A. A. Milne

“ I can't tell you all he said afterwards, but I felt as if I'd just fight for him, even if there was nobody else in England..."
"Aren't there lots of people who wouldn't mind going as much as you?" said Mary timidly. "I mean men with no wives or children. Oughtn't they to go first?"
"I suppose they ought. But, you see, you'd never get anywhere like that. A would wait for B who was married but had no child, and B would wait for C who wasn't married but had a mother, and C would wait for D who was an orphan, and so on. That’s what Mr. Denham said." ”

“ She was round in a flash.
"What do you mean you've got to?" she cried indignantly. "That beast going to make you?" The beast was John's employer, a kindly man, whose fault it was to regard John as one only among many, a matter on which Mary often longed to put him right.
"No," said John. "But—but I've got to."
"Who's making you, then?"
"I don't know ... I suppose the German Emperor really."
"There’s lots that ought to go before you go. You've got a wife and a child. Let those without go first."
"I know," said John doggedly. ”

“ The Governor introduced him—Denham, his name was ... I knew he was all right at once. You know how you feel that about some people ... He said he thought perhaps some of us didn't quite know what to do, and he wondered if he could help any of us ... Said of course he knew that, if we thought England was in danger, we'd all rush to enlist, but perhaps we didn't quite know how much England was in danger, and all that England stood for—liberty, peace, nationality, honour and so on. In fact he'd come down to see if any of us would like to fight for England ... ”