A LIVELY CHASE

inside the gates we joined the throng and were ushered through the maon hall of the palace, out to the terrace at the
back, and down the steps to the Gardens. The inside of the palace looked quite as it should look, with scarlet carpets and
gilt chairs, and clusters of uniformed lackeys everywhere. In the gardens we were just of a crowd of people, a thousand or
two, strolling about, looking at one anothers clothes. All the English ladies were most go rgeously and, we thought, a fait
incongruously arrayed in semi evening gowns, and every time we met a man in a business suit and a soft hat we wished
that you had come. There was a big pavilion stretching all along one side of the gardens where tables stood, laden with
food, and presided over by servants in uniforms, dozens of them. Mother had heard that the raspberries and cream which
they served were the most delicious to be had anywhere, and to our ho rror she proposed to go right over and begin Connie
and I had come to see the King and Queen, and we refused to move till they appeared. Even food lost its customary
allurement in the light of expected royalty. About five oclock the band played God Save the King, and the Royal Party
came walking down the steps. They were as informal and democratic as any one could be. They strolled about the lawns
among their guests, shaking hands and beaming on us all, as if they were really glad to see us Sometimes, except for the
cusrtseying ladies, you hardly realized that the King and Queen were passing just a few feet from you. Connie and I
pursued them all about the grounds and several times stood within a few feet of the Queen, who was perfectly charming
She was exquisitely gowned, and looked just as a Queen should look, and the King was handsome and genial. They were
followed by the Duke and Duchess of York. It was one of their first appearances since their marriage, and she was the
greatest sensation of all. She was little and slim and dark, and she wore a lace gown and lace hat and carried a lace
parasol, and looked to be about fifteen years old. Mother didnt get any encouragement from us on her raspberry raid till
the royal family had gone over to their pavilion. As we couldnt see them very well under the canopy we tore ourselves
away and followed mother over to the tables where the guests were trampling one another in their eagerness to get fed.
That group of well dressed, well fed, well behaved people had turned into a ravening mobi However, the raspberries were
worth the struggly. By the time we had finished, the King and Queen had vanished and nothing remained to do but go
home. We had another brief moment of glory as our car rolled out of the gate, and here we are just American sight seers
after all. That night I pondered on the implications of these experiences. My daughters are growing accustomed to
miracles. Nothing surprises them. They are being educated in a way I had not foreseen To be conducted through the
moonlit streets of Oxford by an oriental prince, and to eat raspberries and ice cream in the garden of Buckinghan Palace
are phases of their instruction which neither of their grandfathers would have sanctioned Would it not be well to turn
back before their faiths are undermined In my diary I find this brief account of the funeral services in honor of President
Harding, which took place August tenth in Westminster Abbey. Again through the courtesy of Post Wheeler, we had
central seats for the ceremonies which were highly impressive and deeply significant of the changing attitude of England
toward America. As the Dean, speaking from that most historical pulpit, characterized the President of the United
States as the ruler of the most powerful nation on the earth, he glanced toward the Duke of York who sat inside the rail
of the later as personal representative of the King, and looking above and beyond him at the majestic arches of the roof,
dim with centuries of history, achieved a momentary conception of the stupendous responsibilities which such a position
subtended. It is time for America to put away childish things. We need gret writers as well as great inventors, noble
philosophers as well as colossal business men. As a nation we must live up to the esthetic as well as to the legal
responsibilities of our power The Minstrels Gallery at Stanway Hall. It should be borne in mind by my readers that the
chief purpose and the only justification for this second summer in England lay in its educational return. Without this
excuse the outlay would have been a sinful extravagance. No lasting education ws possible for me, but I fondly hoped
that my girls would be enriched by their experiences (even by those which were not directly due to me), and so indeed they
were for a time, but as summer wanted and the foliage took on the hues of autumn they ceased to improve their
opportunities and took to counting the days leading up to the date of our sailing They suddenly became homesick for
New York. Belligerently, aggressively patriotic, they ceased to enjoy and began to criticize. As the treasurer of the trip,
and eager to wring from every day of our outing its last drop of sweetness, I argued with them, In thus closing your
minds to new impressions, you are cheating yourselves as well as your father. We may never come again. Let us improve
every hour. All to no effect. They not only spent precious mornings reading the New York papers with homesick devotion,
they filled other golden hours discussing what they should do after they reached home. Much as this disturbed me, I
perceived in it a kind of self protection, a normal reaction After all they were Americans. Expatriation was hateful to
them. Their field of endeavor was not London but New York. Satiated with the old, the quaint, the historic, they longed
for the new, the confident, the gay spirit of the States. In pondering this disturbing increase of patriotic fervor, I recalled
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