that his “Recruiting” is poetry; but it’s Truth and it’s what many a lad in khaki has thought. Its inspiration was a frenzied poster, of which the intent was to shame men into enlisting. It made Mackintosh picture the people who had framed it:—
“Fat civilians wishing they
Could go out and fight the Hun.
Can’t you see them thanking God
They are over forty-one?
Could go out and fight the Hun.
Can’t you see them thanking God
They are over forty-one?
Help to keep them nice and safe
From the wicked German foe.
Don’t let him come over here!
Lad, you’re wanted! Out you go!”
From the wicked German foe.
Don’t let him come over here!
Lad, you’re wanted! Out you go!”
Then he paints the picture of how the poster ought to have read:—
“There’s a better word than that,
Lads, and can’t you hear it come
From the million men who call
You to share their martyrdom.
Lads, and can’t you hear it come
From the million men who call
You to share their martyrdom.
Leave the harlots still to sing
Comic songs about the Hun,
Leave the fat old men to say,
‘Now we’ve got them on the run.’
Comic songs about the Hun,
Leave the fat old men to say,
‘Now we’ve got them on the run.’
Better twenty honest years
Than their dull threescore and ten.
Lad, you’re wanted! Come and learn
To live and die with decent men.
Than their dull threescore and ten.
Lad, you’re wanted! Come and learn
To live and die with decent men.
