The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-17
SNUBS HER "HEROES,,"
RETURNING BOER WAR VET
ERANS
Get the Cold Shoulder Everywhere In
Great Britain.

Who could be a British soldier?
There are many thousands of young
men in the land who were wild to wear
the red coat when the war against Paul
Kruger was begun. They laid siege to
the recruiting officers. bribed the re-
cruiting sergeants with hard earned
gold, pulled every available wire in or
der to be admitted to the ranks of the
fifty thousand horse and foot" and
wept bitter tears of disappointment
| when they were told that they were not
wanted, that the list of heroes was
complete and that the high estate of
| the common soT6fer was but for the IA
Vored few. The lucky ones went gaily
off to war, with bands playiffg, colors
flying, crowds cheering and sweet
hearts trotting devotedly alongside
each regiment to the very gangplanks
of the troopships. And now the last
of the victorious heroes has come back
to the home which sent him away with
a perfect tornado of huzzahs. What
does he find? Cheers and sandwiches
and silver flung by the handfulls? No
such thing. The mob in the streets
scarcely turns it's head to view the re-
turning fighters. The guards, the pets
of London, the darling of every nurs-
! cry the pride of every park prone
| made came home the other day. They
certainly expected to be received in a
| maelstrom of metropolitan delight,
but they were disappointed. London
| has forgotten the war, forgotten its
erstwhile heroes, forgotten the very
guard who went out with so much
glory three years ago.
| In the place of the absentees has
sprung up a set of new guards, identi-
cal in stature, figure, color and swag-
/ ger. The London nursemaid would
| have none of these readymade substi-
tutes when they were first foisted upon
her by an indiscriminating war office,
but gradually, when month after
month the real, tried soldier boy at the
| front failed to make an appearance,
she began to console herself with the
new love and paid as cheerfully for
| the privilege of walking out with him
and STOOD him drinks with the same
alacrity that she displayed in ante
bellum days. So, now the guardsman
| heroes of the Grenadiers, the Cold
streams, the Scots and the Irishmen
come horne and find their once doting
London turning a cold shoulder to their
war worn appearance. They are still
| in the khaki of the veldt, dirty, rough,
unkempt and everything but smart"
| On the other hand IN the barracks
which were once theirs they now find
| new regiments, dressed in the finery of
demonstrating guards, while the real
| heroes are forced to house in temper
airy barracks on the outskirts of Alder
shot. To make matters worse, the
nursemaids continue to throng at the
barrack gates in town, waiting for the
men in red to come out and be treated
| to drink, whereas for the man from the
| front they are merely strange looks as
| if to say: well, you did well enough
at the front, but you are too dirty and
unkempt for the polite society of Hyde
| park"
Worse and worse, however, is the re-
| fusal of many London saloon and res
| taurant keepers to serve soldiers in
| uniform Even some theatrical man.
ayers have been found to object to the
presence of a common soldier In their
| best seats a form of snobbishness and
! stupidity which is much resented, not
only by all classes and ranks of SOL
diers, but by many thinking civilians
as well. Better class houses refuse to
serve drink or refreshment to a soldier
with the result that he naturally goes
| to public houses of a. lower grade and
where he will find company on par
with the reputation of the house. This
| is indeed, a serious matter, for the
mere fact that soldiers are thus pub
| licly degraded has caused a serious
drop in recruiting. Many young man
| imbued with. military fervor thinks
twice before placing himself in posi-
ton where he will be subjected to con-
slant insult and humiliation soley on
account of the uniform he wears.
The matter is engaging the attention
of the authorities. who are much per-
picked at the difficulty in obtaining
suitable soldiers from the proper walks
| of life. The end of the war, the UNI
popularity of the service, the disap-
pearance of the lingo and the discrim-
| nation against the redcoat by public
housekeepers have brought about a
state of affairs for which the war Of
fee is for once not responsible, but
which will have most detrimental eff
feet upon the service. I suppose Mr..
| Broderick will, as usual, grapple with
the situation by ordering a new stripe
on someone's trouser legs or an addi-
| tional buttonhole in the tunic of the
army service corps. The Broderickian
motto seems to be when in doubt,
tinker with the army's coats. london
| Correspondence Brooklyn Eagle.
| INTERRUPTED ELOQUENCE.
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