THE WAR CLOUD 



than many similar associations, conceiving it 

 to be a duty to agriculture to do so until circum- 

 stances fully justified its abandonment. The 

 Society's last show took place at Worcester in 

 1915, and, coming within the war period, was 

 held under certain abnormal conditions. My 

 recollections as a showman would hardly be 

 complete did they not include some particulars 

 of the effect of war's alarms upon the little world 

 embraced by the show yard,, and my impressions, 

 should they survive the duration of the war, 

 may help posterity to realize how the social 

 side of agriculture, in kin with every phase of 

 our national life, was coloured and influenced 

 by the abnormal conditions prevailing when 

 nearly all Europe was under arms. 



When, in the opening days of August, 1914, 

 the thunderbolt forged by the Kaiser descended 

 upon a peaceful world, the Society was making 

 the necessary arrangements for holding its 1915 

 show, as previously agreed upon, at Worcester. 



The natural and immediate effect of the 

 declaration of war was to distract the attention 

 of the whole country from everything else. The 

 war cloud burst with startling suddenness, for, 

 so unsuspicious had the blessings of peace rendered 

 most of us, that only a comparatively limited 

 few had the prescience to read previous portents 

 aright. When the crash came its effect was over- 

 whelming in a national sense, and every mind 

 was bent upon considering, to the exclusion of 

 every other topic, how the sudden emergency 

 could best be met. Agricultural shows at this 

 moment shared the fate of other institutions 



305 x 



