"CLINK" INSCRIPTIONS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 5, 1 October 1918, Page 9

"CLINK" INSCRIPTIONS

THOUGHTS IN DURANCE VILE. : In one respect, at any rate- (says the "Daily Mail ), every soldior who goes to tho military prison a second lime, profits by his first experience of "clink." Ho conceals about his person —generally in his mouth—a stump of pencil. This little stump has saved many a man from the madness of despair. When everything else excupt a pocket-handkerchief has beon taken away,' it has proved a thrico-blcesed companion through many an hour of soul-racking monotony. And abundant testimony is available, to show that solitude, instead of dulling the mental faculties, of-the.sinning soldier, sharpens "his Twits and brings into'plSy'littlosuspeeted powers of expression. In "clink," as. elsewhere, ono finds . evidence of tho unconquerable optimism of the-British soldier.

On the whitewashed walls of the cell the confined Tommy, with, the'aid of the priceless .stump of pencil, expresses, ■his ■ views of life and matters generally. Some do it pictorially, others in' prose, many others in verse, and not a few in-clever French idioms. Could these "clink' thoughts" be collected from, say, a spore of military prisons and published in book form the result would be a work of embracing pathos, tragedy, comedy, drama, philosophy, Solomon-like wisdom, biting Barcasm, and the striking of the human note to', an almost tear-raisiiig extent. Take one or two examples picked at random; from the cell walls:—

"From this knob (these words were written beneath a heavy bell handle) Private' Blank hanged.himself.,Hβ was a fool. Don't you do tie same. ■No sentence lasts for ever. Buck up and take your gruel like'a man."...'Expressed tersely, not far away 1 -one finds : a poignant , little human tragedy, the central .character 'in .which is a Eoldier who, after giving' number, name, and regiment, and length of service, says': "Came homo after eighteen months. -Found wife sipped with a Russian. Got drunk. Went mad. Bashed two M.P.'s (military 'policemen), Sentence 56 days. Marriage is a lottery; I've drawn a blank, God knows I-Happy is the chap who has drawn a prize." The latter part of tho sentence, is so faint that it can only be. deciphered with and one can well imagine how the point of the pencil ;bad -worn away,, leaving ; the prisoner.with.no means of sharpening it'find cutting 'short his bitter reflec-

tions. '• . ■ "' ...Even with .the hard.labour he had to perform.-ono sinning Tommy found tbe atmosphere of "clink" restful after tossing on what was evidently a tempestuous matrimonial sea. Ho,has placed on record for future wrongdoers to , see that in liis opinion tho place ie a "blinkin , paradiso after 28 years of nagging by the woman I' married. And; then he gives her full name, address, and occupation! ■ ; Some of the drawings to be seen aro worthy of the name of art. . The political ■opinions ' expressed 'are often shrewd, -"cryptic, and convincing. But the way the soldier in '/clink" expresses himself concerning the officer or officer's'who'passed sontenco upon Win. often accompanied by a. crude pictorial representation o£ a clutching hand, is a subject best left to the imagination of the" reader, ...,, . .