The Henson Journals

[197]

Friday, September 7th, 1923.

I wrote at some length to M r Hilken, one of the lay representatives of the Chelmsford diocese in the National Assembly, replying to a letter which he had addressed to me. In this he "ventured to express the hope" that I might be "disposed to lead that moderate section of Church opinion" to which he himself belongs. He inquires "because frankly there is some uncertainty as to the extent you are disposed to go towards meeting the desires of the extremists, in the interests of peace in the Church."

Carissima arrived in the afternoon, and, though plainly fatigued by the long journey, did not seem excessively so. I met her at the station, and found the doctor there with the ambulance. Alexander & the Park Keeper carried the stretcher, and deposited her safely in the room prepared for her. Ella brought both Fearne and Penelope with her.

The accounts of the Japanese disaster become more normal as they become more authoritative. Today, the official despatch from Tokio estimates the loss of life at 30,000, and speaks of 350,000 persons as homeless. In the case of Orientals, the word 'homeless' hardly carries the same significance as in that of Europeans, for the "homes" are commonly of the flimsiest materials, readily destroyed by hurricane or fire, but replaced with equal facility.

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