It is not my purpose to give a lengthy account of Tom Pollard's stay in
the Surrey training camp, although much of interest took place, and his
daily life there would, if truly reported, gladden the hearts of
thousands of fathers and mothers who have given their boys to their
country at this time. I, who have been to this particular camp, and
have talked with the lads there, can testify to this by personal
experience. As I have before stated, Tom found the work hard, the
discipline strict, and the duties many; at the same time everything was
so well arranged and the spirit of such good-fellowship prevailed that
thousands of young men were under much more healthy conditions, both
physically and morally, than they were at home. Indeed, many told me
that they would never care for the cramped life of the office, the
workshop, and the factory again, after the free open-air life of a
soldier.
Tom, who had been quick to learn his duties and to master his drill,
especially after he had--as he termed it to me--"been disgraced, and
turned over a new leaf," found the work easy and pleasant.
"Ay," said Tom to me, "it's very funny."
"What?" I asked.
"The way these greenhorns try to learn their drill."
"How's that?" I asked.
"Why, yesterday a chap came up to me wi' tears in his eyes. I asked
him what wur the matter, and he said, 'Ay, I have not got brains for
it.' 'Brains for what?' I asked. 'Brains for this 'ere drill: a man
needs to have a head like Shakespeare to get hold on it. That there
formin' fours now: I have tried, and I have tried, and I have better
tried, but I can't get a fair grip on it. Ay, I shall have to write a
letter to the Colonel and tell him I shall have to give it up.'"
Tom laughed gleefully as he spoke. "Why, it's as easy as winking,
sir," he said; "but some chaps are thick-headed, you know--in fact they
have no heads at all, they've just got turnips stuck on top of their
shoulders. I fair pity the young officers sometimes when they are
trying to knock these chaps into shape. But they are doing it fine;
and fellows who came a few weeks ago, slack and shuffling, are now
straight and smart. It's wonderful what a bit of drilling does."
"And do you find the Y.M.C.A. helpful down here, Tom?" I asked.
"Helpful, sir! I don't know what we should do without it. You see
it's different here from what it is in big towns where the men are in
billets. We're away, as you may say, from any town that's sizeable,
and there's no place to go to of an evening, except the public-house;
and if the Y.M.C.A. hadn't been here we should have nothing to do but
fool around. But the work they're doing here is just champion. They
have entertainments every night, and if you don't feel like going to
them, there's a room where you can read the papers, and write your
letters or play games; then they have all sorts of good books for us to
read."
"And how are you getting on with your French?" I asked.
Tom blushed as he replied, "Would you like to see my report, sir?" and
he took it from his tunic proudly.
"Why, Tom, this is splendid!" I said, after reading it.
"Ay, I have worked fair hard at it," said Tom; "but my difficulty is
getting my tongue round the words. You see, they don't know how to
pronounce, these French people, and you have to pronounce their way
else they wouldn't understand what you wur saying, and you have to get
a grip on it or you can't understand what they are saying. I can
conjugate the verbs," added Tom proudly, "but when they speak to me in
French, that's anything like a long sentence, I get mixed up. While
I'm getting hold of the first part of what they're saying, I forget the
rest; but I will master it. What a French chap can learn a Lancashire
chap can.
"Do you know, sir," went on Tom, "that the Y.M.C.A. has got no less
than six huts here; each of them will hold a thousand men, and they are
jam-full every night. And all the workers are so friendly too."
"And do you go to any religious services, Tom?" I asked.
"I been to two or three," replied Tom, "but I don't hold much wi'
religion. Still they're grand people, and you may ask any man in the
camp, from the sergeant-major down to the newest recruit, and they will
all tell you the same thing, The Y.M.C.A. is a fair God-send to us."
I found out afterwards that Alec McPhail had not followed Tom's
example. Alec had discovered a wayside public-house about a mile from
the camp, where he and several others of his companions spent most of
their spare time.
"I'm noan religious," said Tom rather boastfully; "but the Y.M.C.A.
showed me that I was making a fool of myself, and they have made me see
that a soldier ought to be a gentleman. We're not a lot of riff-raff
in the Army; we have come at the call of our King and Country to do our
bit. And what I say is that a chap ought to live up to his job; we
have got a big, grand job, and we chaps as is to do it ought to be
worthy of our job."
Tom wrote regularly to Polly Powell during the time he was in the
Surrey camp, although he could not help noticing that Polly's replies
grew less and less frequent and less and less affectionate. When he
had been there a little more than two months he received a letter from
his mother telling him that Polly was walking out regularly with Jim
Dixon. The letter from Tom's mother was characteristic.
