Ballad of Army Pay
In general, if you want a man to do a dangerous
job : —
Say, swim the Channel, climb St. Paul's, or break
into and rob
The Bank of England, why, you find his wages
must be higher
Than if you merely wanted him to Fight the kitchen
fire.
But in the British Army, it's just the other
way.
And the maximum of danger means the minimum
of pay.
You put some men inside a trench, and call them
infantrie,
And make them face ten kinds of hell, and face it
cheerfully ;
And hve in holes Uke rats, with other rats, and
hce, and toads,
And in their leisure time, assist the R.E.'s with
their loads.
Then, when they've done it all, you give 'em each
a bob a day !
For the maximum of danger means the minimum
of pay.
40
We won't run down the A.S.C., nor yet the
R.T.O.
They ration and direct us on the way we've got
to go.
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poem by Frederick William Harvey
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