Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-04
STACKER AND SUPERMAN
By ELLEN ADAIR

paper only the other day A novel could
be written around such an offer
fImpecunious Benedict" is a frankly
hard-up young officer who boldly sets
forth his demands in the column: Want
ed prismatic compass. service revolver and
map case, IL lying idle. Sell them to me
cheaply and continue the 'strafe-ing'
process -
Many of the requests come from the
wives of subalterns whose financial plight
IL worse than IL their husbands were actu-
ally in the ranks, for they have no separ-
ate allowance from the Government. and
a higher standard of living must be main
tRined. Today I read:
''Lieutenant's wife - three children
earnestly begs help with boys school out
fit.''
ITO any Patriot-will you guarantee
9 pounds per month for the support OF
subaltern's wife and little girl while he
fights for them and your"
PROD FOR sLACKERs.
The newest recruiting notice, which
Rdorns the London highways and hedges
has an ominous note behind II:
SINGLE MEM!
Are You Going to March Too,
Or Wait TIL March .?
Yes, the day of the Slacler--or Con-
scientious Objector he often styles
himself-is fast petering out TO a close
Speaking of Slackers, an amusing incident
Z occurred in Margate last Saturday aft
ernoon. A band of fair damsels of flap
per" persuasion, who have been carry
ing on the white-feather fooishness ever
since the outbreak of war. observed
sturdy-IoolIing young man summing him
self in a deck chair the porch of a
certain hotel Around his knee was a
carefully wrapped rug, cigar in his
mouth and magazine in his hands
Up dashed the foremost damsel, and
thrust white feather into the youths
hand with the brief saiutation: Cold
feett'
The lounger grinned good -humoredly
''Well, one of them is, | guess-its buried
in Gallipoli," he drawed. and from be-
meath the rug thrust out the stump of
a leg,
'sgAwKwARD SQUAD" TRIALS.
In every part of London the drilling of
recruits takes place. Passing Hyde Park
yesterday l watched an old reservist
handling an awkward squad. He was mar
: yelously patient, but the clumsy antics of
the men tried him sorely. A perfect hurri-
cane was blowing, and every now and then
a shower of sleet would add misery to the
performance
Form fours !" he was shouting in a
cracked voice. For Gods sake, form
foursp
There was much shuffling and backing.
and one recruit in particular seemed quite
at sea. The sergeant ordered him to come
out and drill the squad-iust to see how
much. he had picked up, and if Form
fours !" had penetrated his buColic brain.
He was soon enlightened. Form two
thick |" was the order given by the rustic
one.
Yet when actual battle comes these men
are magnificent fighters. Afraid? OF
course they are Terrified They all
admit 1t, officers and men alike. Modern
valor knows self-deception. And that
ia Nvh downright manic is The
educate soldier of today deliberately faces
fear and strives for self-mastery. He
knows himself in the fine Socratic sense.
His heroism lies in the overcoming of that
awful panic which falls on every man
when around him is a roaring hell of tor
ture and OF death.
WHEN DEATH HOLDS REVEL..
A certain surgeon major of my acquaint-
ance just home from the front was very
definite on this subject. The soldier has
no heroic illusions when he plays solo
with a Tom Thumb pack under rafales of
fire. and reaches for his mask, cursing the
gas attack that spoils winning hand"
he said. make no mistake about the hor-
rors OF this war-this war of birds and
moles.' Of murder in the air and under
the earth; OF death moving and reaping
with monstrous guns, aerial mines and
bombs, cold steel and bludgeOns in a
Tripping sewer that's partly yours and
NiOliy IGlAlai IOullu lllt next lIdNtTSes
You hear tell Of shelltire and snipers,
Of dreadful sounds In the dark, of sights
beyond imagining when green flares soar
and show the unburied dead swaying
terily on the wire of No-Man's-Land
Good heavens, we were said to be
soft The British know they're degen-
srate.' Bernardo told his people, You've
only To read their own papers. God, what
y shock is in store . True But ii was
the flower OF the Prussan Guard that
a. aHv
tried In the fire-with blazing benzine.
We've been tried in the chlorine cloud
out-gunned, out-manned and hopelessly
out-drilled
TO make good out there needs Super
men. We're enclosed In living tombs, spied
upon from the clouds and drenched with
steel and flames, Explosions rock the
earth, sights sieken you everywhere.
.And yet we're gay. We love our
Jokes. Even the cavalry have hobby
horssH--if it's only bit of garden on
patch OF clay, or the trench newspaper
whose editor works the typewriter like
rnachine-gun. warning sentrles not to fire
~ the periscope Of submarines navigating
the communication trench
None OF the cry-side there, bitter
business, with mans life as cheap as a
ifg's. ana all the worlds treasure, all the
worlds science, lent to crude, wholesale
slaughter. Chemistry. optics. ballisties.
The result is death such as heroes of
Albusra never faced, nor those OF COM
pact lights like Waterloo and Balaklaya.
'.THE HoMERIC GRIP"
and woundsl Wounds in the mind as
vfell IS In the body. Lessons 1 couldn't
look at for tears. Yet these fellows live,
Llsleni A lad know lay out in a cop
pics Tor ten days, with only a little pond
oI water 10 drink! He lost both his feet
from sangfene. but escaped with his life.
ffoHs that foF the Homeric grip?
We doctors are asnast al the ultra
modern mau. The young squire and sport
--the exquisite of the Ascot lawn-fiames
f1rIh as BOYD RoohfDrs. v g. The Ok
fofa street shopman becomes Sergeant
DaIsher the superman OF shell-blasted
dlEzH who saved The nank OF bis whole
llnz George Wilson, the ex-newsboy.
seuora dosn on a machine gun. slays all
The crew and nings the huge weapon--it
weighs 90 pounds-at his ofleer's feet
Ihz4s. sir' be says, that's the thing As
caused the trouble
Esarq fes ihsy all So through q Rut
~EaI = maIz they crush it ur1eF root