VARIETIES OF ALLIES

Hokitika Guardian, 19 November 1918, Page 3

VARIETIES OF ALLIES

SOME CONTRASTS

Somewhere in France,

England and (America—one sees them side by side out here in France for purpose of comparison, and what strikes one everywhere and all the time is the difference between them. There is no mistaking one for tile other. Tho American is taller, narrower, not so thick through, carries himself more erect, and moves more stiffly. Ilis comparative straightness may be due to the lesser period lie has been under a pack; almost every British soldier lias a bent-forward look from that 661 b burden. The American’s clothes look to get him better, but, they may fit him worse when they have been soaked a. few times. Our men’s coats are sagged with the rain they have so often carried, which makes them look —in Paris, for example, where one can j compare them —the more slovenly. But on the march the tables are turned. Thomas Atkins is a marvel for | keeping himself up to form under ad- j verse conditions and the Yankee has not yet learnt how to steal the odd five minutes for a shave and a wash, so that a British column always looks fresher than an American when on the road.

And the contrast is accentuated in

tlieir transport. But- Tommy’s waggons are a wonder the world over; they alone seems able to jest at dust.

, Tit 1 fact the difference between British and American must be apparent to all. It is curious and unexpected to fmd the American with bis more varied ancestry, conforming more to type. A composite photograph made from 100 Americans would look much less like a composite than one made from the same number of Englishmen. The American head is longer, narrower, and straiglitcr of profile than ours. ' The features are more regular and with less variety and the expression is altogether different, closer, tighter, telling less about itself. Of course it must be remembereu that these men have still the ci\ il stamp on their faces; they are fresh from business and professions, whereas our men have acquired the queer blank casual look of war. And curiously enough the American in no way resembles the men from our Dominion no, not ever from Canada—while lie is totally unlike both Australian and New Zealander, who certain have the most decisive and self-confident countenances of any troops out lieie. And the differences run to character. Under fire it is the British habit to grow more casual, but the American becomes more tense, I once saw three men of a Scots regiment, and they were not all Scotsmen, on a- shell-swept field putting tlieir heads together to take a thorn out of a kitten’s foot. Americans would have felt just as humane but they would probably not have, seen the kitten tlieir minds would have been too sternly concentrated on the Boche. 'Hiat’s a point in their favour the Boche will not appreciate.

Of course the American of the Western Plains differs front the New Yorkers, but not sufficiently to affect the general American resemblance which is a very notable thing. The Americans have made, themselves very much athome in Paris, but you will sec tliom sitting erect, alert, in the cafes, taking every novelty in. Thomas Atkins lounges at his ease as though the whole plaee had belonged to him for centuries.