to Maude Adams - 1918

Description

Is it this influenza scourge that has got hold of you or have you been working too hard?... The ending of the war ought to be your best doctor. I was in Paris at the time the Armistice was signed, and one thing I shall never forget. It was not the celebrations, it was the change that had come on all faces. On the 10th they were as heavy with care as in all the four years, and on the morning of the 11th they were all happy faces. The universal cry was not "We have won," but "It is finished!" It was like shutting your eyes in a snow country and opening them in Italy. I saw a great deal of the American army, and was with them entirely for a week in the Argonne, living among them, sleeping among them and feeling mighty proud of them. I hope the great beneficent result of the war is to be the bringing of our two peoples together. That would really make the League of Nations safe, and it can be brought about if we are worthy of it. We must try to be seven foot high in some matters or at least to stand on our tiptoes. I am not doing anything just now except working at the plays for publication which you don't want any more. I don't tell you what a melancholy person I grow lest it should disturb your kind heart. I feel very much like drift-wood flowing on the bank with one foot only in the water. But I have had a good time -- long ago. And part of it I got from you, and I am forever grateful. So my warm love to you at all times.