Yesterday I saw in the paper long accounts about Abd El Krim being done for, but immediately underneath, that the fall of the franc had caused many different outbreaks among ruined Moroccan chiefs. But to-day it is in the paper that poor Abd El Krim has really surrendered. Poor fellow, he put up a noble fight against the bombing and poison gas outrage of the French and Spanish, who are purely out to get the mineral wealth of the country. I was just fighting with another fellow to-day about him and said ‘Where is the defender of small nations now’ to him when I found that Scannie had been listening amusedly to us all the time. Scannie told us if he was a young man, he’d be out fighting for Abd El Krim in Morocco. – Scannie was in great humour to-day, and did some fine conjuring tricks for us. He believes evidently that palmistry can do a lot in finding out one’s character. – I didn’t get my ‘Lands and Peoples’ for 3 weeks now, as the coal question is not settled at all yet, and there is the greatest congestion of all goods in England. – Zaghlul Pasha has just got an immense majority in Egypt, and it is evident that England has either to leave Egypt altogether, or make war. – Did good practice at piano to-day. Compared Clementi with Swift in my own mind. They are both like polished steel.
