A few weeks
later the country had the General Election to think about, and the
Letter was merely reprinted for private circulation amongst the members
of the Society. But we took care that the new Ministers read it, and it
served to remind them of the demands which, after the election, the
Labour Party, at last in being, would not let them again forget.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] Bernard Shaw has sent me the following note on this paragraph:--
One London group incident should be immortalized. It was in the W.C.
group, which met in Gt. Ormond St. It consisted of two or three members
who used to discuss bi-metallism. I was a member geographically, but
never attended. One day I saw on the notice of meetings which I received
an announcement that Samuel Butler would address the group on the
authorship of the Odyssey. Knowing that the group would have no notion
of how great a man they were entertaining, I dashed down to the meeting;
took the chair; gave the audience (about five strong including Butler
and myself) to understand that the occasion was a great one; and when we
had listened gravely to Samuel's demonstration that the Odyssey was
written by Nausicaa, carried a general expression of enthusiastic
agreement with Butler, who thanked us with old-fashioned gravity and
withdrew without giving a sign of his feelings at finding so small a
meeting of the famous Fabian Society.
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