Series 01 Part 02: Hughes family correspondence, 3 April 1917-22 September 1918 - Page 162
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[Page 162]
5.
round the place & drinking hard and they are very very liable to make fools of themselves. I suppose there is a certain exhilaration about flying, especially in the early stages, that also tends to give these kids somewhat swollen head. Luckily most of them go off to France before they have time to come to much harm. I have often spoken to other Australians & Canadians on the subject and I am quite convinced that the average man from overseas has a far cleaner and more wholesome outlook on life than the average Englishman.
Once I had a rather heated argument with an officer who was considerably older than myself. He was a very curious type of Englishman who had been a schoolmaster before the war and was amazingly insular. He had never been on active service but had been stationed in Egypt and tried on the old game of running down the Australians for their performances in Egypt. I listened to what he had to say & then told him that as he had spoken frankly and made definite accusations against us I would not only answer them but would be even more frank with him. I then gave him ten minutes of the bitterest criticism I have ever given anyone and told him some hard home truths about Englishmen. He went away much hurt and offended for I did not spare his feelings. But next day he came to me and said that he had gone to bed that night and thought over what I