PHARAOH AND THE SERGEANT.
BY RUDYARD KIPLING.
. .consider that the meritorious services of the Sergeant Instructors attached to the Egyptian Army have been inadequately acknowledged . . To the excellence of their work is mainly due the great improvement that has taken place in the soldiers of H. H. the Khedive. Extract from letter.
Said England unto Pharaoh, "I must make a man of you
That will stand upon his feet and play the game;
That will Maxim his oppressor as a Christian ought to do."
And she sent old Pharaoh Sergeant Whatisname.
It was not a Duke nor Earl nor yet a Viscount—
It was not a big brass General that came,
But a man in khaki kit who could handle men a bit,
With his bedding labelled Sergeant Whatisname.
Said England unto Pharaoh, "Tho' at present singing small,
You shall hum a proper tune before it ends,"
And she introduced old Pharaoh to the Sergeant once for all,
And left 'em in the desert making friends.
It was not a Crystal Palace nor Cathedral,
It was not a public house of common fame,
But apiece of red-hot sand, with a palm on either hand,
And a little hut for Sergeant Whatisname.
Said England unto Pharaoh, "You've had miracles before,
When Aaron struck your rivers into blood;
But if you watch the Sergeant he can show you something more—
He's a charm for making riflemen from mud."
It was neither Hindustani, French, nor Coptic;
It was odds and ends and leavings of the same,
Translated by a stick (which is really half the trick),
And Pharaoh hearked to Sergeant Whatisname.
(There were years that no one talked of: there were times of horrid doubt;
There was faith and hope and whacking and despair;
