SAGE. Sire, you have seen some truth to-night. Is courage, is God, all
on your side? Is Time on your side? Shall I go back to my master and
tell him that you need no more of his inventions?

(_He pauses, and glances at the_ POTENTATE _with a look of
contempt, and then turns to go. The_ POTENTATE _looks round
him with a ghastly stare._)

POTENTATE (_feebly_). No ... the Crucified ... Time ... Stay, stay!

(_The_ SAGE _turns with a gesture of triumph._)

(_Curtain._)




II

THE BAD SIDE OF MILITARY SERVICE


A Padre who has earned the right to talk about the "average Tommy,"
writes to me that _A Student in Arms_ gives a very one-sided picture
of him. While cordially admitting his unselfishness, his good
comradeship, his patience, and his pluck, my friend challenges me
to deny that military, and especially active, service often has a
brutalizing effect on the soldier, weakening his moral fibres, and
causing him to sink to a low animal level.