WATERLOO.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13974, 7 August 1909, Page 3

WATERLOO.

AND THE CHILD OF TO-DAY. (By Edward H. Cooper.) Have you ever seen a middle-aged retired Gejieral holding forth to a boy about century old battles?' One of tin; earliest signs of middle age, and' of the downward slope of the farther "hill, is resentment at the assertion of some young person that he cannot remember certain events. \Not long ago 1 .sat at a lunch table at "the Wlute, Hart Hotel at Windsor where a man. of fifty was entertaining a party of boys: '"You doij't remember the Diamond Jubilee?" lie asked in genuine amazement ; "'None of you remember it!" , And ho looked round the group of young folk in fretful amazement, suspecting them, I think, of chaffing him, oblivious of the fact that the eldest of his present .guests must have been lour years old at the time. The years between thirty and forty are taken in such flying leaps that one forgets liow much space one is leaving behind. AGE AND YOUTH. .... And to later years,-' after forty, presumably- the same riile applies with' treble forte; while 011 the other hand younger lads not only talk and behave in a fashion suggesting twice the age ef their grandfathers, but actually look it and feel', it. Hence some conversational confusion. I saw a veteran General go ■ lip to a.man of twentyeight the other day. and ask, him, not in joke, whether he remembered the excitements and tragedies of the Crimean War, "although,'' as the speaker added doubtfully, after somewhat closer inspection, " you must have been; very young at the time." ' Middle-aged folk nowadays, whose fathers could talk to them about the Battle of . Waterloo, not only attach a preposterous amount of importance tliemselves to the once famous fight, but expect young folk to do the same. I am ; ignorant of military matters, and do not know the precise strategical importance of the battle , wlucli was fought' between the Duke of Wellington .and Napoleon ninety-four years 'ago.;; It. may have been the crowning act of genius on the part of,one Genferal or.the other, or of neither 'or both; -it may have been a vital moment in European • history where defeat for the English would have meant a permanently changed max) Europe; or isuch a defeat might have meant a fortnight's delay in the annihilation of Napoleon.' One prophecy on the subject is'/safe; that the battle will assume a very different position in-the perspective of histories written' by , the Ipresent generation for their successors. For various reasins I. find myself frequently f in Brussels, in which city it is still the custom of numerous English parents, for some quaintto -have' their children... educated; and, being'acquainted with a good many of these ' young folk,' it -has amused-me tQ take parties of them or their bver to Waterloo - and listen to their comments. The British child, wlien incompany with someone -whom it can trust not to" give it ; .away" -:to*«.'itS: guardians, vis,-;as most people know,; a highly irreverant-person, voicing all its sentiments and emotions • with engaging frankness.

/ -We arrive at the 'little Waterloo inn in.-a motor,' which the Belgian chauffeur hi)S- ',graciously permitted one or two of my young guests to drive, so putting ,the.m into a good / temper; and we climb the/ long-, stairway up the Mound myself, two -girls aged 13: and 14, one;boy of 14, and two of 13. ■ All five children hare a very fair examina;■ tion paper acquaintance with English; :history.- ■ One boy is at':Eton,- the other two are goiijg to . public schools 'next month; the two girls have an intelligent English governess.' ■ ; . : • ' JUVENILE CRITICS. At the top of the -Mound the old guide nods, to-me. affably, but eyes my party coldly",, remembering .'two friends of mine,, school /children in Brussels; who were here with me four months ago, : And. openly wished that Napoleon- : had won the. battle,-' on the off-chance 'that, when -he arrived 'in Brussels, he woidd have - blown up Mademoiselle L 's school. '■■■* .He * marshals us) with ■seven 'or: i3ight other English people, at the point of the /Maund-platform where his. narrative ' begins, / and indicates, • Q.uatre Bras, and the position to which ;the : English fell ' back afterwards, and the road to Brussels,: which /was goingto: be. disputed;.so/ sternly on tlni famous Sunday. /■: "/What .a fuss to make about' crossing' the Toad !" says, one of boys -to . his-sister, who laughs joyfully, and: points out two motor rears Avliicli are driving-up to the inn, in- one of which she espies and. criticises two visitors at her hotel.

