"Tich" Meets the King
In a large ward in a military hospital in London there was a little
Cockney drummer boy of eighteen years who had lost both legs from
shell fire. In spite of his calamity and the suffering he endured
from numerous operations for the removal of bone, he was one of the
cheeriest boys in the ward.
At that time many men in the ward had limbs amputated because of
frost-bite, and it was quite a usual thing for a visitor to remark,
"Have you had frost-bite?"
Nothing made Tich so furious as the suggestion that he should have lost
his limbs by any, to his mind, second-rate way. If he were asked, "Have
you had frost-bite?" he would look up with disgust and reply, "Naow---a
flea bit me!" If, however, he was asked, "Were you wounded?" he would
smile and say, "Not 'arf!"
A visit was expected from the King, and the Tommies kept asking Tich
what he would say if the King said, "Have you had frost-bite?" "You
wite!" said Tich.
I was standing with the Sister near to Tich in his wheel-chair when the
King approached. His Majesty at once noticed Tich was legless, and said
in his kind way, "Well, my man, how are you getting on?"
"Splendid, sir!" said Tich.
"How did it happen?" asked the King.
"Wounded, sir--shell," replied Tich, all smiles.
Tich's opinion of the King soared higher than ever.---_M. A. Kennedy
(late V.A.D., Royal Military Hospital, Woolwich), 70 Windmill Hill,
Enfield, Middlesex._