"LONELINESS WAS GETTING ON MY NERVES."

Taranaki Daily News, 6 November 1917, Page 3

"LONELINESS WAS GETTING ON MY NERVES."

THE TRAGIC SIDK OF Till'; ABACS' ■-"' VISITS TO LONDON.

THK EVIL WHICH FLAUNTS IN ITS STREETS.

London, August. 17. "For God's sake, Padre, tell'me where I can get away from the sight of khaki just for a day!" Rev. C. W. Tomklns, a Chaplain to the Australian Forces, has a tragic tale to tell of the loneliness in London of some of the Australian Forces, in The Commonwealth. "Life in the trenches is unnatural, the Anzac craves to get back to the natural and normal. 'Having in mind an average specimen, we may say that in his own country his life was centred in a home—with its family relationships, its feminine and juvenile elements," says Mr. Tomkihs. HE LEFT THE HUMAN. "He was accustomed also to the society of girls of his own age who were other fellows' sisters. He voluntarily left this human environment under the' Southern Cross behind him, say twenty months ago, to live for seven days a week without any break, in discomfort, nervewraeking excitement and personal danger —to live with men, men, men in hundreds of thousands; himself in a horizonless ocean of khaki.

"Put yourself in his place, what would you hunger for? I am not so foolish as to overlook the fact, that" thousand of these men lust after forbidden fruits. Many of them lived dissolute lives in Australia, and they come on leave with the deliberate intension of plunging into an orgy of licentiousness. They are not, beyond the reach of Divine grace, or indeed entirely unresponsive to helpful human influences.

TWO INCIDENTS. "But I am thinking of the men—and there are thousands of them—who desire to avoid bad company, and whose yearnings might be gratified in quite innocent ways. They often fall into vice because the temptation is omnipresent, while they seek in vain for the wholesome counter-attraction that will really attract.

"Here are two incidents. Both dialogues took place a few weeks ago. The moral of each is the- same, and scarcely needs pointing:— "'You ought not to associate with a person like that H . " 'Who ought I to associate with then ?'

"It would have been easier to correct his grammar than.it was to answer his query. IX THE STALLS.

"The other ease. I had known him I sinve his childhood. Coming from a pure ■Christian home out West, he had lived a [clean life up to the time of enlisting. "He was sitting in the stalls at the theatre with a companion, who, although perfectly well behaved, was unmistakably of a certain class. When the performance was over I saw the pair separate at the door.

"Soon he and I were strolling along together—

" 'You say you too were in the theatre. Perhaps you saw me with that girl?' "We had finished swapping news about friends at home. Without any leading from me, he thus introduced the new topic and went on: "'I don't know who she is. I came along to see the play. At the door she snyled on me and said "Good night." I was going back in the morning. I had scarcely spoken to a soul since I had been in London, and loneliness was getting on my nerves. I asked her would she like to see the play. She would. Well, I "shouted" her a "ticket for the stalls. I fed her, and, to tell you the truth, enjoyed her society. When we came to the door just now I put a few shillings in her hand—l 'had wasted her time, you know—and said "Good night.'! In London no woman except a will apeak to an Australian soldier.'

IP AUSTRALIAN MOTHERS.

"What a sad thing it would be if Australian mothers should have cause some day to utter reproaches such as this; 'I sent my two sons to defend the Homes of England from the rapacity of the Huns. One lies under a white cross somewhere. The other—who left me a pure-hearted, clean-blooded lad—was entertained by those who seemed to be the only women in England who would speak to liim, with the result that I have received him hack in the condition described in Psalm 39—lilighted and contaminated, in the hey-day of Mb life!'

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE.

"Two schemes suggest themselves as I write, and it may be worth while to submit them for criticism:

"(1) The clergy and other influential people round about London (strangers without friends in the United Kingdom usually stay in the English capital), might procure, and send to a common centre the names of kindhearted folk who were willing to welcome to their houses the hoys whose case wo are considering. Workers at the centre would allot to each home one or two guests. Each soldier would bear a letter of introduction from a Chaplain in the field addressed to the Centre.

"It would probably be found wise to keep this agency apart from all other organisations. "(2) By this scheme the central administration would send a list of names —of hosts who were members of his own denomination—to each Chaplain at the front. The 'Padre' would then be able to send each letter introducing bearer direct to a family signified.

"It is a feature of the second plan that the man does not eome into contact with the mechanism of the plot. "It would not be at all necessary to lodge or board him. The house would aimply be thrown open to him while he was on furlough. Perhaps friends might li'b invited over to help entertain him. In many cases theatre and sight-seeing parties might be arranged. He will wish to bear his full share of the expenses. Let him do so. His oash will be spent in any case before he returns and there are worse, ways of spending it. "Let,me repeat, my main purpose is not to-advocate either scheme, but to indicate an urgent need, which may bo expressed in the words of the Psalmist: 'They will rim here and there for meat; and grudge (grouse) if they he not satisfied. And in the evening they will return: grin like a dog, and will go about the city.'