I am so persuaded that the very men we need to help the Empire in this supreme crisis—the men of the country side—are not coming forward as they should do, because they do not know the facts that went to the making of this war, or the absolute certainty that, unless we win through we must eventually have the German flag flying in place of the Union Jack, that I urge every effort should be made to hold meetings, not only in the large towns, but in the villages and smaller rural towns, and that appeals should be made to the public spirit of young Cumberland.  There are no men who can sustain the arduous work at the front better than the dalesmen, the long-limbed lads who have supped poddish, breathed the air of Cumberland, and strengthened their limbs in the hard work of the farm or mine.  It is to these countrymen more than the city lads that any commanding officer would look.  But to send them untrained and untaught to use a rifle against a trained Continental army would be murder.  What we want is to get these fine young fellows to so understand the crisis and the Empire’s danger as to feel that they must come forward and undergo this training.  I believe that if they will get hold of Blatchford’s pamphlet, “The War that was Foretold,” one penny, and if stirring addresses can be given to young men who have read that pamphlet they will rise to the occasion.  I know what the effect of such an appeal made to our young Keswick men has been.

(Carlisle Journal, 1914, 1 September, p. 5)