Evening star., 1918-02-17
nv srRur. ARTHUR GUY EMPEY.

>>o0 7HAr do think Of a blink
G6Nl\H in conscientious OBJ
W\V jector!' answered key
" " Honney from the corner
os the IRE bay well. what with this
bioonin' war on and blokes goin' west
by the thousands, a pacifst or con-
scient;s.s objector is one of two things.
he's either blinkin' coward or
bloody pro-German. But it's funny the
way some o. them blighters with their
West End ideas back in Blighty,
changes their minds when they gets out
here in the mud and gets their first
glimpse of a wooden cross. It's either
a hrin' squad up against wall,
bloomin' V. c. tvictoria Crosse or
rest in peace sign over their nappers
for them A strange thing it is, but
true. those blokes never go through
the trenches in an ordinary way like
We do; it's a case of extremes, no in
between stuff.
Next time you're on a burial party
take . look at the third cross from
the 1Eft In tho fourth row as you enter
tho cemetery. You know that path that
leads through the orchard Just on the
entrance of that big Royal Engineer
a bioke who back in Blighty professed
to be . pacifist He wouldn't blfnkin'
wen volunteer. not likely; they had to
draft him, an when they did he refused
combatant corps and handed him pick
and shovel and put him to repairin
roads and diggin' graves. Well, 1t
didn't take long before he was prop
erly fed up with his jeS>. and he threw
down the pick and shovel and grabbed
up a rife an bayonet. Oh, yes. he
clicked it all right and went west. In
fact, he was buried in one O. the graves
he helped to dig. / suppose some o.
those college officers called it the irony
of fate or some other blinkin' high
sounding phrase. but we knows that
it was only common ordinary luck.
cause we all knows that if you're go
ing to get it you'll get it. no matter
If you're a gentleman's son or a
bIoomin' chimney sweep.
This blighter I'm talking about was
in my platoon when j was in c Com
pany, an used to give me the pro-
per pip with his arguments against
fighting and the likes o that
The first time 1 met him was in St
Armand. our bait was in the rest bill
lets awaitin' a new draft before going
up the line again. You see we had
clicked it pretty rough at Fromelles
an a platoon looked like a blinkin
SQUAD when it lined up for parade.
was playing house in that estamine1
right across from that bashed-iT
church on the corner when his labor
battalion came through and took oveI
billets just opposite from the estami-
net. / was sitting near a window ant
watched them pass. A sorrier bunch OF
specimens of men 1 never saw; it turn
ed my blinkin' stomach to look at them
what with their pasty faces, stopped
over shoulders and stra gSling gait
Right then and there / admired thu
Germans for their system of universe
military training. If England had o
had a little more of it, there neve
would have been a war. and right nov
we would be in Blighty with our wive
and nippers. instead of sitting here il
these bloody bitches waitin for shel
to come over with our name and mum
Der on it
billets. several of them came into Tn
estaminet and sat at table near nj
They started to discuss the war an
voice their opinions about the top hat
at home This bloke I'm a talkin' abot
was the loudest of the bunch. he seem
ed TO have a Crouch on everything
general. i listened to him a few mir
utes chucking his weight about until
bloody well got on my nerves. i leane
a over to him and said:
I. You must be oneSof those bloomi
conscientious directors we reads abo,
in the papers. one o. those bmghtel
who don't believe in f1ghtin'. but is vii
ing to sit back in blighty and let I
blokes OUT here do your bloody hgh
in for yeu, while you gets blinki