"Dear Tom," she wrote, "thou'st been fooled by Polly Powell. I always
said that Alice Lister was too good for thee, and thou used to get
vexed about it. A man is not to blame for his mother, he can't choose
her, so I can't blame thee for thy mother, but he is to be blamed for
his wife; he makes his own choice there, and the man as chooses Polly
Powell is a fool. When I wur a lass I lived on a farm, I wur only
sixteen when I came to Brunford, and the farmer I lived wi' always said
when he was buying a cow, 'be sure to look at the stock before you
close the bargin.' Look at the stock Polly Powell has come from. I
say nowt about her feyther because I don't know him, but I have seen
her mother, and that's enough for me. Polly is just the image of what
her mother was when she was her age. She's only twenty-four years
older than Polly, but she's like Bethesda Chapel, she's broader nor
she's long. That's what Polly will be in twenty years' time. Her
mother's got a mustash too, and Polly gives every sign of having one by
the time she's her mother's age. Besides, she's a flighty thing is
Polly, and has no stayin' power; she goes wi' one chap one week and
another the next. She's walked out wi' seven chaps since you left
Brunford, and she only took up wi' Jim Dixon again because he's making
a bit of brass. I daresay she'll tell you that she's only larking wi'
Jim, and is true to you all the time; but if I were thee I'd sack her.
There are plenty of lasses everywhere, and thou can do better nor her.
"I expect you will be going to France soon, and will be fighting them
Germans. If they find thee as hard to deal wi' as I have, they'll have
a tough job. But they are a bad lot, and I don't ask you to show 'em
any mercy.
"Your affectionate mother,
"MRS. MARTHA POLLARD.
"P.S.--Be sure to write and give Polly Powell the sack right away,
she's noan thy sort. If you come across that German Emperor, don't be
soft-hearted wi' 'im."
After Tom had read his mother's letter twice, he sat silent for some
time. "So she's going out with Jim Dixon," he reflected; "well, I'm
glad. After all, my liking for her was only top-water stuff, and she
was doing me no good." The next minute Tom was whistling his way
through the camp. "Yes," he continued, "mother's got what the writing
chaps call 'a good literary style,' and she hits the bull's-eye every
time. Gosh, what a fool I've been! Fancy giving up Alice Lister for a
lass like that. I wonder if it's true that Alice has took up wi' that
parson chap. I'd like to wring his neck, I would for sure."
At the end of nearly three months Tom was moved to another camp still
nearer the south coast. He had a presentiment that the time was not
far distant when he would have to cross the sea, and know in real
earnest what soldiering was like. In a way he was glad of this; like
all youths he longed for excitement, and wanted to come to close grips
with the thing he had set out to do. On the other hand however, he
could not help looking forward with dread. When on reading the
newspapers he saw long lists of casualties, and heard stories of the
men he had known, who went out healthy and strong and never came back
again, and others who were brought home maimed for life, he had a
strange feeling at his heart, and a sinking at the pit of his stomach.
It was not that he felt afraid, but there was a kind of dread of the
unknown. What would it be like to die?
"I hear we're off soon," said Alec McPhail to him one day.
"There's no telling," said Tom laconically.
"Ay, but we shall," replied Alec, "and I shall be glad, I'm getting
sick of this life in the camps."
"I doan't wonder at it," said Tom.
"What micht ye mean by that?" asked the Scotchman.
"I am fair stalled wi' thee," said Tom. "I thought that you, being a
thinking sort o' chap, would know better. You saw what a fool I was
making of myself, and yet you kept on drinking and carousing, and
making a ninny of yourself, as though you had no more brains nor a
waterhen. Why, lad, with your education and cleverness, you might have
been sergeant-major by now. Nay, nay, keep thee temper; I mean nowt
wrong."
The Scotchman looked at Tom angrily for some seconds. He seemed on the
point of striking him, then mastering himself he said, "Ay, Tom, you're
richt, and yet I'm no' sure."
"What do you mean?" asked Tom.
"Tom, man," said the Scotchman, "ye canna think worse of me than I
think of mysel'. I had a good home too, and a godly mither; as for my
father he was a hard man, but just, very just. Ay, I know I ought to
have known better, but the whisky got hold of me. Besides----"
"Besides what?" asked Tom.
"Ay, man, I'm not a hero when it comes to facing death. I fancy I'm as
brave as most men about lots of things, but I just shiver when I think
o' dying; then I tak' a wee drap of whisky, and it gi'es me courage."
"Poor sort of courage," replied Tom; "besides, you take more than a
'wee drap,' as you call it."
