General French, since his retirement to command of the forces in England, seems much older.
So common is this quick aging that Lady Jellicoe, who went to Scotland to see her husband after the big naval battle, wrote to Mrs.Page in a sort of rhapsody and with evident surprise that the Admiral really did not seem older! The weight of this thing is so prodigious that it is changing all men who have to do with it.

Men and women (who do not wear mourning) mention the death of their sons in a way that a stranger might mistake for indifference.

And it has a curious effect on marriages.

Apparently every young fellow who gets a week's leave from the trenches comes home and marries and, of course, goes straight back--especially the young officers.
You see weddings all day as you pass the favourite churches; and already the land is full of young widows.
_To Edwin A.Alderman_[35] Embassy of the U.S.A., London, June 22, 1916.
MY DEAR ED ALDERMAN: I shall not forget how good you were to take time to write me a word about the meeting of the Board--_the_ Board: there's no other one in that class--at Hampton[36], and I did most heartily appreciate the knowledge that you all remembered me.

Alas! it's a long, long time ago when we all met--so long ago that to me it seems a part of a former incarnation.