lecturer, Mr Goodchild, railed at the Germans in the popular style. His concluding slide was one of the Crucifixion which seemed to jar violently with his speech. I could not refrain from dissociating myself from the tone & tendency of the lecture. But in the present fever it is little use to make an effort to call people to sanity. One only draws suspicion upon one's own self.

This morning I sent a cheque of one hundred pounds (£100) to Prebendary Hopton as my subscription to the Diocesan Finance. The evening paper reports the resumption of the German Offensive, & the usual initial successes. The enemy will not be assisted by the weather as heretofore; & Foch can hardly be taken by surprise. Nor can the numbers of the opposing armies be so unequal. More than a million Americans must make a great difference even though most of them are comparatively half–trained. If the statistics of the destruction of aeroplanes are trustworthy, our flying men are overwhelmingly superior.

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