Celebrations; Sergeants as Waiters 4GQERGEANT, fetch me some more plum pudding" orders the private soldier, and meekly, the Sergeant, whose stentorian tones on the drill square would scare a legion of the most ferocious wild beasts, obeys the command, and places another helping before the soldier.
This is not a page out of the most fantastic of fiction stories but a reality, but it only happens during one da of the whole-year, for on Christmas Day the ordinary "Tommy in the British Army comes into his own and woe betide the N.C.O. who does not serve him in the, real Savoy Hotel style.
It has been the custom in British regiments for many years past to give their men a real happy Christmas, and with this object in view, extra special Yuletide fare, including plum puddings, and a host of other good things make their appearance on the messroom table, duties are cut down to the minimum, and to make the observance eyen more pleasant, Sergeants act as waiters.
There is one snag, however, to the latter innovation, for if d misguided "Tommy" may happen to raise his voice should his soup be a little cold and upbraid the poor waiter, there are still 364 days during the year when Sergeants are Sergeants and not waiters.
Christmas time in the Army is a time of pleasure for the soldier, and although the "Tommy" serving abroád may count himself very unlucky not to be at home with the old dalks, "there is no doubt that these men who are thousands of miles away from their native heaths, have a more elaborate spread than do their compatriots in the barrack towns of Eng. land, America and France, who have been unlucky enough not to have gained Christmas furlough. For the men serving abroad the authorities of each country give a special thought as Yuletide approaches, and for them comes the best of food, some of it from Home, and plenty of leizuro time.
In Shanghai the British, American and French forces will celebrate Christmas in the traditional style, much care having been devoted to the arrangements by the officers of each wnit, whose special duty it is at this time of the year to see that the men, many of whom have precious little Jeizure owing to onerous perimeter and guard duties, receive a great deal of pleasure during this festive season All arrangements have been concluded to give the men of the 2nd Battalion, the East Surrey Regiment, a real rousing Christmas, and even those soldiers who have been unlucky enough to be detailed for perimeter and guard duties, will receive their share of the special fare which is to be served on Christmas Day. be decorated, and Sergeants will act as waiters.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.