23 SEPTEMBER 1916, Page 13

" DOING HIS BIT."

[TO THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Yon quote from " Sapper's " vivid pages " that accursed catch. phrase, ` Doing his bit.' " I venture to protest. Why " accursed," except when misused by those who have " one eye on No. 1 " ? Wo know that Britons suffer from " the pride that apes humility " and its ana. logues, and ho who uses the phrase sincerely could surely, if a Briton, express himself no better when his conscience tells him that ho is " doing his oll " (to quote " Sapper " again) and a bit more. Some folks do not understand what lies at the back of the Briton's self-depreciation ; to those who do understand, " Doing his bit " is a catch-phrase blessed and