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29 chapters
TO CIVIL SERVANTS I HAVE KNOWN
TO CIVIL SERVANTS I HAVE KNOWN
"Wisdom is very unpleasant to the unlearned: he that is without understanding will not remain with her. She will lie upon him as a mighty stone of trial; and he will cast her from him ere it be long. For wisdom is according to her name, and she is not manifest unto many.... "Desire not a multitude of unprofitable children...." "It's domestickness of spirit, selvishnesse, which is the great let to Armies, Religions, and Kingdomes good." "It has come to a fine thing if people cannot live in their
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NOTE.
NOTE.
As this book was written during the war, and intended prophetically, its delay until some months after the armistice calls for a word of explanation. The book was ready for publication in November, 1918, when it was discovered that a slight alteration in the text was essential, to safeguard it against one of the laws of the realm. As the edition was already bound, this alteration has naturally taken a considerable time. However, as the date of the happenings described in "What Not" is unspecifie
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APOLOGY
APOLOGY
One cannot write for evermore of life in war-time, even if, as at times seems possible, the war outlasts the youngest of us. Nor can one easily write of life as it was before this thing came upon us, for that is a queer, half-remembered thing, to make one cry. This is a tale of life after the war, in which alone there is hope. So it is, no doubt, inaccurate, too sanguine in part, too pessimistic in part, too foolish and too far removed from life as it will be lived even for a novel. It is a shot
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THE MINISTRY
THE MINISTRY
After the Great War (but I do not say how long after), when the tumult and the shouting had died, and those who were left of the captains and the kings had gone either home or to those obscure abodes selected for them by their more successful fellows (to allay anxiety, I hasten to mention that three one-time Emperors were among those thus relegated to distance and obscurity), and humanity, released from its long torment, peered nervously into a future darkly divined (nervously, and yet curiously
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LITTLE CHANTREYS
LITTLE CHANTREYS
Ivy Delmer went home to Little Chantreys on the following Saturday afternoon, after a matinée and tea in town, in the same train, though not the same carriage as Kitty Grammont and Vernon Prideaux, who were presumably spending the week-end at the End House. Ivy travelled home every evening of the week. Miss Grammont had a flat in town, but spent the week-ends when she was not otherwise engaged, with her brother in Little Chantreys, which was embarrassing to Ivy. As Ivy got out of the train she s
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BRAINS SUNDAY
BRAINS SUNDAY
Ivy Delmer had been right in her premonition. The End House was in church, at matins (the form of Sunday midday worship still used in Little Chantreys, which was old-fashioned). Ivy looked at them as they sat in a row near the front. Mr. Anthony Grammont and Miss Ponsonby sat next each other and conversed together in whispers. Miss Ponsonby was attired in pink gingham, and not much of it (it was not the fashion to have extensive clothes, or of rich materials, lest people should point at you as a
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OUR WEEK
OUR WEEK
Brains Week ("Our Week," as it was called by the ladies who sold flags for it) having opened thus auspiciously, flourished along its gallant way like a travelling fair urging people to come and buy, like a tank coaxing people to come in and purchase war bonds, like the War Office before the Military Service Acts, like the Ministry of Food before compulsory rationing. It was, in fact, the last great appeal for voluntary recruits for the higher intelligence; if it failed then compulsion would have
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THE EXPLANATION CAMPAIGN
THE EXPLANATION CAMPAIGN
It will be generally admitted that Acts are not good at explaining themselves, and call for words to explain them; many words, so many that it is at times wondered whether the Acts are worth it. It occurred about this time to the Ministry of Brains that more words were called for to explain both the Mental Progress Act recently passed and the Mind Training Act which was still a Bill. For neither of these Acts seemed to have yet explained itself, or been explained, to the public, in such a manner
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THE SIMPLE HUMAN EMOTIONS
THE SIMPLE HUMAN EMOTIONS
During the period which followed the Explanation Campaign, Kitty Grammont was no longer bored by her work, no longer even merely entertained. It had acquired a new flavour; the flavour of adventure and romance which comes from a fuller understanding and a more personal identification; from, in fact, knowing more about it at first-hand. Also, she got to know the Minister better. At the end of August they spent a week-end at the same country house. They were a party of four, besides their host's f
