SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1021, ™ THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG. ~ 13 The riew Poor,-Once the Old Gentry, Have Changed Places With the New, Rich, Once the Small Traders, and Business Adventurers. LAST SIX YEARS HAVE CHANGED ENGLISH SOCIAL SPIRIT MORE THAN PRECEDING SIX CENTURIES THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLISH LIFE-L a Old Estates, in One Family for Hundreds of Years, Bought by War Profiteers. Men Went Out to War From Isolated Rural Districts and Poverty-Stricken City Tenements and Mingled for First Time in - - Their Lives--They Came Back Changed, Hating War, and Blaming Not Only Germans, But Civilization For It. Sir Philip Gibbs WN MANY ways the social history than in the six centuries in exaggeralion the sake of an easy and arresling phrase, yet it is exactly true of certain eharacteristics of English life and habit for the war was a convulsion which shook England to the core and broke up many of its old instincts and traditions of social faith. "dn spite of modern developments of democracy and industry, the progress of education, spirit of England has been more chan for ged in the last six years of [mic in their activities preceding them. Such a statement may seem fantastic [for a time ind the growth of cities, the World tructure and insular countryside the power and allegiance wl \ fast rooted to their coil ~mall farmers and tenantry change, LIKE CHAUCER'S ENGLAND. In counties like von, Warwick and Gloucester, Nor- folk and Suffolk, the peasant labor. €r was, in his ways of speech and thought, but little different from his forefathers of Tudor and Plantage- net times, spoke almost the guage of Chaucer, man, modernized, "yokel" the north wa dialect, and primitive i and understanding 80 that quick of south, west, The landed gentry, dn old country mansions, changed the cut of their clothes, danced the foxtrot, adopted the latest social fashion, but instinct ively, in the very fiber of their bodies, in allegiance to a tradition of life to a certain plot of land which was theirs, were intensely insular I remember a year or two before the war a startling instance of the conservatism of English life beyond thief CItTONT" Tt Was WHen thi craze for "'pdgeants" had caught hold of Eng- lisl¥ imagination, so that in many old towns the people dressed themselves in the costumes of the past, reread the history of their forefathers, and acted the drama of the centuries from Saxon times to their own pres- ent, In Norfolk there was such a pageant, and one scene of it was to represent a chapter of history when, five hundred years ago, the gentle- men of Norfolk, with tHeir squires, came to pay homage to Mary Tudor, thelr princess. Five centuries had passed, but every actor in the scene bore the same name, lived on the same soil, held the same pla.c, as those ancestors of his who had knelt before the Tudor princess. In a thousand ways like this Eng- land held to the past. The people were insular, and the sea which di- vided them from the Continent was England remained, until ) : : The old landed aristocracy maintained in the in its habits of thought. } posses; ed for hundreds of years, and the Somerset and De- | *Pirit of change, | | | | | ich they hae wad no s a great water of defense against the !sate in her island. except in outward, S uperficial things. WAR CHANGED EVERYTHING Then came ed the the war and chang- everything in spirit of the At first it English pe ple to the London [Seemed as though it would be like witted, the |Other wars of England --a and | expedition of incomprehensible in his | army, anf of young in tis outlook | See "foreign parts" foreign little professional lads eager to by taking the shilling They would fight gallantly, many would be killed, there would be exciting reading in the newsprints, and then the bells would ring for victory, the lads would go on again, hardly touched or altered. Even at Waterloo there had been only twenty-five thousand English soldiers. To the mass of English folk the Napoleonic wars had been a remote and distant thing, not affecting their own lives mu h. When the great World War broke out the British troops Who were sent, according to. thé pledge with France, were called the '"Expedition- ary Force," as in the old days. But presently the Regular Army was a King's spent, and presently all the youth of | the nation was sent out, the young- er brothers following the elder brothers, the married following the single men, fathers of families con- scripted like the boys at school. England was all in--al] her men, all her women, and no escape for any of them in the service of death. No living body in England was ex- empt from the menaces of destruc- tion. 