• Th'e old guided narrative has reach-: ed .the position occupied by -Ney and •Kellermann ; repeated a thousand -times as it doubtless lias been,. his description is givenwith some spirit ; one can almost see. the most famous figure of all, •in.its green uniform, on the white Arab horse, -standing 011 the: height beside .La Belle/Alliance,: with- telescope fixed 011 Jtlie woods through .which Grouchy should' be appearing. A score of world-known names now drop oner by one into the- guide's talk, -the Chateau of -Hougoumont, La Haye Sainte, Pic- ; ton, Lord /Oxbridge, . Blucher, Soult, Gambronne, Bertrand; and: the micl-. die-aged English . men and , women . in the party hear each with a little thrill and murmur of excitement/

In a pause .in: the story, while we move to another part of the plat!orm, I. nod towards the old farmhouse, eloquently indicated by -the guide, at which one or two of my children are looking with, for once, some appearance of interest; and I" that we might drive on there -srftenvards. _ " That house where the 'woman and tliree children ar.e beating, carpets f'-_. asks one of my little ladies, with real desire .in her eye; "What is it.'" • ■. , '"That is'La Havte Sain to, winch lie's been talking about." "'.ls it? -Oh, wouldn't it be fun to go and help beat those carpets?" "Look here, Peggy; tell me honestly; .1 won't split oil you. .'.Don't you remember a single thing of what that maii'£ been talking about?" •' Oh- . . .well' . . . .- yes, some of it. Hut, you see, it's the sort. • ;l thing one only knows iri'.tenn time." '' And you, Jack? Honestly now." " Bluelier was the man who invented top-boots: The old boy never told us that," said Jack proudly. "I say, Nell, I'll race you down those steps tor a penny a side lie's finished all this stuff." "Ton see,',' Jack's brother tells me excusingly, "'Uncle George took him tci Madame Tussaud last holidays, and told him . tlie whole story of Waterloo, because they've got Napoleon's eoacli there. And that was only three montlis ago." ■ DISILLUSIONED. Two boys in' a later party had tlie Russian-Japanese War at their fingers ends, and declined to be excited about a battle in which so few men were engaged, without Maxims, hand-grenades, or any other '"jumpy" weapons of that description. '"My word, Ney would have swept that ridge clear pretty quick with the machine-guns we saw at Elswiek last week!" one young gentleman told me when the old guide was growing .eloquent about the last charge of the French Guard. " There wouldn't have been many men left for Wellington to say ' Up Guards and at. 'em ' too." " Everybody knows he didn't say it," said the- youthful sceptic, who was on this occasion the other member of my party. ' I

The.Museum (now for sale, .1 believe) is mostly pronounced to be interesting: and the whole expedition can be. ..inside more profitable it you will.spend the ••previous •• luncheon hour ••'talking about / the 'buttle, with full understanding ot i the fact that 111 the jninds of-your child [ guests it is oil a precise historical level with ' Blenheimi or. Agincourt. : if Moreover, during such lectures, . I al-I'-ways- have an uneasy-' recolleCtibn-..0f ••• a curious remark made to ine by one of i 1 these ■ children, whose/: father and uncle, h following up the exertions/)!. the Wa-i-terloo-: guide, had bored him cruelly with truculent histories of AngloFrench battles, . and by-eonimunts on tin; new Labour party in England. "It s bombast of that dund," said the boy, with tin filial candour, "which makes fellows like that Keir Hardie talk as lie docs. Very likely niither oi them • really• believe •what..they say, but I m 1 not' sure I wouldn't rather talk like Keir Hane than like Dad "—London " Daily Chronicle." -