A LESSON

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3066, 30 April 1917, Page 6

A LESSON

A NEW AND AN OLD SOLDIER. He was clothed in all the. glory of new regimentals, and'being a dressy young man in civil life, he had taken good care that his khaki clothes were nicely adjusted to his figure. His boots were good boots; his putties were English, his badges and buttons glistened beautifully in the morning sun. Moreover, the' spirit of the clothes permeated his whole being. He was a soldier of the Empire, and proud of the faot. He liked camp life, and said so, and had resolved -that come what may, the soldier's life for him now and , always. Full of good intentions, and with the very laudablo intention of , showing others that what the nation wanted most was men, he strolled down the street on his first leave, and he felt real good. ■ i

Down town he met an old school friend, and after exchanging the ordinary courtesies, the spirit which obsessed him took possession of his tongue. "You know, Jack, you ought to be out there with \is. You're not married, 7 know, and you would like the life. It's immense—out in the sun all day, grafting away. Heaps better than the old office." "That's all very well " "Oh, yes, I know what you're going to say. May as well wait for ' tho ballot now; but you know what they say—one volunteer's worth three pressed men. . Give it a go, old man! Lots of decent chaps therej and good tucker." ' .'■'■„■. "But I-;—" "Now, listen to me. If you were to enlist now you might have a chance of getting into our company. I know the colonel, and it might be fixed —if you're keen on tho job." "But—" "Ohj he's all right; he could do it. You know this is not the time to hang back. England wants all the men she can get now—'do it now , — you know the old sign in the office. Get to it—don't hang back now we're all going. You were a game chap at' football. I would not like to think of you as a sh——" "Hold hard there, Jim!" And Jim, seeing the look in his friend's eye, held hard. "I have been trying to get a word in, hut I would like you to know in a friendly manner that I went; away with the Main Body—got it gijcid and hard on the Daisy Patch at Gallipoli, recovered at Malta, went to France, and was 'shocked' at the Somme. Only came out of tho hospital a fortnight ago!" "Well. I'm d—-! , What a blithering idiot I've boon. Forgivo me, old man. I just—didn't know!" Now, don't get slobbery I But, Jim, I would like to get this on to you. Soldiers who talk too much are not considered very good soldiers. In France they are warned in many ways about keeping their mouth shut. At the junction of some trenches in our lines I once read this, stuck on a board:— ' ■■•■-' • g "A wise old owl lived in an oak, The more he heard the less he spoke; The less he epoko the more he heard. Why can't you be like that old bird." "Come an' 'ave a snot!"