im financial aid.

Censoring letters was a valuable education for an officer. It gave him a
deep personal knowledge of the men he commanded and was to lead. It also
enabled him to realise that in most situations there were points of view
other than his own. He was the better for the knowledge. There were many
letters to read. Most had a grave earnest tone running through them.
Some were pathetic. Others were humorous and, again, others cleverly
descriptive of the passing life and scenes. The trend of thought of some
soldiers will be illustrated by the following:--In 1916, whilst
assisting to hold the trenches in front of Messines, a member of the
Battalion wrote a lengthy and comprehensive criticism of a recent book
dealing with the Darwinian theory. About the same time, and from the
same place, another member--a brave and sincere man, but a little
pharisaical--violated the censorship requirements by criticising the
army system generally and his own comrades in particular. His company
commander adopted the unusual but effective punishment of reading the
letter aloud in the presence of the writer and the fellow members of his
platoon. A story is told of a padre of the 5th Brigade who, whilst
censoring, discovered that one man had declared his undying devotion to
two different girls, and to each had repudiated any allegiance to the
other. The censor was so indignant over this act of treachery that he
transposed the envelopes of the two letters, before sealing them down.

Of amusements there was no lack. These will be referred to later on. On
the whole, therefore, the soldier had little to complain of in the
treatment he received, nor did he give the Commanding Officer any cause
for anxiety as regards his conduct. Breaches of minor regulations were
common enough, but in most cases the offences were venial and such as
were likely to be committed by any recruit. Only two cases were remanded
for trial by court-martial. Nor were the evils resulting from excessive
drinking conspicuously present. Precautions, however, had to be taken to
prevent any lowering of the standard which the Battalion was working
towards, and in this respect examples had to be made in a few cases
where the individual held rank, and in other cases where sickness
appeared to be simulated.

One little incident seems to be worth mentioning. A soldier, who had
been freely sampling a Reading brew of beer, encountered a certain
warrant officer. An exchange of