Postscript xiii 



our halting-place when he turned to our platoon to say 

 something. As he turned he fell, and I am sure he never 

 spoke. As soon as I could 1 went to him, but he was 

 beyond human aid. Our platoon sadly miss him, as he 

 could not do enough for us, and we are all extremely sorry 

 for you in your great loss." 



To this extract should be added one from a letter written 

 by Private Wood to a friend in Middlesbrough : 



I expect you would know poor Mr. Darwin. ... I was 

 in his platoon, and I can tell you he died a hero. He led us 

 absolutely regardless of the bullets from the German Maxim 

 guns and snipers that whistled all round him." 



Finally, Colonel Bell, his Commanding Officer, writes of 

 him : 



Loyalty, courage, and devotion to duty he had them 

 all. . . . He died in an attack which gained many compli- 

 ments to the Battalion. He was right in front. It was a 

 man's death." 



No soldier could wish a better epitaph. Yet something 

 remains to be said, because soldiering was for Erasmus only 

 a brief and splendid episode. Corporal Wearmouth's letter 

 bears witness not only to his gallantry in the supreme hour 

 of his life, but also to a quality that had been conspicuous 

 throughout its whole previous course, without mention of 

 which no account of him could be complete. He had the 

 most genuine sympathy with and affection for working 

 men, and never tired of trying to help them. And this 

 quality which made him love his work at Middlesbrough 

 brought him the keenest pleasure when soldiering came to 

 him as a wholly new and unlooked-for experience. He de- 

 lighted in his men, and especially enjoyed long expeditions 

 across the moors, often at night-time, with his Scouts. 

 And the men quickly appreciated his feeling, and responded 

 to it. " The Battalion loved him," says Colonel Bell, " and 

 called him Uncle." It would be hard to find anything 

 more eloquent than that one simple statement. 



This gift of sympathy was only one of many that made 

 his life at Middlesbrough a singularly happy and successful 

 one. He had all the attributes of a good man of business 



