Page:The War and the Future (Masefield, 1918).djvu/13

 ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON

A Speech for St. George's Day,

April 23rd, 1918

, for a long time I did not know what to say to you in this second speaking here. I could fill a speech with thanks and praise: thanks for the kindness and welcome which has met me up and down this land wherever I have gone, and praise for the great national effort which I have seen in so many places and felt everywhere. We, who, like you, have had to lay by our pleasant ways, and take up hard ones, and go up a bitter path to an end men cannot see, know how great your sacrifice and your effort are. But I could not thank you or praise you enough, and even if I could, the best praise and thanks are silent. If and when I return to England, I will speak your praise.