WAR LETTERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3177, 30 August 1917, Page 7

WAR LETTERS

. TO MY OLD FRIENDS No. 3. - Dear George,—Ton can scarcely realise how much tiino for thought one gets in n dug-out. And tho thoughts otteu ily back" to Che days of happy boyhood. It does not seem iorty years since you .mat". , , that clock which was worked by. tlie Taw of gravity and falling sand. Those clays at old St. Peter's School, when dear old "Dicky" Holmes, as we irreverently called him, taught us Ringing from his soul and gavo us such a splendid grounding in llullali; taught us drawing because he was an artist born, and" made tho lessons a joy which present day children, with their mediocre course, cannot understand. There was Austin, who taught the seniors, j a rigid disciplinarian. Hβ did not- spare tlio snirker, but he spent endless pains on us all. A man and a gentleman. You re-member when ho thrashed you for another's fault, and two days afterwards, when ho discovered his mistake, called yon vut and publicly apologised before the class. He sot a high ideal which ctill influences all of us. Would that I could shako him by the hand to-day. Then there was our old school cadet corps, with its dark grey uniform piped with, red and our muzzle-loading rifles which kicked worso than a modern field gun. And hero I am, George, none tho worse for that early military training, for the skill'with tho pencil, and the lilt of an old song. It is life indeed. All tho keen zest of boyhood, combined with tho eerious anxiety of responsibility. One goes back to the days when the only business of-a "entlemaii was to fight for his country, and failing that for his 1-ome, or his lady, or even for the sheer love of fighting. After our experiences we btgio to see their .point of view more plainly. They .went valiant men those forefathers of burs. .' Certainly war was not such, an elaborate", and. costly business then. Why, the control of an army nowadays may be compared -to the government of a small nation. While the ultimate aim is successful fighting; the other sections of an army are. employed in almost all civilised occupations excepting alone those pandering to luxury. , To keep all TTlis vast array m efficient working condition, there must be provided the factor which those at home must supply. All these things liavo to lie paid for, George, and remember the .lighter gets biit a small share of the total. 1 write you because you can influence many workers to'hejp. I hear you say that horse-feed and cost of living have increased wonderfully. That vnn ai-p jiirt •waging to get a living out of the old express. But you arogetting a living, area't you?. Over here in France we are told that New Zealand is prosperous. Prosperous because of the war. That over three Trillion pounds were added to the accounts in. the Savings Bank lsst year. I suppose you have a few pounds pot away there. Caat you put a pound or two into the War Loan? Stretch a point, old boy, and make it a fiver, or even a tenner. "Sou don't lose your money; only lend it for nve years to keep us fellows fit and able to beat, the Hun. Every little will help. One hundsed thonsand at £5 each is a ivhole half-million. : ■ You can't! Let the fellow with money .lo it.! Don't say that, old boy. Take your, share, however small. You, too, (lia-'O a wife and kiddies whose safety and honour we are risking all to defend. Granted we are only doing our duty-n-on't you do yours, too? Of course you will! You were always a beggar to argue —for the downright love of it, I behove. You've hid your say, now do.your bit. There are hundreds like you, George, just makin" a decent living. They can all help a little, and when they have done so I can assure you from what I have seen here they won't be hit a quarter so hard or suffer anything like thojincn endured by the boys at the front. That s the way to' look at it. Not what some other fellow ought to do, not that you are not well off, but that each has a duty however small, to see that our boys' who are willing to die for Now Zealand's liberty aro adequately provided ,for You're going to put a pound or two in, I know you are. When I get back we'll shake hands on it. Just now, good-bye, from , Yours faithfully, ■ ■- • ■ THE LITTLE CORPORAL.