June 19, 1915 
LAND AND WATER 
I AM leading the simple life," said an erstwhile 
Frivolous Being in hackneyed phrase the other 
day. " I like it, and it likes me, and I will never 
lead any other as long as I live." People's ideas of 
simphcity are as widely removed as the Poles, but the 
Frivolous Being's notion of simplicity unravelled itself, after 
some while, into a shortening of dinner, and a lengthening 
of day. A domestic crisis from all accounts precipitated the 
first, and the difficulty of spending the night anywhere but 
in bed the second. No longer do these fine Jime mornings 
witness a return from rout and ball cmd a seeking of bed 
with the clear rays of daylight stealing into the room. No 
longer is an after noon rising not only a necessity, but a 
l(M[ical consequence. 
This latest convert to the simple life finds she is ready to 
leave her bed at an hour when formerly she was fast asleep, 
and is delighted with the experience. Otherwise to all intents 
and purposes she is the same Frivolous Being still. One of 
the few who remain. The fact that she has a husband en- 
sconced in the safest of safe shore billets, and nobody fighting 
of any moment to her helps to keep her so. That, and a 
remarkably unimaginative disposition into the bargain. 
This simplifying of life, however, by no manner of means 
b^ns and ends where she is concerned. We are all doing it. 
Some from choice and others from necessity. It is becoming 
the most regular of rules, and cannot but become more marked 
as time proceeds. 
The Simple Facts 
Facts are simple enough things in all conscience, and it is 
Mrith facts we are confronted now. In consequence life has 
automatically become a more simple thing. The complicated 
existence most people were leading this time twelve months 
back has been simply obliterated. It is as if it never were. 
It is with realities we are dealing, not with chimera. It has 
been brought home to numbers that the countless Uttle petty 
annoyances, which in days gone past had such power to irritate 
now do not matter. They are dwarfed in tie sight of far 
greater issues. No longer do we spend our days going here, 
there, and everjrwhere, passing from one engagement to 
another, few of which ever mattered a jot. Our lives have 
undoubtedly been straightened out and simplified. A purpose 
has been supplied to many people who never knew the meaning 
of the word before. It is indeed one of the saving clauses of 
the times that everything everyone is doing is on behalf of 
some particular object, and the aim as a rule is clear and 
definite. 
Then again, everybody's outlets are narrowed and simpli- 
fied. The richest man in the world has perforce to acknow- 
ledge the many things his money will not buy. No longer can 
he travel wherever his fancy takes him, many happy hunting 
grounds abroad are denied him, scores of things which had 
become a matter of course are now ruled out of being. The 
power of money makes no difference, they are not there to 
buy. So for the first time for years, to many, life has been 
reduced to an almost incredible simplicity. \Vhere we are we 
stay, if we wander our wanderings are within a very curtailed 
radius, and in any case rarely prolonged. Our activities and 
interests revolve round very few, and those very simple 
matters. Everything is at last condensed. 
The Old Story 
Look where we will, it is the same everywhere. There is 
a touch of simphcity about everything people wear, everything 
thev do, everything they say. A few minutes in the Park, 
in the morning alongside the Row. in the afternoon by Stan- 
hope Gate, shows the truth of this. Things being as they are 
the Park is the main place for meeting one's fellow kind. It 
is depleted nevertheless, all that is bright in it rests with the 
flowers, and the girls who pass through in pale coloured frocks. 
The English girl can still be seen at her best in the Park in 
June. She is more attractive than ever this year, for she is 
simphcity personified. Elaborate dressing being voted bad 
taste is all in her favour. As she walks by in her cool summer 
dress in a flutter of pale blue, pale pink or green, she is Uke 
a breath of the peaceful past renewed. Almost, but not 
quite, for with her there is often a companion who wears a 
white cover on his dark blue cap, or is clad in khaki. Or 
again it is someone, who walks rather slowly with the aid of 
a stick or has an arm strapped to one side. Occasionally 
it happens that such a couple are stopped by a passer-by, and 
one hears sentences in which " congratulations " and ' wed- 
ding," and " When is it to be ? " occur. And generally the 
bride-to-be is heard to say " Oh no ! Quite quiet " before 
she takes her leave. That sentence is an almost inevitable 
one. It sums up the present day marriage in a nutshell, 
it is yet another sign of the simplification we are all under- 
going imder the stress of circumstances. 
And thus the pair pass on to the future and the quiet 
wedding, which wiU make them husband and wife. She in 
her pretty frock and flower-trimmed hat, he in his navy blue or 
khaki. The simplest of all stories is being enacted once again. 
Time is being foimd for love and marriage though nations 
rage and roar. There is still a moment for an idyll. 
The Ultimate Hope 
Then there is the simplicity of good fellowship as a power 
in the land. We are more willing to extend the hand of 
comradeship, more anxious to shoulder our brother's burden. 
We are already without doubt infinitely superior to the race 
of captious mortals, who existed but a few months ago. Our 
soldiers out in France have shown us the value of the helping 
hand. Stories have reached us of devoted attention given 
by men hard pressed themselves to others all but done for. 
A tale was told only the other day of a man looked upon as the 
black sheep of a r^ment, rough, brutal, and insubordinate. 
Badly wounded himself, he nevertheless nursed a dying 
comrade in the ambulance waggon, " as tenderly," said my 
informant, " as a woman. I never could have beUeved the 
red-headed ruffian had it in him." 
Poor " red-headed rufl&an." He is since dead and many 
another Uke him. They have retrieved their misdeeds during 
Ufe, by the great manner of their dying. They are amongst 
the many who are teaching us, who remain an endless lesson 
of courage and simphcity. 
It is simple enough to go out abroad " to some place 
unknown," obey orders, bear the burden and heat of the day, 
face the uncertain morrow. Simple as many heroic things 
are. As far as that goes, it is a simple proceeding for us at 
home to help the country and its cause in ever\' way we can, 
keep going, be brave, cheer and look after our men. Simple 
but not always easy. That is the paradox of the thing. 
Life, simplified though it be, does not grow any the easier. 
But it is infinitely better worth the living, and will be so in 
the future, which is all so many of us are living for or looking. 
We have the Hope that makes — 
" Onr noisy yeais seem rooaients in ihe i«ing 
Of the eternal Silence : truths that wake 
To perish never : 
Whidi neither listlessoess, nor mad endeavour. 
Nor Man nor Boy, 
Nor all that h an enmity with jo)-. 
Can utterly abolish or destr»»y ! " 
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