War Letters of a Public-School Boy Part 25

In Your Own Case, Lieut. Paul Jones, In The Form Of His Last Letter And By The Testimony Of His Major, Has Left A Legacy Of Protest And Aspiration And Example Which I Ardently Trust And Believe Will Reinforce Powerfully The Spirit Of Regeneration, So Long Belated, That Is Already Beginning To Influence Materially The Britain Of Our Immediate Future. Sealed By The Sacrifice Of His Life, The Note Of A Saner And Purer National Life Set In His Letter By Your Son Will, Ere Half The Century Is Past, Give Us, I Am Confident, A Stronger And Mightier Britain.

From Mrs. Denbigh Jones, Llanelly:

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" That has been the ideal of these brave young souls. From one great joy to another your glorious boy led you on. He lived and moved with an intensity and a fullness beyond our slow dreams, as if rushing to consume everything in life worth reaching and learning in the given time. The intoxication of life which possessed him will shine for ever in your memory, as it was not of earth. He scaled the topmost crags of duty, and now his young voice still calls to us "far up the heights."

My son's nurse, for whom he had a warm and abiding affection, married Mr. W. W. Jones, of Llanelly, who wrote:

On behalf of my wife, his devoted and loving nurse Nan, and myself, we extend to you our most heartfelt and sincere sympathy in this great catastrophe of your lives through the death in action of your dear son Paul, whilst fighting for the rights of justice, humanity and freedom. He died like the hero he was. My wife was greatly distressed and painfully grieved when she learnt of the cruel loss you have sustained. Paul's name was a household word in our home. She always spoke of him as such a n.o.ble, unselfish and virtuous boy, good in spirit, great of heart. It is hard that he should be taken, his life already so rich in achievements and with its promise of a brilliant and golden future. By his death it is not only you, his parents, who will suffer; but Paul, being in himself a great democrat--which in these days we can ill afford to lose--the democracies of the world will suffer by the loss of such a gallant and n.o.ble gentleman.

From a man of letters:

Thinking of your great sorrow over the loss of that splendid boy of yours, there came to my mind that pa.s.sage in _Macbeth_ where Ross tells old Siward:

"Your son, my lord, has paid a soldier's debt; He only lived but till he was a man; The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed In the unshrinking station where he fought, But like a man he died.

SIWARD: Had he his hurts before?

ROSS: Ay, on the front.

SIWARD: Why, then, G.o.d's soldier be he!"

From the editor of a London daily newspaper:

It is infinitely tragic to hear day by day of this waste of the life of brilliant young men who were the hope of the future. And yet we must not say that it is waste. If we say that, then there is no mitigation of the sorrow. The price is appalling, but we must believe that it is being paid for a treasure the world cannot live without; and if that treasure is won, your sorrow will at least be a.s.suaged by the thought that it is not in vain, and that what you have lost the world has gained.

From a friend and colleague on the _Daily Chronicle_:

My wife idolised Paul for his lovableness and n.o.bility. The vision we had of him in his splendid youth has been made unforgettable by his glorious sacrifice.

From a Welsh editor:

The memory of Paul's rare and great qualities and the definite promise he gave of a very brilliant career will ever remain fragrantly in your hearts and in those of your friends who had the happiness to know him.

From an Irish editor:

I was impressed no less by his unaffected modesty than by his evident ability and high character. Many as have been the brilliant young lives lost in this war, there can have been but few which carried such high promise as his.

From a Scottish journalist:

The Greeks summed up human virtue in a phrase which can hardly be bettered--[Greek: kalos kai agathos]. In the promise of his life, and even more in the grandeur of his death, your son was [Greek: kalos kai agathos].

From a Dulwich schoolboy:

I can say nothing beyond this, that I feel certain Dulwich will not forget.

From his uncle, Mr. Brinley R. Jones, Llanelly:

What pride to have reared such a son and to know that he felt that the greatest thing in life was to lay all on the altar of his country! And to think of the gallant band whom he has joined--W. G. C. Gladstone, Rupert Brooke, Raymond Asquith, Donald Hankey, and many more.