'Death came out of the skies, and chose old men and women, nursing mothers, babies, anyone. The enemy attacked them in little homes in back streets, in big fac- tory gentres, in the heart of London. So England was no longer i | HAVE been after you to try Dr. Chase's Nerye F and vou always say tended more for women." A "Well, that is what I always understood, for I hear you women talking so much about using it." "Don't think men have bl well as women? It says here that Dr. Chase's Nerve Food forms new, rich blood and n the exhausted nerves back to health and vigor. "Yes." "Well, the doctor says it your nerves that are re- o your le fo Wie and nerves as. "Just Listen to This" "Just listen to this: 'Mr. A. W. Foster, 178 Le Breton street, Ottawa, Ont., writes: 'For a year I was troubled with "nerves," was restless, especially on retiring, and unable to sleep for hours. I was easily fatigued and very irritable. "'A friend told me to try . Chase's Nerve Food, and before I had used the treat- ment a week I was enjoying a food night's rest every night. I gained rapidly in every way and my general ealth is very much im- proved.' " : x "That sounds all right." "Yes. This statement is vouched for by Mr. E. M. Ahearn, the dru and is no doubt rugs, ' War, amazingly feudal in its ense of change and no desire for An island people, uninvaded for a thousand years, {with utter reliance on her flect as {an invincible shield, were suddenly | shocked into the knowledge that the | sea about them was no longer an im- | passable gulf between them and all | foreiegn foes. It was a shock which broke up the old psychology and the instincts of a thousand years. English youths went to the death fields, hundred thousand after hun- dred thousand, until four million men had gone that way. From first to last on all frents the men of the inglish counties--not Irish, or Scots, or Welsh, or Canadian, or Aus- tralian--made up sixty-four per cent. of the British fighting forces. They were English soldiers who fought most, and endured most, and died most, because the English soldiers most, because there were most of them, though the world {heard least of them, because the English people don't talk most about themselves, Out of every four men who went out to the World War one did not come back again, and of those {who came back many are maimed |and blinded and some are mad Eng- I. the . spirit and mind of E nd were altered by so great jan ordeal whih had come to every {honfe and heart. : Is WAR MADE | LABOR the | PROSPEROUS. was plainly visi- | ble. during. the war, especially to fighting men who |came home from the dirty ditches on three days' leave, or seven. The home-staying people--the old and | middle-aged, the women ,the workers [in the factories providing the ma- | terial and munitions of war, the gov- jcrament officials, clerks, and em- ployers of labor, even the young girls--seemed to be possessed by a new energy, a more vital spirit, a restless and energetic excitement. They were all 'out to win." They were all, in big ways or little, dyna- S1. GEORGE'S BOY ScOuTS In many ways alteration Entertained at a Banquet and Concert on Thursday Evening. | As a sequel to last week's suceesa- ful play and concert giveu in'St. George's hall, a delightful supper was given Thursday evening when the of- tie€rs and members of St. George's | Boy Scout Troop No. 2, sat down to | oe tables which were artisticaily ar- ranged, with a St. George's cross in ired in the centre. | The generosity of Percy H. Hall is to be commented 'on, as this supper | was eatirely got up by him and given { to thoge who took part in the enter- | tainmént last week. There were also present Dean Starr, Rev. W. E. Kidd, the scoutmaster, and Herbert D. Harling, the medical instructor, who is using his knowledge gained during the war, in the Royal Army Medical Corps and British Red Cross Society, towards the boys of this troop gwho are learning first aid. Other guests present were Miss Eva Newell, Mr. Betts and Percy Otten. Other ladi=s ie attendance were Misses Emily Billings, Alma Stafford, J. Louckes and Mrs. Locke who arranged the tables. * After a sumptuous repast, the toast to "The King" was proposed by Percy Hall, after which the dean proposed a toast to Percy Hall, which was heartily responded to. In his speech the dean laid particular stress on the duties