THOUGHTS IN A SOLDIERS' HUT.
[To TRH EDITOR OP THE SPECTATOR."' SIR,—It has boen my fortune to spend a few nights recently in one of the soldiers' buts provided for the lodging of service mon passing through London, to or from the front. I know no place whore the
men may be heard to speak more freely of their views and ex- periences. Their tone is cheerful and encouraging, and there is a kind of politeness and " help-my-pal " spirit among them which is not always to be found in great armies, and which cannot be manu- factured to order.
One of the things I hat impress me most about the huts is that a man may come in at any time of the day or night, whether sober and hungry in the morning, dirty and wet in the afternoon, or stag- gering drunk at midnight, and receive still a cordial welcome. Thero is a great deal of drinking notwithstanding all the limitations.
Most of the men keep sober, but men do come in drunk at all hours. If they were not admitted here, they would readily find admittance to worse places, provided they had money ; and if not, they would aeon be found lying in the streets. Yesterday morning, while the men were getting their breakfasts, bacon and eggs or sausage and " mashed," at their various little round tables, there were several accidents and mishaps. " The fact is," said an R.G.A. man, " we're all so drunk we don't know what we're doing." At the same time, if a man is too noisy or troublesome, ho is liable to find himself seized suddenly by the arms and legs and bundled without ceremony into the street. This is done, not by the staff in attendance at the hut, chiefly ladies and ineligibles, but by the man's own comrades, for the general comfort and convenience. One or two rowdies in khaki who have made themselves notorious are not permitted by the men to return. Another feature of the huts is the delightful and romantic un- certainty of the charges made for refreshments by the ladies behind the bar. The ladies, being amateurs, and giving their time and trouble with the sole object of befriending the men, are mainly anxious to supply the latter's needs and to see that the tea is real tea, with sonic body in it. One lady put a whole pound of tea into the urn for half-a-dozen men. The cake also is cut up in slabs far too large to be remunerative to any one but the baker. When it comes to the question of payment, moreover, the ladies are often at a loss. They may forget about it altogether, which might be the easiest way in certain circumstances. They have had no experience in handling change with accuracy and despatch while conversing with three or four different persons and serving out plates, puddings, and pies. The difficulty has been got over by the use of tickets, which are bought separately to the exact amount required. Still, the same breakfast which costs sixpence one morning may cost ninepence the next and vice versa. I have tried once or twice to determine at sight, not so much for the sake of economy as in a pure spirit of inquiry, which lady would charge me the least. I find that the most engaging and amiable-looking usually charge most. There is
a printed tariff on the wall, but what sort of man is he who, in the circumstances, would appeal to that ? The chances are he would have to pay higher still.
A lady wrote some days ago from one of the soldiers shelters protesting, with reference to a statement of Dr. F. B. Meyer's about the prevalence of drunkenness, that she had not seen a single drunken soldier. This will not do. The soldiers know better. There is never a night without its victims. One of the military police told me he had arrested twenty incapables in one night at that lady's station. The drinking is excessive, continuous, and night-long : nothing but total prohibition will stop it. Why do we keep nibbling at this evil while men (and their wives) are being ruined The old plea of the " liberty of the subject " (to drink himself silly) is surely reduced to paper pulp by this time.
There is another matter that goes with this one—the prevalence of vice. The whole Army, new and old, has a bad tone as regards its morals. Officers seem helpless, and show little indication that they realize their responsibilities. In one large camp in the South of England the men are falling from disease at the rate of twenty new cases a day, and have done so for twelve months past. This appears to be one of the most appalling facts in the war. A General commanding a district, being appealed to, merely suggests certain
medical and legislative remedies, and adds: "My sole duty is to keep the men fit to take the field." Even this he does not do by a long way, nor can he ; but is it the sole duty of officers to regard their men simply as fighting machines ? In a prolonged war it is the nation with the strongest spirit that wins. When it is recognized that our troops have not only bodies to be cared for but also souls, and that it is strength of soul which is most in need of cultivation, we shall be on the high-road to victory, and not before. It would not be profit- able to win on any other terms. A German newspaper, the Kreuz Zeitung, declared the other day : " The spiritual strength of our people is our strongest ally." The spiritual strength of the people of Britain is far stronger : its existence is recognized in the appeals posted on the walls to duty, patriotism, and right ; but once a man Mi in the Army it is almost forgotten that he has a soul to be fed and strengthened. The occasional exhortations of a chaplain, and a compulsory parade on Sunday morning—this is the paltry provision made for the building up of his spiritual manhood.
Fortunately something more is done in the soldiers' huts, as for instance those instituted by the Y.M.C.A., where the personal influence of Christian workers is exerted, and many an address is given of a strengthening character, as well as many a quiet talk. But the men who might cling together and form an effective spiritual nucleus arc lost in the crowd. They are divided up in battalions and companies, in squadrons and divisions, according to their training,
their arms, or their territorial origin. How would it have been if all the soldier members, say, of the Wesleyan, the Baptist, or tho Con-
gregational Churches could have enlisted in one regiment or series
of regiments ? There is not much binding force in mere territorial association, when Welshmen are to be found in an Esser battalion
and Cockneys wearing kilts, but a few Free Church regiments as the nucleus of a Puritan Army would make a difference, and would sweep away a lot of conscientious objection. A single regiment that was
free from the corrupting influences of vice and drink would make itself felt. ft seems extraordinary that in a so-called Christian land nothing of this sort is attempted or suggested, when it is well known
that the factor which vivifies the best Indian regiments, such. as the Sikhs and the Pathans, is the binding power of a common religion.
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