"Ay, it needs mair and mair. But it's this way, Tom; when I think of
going over the water into those trenches, and when I think of the
shells falling all around me; when I call to mind that men may be dying
at my richt hand and on my left, blown all to smithereens, I get
afraid, but after I have filled mysel' fou' of whisky I don't care. I
know I ought to be ashamed of mysel'; I know, too, it's the wrang sort
of courage. As for you, Tom, you have been wiser than me, you've got
releegion."
"Nay, I've nowt o' th' sort," replied Tom, "I've just kept straight,
that's all."
"But it's not enough, Tom," said the Scotchman.
"What does a' mean?" asked Tom.
"I mean that a man wants releegion," replied Alec very solemnly. "I
have been a thinking lad all my life, and when I chucked releegion and
professed to believe in Colonel Ingersoll I kenned fine I was making a
fool of mysel'. It's either whisky or releegion to keep a man's
courage up; that is, such a man as me."
"Then you think there's something after death?" said Tom.
"Ay, lad, I am sure of it. I'm a-thinking you're richt, Tom, in going
to the Y.M.C.A. meetings, and I know you're wrang in not getting
releegion. E'en when I'm fou' of whisky, I have known that releegion
was necessary; and if I only had the strength I'd gi' up the whisky."
The next day the camp was in a great state of excitement; the men had
received definite information that they were to start for the Front in
two days' time. They did not know where they were going, but they were
told it would be somewhere in France or Belgium. At first there was
great cheering at this; the men shouted and boasted of what they would
do when they were face to face with the Germans. After that, almost as
if by prearrangement, a solemn silence fell among them; evidently they
were thinking deeply. Some paid longer visits than usual to the wet
canteen or public-houses; others, again, were seen walking alone as
though they had no desire for company.
We who remain at home in safety, and talk about the heroism of the men
going away to the Front, little realise the thoughts which pass through
their minds. When the order to embark comes they don't say very much
about it, and even when they do talk they speak of death almost
lightly. "If I am potted," they say, "I am, and that's all about it."
But that's not all they feel, as I have reason to know. They love
their lives just as much as we do, and they long to go back and spend
their days amongst their loved ones. It is only rare that cowardice is
seen, and it is rarer still for them to make any boast; the average
Englishman is not given to boasting; he has his duty to do, and he just
does it, saying very little about it.
On the night before they were to embark for France, farewell meetings
were held at the Y.M.C.A. huts, and Tom noticed that Alec McPhail found
his way to the hut where he went. Perhaps eight hundred or a thousand
men had gathered, and although high spirits prevailed, each man felt
that he was breathing an atmosphere which was not usual. There was a
look not common in the eyes of the lads; a set, stern expression on
their faces. Afterwards when they had been to the Front and returned,
they would go out again without such feeling as now possessed them.
But these lads had never been to the war before; they were entering
upon an unknown; they knew that in all probability a large number of
them would never come back to England again. Each had a hope that he
might escape, although the chances were against him.
Still they cheered at the old recitations, listened to the old songs,
and joined in the choruses which they liked just as they had been doing
for months; they were not going to show the white feather.
A special speaker had come to the hut that night. He had been working
among the soldiers in the Y.M.C.A. tents on the Continent, and had come
home for a short holiday; now he had come to this camp in order to
speak to the men before their departure. It is said that months before
he had been fond of telling humorous stories, and had delighted in
making the soldiers laugh. He certainly had a sense of humour, and now
and then could not refrain from some witticism which set the highly
strung lads in roars of laughter. But the close of his address did not
inspire mirth.
"My lads," he said, "you have done a brave thing; I don't say that you
deserve much praise for it, because at a time like this if an
able-bodied youth does not join the Army he fails in his duty; and you
are only doing your duty. If you had not done what you have done, I
should be ashamed of you. All the same you are brave lads. You have
offered your all, your very lives, at the altar of duty. I am not
going to try and describe to you what you will have to do, and possibly
have to suffer; you will find out that soon enough. Possibly many of
you are going to your death. I don't want to frighten you, but we have
to face facts: I don't say it is an awful thing to die, but it is a
tremendous thing. You know that you have souls as well as bodies. I
am not going to argue it out with you; I needn't, because you know. I
needn't try to prove to you that there is a God, because you know it,
you feel it. There is no atheism out at the Front: some of you have
tried to live without God, and you have made a mess of your lives. I
tell you, my boys, it's a terrible thing to die without God. Some of
you know what it is to believe in a personal Saviour; you have accepted
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came on earth to die for us that we
might know God; and you have found Him to be a strength in temptation,
a joy in sorrow. My lads, you all want that Saviour, and especially do
you want Him now. You are embarking on the Great Unknown, and you need
a Captain, a Guide, a Saviour: I have come to tell you about Him."
