STRANGE SOLDIER TYPES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 187, 27 April 1918, Page 7

STRANGE SOLDIER TYPES

THE GREAT ARMY MIXTURE. > Strange .contrasts aro so numerous is ! France, (specially among the Overseas contingents, that .nobody heeds thorn, "Back o' the front" one may .find the : sons of millionaires. driving pack-mules --, or the owner of a great property standing at cross-roads'with a rifle 6lunß at; ; his shoulder directinjr traffic. All uro in j . the Great Game for what the Gains j means to them, determined to see it: through, to a right .ending. ! In deciding to place ability before any; ; other qualification when making appoint,', mehts, the "higher powers" lave start- ■ ! ed prospecting in a soil that fihiiM p*» out richly, being full of_ (re. One is continually finding in "Back o*- . the front" excellent material-., which' • might be far letter utilised than it is— ; queer examples of what a democratic, strangely ■ assorted mass axe the three million troops who compose our Expeditionary Force.. ■ A lecture nearly always produces some demonstration ( of this-and lectures of ; one kind or another are innumerable. An. officer after discoursing upon chemistry \ was tackled by two privates, who, metaphorically speaking, proceeded to "lay ; him out." They, disagreed with him on> certain points and told ihini just exactly why. For a while the debato continued' in a highly academic strain until the puzzled officer, recognising that he wasi up against experts, asked: "Who are you ; fellows?" "I am a Doctor of Science, — University," replied Private A. .: "And I am a B.Sc, University,'' added Private B. , Another speaker who had dealt with, an historical subject, was tackled by a ; private- who had his own opinions upon ; certain points and put them with re- , markable ability. "Be careful of that ; chap," smilingly remarked the colonel, : who was passing, with a nod towards the private. "He's a lecturer in history him- - self." And so it is right through. "Back o* the front" has its own intellectual life; a vigorous, forceful quantity, tlio email- ] atiou from which is going one day to ■ causo an unpleasant shock to those who ; counting confidently upon the returned : soldier blindly tying himself to the char- : iot wheels of tho Labour or any, other ' politioal party. All this debating of various questions, this mingling of Uni- . vorsity men on terms of equality with ; men who have had nothing better than , a Board School education,, is producing ; a very definite result. Side by side with this intellectual stim* j illation ono notices n sort of topsy-turvy-dom that produces' amusing episodes. To j ono infantry company there came a man whoso crime-sheet was an alarming,document, crowded with entries all ior tho same class of offence. Tho possessor of it never returned to emu? when ho should. "Something unusual about thought the company officer, who proceeded to make investigation. 'Die culprit turned out to bo a small, inoffensive looking man, heavily begoggled, with nothing at all about him that ; suggested the hardened offender. In : civilian life, it transpired, ho was a. ; deep student of sociology and very ab-sent-minded; Whenever ho got oft duty jho used to wander away puzzling oyer - abstruso problems, forgetting lime, mill- ; tary regulations, and everything appor- : taining'to them. For him, on such oc- ; casions, time ceased to be, though in all : other respect ho was a eoldierJackstaff, in tho "Daily Mail. .