IN SERIOUS VEIN.
The Ypres Times.
225
In conclusion, may I, on Lord Plumer's behalf, convey his best thanks here for the
most generous response to his broadcast message The letters received from the relatives
who were thus enabled to attend the Menin Gate ceremony were full of feehng and sincere
and honest gratitude.
W. P. PULTENEY, Lieut.-General,
Chairman, Ypres League.
GOOD NAME."
Good name in man or woman dear my lord is the immediate jewel of their souls."
Shakespeare.
It is said that out of the many gallant deeds and examples of devotion to duty only
a few cases receive official recognition, the rest pass unnoticed. You may say, What
is the use of being devoted to duty or performing acts of gallantry, it may not be noticed
or I may die in the effort, and he in a nameless grave forgotten."
All cannot receive official recognition, but to say that the rest pass unnoticed is not
true.
It is not the gaily bedecked streets, the frantic cheering of a crowd, the speeches
and receptions that perpetuate a man's name. Such things are only transitory, the
attraction of a moment, to be forgotten as soon as a new attraction presents itself.
The pomp and circumstance of a funeral and the elaborate stone do not keep alive
the memoryr any more than the rude cross on shell-torn hill or the nameless grave in the
desolate places. It is in the hearts of your comrades that a living monument is erected.
By your name shall you be spoken of long after the outward show of pomp and cere
mony is forgotten. Among us now are men who fought in wars years ago. They tell
us yarns of men who fought by their sides. They speak of them by their names, of their
bravery or cowardice, goodness, or badness, their behaviour in a certain battle when
perhaps all of us had forgotten that such a battle ever took place. As it is told of them,
so truly it will be told of us. Men who stand in the valley of the shadow of death reveal
their true self. Gone are the petty deceits, the turn of words, the quibbles of class and
mass, the assumption of bravery which perhaps hides the true man.
In the suffering and trial for life the soul is laid bare, a name for good or bad is made,
and as you are found truly afterwards shall you be spoken of.
The feeling of acute sorrow at the death of a comrade who died doing his duty, or
the anger at the man who lived shirking it, may be forgotten in the struggle for life, but
in the time of rest it returns and he is spoken of without fear or favour according to his
true character. His little peculiarities, incidents in his life, his sayings, etc., are retained
for all time in your memory.
So, in many years to come, in quiet times of peace, whether you survive or not, your
name shall live in the hearts of the men who fought with you. A living monument far
greater than of wood or stone shall be erected to your memory. The shaping and the
writing on the monument is of your own making, and is one either of honour and glory
or dishonour and shame.
Reprinted by kind permission of the Editor, The bih K.S.L.I. News."
