"TURNED DOWN"

Evening Star, Issue 16352, 19 February 1917, Page 4

"TURNED DOWN"

['By Oxe of the Crocks.]

It. is not because mine is an unusual <w arresting experience thai I essay this sketch. Ra-ther is it because, in these ficroa days, ilio experience is such a. common one, and it fill's upon th.it great, silent, inartioulatc mass or people who are content, or have, perforce, to be content, to suffer through all the year?. How many thousands in New Zealand here, anxious to do their very best for the Empire, have volunteered and been " turned clown" we shall never know. And how many more of them will, like, me. refit-c to flaunt (.heir badtre of voluntary service, we shall never know. Rut already there mil Ft be thousands on thousp.uds of them—men who are chafing becaus9 they have been found unfit, and who ate being: iauntcd by people who do not. know how high their spirit is and how anxious they are. to si and in the fighting: line. So, not in apology, but as a sort of apologia {which is a totally different matter). thrtsa remarks are offered by one who has been through the fire.

—Purely Personal.—

I was a married man long before the war, but although that fact was clearly stated in ray registration card, it did not" carry any weight, with the groat powers at Wellington, ■who promptly placed me in the ballot for Division i. Then I appsaled, and ray appeal was allowed, but. sick of these continual insinuations that 1 wanted other men to undertake duties T was not willing to undertake myself. 1 determined to volunteer for the second time. I had volunteered two years ago and been rejected, but always tho taunt was being flung at me when I spoko shaightly of tho young unmarried fellows who were shirking their obvious duty, tha* I wanted other men to do what I \va.<: not willing to undertake myself. -And so. haying won at the Appeal Court. I determined to present myself as a volunteer. But it was a humiliating experience, that brings only ilic very negative comfort of knowing; that it will never have to bo endured again bv me.

—“ Unfit."— I went and saw 1 ho officer in charge of my district. (1 would gladly give his name, but, that might prejudice his official position). He told me it was impossible for me to ba medically examined for three days, and I told him it was cqn,a.l:y impossible for me to wait for such a long” time—l had to leave hi? district before then. So the telephone was set 1 o woik. and it was arranged. aff«r considerable difficulty, (hat I should be examined that day. The papers were filled in, ami off I set io the. doctor's. And then my disillusionment began. Tim doctor was a most, pleasant and courteous young gentleman, and T have no doubt he was as capable as lie was courteous. One thing I do know—no more searching voyage of exploration through my corpus vile via the stethoscope could have been carried through. And all .seemed to be going well. My teeth wore net good but I offered to have them put into '•military” condition at my own espouse. My lungs were all right,' mv heart was pound in action, and Fortune seemed to be siniling upon me, and I was dreaming of a glimpse of i lie Homeland next summer or autumn, when in came the verdict, ruining ail.

Varicose Yeim

At. one time a man would no more discuss in public his own varicose veins than 1m v.v.uld h:s mmore'ethinsr. fbii v:e. live in strange days, when we call -spades spade? and varicose veins varicose veins. And when the doctor paw mine, running in a complex design of swollen lines in (he calf of (he lei, he became emphatic. "Quite impossible}' he said. " You will never, never (jet through. "Wouldn't; an operation help?" I asked. "No good," he replied. "You'd ho certain lo break down. I'm sorrv. but there's no chance for vou: and, that beiii" so. be content, and let the fitter men go" •; \\ ell. doctor," 1 .;,-.id. "I don't dispute your judgment and verdict, of course: but I am disappointed. You are judge, but I wish you could have done it."

So we reasoned -with perfect "-ood temper and my reason. told me the doctor was ri<?ht-' but it was hard lines—deucedlv hard lines l ' And now I shall be denounced as a shirker by those whom I have denounced and must continue to denounce—for we still have any number of shirkers in our midst. But T shad never, never wear mv badge, though I snail always regret, .that I have been refused admittance into the Tanks of the khaki-clad warriors who are fighting and felling for us all at (he front.

But the. fault is not mine, nor is it the fault of many other thousands of seemingly physically fit young fellows, who, like me, prefer to wear their badge of rejection in their pockets than on their sleeves. And w>H the ready critics remember that, a-id. until they are certain, temper their criticism with that, charity "that thiuketh no ill and is kind.