That the gifts of imagination and expression possessed by the
six poets will prove of value to their country is unques- tionable. They should make it their special duty to teach their fellow-recruits that a certain amount of suffering from what will appear to be injustice is inevitable in a force raised rapidly during a great war, but that what they may be inclined to regard as at first a loss of personal dignity and independence should rather be looked upon as a sacrifice to be endured cheerfully for the sake of the land that bore them. Though we say this, we do not in the least suggest that there will be many cases of harshness. The ordinary non-com- missioned officer and drill sergeant, though be may have a sharp tongue, and may, like all overworked people—and he will be terribly overworked—prove on occasion a bit of a demon, is one of the best-hearted men in the country. Let recruits always remember also that a drill instructor is an artist, and that to see men doing wrong things enrages him just as much as a musician is enraged by a false note or a blunder in time. Though be may not know it, the sergeant is a professor of eurhythmics.
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