CLOTHING 25 



Crimea who stood with his back to a heavy fire, 

 daintily drawing on his white kid gloves, and saying 

 to his somewhat shaken company, "What's the 

 matter, men, what's the matter ? " and they pulled 

 themselves together. To go to ancient history, 

 what about the Spartans in the pass of Thermopylae ? 



Where would " pride and pomp, and circumstance 

 of glorious war" be without dandyism ? 



How would our volunteer army be recruited 

 unless the dress attracted — /. e. unless there was an 

 innate love of smartness in men ? And how much 

 does this feeling of smartness contribute to give 

 them that alertness of carriage and movement so 

 different from the majority of civilians ? Why do 

 we pay so much attention to keeping our men clean 

 and smart, to the set of a tunic, to the shine of a 

 button ? Why ? — 'because cleanness and smartness — 

 dandyism in fact — means self-respect, without which 

 no man is worth a . . . We had almost sworn ! We 

 mean a rap ... as a soldier. 



Who is to set the example in this, as in all things, 

 from the fit of a belt to the charging of a breach, but 

 the Officer ? 



Let us look at the other side of the question for a 

 minute or two. Men with ragged, dirty, and un- 

 soldierlike clothes, improvised head-dresses, and 

 unshaven chins, cannot help looking at each other 

 and thinking, " I am just as bad as that chap, what 

 a blackguard I must look." Thus they go about 

 feeling blackguards, and this very soon ends in 

 their being blackguards. 



