ADDRESSES SOME SOLDIERS ON THEIR FUTURE
On pleasant afternoons Mr.Lavender would often take his seat on one of the benches which adorned the Spaniard's Road to enjoy the beams of the sun and the towers of the City confused in smoky distance.And strolling forth with Blink on the afternoon of the day on which the doctor had come to see him he sat down to read a periodical, which enjoined on everyone the necessity of taking the utmost interest in soldiers disabled by the war."Yes," he thought, "it is indeed our duty to force them, no matter what their disablements, to continue and surpass the heroism they displayed out there, and become superior to what they once were." And it seemed to him a distinct dispensation of Providence when the rest of his bench was suddenly occupied by three soldiers in the blue garments and red ties of hospital life.They had been sitting there for some minutes, divided by the iron bars necessary to the morals of the neighbourhood, while Mr.Lavender cudgelled his brains for an easy and natural method of approach, before Blink supplied the necessary avenue by taking her stand before a soldier and looking up into his eye.
"Lord!" said the one thus accosted, "what a fyce! Look at her moustache!
Well, cocky, 'oo are you starin' at?"
"My dog," said Mr.Lavender, perceiving his chance, "has an eye for the strange and beautiful.
"Wow said the soldier, whose face was bandaged, she'll get it 'ere, won't she?"Encouraged by the smiles of the soldier and his comrades, Mr.Lavender went on in the most natural voice he could assume.
"I'm sure you appreciate, my friends, the enormous importance of your own futures? "The three soldiers, whose faces were all bandaged, looked as surprised as they could between them, and did not answer.Mr.Lavender went on, dropping unconsciously into the diction of the article he had been reading: "We are now at the turning-point of the ways, and not a moment is to be lost in impressing on the disabled man the paramount necessity of becoming again the captain of his soul.He who was a hero in the field must again lead us in those qualities of enterprise and endurance which have made him the admiration of the world."The three soldiers had turned what was visible of their faces towards Mr.
Lavender, and, seeing that he had riveted their attention, he proceeded:
"The apathy which hospital produces, together with the present scarcity of labour, is largely responsible for the dangerous position in which the disabled man now finds himself.Only we who have not to face his future can appreciate what that future is likely to be if he does not make the most strenuous efforts to overcome it.Boys," he added earnestly, remembering suddenly that this was the word which those who had the personal touch ever employed, "are you making those efforts? Are you equipping your minds? Are you taking advantage of your enforced leisure to place yourselves upon some path of life in which you can largely hold your own against all comers?"He paused for a reply.
The soldiers, silent for a moment, in what seemed to Mr.Lavender to be sheer astonishment, began to fidget; then the one next him turned to his neighbour, and said:
"Are we, Alf? Are we doin' what the gentleman says?""I can answer that for you," returned Mr.Lavender brightly; "for I can tell by your hospitalized faces that you are living in the present; a habit which, according to our best writers, is peculiar to the British.
I assure you," he went on with a winning look, "there is no future in that.If you do not at once begin to carve fresh niches for yourselves in the temple of industrialism you will be engulfed by the returning flood, and left high and dry upon the beach of fortune."During these last few words the half of an irritated look on the faces of the soldiers changed to fragments of an indulgent and protective expression.
"Right you are, guv'nor," said the one in the middle.Don't you worry, we'll see you home all right.
