WAR IMPRINTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 157, 28 March 1919, Page 7

WAR IMPRINTS

(By Augustus 'Muir iu the "Daily Mail.")

It is an interesting question to consider in what way war has" left its imprint oil the millions' of warriors who left hearth and home, passed safely through (he liery furnace, ■ and are foon again to tread the paths of peace. Each individual has, of course, been affected in a different way, but.to one who had closo dealings in <914 with the men as they flowed from the recruiting office to tho training ground, and who ha« now equally closo dealings with them as "they gather their belongings together in preparation for departure, there are certain clear traits which can be read, pertain distinct imprints which war has left on the mass. Anil these imprints will affect our national iif? in a maimer which is almost incalculable. First on the list I. would place selt- ( confidence. This has never been a national quality. In the past wc have al-f,-"vs l>"on i)otterer c . But. I foresee a change. The men who relied mi patriotically in !!)U lacked the cclf-confiilent glint in the eve, the square lilt, about the jaw, and the crisp walk which they now possess. In 1014. taking them as a maw,, they would walk round a problem, think .about it for. a. bit, make uii their minds, change them, and start again. To-dav the situation is boldly summed up, and tho action taken is speeil.v, energetic, ancl confident. That is one of war's imprints. Next. I would place a new and enlarged seiVe of national esprit de corns. In the Army th"re line been I'll almost magoric jumbling up of social caste. Save in certain linity-toity messes, caste simply de-'su't exist. _ .

"A man's a man. An n.c.o. is a 1i.e.0. An officer is on officer. And got- on with llio war." Tlint lias boon the rule of thumb. And it has bred an amazing sense of social unity. A hattalio" or n. battery is n little nation hy itself, and you can't live in one before you Vivi tli" elements of unitv and Motherhood, <ind the fnl'v of the old "mass and class" idea. The new sense of ii!i|>n'<l osorit. d° "orps will make us better i>i(<7.one. as well as heartier fighters, if fiehli'iK be nece.«nrv.

Another of war's imprints. is an nmazin<r belief in luck—a enre-five confidence in' Hip future. This h«s always, in some extent, been a national, finality, in snort, ns well as business; but considermillion men facing death dailv. What is the mental eHitude 2 Hi c this—"To-day I may bo killed. Well, if it's eoniim:, it's mining—meantime, I'm having breakThere is no philosophy on earth that, on 11 tench more. To seize the > passing moment and mnk« the most of it. to do your duty and hansr the ..weqiicncm, and to have an imnlicit faith ill the future-that attitude is an imprint which lias iieen stamped in varying desrees on every man who has borne the tense burden'of war.