Serving King and Country

Te Aroha News, Volume XXXIII, Issue 15705, 3 December 1915, Page 4

Serving King and Country

A NEW LIFE When a youug nmn enlists for war he> gives himself up so completely that the state of mind ne presently falls into is incomprehensible to people who have never taken the job on. - Every other responsibility the, man ever had he drops in one incomprehensible bundle After a time he finds that the big job rides very lightly compared with the worries of the multitudinous little things that he has jettisoned. He finds that he has nothing on earth to do but to do what he is told, and to do it a little quicker and better each time. He comes up, after going potentially through the Valley of the into a new world where thinking is not only unnecessary, but something very near an offence. Consequently when he is not at work getting. through a lot of strain and stress, perfecting himself for usefulness in the Valley, the man is completely at a loose end. In order to get him up fit for fight, his whole mental and bodily development is put out of gear. This loose end condition has a very varying effect upon different temperaments, and the fighting prospect adds to the number and variety of the effect. It is, in fact, a sudden metamorphis, and requires very careful handling. As a rule, it get 3 a very careful handling. i Just bit" down and think about it, and you'll see that there is no place like an army iu training for good men to make* had men good, and for bad men to make good men bad, each in record time,