4pQonT

EZRA POUND 103
Another of Pound's friends, the painter Augustus John, enlisted
as a major and headed for the front. His striking resemblance
to King George V caused consternation whenever his staff
car drove into a new area. As he was rather fond of the grape,
he sometimes wondered what all the commotion was about. One
of the wits of London, he had startled Oliver St. John Gogarty
when that worthy asked him what his hobby was. "Converting
Lesbians," John had replied.
Iris Barry reports that the young people of London were not
enthusiastic about the war. 1
They had grown up during a time
when war, though often discussed, had ceased to be a reality.
Now it was a reality once more, and uncomfortably near. One by
one, they were caught in its maelstrom.
Despite his dwindling circle of acquaintances, Pound was busy
as usual. He had written to his mother in November, 1913, ". . .
I seem to spend most of my time attending to other people's
affairs, weaning young poetettes from obscurity into the glowing
pages of divers rotten publications, etc. Besieging the Home Office
to let that ass K stay in the country for his own good if
not for its." 2
Later, in an article in Esquire, of January, 1935, Ford recalled
that Pound had once asked him to help young Harry Kemp, an
American who had gotten into some scrape in London and was
about to be deported. Together, they went to see the American
Ambassador, Walter Hines Page, who, after hearing their story,
hemmed and said that he would have to wait for instructions from
Washington.
As they left the Embassy, Ford remarked, "An English Ambassador
wouldn't have done much, but he would have done
something." They went to the Home Office, where Ford was wellacquainted,
and Kemp was permitted to remain in England. He
later wrote books about being a tramp.
Pound spent much of his time on errands of this sort, and
when many Americans were stranded in London at the outbreak
of hostilities, he rushed around to get them lodgings and funds.
He also kept up his chores on The Egoist, although the cause of
suffragism no longer attracted much attention.
He contributed a column of amusing quotes, culled from the