These are verses that came to me in this dreadful war time amid the cares
and labors of a heavy task.
Two of the poems, "A Scrap of Paper" and "Stand Fast," were written in
1914 and bore the signature _Civis Americanus_--the use of my own
name at the time being impossible. Two others, "Lights Out" and "Remarks
about Kings," were read for me by Robert Underwood Johnson at the meeting
of the American Academy in Boston, November, 1915, at which I was unable
to be present.
The rest of the verses were printed after I had resigned my diplomatic post
and was free to say what I thought and felt, without reserve.
The "Interludes in Holland" are thoughts of the peaceful things that will
abide for all the world after we have won this war against war.
SYLVANORA, October 1, 1917.