behind the bayonet. You don't realize the repugnance for the first
thrust--a repugnance which has got to be overcome. You don't realize
the change that comes over a man when his bayonet is wet with the
blood of his first enemy. He "sees red." The primitive "blood-lust,"
kept under all his life by the laws and principles of peaceful
society, surges through his being, transforming him, maddening him
with the desire to kill, kill, kill! Ask any one who has been through
it if this is not true. And that letting loose of a primitive lust is
not going to be without its effect on a man's character.

At the same time, of course, not all of us become animals out here.
There are other influences at work. Caring for the wounded, burying
the mutilated dead, cause one to hate war, and to value ten times more
the ways of peace. Many are saved from sinking in the scale, by a love
of home which is able to bridge the gulf which separates them
from their beloved. The letters of my platoon are largely love
letters--often the love letters of married men to their wives.

There is immorality in the Army; when there is opportunity immorality
is rife. Possibly there is more abroad than there is at home. If so it
is because there is far greater temptation. Nevertheless, I fancy that
my correspondent, who is a padre, a don, and at least the beginning of
a saint, is perhaps inclined to exaggerate the extent of the evil in
the Army as compared with civil life. I imagine that very few padres,
especially if they are dons, and most of all if they are saints,
realize that in civil life as in Army life, the average man is
immoral, both in thought and deed. Let us be frank about this. What
a doctor might call the "appetites" and a padre the "lusts" of the
body, hold dominion over the average man, whether civilian or soldier,
unless they are counteracted by a stronger power. The only men who