WHAT IT WILL COME TO!
(A fragment from a Military-Commercial Romance of the future.)
And so Mr. ELLERSDEE approached his proposed recruit, and invited him to lunch to discuss the matter quietly.
"You are very good," returned the other, "but I can assure you I eat nothing before dinner. Won't you have a cigar?"
Mr. ELLERSDEE accepted the proffered kindness, and remarked upon the excellent quality of the tobacco.
"Yes," assented his companion, "it is not half bad, for we get all our supplies from the Stores; and now what can I do for you?"
Then Mr. ELLERSDEE unfolded his sad story. England was losing her commercial prosperity, owing to a scarcity of labourers, artisans, nay, even clerks. The Empire was in as bad a condition as those foreign countries in which forced military service was established. Like France and Germany, trade was being ruined by the Army. Would not the young man desert, and become a recruit in the Labour League?
"My dear friend," was the reply, "I hope I am as patriotic as most people, but I cannot sacrifice my just interest entirely to sentiment. What can you give me in exchange for my present life? I have recreation-rooms, libraries, polytechnics, and every sort of amusement?"
"But also drill and discipline," urged the other.
"Which I am told by my medical attendant (whose services by the way are gratuitous), are excellent for my health. This being so, I can scarcely complain of those institutions. Then I have excellent pay and ample food. Now, I ask you frankly, can the advantages offered by Trade compare for a moment with the privileges, as a soldier, I now enjoy? Tell me frankly, shall I improve my position by giving up the Army?"
And Mr. ELLERSDEE was compelled to answer in the negative!