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THE BREAKING POINT
THE BREAKING POINT
It was six months later: in fact, April. It was a Saturday afternoon, and many people were going home from work, including Kitty Grammont and Ivy Delmer, who were again in the Bakerloo tube, on their way to Marylebone for Little Chantreys. The same types of people were in the train who had been in it on the Monday morning in May which is described in the opening chapter of this work. The same types of people always are in tube trains (except on the air-raid nights of the Great War, when a new an
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ON FIXED HEARTS AND CHANGING SCENES
ON FIXED HEARTS AND CHANGING SCENES
To Kitty it was manifest that the time had come for a change of employment. Such times came frequently in her life; often merely because she got bored, yawned, wanted a change, heard life summoning her to fresh woods and pastures new, and obeyed the call. Many occupations she had thus thrown up lightly; this is one reason why those who regard life as a variety entertainment do not really get on; they forget that life is real, life is earnest, and departing leave behind them no footprints on the
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THE COMMON HERD
THE COMMON HERD
It was after such a meeting, at Chesterfield, at the end of July, that Kitty and the Minister next met. Kitty was at that time writing up the Derbyshire towns for the Bulletin. She attended the Chesterfield meeting officially. It was a good one; Chester spoke well, and the audience (mainly colliers) listened well. It was a very hot evening. The Town Hall was breathless, and full of damp, coal-grimed, imperfectly-cleaned faces. Kitty too was damp, though she was wearing even less than usual. Ches
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A MINISTRY AT BAY
A MINISTRY AT BAY
That autumn was a feverish period in the Ministry's career. Many persons have been called upon, for one cause or another, to wait in nervous anticipation hour by hour for the signal which shall herald their own destruction. Thus our ancestors at the latter end of the tenth century waited expectantly for the crack of doom; but the varying emotions with which they awaited it can only be guessed at. More vivid to the mind and memory are the expectant and waiting first days of August, 1914. On the o
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THE STORMING OF THE HOTEL
THE STORMING OF THE HOTEL
In December Dora did a foolish thing. It is needless to say that she did other foolish things in other months; it is to be feared that she had been born before the Brains Acts; her mental category must be well below C3. But this particular folly is selected for mention because it had a disastrous effect on the already precarious destiny of the Ministry of Brains. Putting out a firm and practised hand, she laid it heavily and simultaneously upon four journals who were taking a rebellious attitude
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DEBRIS
DEBRIS
Chester lay with a broken head and three smashed ribs in his flat in Mount Street. He was nursed by his elder sister Maggie, a kind, silent, plain person with her brother's queer smile and more than his cynical patience. With her patience took the form of an infinite tolerance; the tolerance of one who looks upon all human things and sees that they are not much good, nor likely to be. (Chester had not his fair share of this patience: hence his hopes and his faiths, and hence his downfall.) She w
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OH, MONEY! MONEY! By Eleanor H. Porter, Author of "Just David," "Pollyanna," etc.
OH, MONEY! MONEY! By Eleanor H. Porter, Author of "Just David," "Pollyanna," etc.
"This tale of an elderly millionaire who goes incognito among his poor relations to discover to which of them he shall leave his fortune is extraordinarily soothing in these harassed times. The relations are most humorously studied."— Westminster Gazette....
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THE ANCHOR. By M. T. H. Sadler.
THE ANCHOR. By M. T. H. Sadler.
"All his people are interesting and all ring true." Pall Mall Gazette....
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ANNE'S HOUSE OF DREAMS. By L. M. Montgomery, Author of "Anne of Green Gables."
ANNE'S HOUSE OF DREAMS. By L. M. Montgomery, Author of "Anne of Green Gables."
"Miss Montgomery has a rare knack of making simple events and ordinary people both charming and moving; she can make her readers both laugh and weep."— Westminster Gazette....
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IMPOSSIBLE PEOPLE. By Mrs. George Wemyss.
IMPOSSIBLE PEOPLE. By Mrs. George Wemyss.
"It is set in a captivating way among village folk drawn from life, treated with humour and sympathy, and decorated profusely with the talk and doings of real and interesting children." Manchester Guardian....
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THE STARRY POOL and Other Tales. By Stephen G. Tallents.
