Every January so long as I can remember it has been difficult; but this
year more so than ever. I cannot say why, except that last year was
peculiarly eventful and momentous.
The odd thing is that one begins so well. For the first day, at any
rate, one can do it quite easily; but it is after then that one has to
be vigilant; and however vigilant one is there are off-guard moments
when the fatal slip occurs.
Nor will any mechanical device assist you, for nothing can successfully
defeat the wandering of the mind. Continuous concentration is an
impossibility; there is nothing for it but habit--a new habit that shall
be as strong as the old--or the total cessation of all correspondence
and (O that 'twere possible!) all making out of cheques.
Still conquest comes sooner or later, and I have reached that point in
my own struggle. I have at last finally got over the tendency to write
1915.
* * * * *
"As a result of the Labour Conference at Westminster yesterday,
a resolution was sunk on Lake Tanganyika."--_Western Daily
Press._
The best place for it.
* * * * *