The Black Swans 



During these dog days I cannot have 

 my fire. The sea thanks to the shame- 

 less effort to enforce the Hohenzollern 

 brand of civilization upon an unwilling 

 world is for the present the last place 

 towards which one would turn for 

 relaxation undisturbed, but I still look 

 back with memories filled with pure 

 delight to restful hours aboard the old 

 Majestic of the White Star-fleet on my 

 maiden voyage oversea. And other 

 near approaches to Nirvana were en- 

 joyed again when, on another holiday, 

 the Azores hove in sight as the fast 

 but ill-fated Columbia glided on her 

 peaceful way to sunny Italy. She is 

 now, I believe, somewhere on the ocean 

 floor in Oriental waters. Yes, and the 

 Lusitania too, now rolling in her deep- 

 sea grave, once on a time raced east- 

 ward by "the Banks" through shifting 

 fog-drifts, alternating with glorious 

 sun-bursts, in a series of matchless 

 moving "marines" that shall hang in 

 the galleries of recollection until the 



[58] 



