[Page 241]
thinking the same though 'How pleasant it would be to just go back and sleep in a Comfortable bed and. have a nice hot dinner and be waited on by clean Stewards in white duck suits. Probably everyone, amongst the thousands on shore has some such thought, and is either thinking of the Ship he has left, or off his home. Thousands are searching for a drop of water, just to make the bully beef and biscuits go down. Thousands of wounded are wending their weary suffering way to the beaches, waiting their turn to be conveyed to the hospital ships, which look so clean and so comfortable, outside the bay, lit up by innumerable coloured lights, which sparkle on the bay.
A vision arises before your eyes. It is that of the old Steward with the vacuum cleaner, still at work dragging it slowly to and fro across the gaudy carpet at the top of the stairs. That old man has learned philosophy. He understands nought of the war, and cares still less. He has his job and the carpet must be kept clean. The worlds work must be carried on in spite of this world struggle, and their is probably not one amongst the thousands, who are lying in the open hungry, thirsty, and weary, who would not willingly exchange places with him.
[Seven pages of end-papers and cover]
[Edited by Peter Mayo for the State Library of New South Wales]