The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1914-10-16
BRITISH REGARD
FIGHTING AS SPORT
Not so Much Patriosm as
Love For Scrap"
Would Rather Sing cts a Long
Way to Tipperary" Than
"Rule Britannia"

London, October Sidney Dark,
the author, says: II wrote the other
day that the British were an amaz-
ing people, so amazing, indeed, that
not only do German ambassadors en-
tirely fail to understand us, but we
often utterly fail to understand our
selves.
1.-THE present war has once again
made it clear that Englishmen, Irsh-
men and Scotsmen fight for fun. Ex-
traordinary as it seems to foreign
people land to us English who are
not martiaD, it is perfectly clear
from the letters written from the
front and from the conversations
with the wounded who have come
home that the men who have for
days faced the appalling German at
tack enjoyed themselves immensely.
II confess that l do not under
stand it in the least. To me IL is
something very wonderful and sur
prising, but it is fact that must evil
| IDENTIFY be taken into account IL we
are to realize our country and If we
are to get the most and the best out
of it at the crisis in its fortunes.
"The blue-jacket splitting on the
shell for luck and the cavalrymen
charging in their shirt sleeves are to
me the most insistent pictures that
have come to us from the front. En-
phatically and significantly British.
Ortheris over again-he hard-bitten
little cockney fighting for the real
love of the game.
These martial "scrap-loving"
Englishmen, Scotsmen and Irishmen
are not very consciously patriotic.
They are not moved to enthusiasm by
the flag. They are much more eager
to sing It's a Long, Long Way to
Tipperary' than Rule Britannia and
l am afraid that their brothers and
their cousins may not be attracted by
the most fervent declarations that
the country is in danger. They will
never believe it. 30 eloquence and
no facts will ever persuade them that
Britain can really be threatened by
any foreign nation or by all the for
eign nations combined together. %
The most effective recruiting ser
geant for these men, who, because
they love fighting must necessarily
he the best fighters, would be q man
Of their own kind, who would tell
,hom in their own language what
magnificent fun a battle is, and how
It knocks football and a twenty
round boxing contest into a cock
ed hat.
"An East End doctor asked one of !
his women patients Why her brother !
had enlisted. oh. don't know was /
The reply, he always wants TO be in |
everything. rs one OF them uosey /
sort What she meant was ti-t her +
.-ohcr was born advenurac Sol /
'.ering Was probably here 10 him
IA peace time, lu, he just had bo
ID il Wacr tho guns begin 20 shoot.
"Tlo sou,h OF England always
ros produced advou,Wcs. Ecs
IF the men who sailed with DrlGa
vent iast for tde fun o. ,lo ohl1..I
salvation Yeo felt that he had a
mission from heaven to kill Span
ards but his measmates killed
paniards and were killed by them
or the thrill Of lite game.
Il do not think that any Other
oople fiGht quite in the same spirit
s the British and the Irish. This
pirlt has two distinct sides to ii.
here is the good-humored, rollick-
lg recklessness and the dour, stub
orn persistence, as characteristic !,
the modern Scotch regiments as
was characteristic OF Cromwell's
ronsides.
THE Scotchman enjoys fighting
very bit as much as the cOckney,
ut his interest is deeper and quiet
r, part of his religion. When a pi-
us man fights and finds fighting
leasant he is he most terrible fight ,
r in the world. The cavaliers dis :,
overed and in the seventeenth CEN :
lry. / am certain that if Sir Will :,
lin Robertson Nicoll beats up re-
ruits from Young Mems Christian
ssociations and Bible classes, they
ill form the fiercest and most de- a
srmined battalions in all the allied II
rmies." a