MAN-POWER

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2943, 1 December 1916, Page 8

MAN-POWER

THE PARABLE OF THE PICK AND SHOVEL (By Wi.) Many days of rain had opened a great crack at the top of the cliff, and there presently camo one night when an avalanche of rotten rock, hefty boulders, and variegated alluvia came crashing down over the bridle track, and blocked the traffic. As the traffic was not large, nor time very pressing, and, more potent, as the money was scarce, the- County Council selected one unit of thews and sinews, equipped him with a pick and shovel and wheelbarrow, and 6ct him down before tho avalanche with instructions to "get into it." He was a patient soul, and in the solitude of his toil had time for reflection on men and things. The men included the works foreman of tho County Council, the members thereof, and their immediate and remote ancestors, even unto Adam. Anon lie would obliterate the County Council and commune with himself about the war. I came upon him oho day, visible afar off like a lly on the wall of soil. As 1 drew near, he stopped, kid down his shovel, and pulled out his pipe. The [ high command was miles away, and had probably forgotten him. « I'T^ 1 " said he > selecting a large flat boulder and pointing hospitably, to « x, ]1 , e , wanti a' a bit of a spell after that lot." "That lot" was four miles of tortuous winding track over sea-polished boulders and man-traps. "1 do," I said, and sat down on the boulder. "Got something to shift there, haven't you?" He looked at the avalanche, and spat with infinite eloquence.. "Somebody's got to do it," ho said, "but I don't see . w >>' »*. should be mo, or a one-man-job. He rolled his fill slowly in his palms, and frowned. "'l'd like to. tell ye what I think o' tho County Council, but it would take too long. They remind mo o' the British Guvment's messin about with tho war." "Why?" I asked, gently, applying the propelling suasion of sympathetic curiosity. "Potterin',"hosaid, "just potterin'." Ho'twisted round and pointed to the avalanche. "Look at that lotl" ho said. There's a big job. A dozen men an a good hoss 'ud-shift it in no time. Instead o' that, they stick mo out hero, miles from nowhere, and exR ect uT i° pufc eijl S er into th 6 JobCan t bo done, I say, an' what's more, it am t goin' to be done, if I sit here till I get tho old age pension."/ "^' ye f/'. 1 a S rced - "That arguments all right, but what has it got to do with, tho British Government and tho war?" "Same thing—samo thing," he said. . Here they've got a big war on, and instead of coin', eyes out and polishin' oft these bluikiri' Huns, they do a littlo bit hero and a littlo bit there, and every now and again Fritz'gets it on to them—notnin* much, o' course, but wo get knocked out of our stride. Look at Serbia, and look at Rumania. Look at these blinkin' Greeks! Why don't wo give that Constantino a third-class ticket to the South Pole and keep 'im [there to cool off a hit?" "But we'll win through all right "■ I put in. ' "Course! But we'll ho goin' at it hve years from now if wo don't'put more ginger into it." 'That's so," I agreed. "And there's these blinkin' German destroyers trapezin' aip an' down the Channel like as if they owned the '» -I.- Wbat's the matter with tho 'British Fleet—eh? Where .is it? The ast time they had a bit of a sail round Jialfour said it wouldn't happen But it did! I. say—where is ° the Aavy? That's what I say." "ill-yes—it's annoying, very annoying, I agreed. "Personally I would sooner have my job than Balfour's Of course, wo don't know what they're got up their sleeve, you know." He granted, and pointed over to homes Island. "That lot over there " he said, "livin' on the fat o' the land, and bavin'' the timo o' their lives Why don't the Government take a dozen.o' them and plant 'em down here to shift this mullock? I'd like to hoss that lot on this job, so I would Iheyd work; an'. I'd sit 'ere on this boulder and watch 'em, an' think about the Lusitania and the slave raids, an/ a few other little things just to keep mo gmger up." "But," I objected, with academic unction, 'the British Government insists on treating its prisoners according to_tho rules of war." "This ain't a parlour-game," he said. ' This is an all-in scrap, an' if we lose it'll be what-oh for me and the missus and the kids. .That's what lin thinkin' about. What would they do to mo if I was in Germany? I know, you know, we all know. That's good enough for me." "That's righfr-they're playing it low down," I said. "What wo want is to get all the men we can get, and make one bull-dog rush for it," he went on. "I was readin' in a magazine the other day what a fellow called Stephens says-Stephens is his last name, but he's got about a dozen m front o' that. He's a major an' used to be a British spy. He knows a bit, that chap." "You mean Major de Brieze Darnlev , Stuart-Stephens?" "That's 'im, but I givo the namo up. Life's too short. Anyway, as I say, he knows a bit about things that you and mo don't know. He says wo might to_ put all our fightin' niggers from Africa into it and scare hell out o' tho Huns. There's them Zulus, ho says, they know how to scrap, as we I found 'out when .we had a go with them. He says we could get a million o' them, and good luck to him, that's what I say." "You've been thinking a lot about this man-power problem?" I said. "Course-Jiaven't- you? Shouldn't even-body be thinkin/ about it instead o' this everlastin' strikin' and stopwork business. Well, I must be gettin' into this 'ere hill again." And, taking another look at Somes Island, ho picked up'his shovel. "So long." he said. "Put in a word for the niggers if ye get the chance," he said. "An' an extry word for our friends on the island."