"And ofttime cometh our wise Lord G.o.d, Master of every trade, And tells them tales of His daily toil, Of Edens newly made; And they rise to their feet as He pa.s.ses by, Gentlemen unafraid."

The tears came to my eyes, tears of joy and pride, when I read the extract from Paul's wonderful letter to Hal. We had looked forward to Paul serving England in his life--great service for which his transcendent gifts seemed to mark him out. It has been ordained, however, that his service is by way of Calvary. We can only wonder what it all means.

A colleague of mine in the Press Gallery wrote:

He was a fine fellow and you had good reason to be proud of him.

I was greatly struck by his last letter. It breathes a splendid spirit and reminds me of a pa.s.sage in my favourite essay in Stevenson: "In the hot fit of life, a-tip-toe on the highest point of being, he pa.s.ses at a bound on to the other side."

An old friend who knew Paul well and whose two sons were educated at Dulwich College wrote:

I grieve beyond measure at the pa.s.sing of so n.o.ble-hearted a man.

He, like others who have gone down in this horrible war, was of the very flower of our race--he even more than most of them; and the nation's loss is great, too. There are consolations even in such an affliction as yours; and the highest consolation of all must be that Paul willingly laid down his life for his fellow-men.

From Major David Davies, M.P., Llandinam:

Your gallant son's death brings to my mind a verse of Adam Lindsay Gordon's:

"Many seek for peace and riches, length of days and life of ease; I have sought for one thing, which is fairer unto me than these; Often, too, I've heard the story, in my boyhood, of the doom Which the fates a.s.signed me--Glory, coupled with an early tomb."

Your son has covered himself with imperishable glory, though his promising young life has suddenly been cut off. Is it too much to hope that those great principles for which he fought so n.o.bly will at last become the heritage of the whole world? He and those who have fallen with him will then have created a new earth, in which shall dwell peace and righteousness. I firmly believe it will be so; but it is up to us who are left behind to see to it that all the heroic sacrifices have not been made in vain, and that the "new order" will be worthy of those ideals which were cherished by the men who laid down their lives for them.

Of the many messages that reached us, none touched a deeper chord than the following:

_7th August, 1917._

I would like to convey to you my condolences in the loss of your son, Lieut. H. P. M. Jones. Although a stranger, I am moved to do this after reading in to-day's _Daily Chronicle_ the account of his career and those n.o.ble words he wrote in his letter home just before his death. I and those around me felt, "Here was a fine man and one the country could ill afford to lose." May it be some comfort to you in your grief, that your boy's death made at least one man say to himself: "I will try to be a better man."--ANONYMOUS.

A young Welsh musician wrote:

I cannot express how intensely I feel for you in your great sorrow at the death of Paul. Of surpa.s.sing intellect and n.o.ble ideals, he would have been invaluable to the country in the near future. I feel sure it must be a source of great pride and comfort to you that he made the supreme sacrifice in such a courageous way, so becoming to his n.o.ble soul. He will live for all time in my mind as the very essence of honour and idealism.

"That was a wonderful letter," writes a newspaper proprietor. "I have read nothing finer. It brought tears to my eyes, but it made me proud of my race."

The athletic editor of a London newspaper, who is an authority on public-school athletics, wrote:

In your son's death we have lost a model sportsman. I will long remember him, as will Dulwich and the young giants of the school he so splendidly led.

From an official of the House of Commons:

I have prayed earnestly that there may be comfort in your mourning, and in due time a binding-up of hearts so sorely broken. The record of his school life, vivid with success and leadership and, best of all, whole-hearted in its purity, wrung my heart as I thought of what had been lost to us. But I believe he has pa.s.sed on to other service.

"A life n.o.bly lived and n.o.bly died--the ideal"--such was the comment of an old colleague of mine, who has himself since lost a promising soldier son. "I venture to say," he added, "that his n.o.ble letter, written almost on the eve of his death, will carry healing to thousands and thousands of sorely-stricken hearts in these sad times.

It should be printed in letters of gold."

"Be sure," wrote an old Cardiff friend, "in all your sorrow that He who fashioned your boy so well and equipped him so fully, still has him in His own kind care and keeping; and that when you 'carry on,'

bearing your load bravely, your dear boy will be nearer to you than you often think, in some splendid service, too."