No sympathy: contemporary account

    Commenting on a Dublin recruiter, an anonymous writer in The Spark (September 5, 1915) reviews a rally:

He . . . had spoken in Belfast to Nationalists and Unionists on the same platform -- an Ireland united for the first time -- all together like a bundle of sticks. No one seemed to be quite clear why these people were like a bundle of sticks, but apparently those referred to were tied up. Bundles of sticks are used for starting a fire, and possibly the Belfast folk are to be used to draw fire later on; hence the necessity for tying them up.

At this point a Crimean veteran did a turn which fell very flat, and then the meeting concluded, the band skulking behind the bank and playing "A Nation Once Again" in a furtive, shame-faced way, much to the amusement of the bystanders. Among the bandsmen, I noticed a well-known three card trick man which shows how all sections of society have been moved by the great appeals.

It is to be regretted that the listeners seemed to think the whole affair had been arranged for their delectation, and, undoubtedly, if this perverted notion grows among the public, the picture houses and theatres will suffer considerably.