NATIONAL SERVICE AND THE MIDDLE- AGED.
LTO THE EDITOR OF THR " SPECTATOR."1
Sin,—You who have clone so much to teach this country that young men can be trained to arms in a comparatively short time will, I am sure, listen to an appeal for instruction for those no longer young. Would it not be possible to initiate some society, call it club or regiment, the name matters little, which should give training in rifle-shooting and simple drill to men between forty and sixty years of age who are ineligible for the Territorial regiments P Two or three men in my husband's employment have learnt for the first time that they are certain to be shot or hanged immediately on being taken prisoners by on enemy invading the British Isles if found out of uniform with arms in their. hands. Till An Englishman's Home taught them otherwise, they all believed that if found defending their homes they would run the same risks, neither more nor less, as their companions in the Territorial regi- Ment. Our butler would hardly believe me when I told him that if caught by foreign troops with a rifle in his hand in civilian dross I knew he would be killed without a pause, though I was not quite certain whether by hanging or shooting. Would it not be possible to form a veteran reserve corps, with the minimum of red-tape, uniform, and drill, to enable men by no means infirm, though no longer young, to defend their homes P Even a small country house such as ours employs several men of the above-described age, and I believe large numbers of such men would join a body organised for them, apart from the young in the Territorial regiments, if treated with special consideration. In years to come let us hope there will be no men over for who are absolutely ignorant of the use of a rifle, but in the immediate present can nothing be done to help these men to serve their country if she were in dire straits P—these men who, through no fault of theirs, are ignorant, and would be helpless in the face of an invading raid, as would be yours, Sul.,
A WRETCHED WOMAN.
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