“COME”

Wanganui Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15183, 31 March 1917, Page 5

“COME”

‘SEARCH YOUR SOUL.’

SHACKLETON’S APPEAL FOB RECRUITS.

“Greater than patriotism, greater than mere duty,” declared Sir. Jawst Shackleton to ten thousand people in, Martin Placej Sydneys afertr days ago, is the call to a man to join the colour*. It was, he said, a case of a man saving his own soul. , The Telegraph states that no greater recruiting masting has been held in Sydney einoe those first fevered, day* that folloVed the outbreak of war. The crowd blocked up the wide thoroughfare for nearly one hundred yards on each side of the speaker; it flowed over the and, up the post office steps. It seized, indeed,; every vantage point there wa» to seize. And then, led by Mrs Leitch, it boomed out the National Anthem m an inspiring fashion; the chant of the hymn must have been heard blocks away, Introduced by Professoh Macintyre as "’one of Britain’s greatest, bravest, and\finest mea,a maa to whom he/could without speaking lightly apply the gread word < “hero.” Sir Ernest Shackleton received .a tnmnltuoua welcome. Inside a few seconds this square, blunt leader of forlorn hopes had captaxed his audience. It was cheering him in staccato outbursts. No elaborate arguments eame from his lips; ho spoke in language that all could appreciate. The appeal of a man to a man! And. if the controlling authorities had left the appeal to him and had caught the crowd before it had bad time to diminish and the. effect of the speech to cool off there might have been more than seven recruits.

“I am sorry,”-said Sir Ernest, "that my voice will not reach, to the far ends of this crpwd, because is my own poor way I have something to say to you men and women of Australia. I come from a Ifind where there arq no politics, where there are no interests clashing in any way; I come to you as a man' 'from a darkened world after two year* un-knowing and un-understanding all that was going on in the world. And when I arrived in civilisation I realised one thing greatly, and that was that this war is not—and to. you, too—a question of mere patriotism, not a question of mere duty even, not a question of the exigencies of the situation, but it is a question of the saving of a man’s soul, and of a man’s opinion of himself.” . s ■

“What,” be asked, thrusting his square jaw outward—“what is the war to Australia?”

A voice; Everything. -Sir Ernest: Yes, everything. This war is the same to Australia as though the Germans: were at your very doom to-day. When I arrived in\ South Georgia ,the moat southerly dependency of the British Empire. I did not know what Anzao meant. But I soon saw and learnt that Anzao was a title to fame and glory so long as the great God swings this little world in his almighty hands. I cannot understand that you do not realise all this after the manner in which your exemplars have fallen in the temple of blood, find glory in the .Dardanelles.- -There may liave been mistakes about that, but nothing can ever, to my mind, take from the honour of) the glorious deed. .Those women who have suffered the loss of their loved ones to. them I'say; Think as did. the women of Sparta when they said to their husbands, and brothers, “Come back - victorious or on your shields.” M

, “Death is a very little thing. I have been face'to face>'with it for more than twelve months. Realise that, and I think you will sav of the little snakes, the inner twistings of the heart—and I have known them. Put ’em aside and let’s- take our share, because, though we may die, we stand for hen-’ our. Really, it_ is something more even than duty; it-is duty to a man’s own soul. I am not able to speak like a politician, but trust me 1 speak from my heart as T spoke to my own men' who trusted mo for two years. We were only a small party* but we bad to bold the flag of our country to the nations of the world.

“Yonr chairman has said you who join to-day will be known -as my reruits. No; not my recruits, but if one word I say will lead a man to come and die for his country the Words I speak to-day, may be of some value to the human race,” ‘

Then Sir Ernest resorted to illustrations. “There are two points,” he declared, “in the adventure of th© diver. One when, a beggar, he plunges, and one when, a man, he rises with the pearl. Many of you are on the verge of taking the plunge. Take it. .and the moment yon put on the uniform you stand foursquare to all the winds that blow and sav to the future generation that if you died, by. God vou died like a faian. I am iroing to show you one thing that carried my men through. It ifr an ideal. This world is swayed bv ideals. There may be no heroic achievement for you men who go to the front. The war may end soon or it 'may be a series of slow grinding efforts, but whatever the way it goes that is where you men com© in. Oh, if I could only have a heart to heart, talk with you, I could tell yon.

“For an ideal we went south; for an ideal twenty of my comrades are fighting in the great war ,- for an ideal one is dead; for an ideal I am going there to do my little hit in the fight for right, to help the World, and for my own soul. Whatever your hope* or loves may be, push all aside, and g 0 to aid your country.” ■ It was a tense moment, Sir Ernest had people fifty yards away straining to catch his word?. But if they could not hear, they could gee. “This is the ideal, ’ he-shouted, ,ae he flung out the King s flag, the flag that he had been commissioned to carry aonth, and that shows to-day in its battered edge the unavailing effort of the icy blasts of Elephant Island to oust it from the Antarctic. . ■

. Its actual valuy.” he declared, as the crowd cheered, again and again: “w ten shilling*, ite .value to the world and to a Britisher yon cannot count; Mv men followed it, and I ask everyone of you to consult that soul of. youn that, is higher thaji Kind's or and say afterwwrda if yon will fake your place in the fight for right” “Never mind about the glory ; never mind about duty or patriotism- take yourself as a man, and come,” were his concluding words.