The Dominion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1915. THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2624, 20 November 1915, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1915. THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE

A great English scientist, who ' is too old to take a place in tho actual fighting ranks, recently declared his willingness to wash bottles in a chemist's shop if necessary in order to keep things going while the younger men are doing battle with the enemy at the front. The same spirit of service is being exhibited by those Oxford professors who, according to a-cablegram published in the Dominion a few days ago, have been assisting the military by pushing trucks and doing othe. l ' manual worlj. The British universities have rendered splendid sel'vice to the Empire in times of peace, and now in this great day of war they are setting a fin© example of practical patriotism. The whole staff of the University College of Southampton, including three professors and eight lecturers, has enlisted. Over 20,000 past and present members of Oxford University are fighting for their country. Last year there were only 629 matriculations at Oxford, as against 1033 the year before. This year the number is not, likely to exceed 300. Cambridge men have responded to the nation's call with similar enthusiasm. Ten thousand of them are serving with the forcas; some 700 have been wounded; over ■300 have won distinctions in the field; 470 have fallen. The University of Leeds iB represented in the forces by 919 members; twenty-eight have fallen; thirty-eight have been wounded or made prisoners; five have been mentioned in dispatches; two have won the military cross; one has received the Russian Order of St. Michael and St. George. Commissions have been obtained by 1521 members of the University of London Officers'' Training Corps, and 246 by student® or graduates outside the corps. These are typical instances. The other 'English Universities are also doing their share of national service, and members of Scottish and Irish Universities have been just as willing to doff the cap and gown and don the khaki. The men, young and old, who have been'educated'at Eton, and Harrow, and Rugby, and the other great public schools are also playing the grim game of war with the same splendid zeal. A writer in tho Windsor Magazine tells us that the proudest of all legends, "Killed in action," may now be written after the name of many a youngster who, so late as last cricket season, had been a happy-go-lucky member of his sohool eleven or eight. From leading a rush of forwards on tho football field to leading a platoon into action has been a sudden transition undreamed of in the philosophy of many a boy before the war began. Tho life and learning of British Universities and public schools have come in for much adverse criticism. Many peoplo consider that the training received is unpractical and not suited to the needs; of citizens in a modern State. The instruction given is certainly far from perfect when considered from the point of view of business efficiency, but after all life is a bigger thing than a perpetual pursuit of tho "almighty dollar." This war has shown that, in spite of all its shortcomings, the education provided for the British aristocracy and professional classes i* able to create high ideals _ of national service. It is producing men who aro ready to endure hardship and sacrifice their lives for their country. The President of the British Miners' Federation recently declared that there had been a rush from the aristocracy and the wealthy classes to go on activo service such as no one ever expected. The war is causing many of us to revise our opinions about the undergraduate. We will have to take him a little more seriously in future. In referring t'o the great number of these bright young Britushers who Have given their lives for l-halr country, the. Vlefi.-OhiDjeallor »Oxfwd .liaiisraik j^rkv,

Ed that ho supposed there was no body of mdn in the world regarding whom such odd convictions and delusions prevailed as about undergraduates. They were afc times pernio, xing and unaccountable, and a lew—very few—of them were unsatisfactory, but the men who had gone out and fought so splendidly were just the men they knew. These perplexing, light-hearted, young fellows, who appear to find it so hard to fix their attention on the serious siiie of life, have not failed or faltered. There are no doubt many things that they have not learned, but they have proved by their deeds that they have learned the duty of service to the State. In times of peace we are all too much inclined to look upon the State as a sort of universal provider—to think almost exclusively of what we can get. Wo have been accustomed to lay too much stress on the State's duty to us. The war has reminded us with dramatic power of our duty to the State and of our obligations to give —even to give our lives if needs be; to die that our country may live. We are learning that it is a nobler thing to serve than to be Eerved. Wo now realise moro clearly than ever before that the true test of greatness is capacity and readiness for public service. In a crisis like the present every good citizen ought to bo ready to place himself unreservedly at the disposal of tlie. State, so that all he is and has may bo used to the best advantage of his country. This is the spirit which wins wars.