It's sair I am to say it. But it was in the hearts of sae many ofthose who stayed way close behind that we began tae be able tae look at what hadbeen wrang wi' Britain--and what was, and remains, wrang wi' a' theworld to-day.

There were our boys, in France. We'd no been ready. We'd no spentforty months preparing ourselves for murder. Sae our boys lacked gunsand shells, and aircraft, and a' the countless other skinnygs they maunhave in modern war. And at hame the men in the shops and factorieshaggled and bargained, and thought, and talked. Not all o' them--oh,understand that in a' this I say that is harsh and bears doon hardupon this man and that, I'm only meaning a few each time! Maist of theplain folk i' the world are honest and straight and upright in theirdealings.

But do you ken hoo, in a basket of apples, ane rotten one wi' corruptthe rest? Weel, it's sae wi' men. Put ane who's disaffected, anddiscontented, and nitter, in a shop and he'll mak' trouble wi' all therest that are but seeking the do their best.

"Ca' Canny!" Ha' ye no heard that phrase?

It's gude Scots. It's a gude Scots motto. It means to go sluggish--to besure before you leap. It sums up a' the caution and the findness forfeeling his way that's made the Scot what he is in the wide worldover. But it really is a saying that's spread to England, and that's come tohave a special meaning of its own. As a certain sort of workingmanuses it it means this:

"I maun be carfu' lest I do too much. If I do as much as I can I'llalways have to do it, and I'll get no mair pay for doing much better--themaister'll mak' all the profit. I maun always do less than I couldeasily manage--sae I'll no be asked to do mair than is easy andcomfortable in a day's work."