THE STARRY POOL and Other Tales. By Stephen G. Tallents.
"It belongs to the class of literature which gives an intimate picture of the writer himself, who, in this particular case, endears himself to the reader by his humour, which is never cynical, and by his zest for the simple, which is never forced."— Westminster Gazette....
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THE WANDERERS. By Mary Johnston.
THE WANDERERS. By Mary Johnston.
"A large theme of absorbing and growing interest is treated with great imaginative and pictorial power; and the writer's faith and enthusiasm, as well as her knowledge and her skilful handicraft, are manifest."— Scotsman....
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REMNANTS. By Desmond MacCarthy.
REMNANTS. By Desmond MacCarthy.
"It has its own clear point of view. It reveals an engaging personality, and its contents, though dealing with subjects as diverse as Samuel Butler, Lord George Sanger, Meredith, Dan Leno, Voltaire and Bostock's Menagerie, are all of a piece. That is, it is a real book of essays."— The Bookman....
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BEYOND THE RHINE. Memories of Art and Life in Germany before the War. By Marc Henry.
BEYOND THE RHINE. Memories of Art and Life in Germany before the War. By Marc Henry.
"M. Henry discourses most entertainingly on many subjects of German social life, and his book may be cordially recommended to those among us who seek for enlightenment on the mentality of our enemies."— Scotsman....
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TRIVIA. By Logan Pearsall Smith.
TRIVIA. By Logan Pearsall Smith.
"It is a piece of personal good luck to have read it. One goes in and out of one's hall door with a delicious sense of possessing a secret. It increases one's confidence in the world. If a book like this can be written, there is, we feel, hope for the future."— The Athenæum....
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THE LAST OF THE ROMANOFS. By Charles Rivet (Petrograd Correspondent of the "Temps").
THE LAST OF THE ROMANOFS. By Charles Rivet (Petrograd Correspondent of the "Temps").
"'The Last of the Romanofs' can be recommended to one desirous of understanding what has actually happened in Russia and what caused it to happen."— Globe....
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ON THE EDGE OF THE WAR ZONE. By Mildred Aldrich, Author of "A Hilltop on the Marne."
ON THE EDGE OF THE WAR ZONE. By Mildred Aldrich, Author of "A Hilltop on the Marne."
"They give a picture of peace in the midst of war that is both fascinating and strange ... as an intimate sketch of one corner of the world-war, viewed at close quarters over the garden-hedge, these little books will have earned for themselves a place apart."— Punch....
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THE POT BOILS. A Novel. By M. Storm Jameson.
THE POT BOILS. A Novel. By M. Storm Jameson.
In "The Pot Boils" the author has written a vivid and original study of the careers and the love-story of a modern young man and woman whom we first encounter as students at the same Northern University. Of life in this Northern University the author gives a realistic account, and equally realistic and entertaining is the description of the world of social reformers, feminists, journalists, vers-libristes in London, to which the scene is shifted later. It is a brilliant provocative book which wi
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THE SHIP OF DEATH. A Romance of the World-War. By Edward Stilgebauer, Author of "Love's Inferno."
THE SHIP OF DEATH. A Romance of the World-War. By Edward Stilgebauer, Author of "Love's Inferno."
In "The Ship of Death," Dr. Stilgebauer has written a romance which depicts in all its horror the havoc wrought by war upon human relationships and values outside the actual sphere of the battle-field. The instrument of disaster is Captain Stirn, the captain of the submarine which torpedoes the 'Lusitania,' styled here the 'Gigantic.' The first part of the book depicts the company on board, when the first premonitions of catastrophe are beginning to fill the air. Then comes the catastrophe itsel
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THE MAKING OF AN ENGLISHMAN. By W. L. George,New Edition with a New Preface.
THE MAKING OF AN ENGLISHMAN. By W. L. George,New Edition with a New Preface.
This book was first published in 1914, and the author has now written a new preface, explaining how the War has modified his views, but saying that whatever the Englishman may become, he would still be "The man of my choice, with whom I wrangle because he is my brother, far from whom I could not live, who quietly grins at my internationalism and makes allowances for me because, Englishman though I be, I was not born in his damned and dear little island."...
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