All this is disappointing; and I don’t see what to do but to go on.  I can’t keep from hoping that the big battle may throw some light on the subject; but there’s no telling when the big battle will end.  Nothing ends—­that’s the trouble.  I sometimes feel that the war may never end, that it may last as the Napoleonic Wars did, for 20 years; and before that time we’ll all have guns that shoot 100 miles.  We can stay at home and indefinitely bombard the enemy across the Rhine—­have an endless battle at long range.

     So, we stick to it, and give the peach trees time to grow up.

     We had a big day in London yesterday—­the anniversary of our entry
     into the war.  I send you some newspaper clippings about it.

     The next best news is that we have a little actual sunshine—­a very
     rare thing—­and some of the weather is now almost decent....

     Affectionately,
     W.H.P.

FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 68:  Mr. Henry Morgenthau, American Ambassador to Turkey, 1913-16, an American of Jewish origin who opposed the Zionist movement as un-American and deceptive.]

[Footnote 69:  American member of the Supreme War Council.  Afterward member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace.]

[Footnote 70:  Sir Henry Wilson had recently succeeded Sir William Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff.]

[Footnote 71:  First Lord of the Admiralty.]

[Footnote 72:  Secretary of Agriculture.]

[Footnote 73:  See Chapter XXIV.]

[Footnote 74:  This meeting, on April 6, 1918, was held at the Mansion House.  Page and Mr. Balfour were the chief speakers.]

CHAPTER XXVI

LAST DAYS IN ENGLAND

In spite of the encouraging tone of the foregoing letters, everything was not well with Page.  All through the winter of 1917-1918 his associates at the Embassy had noticed a change for the worse in his health.  He seemed to be growing thinner; his face was daily becoming more haggard; he tired easily, and, after walking the short distance from his house to his Embassy, he would drop listlessly into his chair.  His general bearing was that of a man who was physically and nervously exhausted.  It was hoped that the holiday at St. Ives would help him; that he greatly enjoyed that visit, especially the westward—­homeward—­outlook on the Atlantic which it gave him, his letters clearly show; there was a temporary improvement also in his health, but only a temporary one.  The last great effort which he made in the interest of the common cause was Secretary Baker’s visit; the activities which this entailed wearied him, but the pleasure he obtained from the resultant increase in the American participation made the experience one of the most profitable of his life.  Indeed, Page’s last