"You have all heard of Death and Glory," he began. "Well, in this
country there's a certain amount of Death going about, if you care to
look out for it, but very little Glory. You have also heard no doubt
from your mothers and the missionaries that the black man is your
brother. It may be so. But in this country there are no black men and
therefore no brothers. There are brown men who are your remote
cousins; and they aren't bad fellows if you keep them in their place,
and remember your own. On Sundays there is church for those who like
it; and the same for those who don't. For the rest, whether you are
happy or the reverse depends in the main upon your health, and your
health depends in the main on yourselves. Be careful what you drink,
and don't suck every stick of sugar-cane a native offers you. Remember
you are Hammer-men and not monkeys. Most of you are men of Sussex, as
are most of your officers; and we all know that the Sussex man wunt be
druv. But discipline is discipline and must be maintained. We don't
hammer each other more than we can help, nor do we hammer the natives
more than is good for them. We exist to hammer the King's enemies.
And now I wish you all well and hope you'll find the Regiment a real
home."
Major Lewknor's long spidery legs carried him back to the bungalow
where his wife awaited him.
She was a little woman, clearly Semitic, fine as she was strong, with
eyes like jewels and the nose of an Arab.
"My dear," said the Major, "in your young days did you ever hear of one
Hans Caspar?"
"My Jock, did I ever hear of one Napoleon Buonaparte?" mocked his mate.
"What about him?"
"I was at Trinity with his son," replied the Colonel.
"We used to call him Hathri. A charming fellow, and a brilliant
scholar, but----"
"What about him?" said Mrs. Lewknor, who seemed suddenly on the
defensive.
"His son has just joined us," answered the Major. "In the ranks."
The lady handled the sugar-tongs thoughtfully. Her memory travelled
back more than twenty years to a great ball in Grosvenor Square, and
the timid son of the house, a gawky, awkward fellow with a reputation
for shyness and brilliance. He could not dance, but under the palms in
the conservatory, tête-à-tête, he could talk--as Rachel Solomons had
never heard a man talk yet--of things she had never heard talked about:
of a place called Toynbee Hall somewhere in the East End; of a little
parson named Samuel Barnett; of the group of young University
men--Alfred Milner, Arnold Toynbee, Lewis Nettleship--he and his wife
were gathering about them there with the aim of bridging the gulf
between Disraeli's Two Nations; of the hopes of a redeemed England and
a new world that were rising in the hearts of many. That young man saw
visions and had made her see them too. She had cut two dances to
listen to that talk, and when at last an outraged partner had torn her
away and Edward had said in his sensitive stuttering way, his face
shining mysteriously,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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