of a boy scout and con- gratulated them on 'their fine lead- ers. He stated that Percy Hall's in- terest in scout matters was a result of a visit last year to Clapham, in abolished." University professors were acting as field labor- ers. Patrician women were making munitions with factory girls. A great, strong, spiritual wind seemed to have swept through all classes of English life, It had cleansed even the slums of great English cities which had seemed past cleansing. Before the war an immense population in England crowded into the cities, had lived below the poverty line or on the thin edge of it--miserably, precari- ously, dirtily. There was a mass of flogting, casual labor often out of work, huddled in the hovels of back streets, in flithy conditions. Their children were ragged, barefooted, underfed. Now those conditions had been altered by the war. The demand for labor was so great that every able-bodied man could get a good wage. The government and the em- ployers paid great wages for skilled work. Mechanics who had found trouble in getting forty or fifty shil- lings a week now gained two hun- dred or three hundred shillings a week. Amy girl with her hair hang- ing down her back or tied into a pigtail . could get a wage that her father would have envied before the war. Munitions girls were getting three and four pounds a week, some of them far more than that. Small families, all working, paid by gov- ernment money, raked in an incredi- ble weekly revenue. "For the first time they had a broad margin of money for the fun of life as well as for its sharp necessities. I remember being home on leave once during the war and walking ™n the park of a poor district of Lon- don on a bank holiday--that day when the poor people used to come out of their slums in their rags to enjoy a little liberty. This time there were no rags, b ut well-dressed children, girls over-dressed in the imitation of fashionable ladies, a strange new look of prosperity and well-being. At that time the work- ers in factory towns had more mon- ey than they knew how to use, and bought absurd little luxuries, and grabbed at the amusements of life without thought of the morrow. There were pianos in the homes of coalheavers, and the wives of labor- ers wore fur coats--in summer as well as in winter. : The fighting man, back from the ------ tion to the splendid work of Sergt. A. Middleton, R.E., who was unable to attend, owing to his recent illness, from which he is rapidly recovering in Sydenham hospital. He also stated that the troop is to be congratulated on obtaining the able sérvices of Sergt.-Major Wesley, R.F.A.,, and Herbert D. Harling as signalling and medical instructors. Affer the supper a well arranged concert was given. Mise Eva Newell recited in her usual delightful man- ner, "Tit for Tat" and "The Usual Way." Mr. Betts who also very amus- ing in selections from his repertoire, whilst Herbert D. Harling, a promis- ing English vocalist, sang with good effect, "Coming to You", and was heard with greater advantage in "Rainbow of Love," both pieces com- His Back Dees Not Bother Him At All MANGER WASSON PRAISES DODD'S KIDNEY PILLS New Brunswick Man Grows Enthus- iastic Over His Return to Health and Gives Dodd's Kidney Pills the C Sisson Ridge, Victoria Co., N.B., April 8th (Special) -- Enthusiastic over the benefit he has received from the use of Dodd's Kidney Pills, Mr. Manger Wasson, a well-known resi- dent here, is telling his story to all who suffer from kidnéy troubles. "I had an awful lame back and was not able to do any work," he states. "I tried two good doctors and they could do* nothing for me, so 1 tried Dodd's Kidney Pills. Now 1 am as well as ever. My back does not bother me at all. Dodd's Kidney BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS ery day and every minute of every day for ome shilling two-pence, was startled by the money made by the luckier men who worked for war at home. He saw injustice there, in- equality of service and reward, and sometimes was bitter and blasphem- ous on the subject. But, on the whole, the soldier did not begrudge the money earned by the home work- ers. They were his folk. He was glad of their tuck, though he did notishare it. He believed that when he came home--if he came home!