Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-05-13
WOMEN ARE FIRST
IN SOLDIERS MIND
Wife, Mother, Sweetheart or
Just Good Pal, Subject
of His Thoughts.
FUTURE JOB COMES NEXT
All the Tommies Talk About
What They Will Do
After War.

LONDON, May l2.-What the British
Tommy. or private soldier. in the
trcnchc. actually thinks is the sub
jcct OF an interesting article by Il
transport officer back from the front
appearing in one Of the newspapers
here. The picture he paints is far
different from those usually seen in
the writings Of war correspondents or
others who draw their human inter
est facts out of their own heads.
The transport officer says:
In a way. ] have had wonderful OPP
portunitics of coming into contact
with the colder as he really is. Day
after day never fewer than twenty
and sometimes AS many as 00-soldiers
come to me for advice and assistance.
There is no pose when they talk to
me. My official position is not likely
to tcrrify them into silence, nor do they
feel 81 incumbent to adopt the picture
paper grin, which transforms our mil
lions OF grim lighting men into a
musical comedy chorus.
Naturally. all soldiers think FIRST. last
and all tho time about home. Wife,
mother. sweetheart, or just jolly good
woman pal-thesc come first into the
soldiers mind. They stand to him for
the outer world. What concerns him
in all his thoughts is how he can give
them and himself Il better time after
tho war.
TALK or THEIR
FUTURE AFTER WAR
Apart from w~omenfolk. it is quite
safe to say that almost the sole topic
when two or more soldiers get together
is what they arc going to do after the
war.
Tommy-be he a regular or a "dura-
ton man-docs not bother his head
much about the war and still less
about it's causes. All he knows is that
he has got a job to do for his coun-
try. II may be listening post" or it
may be a 'cushy' job at the base. In
either case he will grumblc heartily.
probably curse his fate, country and
hirnself--and do the job better than
any other soldier in the world.
He is still less Interested in our
politicians, and he rarely reads political
ncws. He does not like war; he hates
soldering and !oathes discipline. and
you can always tell the difference be-
tween regulars and others in tho way
they salute. All he is determined on
is to give tho Germans such Il hiding
that there will be no need for any
more wars in his lifetime.
Tho one thing. ! say, that does in
tcrcst him is his future. and more bum
comhc has been written by civilians
ON this subject than almost anything
else.
Their favoritc illusion is that Percy
Smith, late stockbroker's clerk and
now a territorial, has been captured by
the charms of outdoor life, and that
when the war is over he will pillow
I ,-irri, 1nyJ Ar ,,-afel rbnor e-Dy- -
some PARKWAY colony, quite oblivious of
his former interest in the rise and fall
OF shares.
ItoSretfully, but firmly. I have TO
assert that OF tho many hundreds of
townSmen with whom ! have spoken
have not yet discovered n single one
who is not aching to get hack to big
cities. After lying on their faces in
the mnd OF Flanders. they have all tho
getting back 10 the land they want.
WANTS TO r BACK
TO COMFORTABLE JOBS
VIVA, the ,cwnsman wants is to get
hack 70 his nice. comfortable job. ~
didn't know Was so we'll off them
said one man TO me last week. why,
do you know, sir, ] was happt, only
didn't know it,"
tnfortunately-and this is all i'm
portant-thc same cannot be said of
the country recruit. Who, ] am afraid.
in a very large number of cases has
not tho slightest intention of ever GO
ing back to country life in England.
lie joined the arm more or less; con-
tented with his lot-bccausc. despite
all our education. papers and tho rest
Of it. the world outside his little bit OF
country hardly existed. Now he is AN
altered man.
lie has run across the mon from
overseas. drawing five times his pay
ana with wonderful stories OF tho
money they earn. Tommy Cannuck and
Tommy toocc make no bones about
their aim in life. They mean to get
on, to farm on Il big scale, to run saw
mills involving huge capital-all sorts
and manners of schemes-hut with ulti-
mate success as their burden.
Perhaps our country Tommy may not
be quite sure where Canada or Aus
tralia or South Africa is. What he
docs know is that men no stronger.
drawer ar more willing than he have
there an altogether different outlook on
life. No use offering him Wiltshire
wages; not "a pcnny-worth of good to
be contcnted with his lot.
In this connection was greatly
struck by some remarks by Lord
Norticliffc in his books on the war.
lie did not devote much space to it, but
in a few sentences he got at the heart
Of the subject.
COUNTRY WILL LOSE
FLOWER OF IT'S YOUTH
What it means to this country is so
serious that it requires immediate ac-
lion. IT means that not only have we
lost some of the finest flower of our
youth through casualties, but the
others are seriously thinking after the
war OF leaving our shores forever and
ever and leaving n fecblcr. less enter
prising manhood behind. 1t means
that unless there is some radical re-
vision of the countryman's life there
will be great tracts of country bereft
Of young men.