World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, Canadian
We had a twelve-mile hike to the nearest town, and that night we took
the train for Winnipeg. We stayed off in Moose Jaw to see some boys
that we knew, and of course we told them that we were on our way to
enlist. To our surprise we found that they were planning to join a
company that was being recruited in Moose Jaw, and they urged us to
sign up with them. We thought it would be nice to be with some one we
knew, so one morning we lined up with three or four hundred others to
be examined for the Army. They had room for only two hundred and fifty
men, and as we stood in line we looked around to size up the bunch and
see what our chances were for getting in. They were a husky-looking
lot, and all were eager to go. I remember one big fellow near the end
of the line offered me five dollars for my place. I said, "Go to hell
with your five dollars." Afterwards in the trenches, when we were
knee-deep in mud and the big shells were bursting around us, he could
have had my place and welcome. Well, we were all taken on, and we got
our first taste of drilling and marching. For about a week we were
marched around the streets of Moose Jaw--flags were flying--bands
playing--and we were the centre of interest. The last night we were
there, the city tendered us a banquet and an old South African veteran
gave us a farewell speech. Among other things, he said, "Well, boys,
you belong to the Army now [they didn't let us forget it very long].
The first thing you must learn is discipline," and he gave us a long
speech on that. Then he went on: "The next thing is cleanliness. I
suppose you have been taught as I was that 'cleanliness is next to
godliness'; but in the Army you will find that it works pretty much the
other way--godliness is next to cleanliness." This is all I remember
of the old soldier's speech, and afterwards, believe me, I found that
he was right; in the trenches cleanliness is quite as difficult as
godliness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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