Answering their nations' calls to don khaki and join in the Great War took so many hitherto comfortable men out of their comfort zones.
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One hundred years ago this week "Clio" of Melbourne's Punch reported how one refined young man sharing a tent with seven members of the lower classes at the Broadmeadows army camp got scoffed at last thing every night. "For saying his prayers? No, for wearing pyjamas!"
And 100 years ago this week Sydney's Globe published "THE LAY OF THE CIVILIAN, TURNED TOMMY."
I was never cut out to be
An early-morning riser; And now I am shaving by candle-light, And all because of the Kaiser. I was always the one to spend; Of money I was no miser; And now I live on a bob a day, And all because of the Kaiser. I was never inclined to walk, Driving I thought much wiser; And now I am marching miles-and miles, And miles because of the Kaiser. I was fond of a ten-course meal, With a cocktail appetiser, And now I am living on bully beef, And all because of the Kaiser. I was always a kindly man, I wouldn't have harmed a fly, sir; And now I am thirsting for German blood, Especially that of the Kaiser.