The Dominion WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1916, FELLOWSHIP IN SACRIFICE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2881, 20 September 1916, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1916, FELLOWSHIP IN SACRIFICE

1, The announcement that Me. Ray- ! mond Asquith, eldest son of tho British Prime Minister, haß given his life for his country on the battlo■field is a sad reminder of the fact that every class of the communityis bearing its share of the nation's sacrifices. Of course, this is only as it should be. Still, it is good' to know that no section of the nation can justly accuse any other section of turning a deaf car to the Empire's call for fighting men. Peers and artisans, professors and cooks, parsons and, publicans, politicians and labourers, merchants and miners, farmers and farm hands, have not withheld their sons, and there is inspiration in the thought that Me. Asquith has not asked the fathers and mothers of Britain to,do what he himself has left undone. • Tho great families of England have suffered heavily in this war. In February last The Timics published a long list of heirs to peerages who have made the supreme sacrifice. The list contains tho names of no fewer than forty-five heirs who at that date had cither been killed or had Vliccl of wounds or illness contracted while, on active. service. In six cases thero is now no heir. Tho list does not claim to be complete, and since it was compiled many other names have been added to the roll, of honour of tho British peerage. Tho landed gentry and the merchant __ aud professional classes have also suffered severely. Tho sons _ of the parsonage havehome their full sharo of the bur,don. Every week the Guardian publishes a long list of sons of Anglican clergy who have been killed. Tho manses of Scotland hare, dono magnificently, and it is safe to assume that the families of ministers of other churches have been equally patriotic. The university and public school men havo established a glorious record. Early in the war the death of Rupeet_ Beooke caused a shock in academic circles. But many another promising man of letters has met with the same tragic fate. A'writer in tho British Weekly recently' referred to the death of "two golden lads." One was Denis Ouvek Baknistt, son of a very eminent educationalist, and the other was Chables Hamilton Sorley, son of tho distinguished Professor of Moral Philosophy at Cambridge University. Like Raymond A"sQUITH. both of these young men .were scholars with an attractive career before them; but like thousands of others—sons of the rich and sons of the poor—they gave up all, and laid down their young obedience to the call of duty. In tho coursb of a discussion regarding the proposed Eton War Memorial, Mr. C. H. Pitman declared that "if the massive school hall and library buildings fitly commemorate those who fell in South Afrioa, then a building the size of Windsor Oasfclo would not bo large enough to do honour to tho number of Etonians who are giving their lives in the great cause" for which tho Empire is now lighting. And tho other public schools also .have their long rolls of honour. The Bame can ne said of the educational institutions in all parts of tho Empire. The schools and colleges of New Zealand have a fine record to their credit. They, too, have thoir rolls of honour which will be a constant reminder to _ tho young people of future generations of tho splendid part the "old boys" played in this never-to-be-forgotten war.. But,

no section or any particular class of the community can claim, or desires to-claim, tho lion's share of the glory. The sacrifices which have been made by tho great families of Britain are only typical of the fine spirit in which all classes in all parts of the Empire havo responded to tho call for soldiers and have borno the loss of so many loved ones. This fellowship in suffering and tho comradeship of the trenches will surely have rich fruit after the war is over. People are learning to bear one another's burdens. Tho war is helping to break down social barriers and class distinctions as nothing else could do. At the front all sorts and. conditions of menmillions of them—aro braving the same dangers and sharing tho same hardships ;in the same cheerful spirit. Tney oan never again bo indifferent to each other's welfare. "The officers aro splendid," writes one of the rank and file, and hundreds of others are saying the same thing in different words/ And the officers cannot speak too highly of the men. From the Commander-in-Chief to tho private soldier, the Army—like the Navy—is a band of frionds and 'brothers. Discipline must be enforced, orders must be obeyed, but the men on active service get beneath the surface and come to know and respect one another as they could never do in civil life. In his "Stories of the Great War,", Charles L.'Wakr narrates an orderly room incident in which Colonel James Clark, who fell at Hoogo, was concerned. "I've no friends to help me," 6aid a defaulter. "Yes, you havo ono," replied tho Colonel, "and his name's James Claek." In. that remarkably interesting little "tale of transformations," entitled "Aunt Sarah and tho War," Captain Owen Ttoor, a representative of one of the historic families, is so deeply impressed by the heroism of his men that he feels that the old walls of separation must be broken down. "All these fellows who've faced death with us here, and have just missed finding it, aro equals of the best.". They are "all of them men, with a newly, earned meaning in the word."