ges, lies more in
their spirit than in any actual achievements. All of them came from the
industrial North, where the business of life is fiercely competitive,
and where each man is wont to seek his own fortune without much outward
consideration for his fellows. Yet in the field it would be impossible
to imagine minds less touched by selfishness or less influenced by any
notion of personal distinction or reward. They did their best for
Britain. Honours are but gifts of the capricious gods.

Thus "to put the cause above renown" is a principle of conduct often
identified with what is called the Public School spirit. Fortunately the
temper which it expresses extends far beyond the governing class in
England, and it animated the typical Territorial of the Great War. Like
all good soldiers, he was far too inarticulate and reserved to think of
putting it into words. His deeds spoke for him. _The Whitewash on the
Wall_ and _Hold your Hand out, Naughty Boy_ are not beautiful songs, but
the lads who have sung them in English lanes and Turkish gullies could
have shown no greater self-devotion had their songs been as solemn as
the Russian National Hymn, or as thrilling as the _Marseillaise_.

APPENDIX

_The following is an extract from a letter on the work of the Battalion
sent by General Sir F.R. Wingate, G.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O., High
Commissioner for Egypt, to the General-Officer-in-Chief of the Division,
when the Battalion left the Sudan._

GOVERNOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
KHARTUM.
_10th April 1915._

... during the few months they [the Battalion] have been in the Sudan
they have become thoroughly efficient soldiers in the strictest sense of
the term. Route marches, night operations, field days, hard drilling in
the Barrack square, digging trenches, gun and maxim drill, and last but
not least, constant practice on the ranges in addition to ordinary
garrison duties have transformed them into an alert body of trained
soldiers capable of taking their place anywhere. You can safely rely on
them to do--and do well--whatever duty they may be called upon to
perform against the enemy, and I am confident that they will yield to no
Battalion in the Division in regard either to training or fighting
efficiency. Should, by any chance, the Division be sent to the Near
East, you will find in the Battalion upwards of one hundred men fully
trained in camel riding and camel management, and this knowledge may
prove us