OLD - SOLDIER SAHIB
By Private Frank Richards
The old soldier who can talk amusingly about his experiences over a glass of beer is not uncommon, but one who can write his talk down, without losing any of the spontaneity of the tap-room, is rare. Private Richards is such a one, as readers of his first book, Old Soldiers Never Die, will remember. In that book he told his War experiences. In Old-Soldier Sahib (Faber and Faber, 7s. 6d.) he goes back to his pre-War soldiering days in India. Private Richards—he chose to remain in the ranks for the whole of his service—enjoyed soldiering and he regrets the day he left the army, though his readers can only be thankful that he returned to civil life and, in days of enforced leisure in a Welsh mining town, wrote these two books. Barracks life has never been described with such gusto . before–.-in print. He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1901 at the age of seventeen and a half and was soon drafted to India. Every phase of life in thei regular army before the War is described in detail—and u barracks language. He has a natural gift for aneedotel and his brilliant use of understatement will make most professional writers green with envy. As many of his anecdotes are of the type not usually seen in print, it is fortunate that he possesses this skill. Private Richards has an amazing memory and has recreated the atmosphere, of those days in a way that has never been surpassed. Thid is a grand book.
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