“Then why were you so long?”

The truth came out:  Sir Edward and Page had quickly turned from intercepted cargoes to the more congenial subject of Wordsworth, Tennyson, and other favourite poets, and the rest of the afternoon had been consumed in discussing this really important business.

Perhaps Page was not so great a story-teller as many Americans, but he excelled in a type of yarn that especially delights Englishmen, for it is the kind that is native to the American soil.  He possessed an inexhaustible stock of Negro anecdotes, and he had the gift of bringing them out at precisely the right point.  There was one which the Archbishop of York never tired of repeating.  Soon after America entered the war, the Archbishop asked Page how long his country was “in for.”  “I can best answer that by telling you a story,” said Page.  “There were two Negroes who had just been sentenced to prison terms.  As they were being taken away in the carriage placed at their disposal by the United States Government, one said to the other, ‘Sam, how long is you in fo’?’ ‘I guess dat it’s a yeah or two yeahs,’ said Sam.  ’How long is you in fo’?’ ‘I guess it’s from now on,’ said the other darky.”  “From now on,” remarked the Archbishop, telling this story.  “What could more eloquently have described America’s attitude toward the war?”

The mention of the Archbishop suggests another of Page’s talents—­the aptness of his letters of introduction.  In the spring of 1918 the Archbishop, at the earnest recommendation of Page and Mr. Balfour, came to the United States.  Page prepared the way by letters to several distinguished Americans, of which this one, to Theodore Roosevelt, is a fair sample: 

     To Theodore Roosevelt

     London, January 16, 1918.

     DEAR MR. ROOSEVELT: 

The Archbishop of York goes to the United States to make some observations of us and of our ways and to deliver addresses—­on the invitation of some one of our church organizations; a fortunate event for us and, I have ventured to tell him, for him also.

     During his brief stay in our country, I wish him to make your
     acquaintance, and I have given him a card of introduction to you,
     and thus I humbly serve you both.

The Archbishop is a man and a brother, a humble, learned, earnest, companionable fellow, with most charming manners and an attractive personality, a good friend of mine, which argues much for him and (I think) implies also something in my behalf.  You will enjoy him.

     I am, dear Mr. Roosevelt,

     Sincerely yours,

     WALTER H. PAGE.