228 WHAT I HAVE SEEN WHILE FISHING 



It is safe to say that there was greater excite- 

 ment in this little village about the war than in 

 any other of its size throughout Perthshire. The 

 patriotic and untiring energy of his Grace the 

 Duke of Atholl, together with his sending out his 

 three sons, had so roused the young and capable 

 that the going out, and being wounded, coming 

 home and recovering, was the sure prelude to 

 anxiety to start again. There was one such send- 

 off in my presence, and I shall not soon forget the 

 hand-gripping by the men and the kissing by the 

 women. 



I thought when I left home on that Jan. 14 that 

 war would soon be a forgotten word, yet, on leaving 

 my sleeping-berth for a smoke, as we left Euston, 

 I came face to face with a man who was leaving his 

 berth for the same purpose, and, the first words 

 having been of the King's opening of Parliament, 

 to be present at which my companion had travelled 

 from the north of Scotland, we talked of the 

 war. 



In the morning I was in the lobby of the 

 carriage, and had read The Scotsman before he 

 appeared. When he came in I offered him the 

 paper, and, seeing that he turned eagerly to the 

 casualty list, I ventured to express a hope that he 

 had no wounded friends at the front ; to which he 

 replied, " I am thankful to say, 'No,' but my only 

 three sons are out at the war." 



When we reached Perth, thirty-five minutes late, 



