neither money, nor politics, nor obscurity, nor the Labor Union, nor any
one else could help him to wriggle out of. It would go far towards
disillusioning those many who seem to feel that they do not have to take
too seriously a government because they have helped to create it.

[Sidenote: Not a question of courage but of mental process.]

While I have precious little sympathy for slackers of any variety, one
must not judge them too harshly because their minds do not happen to
work the same as ours. In nine cases out of ten it is not a question of
courage, but one of mental process. Some people come of a caste to whom
war or the idea of fighting for their country is second nature. They
take it for granted, like death and taxes. If they ever permitted
themselves seriously to question the rightness of it; to submit
patriotism and courage to an acid analysis, they might suddenly turn
arrant cowards. How much harder is it, then, for people who have never
even faced the idea of it before to be suddenly placed up against the
actual fact!


AUGUST 18.

I have been having a little extra fun on my own hook recently. The poor
captain has had to have an operation, and will be on his back for some
weeks.

[Sidenote: Double duty on the bridge.]

Do I like going to war all on my own? Oh no, just like a cat hates
cream. It is a wee bit strenuous, as I have to do double duty; and one