I am not going to try to describe the close of his address. This man
had seen hundreds die, he had come face to face with the great
realities of life, of death, and of religion. He knew what he was
talking about because he had experienced it, and he made the men feel
what he felt. That night when the meeting was over Tom Pollard found
himself again with Alec McPhail.
"That chap was fair earnest," said Tom.
"Ay," replied the Scotchman, "he went richt down to the bottom of
things. Come wi' me to the canteen, lad, I feel I must have a drink."
"Not if I know it," said Tom, "no drink for me to-night."
But the Scotchman rushed away towards the canteen, and Tom, scarcely
knowing what he was doing, followed him. When they entered, they saw a
number of men standing there drinking.
"Yes," they heard one man say, "that chap was right; I know I'm making
a fool of myself, but I'm going to have another drink. My God! What
would my mother say if she knew I wur off tomorrow morning!"
A lad with a pale, refined face, standing by his side, had a glass in
his hand ready to lift to his lips. "Ay, and what would my mother
say!" he said. "I know she would be praying for me."
At this some one uttered a coarse oath, but the lad threw the drink
from him and left the canteen.
"Ay, he's richt," said the Scotchman as he watched him go. "Tom
Pollard, man, I hinna prayed for years, but I am praying to-nicht. I
ought to be a different man, for I ken the fundamentals of releegion,
but I'm giving my heart to God to-nicht; I am for sure."
Tom followed the Scotchman out of the canteen towards one of the
numerous sleeping-huts.
"I am giving my heart to God, Pollard," he said hoarsely, "and I'm
writing to tell my mither about it this very nicht. Ay, man, something
has come into my life stronger than the power of whisky!"
When Tom found his way to his own sleeping-hut that night, he was in a
chastened frame of mind. "I'm noan going to turn religious," he said
almost sullenly, "but I believe he's got the reight on't."
The next morning they were at Folkestone, where the big troopship lay
in the harbour. Before mid-day the ship was crowded with soldiers.
How many men were there Tom had not the slightest idea; but they filled
every part of it. Generals, colonels, majors, non-commissioned
officers, and privates were all huddled together. All over the ship
officers and men were alike; they were going to the field of battle to
die if need be for honour, duty, and the liberty of the world.
There were scarcely a score of civilians on board, and even they were
in some way attached to the Army. Nurses wearing the Red Cross,
religious workers with a look of wonder in their eyes, a few sent by
the Government on some particular mission, but all were taking part in
the great War which was staggering the world.
Perhaps a mile or more out at sea a great Destroyer proudly spurned the
waves; she was to guard the troopship along her perilous passage.
Presently they landed at Boulogne.
"Where are we going?" said one of the soldiers in Tom's company as they
entered a waiting train.
"I don't know," said Tom, "but what does it matter? We have nowt to do
with that, we have just got to do our job."
They spent all the night in the troop-train, which was crowded almost
to suffocation. Where they were going they didn't know, scarcely
cared. Sometimes they were drawn up to a siding where they would stay
for hours, then the train crawled on again. Presently the morning
broke and Tom saw a flat and what seemed to him, after Surrey, an
uninteresting piece of country. Everything was strange to him, even
the trees looked different from those he had seen in Surrey. On and on
the train crawled, until presently they had orders to alight.
It was now early morning, and after breakfast they were formed in
marching order. Tom took but little notice of the country through
which they marched, except that they were on a straight road, which was
paved in the middle. As the day advanced the sun grew hot and
scorching, but the men marched on uncomplainingly; there was little
merriment, but much thought. Presently noon came, and again they
stopped for food, after which there was another march. By this time
Tom realised that he was indeed in the zone of war. He saw what looked
to him miles of motor waggons filled with food and munitions, numbers
of ambulance waggons marked with the Red Cross. More than one body of
horse soldiers passed him, and again he saw numbers of men bivouacked
near him; but everywhere there were soldiers, soldiers. Tom could not
understand it, it was all so different from what he expected, neither
could he see any order or purpose in that which was taking place around
him. There was activity and movement everywhere, but he could
co-ordinate nothing, he was simply bewildered.
Towards evening there was another resting-time, and each man gladly
threw himself full length on the grass. For a moment there was a
silence, then Tom heard a sound which gave him a sickening sensation;
he felt a sinking, too, at the pit of his stomach: it was the boom,
boom, boom of guns.
"Look at yon' airship in the sky!" cried one of the men. Each eye was
turned towards it, then they heard the boom of guns again, after which
there were sheets of fire around the aeroplane, and afterwards little
clouds of smoke formed themselves.
"I am getting near at last," thought Tom. "I wonder now--I wonder----"