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Show WINNING THE V. C. By John W. N. Sullivan. CHE main school room was filled to overcrowding. More than half the population of the little Somerset village had tried to get into that school room, but the laws of space are inexorable, and the great majority of them were left outside. But the doors were left open, as it was a fine warm night, and the speakers raised their voices to reach that dim, larger osculating with the transients and open windows. Even in this remote Somerset village vil-lage recruiting agents were active, and the homo coming of Private Bradley, V. C, a man of the village who had been decorated by the king himself, was to be made the occasion of a gathering and speeches 'having for their object the incitement of other young men to the emulation of this example. The little platform accommodated, besides Private Bradley, his father and mother, the vicar, Captain Spraggs, the school master and a large, important im-portant man from London. The vicar spoke with less than his customary fluency, but he managed to say the right things: our just and glorious cause; bleeding, heroic Belgium; our wonderful allies, the volatile French; the whole world in arms against those enemies of God and man, the Germans; Ger-mans; the indomitable spirit which animates all Englishmen, especially those who reside in the smaller villages vil-lages of Somerset; and ending with an assurance, authoritative in virtue of his position, that God would see to it that we were victorious. Captain Spraggs said that he was proud to be on the same platform as Private Bradley, V. C, and went on to say several times in a manly, robust voice, that we want men men, more men; and then again, more men. The schoolmaster's speech was an utter failure. He was an old man with a weak voice, and his pride in Bradley, "a bright lad my best pupil," pu-pil," ever since Bradley had won a scholarship four years before, had been commented on by several mothers moth-ers as tactless. The p'oor old man nearly broke down. But the man from London made these efforts appear the amateurish things they were. He spoke of the whole country, from the highest (with who he frequently associated) to tho lowest (with whom his sympathies really were) straining every sinew to win this unprecedented war. We all gave of our best. He himself could not go to the front, so ho gave his money and his services. He was always al-ways going about the country making speeches. In London there were people peo-ple who criticized the governrr' t, who thought that hundreds of young lives had been paid as the price of stupidity in high places. Ho was in a position to contradict that. In tho present cabinet were the finest brains in both parties. How could one improve im-prove on that? Wo Avere all doing our bit; and in conclusion ho would say to everyone present that evening: Young man, are you doing your bit? |