the heroic stress and strain of London; and the cloudless atmosphere of our capital wounded his spirit. England jested too. "Punch" had never been so brilliant as in the torturing years of war. But England had earned the right to jest. There was a tonic quality in her laughter. Page feared from the bottom of his soul lest the great peaceful nation, safe, rich and debonair, had suffered her "mental neutrality" to blot out from her vision the agony of Europe, and the outstanding facts which were responsible for the disaster.
This unconcern, which is the balance wheel of comedy, has tempered the American mind to an easy acceptance of chance. Its enthusiasms are modified, its censures are softened by a restraining humour which is rooted deeply in indifference. We recognize the sanity of our mental attitude, but not its incompleteness. Understanding and sympathy are products of civilized life,
