[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,—In last week's issue
of the Spectator there appeared an article by Mr. St. John Ervine entitled " War and the Old Men," which, to my mind, might have been called more aptly, " War Upon Young Men." Since I am only a schoolboy of eighteen, I naturally feel diffident of criticizing the opinions of a writer who is so well known, but nevertheless a profound disagreement with his views compels me to do so.
In the first place, I should like to suggest that when Mr. Ervine wishes to demonstrate the sentiments of youth, he should quote something more reliable than a play, especially when it is written by an author who, as he himself points out,
is middle-aged.
He says that he cannot find any justification for those young gentlemen at Oxford and Cambridge who " go about," he is told, " informing their friends that their lives have been
wrecked and ruined by the old," since, says he, they were not of an age to have served in the War. Do such " young gentlemen " exist in appreciable numbers ?
Moreover, I am inclined to think that the lives of many of these "young gentlemen " can have been ruined, although they were not old enough to serve. Can it be that Mr. Ervine has never heard of war babies, nervous from birth from the mental strain their mothers were suffering.—I am, Sir, &c., B. A. BAX. Radstock Rectory, Bath.
[We gladly print this letter from a young reader of the Spectator. We believe in encouraging both the younger generation and the older generation to express their views on public questions.—En. Spectator.]
Previous page