-- he, too, would get high wages for any job he might get. His wrath, and the wrath of the home workers (in spite of their own prosperity) 'were resérved for the manufacturers and financiers who were making enormous profits out of government contracts--vast profits out of the massacre. "The profi- teers," as they were called, became the worst hated class in England by the masses of working people, and by the old gentry who gave their youths to war, according to old tra- ditions and the law of their caste, without any reward b ut that of pride and honor. They saw themselves doomed by the uprising of the New country squire, the nobleman of the old order, aloof from trade and manufacturers, gave their wealth to the service of the state as they gave their sons, and upon them fell, year by year, a heavier burden of taxa- tion. Before the end of the war, and after the end of it, many of them sold their estates, which had been in their families for hundreds of years, sold also their family treas- ures. The New Rich took possession of many old mansions, bought the family heirlooms of the old regime, renovated and vulgarized old his- toric laces. : I know one family of the ancient order whose history in the war is typical of others. There were four sons, an dall of them were in the army or navy, and two of them were killed. The daughters became nurses and devoted themselves to the wounded guring all the years of war. The 'mother died by the strain of war. Increasing taxation bore down heavily upon an already impoverished estate. The father, a peer whose name belongs to the great memories of England, sold the pictures of his ancestors to an Am- erican millionaire, then the treasures and relics of his house. It is now posed by Arthur Meale, one of Eng- land's leading composers. Arnold Fair sang "When all the Year is Young, Lad", and responded to the vigorous encore he always re- ceives. A pianoforte solo was render- ed by Péter Fair which was heartily enjoyed. J A solo was sung by Percy Hall whilst the concluding item was a vieo- lin selection by Messers, Betts and H. D. Harling, with Percy Otten as accompanist, after which the even- ing"s entertainment came to a suc- cessful finish by a short speech by the scoutmaster and the singing of 'God Save the King." Resigned His Position, Cobourg, April 9. -- William G. Wildbar has resigned his position as superintendent of the Cobourg mat- ting and carpet factory. He has been with thé factory for twenty-six years, and bas been superintendent for twel- ve years. The employees took ad- vantage of the oecasion to present him with a purse and an appreciative address. Engine's Fault, ' One day Pat was leaning against the wall of a railway station smoking his pipe, while an engine was getting up steam ready to leave the station. Above Pat's head was a notice with the words--'No smoking allowed." In a short time the guard walked up to Pat and exclaimed: "Look here, my man, do you not sce the notice up there, that there is to be no smoking allowed?" "Well," said Pat, "an' shure I'm not smoking aloud it's that blessed engine over there that's kicking up all the row." --Spare Moments, Caste was | trenches, w here he risked death ev- [an empty shell ,and the eldest son, back from the war, farms a little plot of land, with one of the New Rich in possession of the great es- tate, which belonged to the family since the first Charles was king. A social. revolu- tion has been ac- complished in England by this turn in the wheel of fortune. The New Poor--once the old gentry-- are scraping along on tne remnants of former wealth; the New Rich possess their places, and so far have not learned those traditions of kind- ness, of generosity, and of noble manners which made the older gen- try pleasant people, whatever 'faults they had. In a way previously un- known to a great extent in England, small traders, little manufacturers, business adventurers without cap- ital or power, seized the chance of war, the needs of a government reck- less of all cost, provided the sup- plies of war came in, and made rapid progress to great prosperity. Their profits mounted higher and higher, and, though the government imposed upon them an excess-pro- fits duty, most of them dodged it, in one. way or another, NEW POOR AGAINST NEW RICH. MIDDLE CLASS HARDEST HIT. It was the mid- dle-class man or woman that was hardest hit by taxation before the ending of the war, and by the prices of life's ne- cessities risirg higher and higher revery month. The laboring classes kept mostly beyond the pace of these rising prices by rising wages. Well organized and fully aware of their new importance as the work- ers for victory, they saw to it that their wages should always be on the upgrade and beyond the tide of iiv- ing costs. If that did not happen they went on strike, and the govern- ment yielded--every time. The government paid every kind of wage for work, though secretly it knew that there would be a fearful reck- oning when victory was assured, if it might be assured, which was not al- ways certain. But there were many people between the, devil and the deep blue sea---between the profi- teers and organized labor. They were unorganized. They were liv- ing on the Interest of small capital. They were dependent on fixed sal- aries, or professional fees which could not be increased. Their rents A AAA AA ta Fire Destroys Belleville Home, But Inmates Escape Belleville, April 8.