The Greeks and Their Ways - Rushden Man in The Military Police
The Greek Fair Sex: Clothed in Sackcloth and Washed in Ashes
“Will Run a Jew Close at a Bargain”
Life in the army at __________ must be a sort of picnic from the account given by Lce-Cpl L. Waring, of the Military Foot Police, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Waring, of 10 Fitzwilliam-street, Rushden. He writes home an amusing letter describing the Greeks and their ways. He says:

“I have had my ‘phiz’ taken in full war paint, and you will see I am not fading away much! In fact, my health leaves nothing to be desired. I never suffer the slightest ache or pain and am able and more than able to do all that is required of me.

“Since I changed from the R.A.M.C. to the Military Foot Police, life has seemed more like a holiday than anything else. I never get downhearted and that is why I can always register ‘A1 at Lloyds.’ I am glad you send me the ‘Rushden Echo’ regularly as I like to be kept in touch with Rushden news.

“It seems hardly credible that you should have been getting such rough weather in England while here the weather is simply grand. All I have on during the day when I am off duty is an undervest, trousers, cap, socks and boots. The temperature during the day runs up to somewhere about 100 in the shade. We have now had slouch hats issued to us (Buffalo Bill Style), and they are much more comfortable than the regimental hats.

“So it is reported in the papers that fighting is likely to take place here, eh? Well, I dare say I am as near as some of those ‘Special Correspondents,’ and, from what I can judge, there will not be any fighting here. You will understand that the ‘Special Correspondent’ has got to pitch a yarn to keep up excitement in order to justify his existence as a ‘Correspondent.’ The art of being a successful war correspondent is to keep the public on edge with ‘news’ – not the lack of it.

“I have not seen anything of the Greek ‘fair sex’ yet beyond the gipsy type. They dress in sackcloth and wash in ashes by the looks of them! They are mostly of a mahogany colour, tall and spare in build, more or less aquiline in features. They are slow in movement, but run a Jew close at a bargain!

“I bought a Turkish silver hunter watch from a Greek gipsy man the other day. He wanted 25 francs for it and I offered him ten francs. After about 20 minutes of bartering I gave him 19 francs for it (about 15s 10d in English money). I dare say it would cost about 35s new in England, but I think articles in that line are cheaper here than at home. On the whole they are people not difficult to get on with when they are fairly treated.”

Before the war Mr. Waring was a constable in the Northampton County Police and was stationed at Wellingborough. The holder of the First Class Certificate in the St. John Ambulance Brigade, he joined the R.A.M.C. in October, 1914, and thirteen months later he went overseas. He was transferred as Lance-Corpl to the M.F.P. on May 12th last and is evidently doing remarkably well. In all his letters he speaks with confidence of an early and decisive victory for the Allies.

His brother, Private Hubert Waring, is serving with the Northamptons in the Eastern theatre of the war.

Rushden Soldier’s Ideals – The Brighter England
The Hohenzollern Octopus

The following are extracts from a letter written by Lance-Corporal LL. Waring (Military Foot Police, Salonika Forces), son of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Waring, Fitzwilliam Street, Rushden, and formerly a member of Wellingborough Police Force:

L-Cpl L Waring

“As for the Americans, they will just about have trained and have mobilised an army in time for the flag waving. In any case, it is no pleasant outlook for Germany to think that even if she can hang out with us for another twelve months there will be something like three or four million Americans to face.

Certainly the enemy are causing the people in England some inconvenience by the submarines, but these will have a severe handling and will become less and less effective after a time.

“You ask ‘What are we fighting for’ and mention that the majority of people say ‘Ideals.’  Well, of course, that sounds all right. In my opinion, we are fighting to prevent the Hohenzollern octopus from encircling the earth with its far-reaching tentacles. In simpler words, the Germans are a commercial and business nation with an arrogant and over powering sense of their own importance. The lust of power is the root of all evil in the German.  They believe that ‘the earth is theirs and the fullness thereof,’ and that Germany is the centre of the Universe. This was caused by their methods, born of arrogant selfishness, to ram these ideas down the throats of all and sundry. We are fighting just to let them see that although Germany may be the hub of the universe, we have a spoke in the wheel.

“This war is helping to root out evils (too well known) in England that nothing else could do so effectively, and we shall be the better for it in more ways than one. For the last five years immediately before the war it was recognised on every hand that the question of land cultivation was sadly neglected in England, and yet the authorities only tinkered about with that matter. A Board or a Royal Commission was formed, and inspectors toured the country, but it all ended in smoke. Conditions existing to-day have opened their eyes and forced them to get a move on.