_Punch_, always on the side of morality and rightness, has dealt
with it in the following trenchant fashion:--


TO A FALSE PATRIOT


He came obedient to the Call;
He might have shirked, like half his mates
Who, while their comrades fight and fall,
Still go to swell the football gates.

And you, a patriot in your prime,
You waved a flag above his head,
And hoped he'd have a high old time,
And slapped him on the back, and said:

"You'll show 'em what we British are!
Give us your hand, old pal, to shake";
And took him round from bar to bar
And made him drunk--for England's sake.

That's how you helped him. Yesterday
Clear-eyed and earnest, keen and hard,
He held himself the soldier's way--
And now they've got him under guard.

That doesn't hurt you; you're all right;
Your easy conscience takes no blame;
But he, poor boy, with morning's light,