HLI Chronicle 1907 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

26
HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.
red, white, and blue,~ully a foot long; and
next morning I took the liberty of saying­
"Geordie, face aboot and look at yerseI'."
With head erect, shoulders well back and chest
,well to the front, I' marched out with my
bundle of posters under my wing. At the
closemouth was a group of mothers, arid like
. a roll of distant thunder I heard, "Eh! the
s(lOondral, he's come to tak' awa' oor laddies."
The lassies! If I could have 'listed them,
what a big squad I could have got! The
bairns! ,a wee bundle followed on, shouting­
~. Hie, sodger, wull ye 'list me 1" A clap on
the cheek, a pat on the heid, and at once they
became my sworn friends. Recruiters, be
gude to the bairns; they are the surest way
to the hearts of the mothers. The posters!
All the pubs wanted thebufl'-coloured artistic
poster. All well to have the posters inside,
but you bide outside. Inside is bad for the
eyes, hands, feet, character, and will empty
. the. pouch. Give the pub a wide berth. I
was sauntering near the railway station;
my eyes landed on a smart young country loon.
His very walk said, "I've come to 'list."
At once my paw was on him. Nineteen years
of age, 5 feet 71 inches height, 34 inches round
the chest. Will I risk him ~ A week on the
Square and he will be over standard height.
In the Queen's name he got the shilling;
passed the doctor sweeping; swore him in.
Kept him for three days; took him to Glasgow.
The Sergeant-Major-".Five-seven and threequarters
fully." The Adjutant-" Who
brought that recruit' here 1" Thrown out,
and me with him; nearly lost my job, and lost
one pound. Consolati~n-" If at first you
don't succeed, try, try,try again." I had this
comfort, too: a few days afterwards I met
my rejected' recruit in the uniform of the
,auld Forty-Two,. Was I squashed Certainly
no'. Persever.ance and determination
came to the rescue.
.' , Need I say.a recruiter needs to be all eyes 1
Morning, noon, and night, he must be on his
.. w.atch-tower. It was nearing 5 p.m. Geordie
was whistling a few bars of "Jenny, Put the
Itettle On." Away at the head of Broad
Street a dusty, weary-looking, yet swankylooking,
lad stopped at a public well, took a
big drink, and, in very slow. time, moved
,towards the Castle. Like a· flash Geordie
,was down the stair and up Broad Street. On
"t~e Castle Esplanade, sauntering in aimless
. fashion, he .saw his..fishi . Now, there are some
.lads.who are like leeches-they want the blood,
buttihey need to be tickled a wee bit, and very
gently, before they will bite. They want to
enlist-they have come for that very purposebut
the tickle is needed. Every advance was
.met with, "I'm no' tae 'list." which was met
with, " I never asked you to. enlist." A weary
move from one foot to the other, and then he
says-" Ma faither an' me fell oot, an' I
just cam' awa' this mornin." "I'm just
going to have tea; come and have tea with
me." "Thank ye awfu' muckle. I'll come,
bit mind I'm no' tae 'list." "Who, asked ye
tae 'list, ye gommeral Come awa' and,ha'e
yer tea. Your looks plainly say, ' I'm awfu'
hungry.''' And he· came, and pac\i:ed in:o,
"tightener." After a smoke and a crack,
Geordie said, "Weel, I'm on business, so I'll
say 'Ta-ta.''' The fish-" Ye ha'e been
awfu' kind tae me; I'll 'list." Geordie­
"I'll no' ha'e ye, except ye are perfectly
willing. It's only willing lads that are wanted
in my Regiment." The fish-" I've come
fifteen miles fur tae 'list, so just tip me the
bob "-and Wattie was enrolled in the old
71st, passed the doctor, and sworn-in. I was
complimented at Glasgow, and got £2 16s.,
for that fine haul. I had the satisfaction of
seeing W attie turn out a smart soldier.
It was just gone 7 a.m. Tingle goes the
bell. "A man's wanting to see you, Sergeant."
" Well, what do you want Are you a
:Militiaman " "Me No"-lie number one.
"Are you married" " Me ~ No "-lie
number two. "All right. I'll see you at the
·foot of Broad Street at 8.30." You see a
recruiter must be very cute. The cut of his
hair indicated a Militia cut, and he had the
look of being a married man.
7.30 a.m. Tingle goes the bell. "A young
woman wants to see you, Sergeant." A
respectable young woman breaks down, weeping-"
Please, Sergeant, ma man an' me had
a cast oot. He had been drinking, ye ken.
It's the Militia money he gets when he breaks
doon that does it. An' we had high words,
an' he left me in a rage an' said he wud 'list.
Try an' help me, Sergeant. He's a kind
husband, an' no' gi'en much tae the drink.
It's only the Militia money that sets him on
the spree." I found out where she was
staying, and said, "I'll see you at 9 o'clock."
4t 8.30 I met the would-be recruit. His
first words were-" Sergeant, ye micht stan'
me a wet." I red him with past knowledge.
"It's th a bounty that has set
you 011 the booze, and your decent young
wife disapproves of that sort of thing; and
because she told you so, you got ~n a rage, and