A Student in Arms

His life was a Romance of the most noble and beautiful kind. So says one who has known him from childhood, and into how many dull, hard and narrow lives has he not been the first to bring the element of Romance? Shortly after this letter was written the South African War broke out, and before six months were over the writer was killed in action, at the age of 27, whilst serving with the Mounted Infantry at Paardeberg. My second reason for not writing about the bad side of Army life was that mere condemnation is so futile. I have listened to countless sermons in which the lusts of the flesh were denounced, and have known for certain that their power for good was nil. If I write about it now, it is only because I hope that I may be able to make clearer the causes and processes of such moral deterioration as exists, and thus to help those who are trying to combat it, to do so with greater understanding and sympathy.