Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, October 28, 1914Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, October 28, 1914
Various
English wit and humor
These, then, are some of the dangers which we who drill in the evenings
face cheerfully. But there are other spirits, less brave but more
energetic, who drill in the early mornings. I have been told the hour at
which they fall in, and I tried at once to forget it. I am in bed then.
But there is, I know, one hero who comes up thirty miles from the
country to attend. In order to be there punctually he has to get up
three days beforehand each morning, and have his breakfast over-night;
but he does it.... And I think the Germans ought to know.
However, he and all of us had our reward last Saturday, when we marched
down to camp five hundred strong. It was not so much the remarks of the
spectators (many of whom foolishly mistook us for Belgian refugees)
which flattered us, as the respectful way in which the police held up
the traffic to let us pass. Five hundred men take some time passing; to
delay for that time the taxi of some impatient War Office official,
bulging with critical despatches, gave one an importance never to be
acquired in civil life. For a mere editor not even a tricycle would be
held up.
As I have said, our exact status in the military world was
misapprehended by the spectator. It so happened that our more elderly
members were on the left or pavement side, and it was from the pavement
side that I heard the remark (evidently from one who felt that his
relief-fund subscription had not really been wanted), "Well, they don't
_look_ 'ungry." Others on this side surmised that we were suspected
waiters rounded up from the different restaurants, and made humorous
complaints to us in our late capacities--as that their ice-pudding had
been fried too long. But on the road side we did better. Dear ladies,
observing only the flower of the Corps (myself and others), took us for
the real thing and called down blessings and kisses upon our heads; and
for a time we even deceived a small boy who had been watching us
eagerly. But only for a time. "Lumme," he said aloud to himself,
"there's _anuvver_ of 'em wiv knock-knees," and disillusionment cannot
have been long delayed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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