Here we would
tether up and turn the gangway into a diving platform. Happy
indeed were these days spent with companions who were in
every sense of the word sportsmen and gentlemen."
Sportsmen and gentlemen--a new designation, perhaps, to some who have
judged these Y.M.C.A. members by hearsay only. It's Sydney Baxter's
not mine. And he ought to know well what the words mean after two
years in a line regiment at the front.
One Young Man Joins the Army
CHAPTER II
ONE YOUNG MAN JOINS THE ARMY
Sydney Baxter was most decidedly getting on in business. And then the
war came. I do not want you to have the impression that, at this time,
he was one of those sturdy, strapping young fellows who gladly rushed
into the ranks for the very joy of fighting. There were thousands of
them, I know, a glorious breed, but Sydney Baxter was not of that
build. So that there may be no mistake let me give his own words. They
are frank enough to be convincing.
"When war fell upon Europe I was one of those foolish people
who imagined that the Kaiser and his army would be
completely crushed before Xmas, 1914. For the first two
months I never gave a thought to the possibility of my
becoming a soldier. I couldn't imagine myself with a rifle
and bayonet chasing Huns, or standing the rough-and-ready
life of the soldier, and the thought of blood was horrible.
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