A VOLUNTEER'S GRIEVANCE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPEOTATOR.1 SIR,—There t: re many men in the country willing to serve at the front. Some, perhaps, have got to an age when the effort to serve in the ranks may be too great except in the case of necessity. Personally, I wish to go out ; I can get a commis- sion in the Militia, but, being thirty years of age, feel too old to take the commission for peace times, and am told that there is no chance of my getting to the front. It is possible that in time the Army must be increased for this war, with the result that a lot of us duffers must be sent out together. Would it not be better to let us volunteer at once, by which I mean let us get out so that those who survive may be trained to give assistance to new arrivals ? I have had no military experience, but as a junior subaltern I should have to do as I was told. It might be that in exceptional cases I had to act independently, but surely not before I knew something. I have no desire to be killed, but there is only a certain per- centage of loss, and it might save a better man to lead for
our Queen and country.—I am, Sir, &c., A SCOTSMAN.
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