rgely 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
are pure are those who are absorbed in some pursuit, or possessed by a
great love; be it the love of clean, wholesome life which is religion,
or the love of a noble man which is hero-worship, or the love of a
true woman. These are the four powers which are stronger than "the
flesh"--the zest of a quest, religion, hero-worship, and the love of
a good woman. If a man is not possessed by one of these he will be
immoral.

Probably most men are immoral. The conditions of military, and
especially of active service merely intensify the temptation. Unless
a soldier is wholly devoted to the cause, or powerfully affected by
religion, or by hero-worship, or by pure love, he is immoral.

Perhaps most men are immoral if they get the chance. Most soldiers
are immoral if they get the chance. But those who are trying to help
the soldier can do so with a good heart if they realize that in
him they have a foundation on which to build. Already he is half a
hero-worshipper. Already he half believes in the beauty of sacrifice
and in the life immortal. Already he is predisposed to value
exceedingly all that savours of clean, wholesome home life. On that
foundation it should be possible to build a strong idealism which
shall prevail against the flesh. And this is my last word--it is by
building up, and not by casting down, that the soldier can be saved
from degradation. The devil that possesses so many can only be cast
out by an angel that is stronger than he.

III

THE GOOD SIDE OF "MILITARISM"

I had a letter the other day from an Oxford friend