--A fire, start- ing about midnight, completely de- stroyed the frame dwelling, with all its contents, of George Naylor, G. T. R. engineer, living on the east side of MacDonald, just outside the were raised. The income-tax asses- sor had no mercy on them. The cost of living frightened them. They were reduced to a state of stinting and scraping, underfeeding, cling- ing to shabby clothes. They, more than any, belonged to the New Poor, : Then at last the war ended and masses-of men came back from the batilefields, 'leaving an Army of Ghosts behind them---their dead comrades. Then all things changed under the surface of English fife. Thos: men who came back were not the same men as those who had gone away, They had been utterly changed. They had gone out from villages in England where their life had THE MEN WHO CAME BACK. been very narrow, very limited in ideas and speech. Many of the boys in those villages were as simpie and unthinking as the peassats of the Middle Ages. From the city slums they had gone out in the big battalions, and the undersized, underfed, ill-aired lads of that city life had been broadenéd and strengthened, well fed, well air- ed in an outdobr life that was heal- thy and fine when it was n ot deadly and dreadful. They had taken frightful risks as a daily habit, un- til the thought of death was not much to them. They had mixed and talked with men of many minds. They had thought strange thoughts in the silence of night watches with the instant menace of Geath abcut them. ' Some of them were broken im nerve. Some of them were brats) ized and demoralized by this life of war. Many of them were bitter and resentful of the things they had bad to do and suffer and see, All of them hated war. Most of them had come to think that not only the Germans were guilty of the war, though most gufity, b ut that soide- thing was wrong with itself, with the governments of na- tions, with the Old Men who Rud because this massacre had been are ranged or allowed. (To Be Continued.) Copyright, 1921, by Harper & Bros. Published by arrangement with the McClure Newspaper Syndi- cate, . extremg northeast part of Belleville, Mr. and Mrs. Naylor escaped With only their night clothes. Three chil- dren, aged from nine to seventeen, also escaped without harm. r---- Knox College alumni presented il luminated address to Rev. Prof. Jas Ballantyne, D.D, - Accept only an ysicians R Aspirin Nothing Else is Aspirin Warning! Unless you see the name "Bayer" on tablets, yourare not getting Aspirin at all. "unbroken package" of "Bayer Tablets of . Aspifin," which contains directions and dose worked out by P during 21 years and proved safe by millions for sent the young men to the trenches, . 3 Little Manufacturers ph Headache, Earache, Toothache, Neuralgia, Colds, Rheumatism, try some of Dr. Chase's oye, I will give it a try- out, Dr. Chase's Nerve Food, 80 cents a box, all dealers, or Edmanson, Bates & Co Ltd., Toronto. the South West district of London, England, the headquarters of the Boy Scout Association. The dean al- luded to the founder, Baden-Powell, who was one of the best soldiers and citizens of his time. In response, Mr. Hail drew aiisa- Pills have done me a wonderful lot of good." Dodd's Kidney Pills are purely and Simply a kidney remedy. They strengthen the kidneys and enable them to strain 'all the impurities out of the blood. Ask your neighbors about Dodd's Kidney Pills. jesniereace. National Dairy Council favors more stringent regulations on ole- margarine, : Toronto Labor Council will send representatives to May Dag Socialis: Neuritis, Lumbago, and pain generally. Made in Canada. Tandy tin boxes of 12 tablets cost but a few conte--Larger packaged. Aspirin 1s ¢ de mark ( ered in Canadas) of --_~ 3 a ae Whise it fe well known gainst imitations, t trade mark, hs Kalteyn manufacture, to assist the public a Wil do stamped with thelr general Manufacture of Tha an the "Rayer Crome"