Re: The Pages of Punch
1918: The Greater Burden?
This is an interesting, and no doubt authentic, comparison between the life of a conscientious citizen and a soldier who is unfit for service in the trenches.
In his civilian life he has three different roles to fulfil. The office is particularly fraught. The elderly and youthful workers are not capable of supporting the boss. The young woman is neither a child nor elderly. She has, however, other interests in mind.
The light duties for the middle aged soldier are clear enough. A German seaborne invasion was by 1918 highly unlikely. (After the Battle of Jutland in 1916 the German surface fleet remained in harbour for the duration of the war). The military authorities could not ignore even this remote possibility. Our hero could safely smoke his pipe and read his book until the war ended.