A QUESTION OF HEIGHT.
We may call this particular recruit John Jones, . for that name will do as well as his own. He was a. splendid and enthusiastic lad, was. John, but his height was not what it might have been. And yet he' wanted- to enlist, so he marched boldly' into the, room at Neath, where the recruiting-sergeant eyed him critically. "Too short!" he said. "An inch below the. standard. Too short lor our purpose." Then John burst out with an oration which fairly, flpored the sergeant. For John had all his facts prepared, expecting this. "To little fori.the purpose, am I?" said he. "Then why didn't yer torn back Bobs when he-.cpme- Why didn't they send back French, Wolseley, Napoleon, and Nelson? Tell me that, Mr. Sergeant, will yer? Haven't they been able to fight a bit? - Too little? Why, it's the little, .'una as do .the bisness!" "Come along, my lad!" said the soldier. " You'Te an inch taller when you hold up ' your head • like ■ that, and we'd take you > even • if . you were only i four-foot-six ! " .
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19160520.2.94.51
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16234, 20 May 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)
Word Count
180A QUESTION OF HEIGHT. New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16234, 20 May 1916, Page 5 (Supplement)
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