The extent to which the common place prejudices of Labour may find their way into an elenientary schoolboy's exercise are rather strikingly shown in the following essay on "Patriotism" written by a Form V boy in a London school:
"Patriotism means love of country During this Great War many people have declared themselves to be patriotic and they have shouted it from the house tops and in public meetings; but these sort of people only get as far as that. The real patriot goes and fights for his so-called country and he does not let every-one know. The majority of the rich people and members of Parliament call themselves patriots but they never help to fight although they are on the spot at once when the spolia are being divided.
The real Patriot is the one whose love of country leads him to do some good for his country and not go slaughtering other innocent men. When I say do good for his country I mean when he tries to get Education Acts passed
children to a Secondary School or when that poorer people max put their he tries to get. the conditions of his fellow work mates improved and ¢o they don't have to work all the hours of the day so they can live on the week's wages. Another thing is that he would try to put down profiteering or he would attempt to help the Russians who are fighting of Liberty. Such men as these are Bob Williams, Bob Smillie, Philip Snowden, Henderson."* It is a neat and careful production in form, but the matter of it might have been taken verbatim from a Hyde Park Socialist's speech. There is the old fallacy that the well-to-do did nothing in war, except divide the spoils," that the eneniies of England were "Gnnocent" men; and it is very obvious that the young writer has taken his idea of "the real patriot" from men of the "Conscientious Objector" type. The whole essay is based on the assumption that Labour men are the only people sincerely interested in the welfare of the countts. Tt is significant that so distorted a piece of class prejudice can find its way into a school essay.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.