diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67351-0.txt | 2659 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67351-0.zip | bin | 53787 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67351-h.zip | bin | 643100 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67351-h/67351-h.htm | 4094 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67351-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 257330 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67351-h/images/i002.jpg | bin | 163105 -> 0 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/67351-h/images/i071.jpg | bin | 162769 -> 0 bytes |
10 files changed, 17 insertions, 6753 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2673253 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67351 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67351) diff --git a/old/67351-0.txt b/old/67351-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6a526ce..0000000 --- a/old/67351-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2659 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of News from No Man's Land, by James -Green - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: News from No Man's Land - -Author: James Green - -Contributor: W. R. Birdwood - -Release Date: February 7, 2022 [eBook #67351] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Guus Snijders and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from scans - of public domain works at The National Library of - Australia.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND *** - - - - Transcriber's note: - - This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical - effects. - Italics are delimited with the '_' character as _italic_. - The illustrations with a caption have been replaced with - [Illustration: caption]. - -The few minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. -Please see the transcriber's note at the end of this text for details -regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its -preparation. - - - - - NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND - - - - - [Illustration: "Now they begin to return." - (See page 60.) ] - - - - - - NEWS FROM - NO MAN'S LAND - - BY - JAMES GREEN - SENIOR CHAPLAIN THE AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCE - - WITH INTRODUCTION BY - LIEUT.-GEN. SIR W. R. BIRDWOOD, - K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., C.B., C.I.E., D.S.O. - - LONDON - CHARLES H. KELLY - 25-35 CITY ROAD, AND 26 PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. - - - First Edition, 1917 - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - -I am indebted to the Rev. James Green for the privilege of writing an -introduction to his book, in which he gives a lucid and interesting -description of the life of our gallant soldiers of the A.I.F. In his -capacity as one of our Chaplains to the Force, all of whom have done -such noble work during the war, he has been able to enjoy a close -personal touch with our men—more particularly perhaps at Gallipoli; the -record of his sympathetic observation and experience will, I am sure, be -heartily welcomed by all who are interested in the welfare of the A.I.F. - -Previous publications have, I know, chronicled the incidents of our -campaign in Egypt and on the Gallipoli Peninsula—deeds in which the -greatest courage, determination, and self-sacrifice have been displayed -by our men from the Southern Seas, many of whom, alas! have made the -supreme sacrifice in the cause of Justice and Freedom. Chaplain Green's -work will, however, be an interesting sequel in that he describes what -one may call our second phase of operations on the Western Front. - -Here, in France, our Australian troops have continued to show that -magnificent bravery and spirit which has enabled them to undergo -cheerfully the severest hardships, and even to enhance their fine -reputation as soldiers, which now stands second to none in this huge -Army. No words of mine can adequately express my admiration and -affection for them. I am proud to think that for nearly three years now -I have been privileged to serve with them, during which period they have -made traditions which will live for all time in the history of -Australia. - -I wish all success to Chaplain Green in the publication of his book. - - W. R. BIRDWOOD. - -FRANCE, May 13, 1917. - - - - - FOREWORD - - -For reasons known to the men of the Australian Imperial Force, I am -always interested in meeting others who wear the green badge on their -arm. A good soldier is always as proud of the colours he wears on his -shoulder as the colours he wears on his breast. He knows that each -brigade and battalion possesses a soul of its own, and he is proud to -belong to his battalion and to worthily wear its colours. For these -reasons I ask the privilege of dedicating this book to the officers and -men of the First and the Fourteenth Brigades. Sister brigades they are, -from the Mother State; with them I campaigned, and for them I have a -proud affection. - -Heroes of many a fight,--for those two Brigades will stand out specially -in Australian History, the story of the Landing at Anzac, the Battle of -the Lone Pine, Pozières, Fromelles, Bapaume, and Bullecourt. Some of the -men drafted from the First to the Fourteenth shared in the perils of -Gallipoli, and all are associated with the fighting on the Western -Front. - -For them all, I wish that they may fight on to the certain and glorious -victory, and have the luck to return to Australia, the land of sunshine -and opportunity—there to help in building up the Commonwealth in harmony -with the principles of freedom for which they are fighting. - -In spite of necessary suppression, or vagueness of names of localities, -my comrades of the Fifty-fifth Battalion, to which I was attached, will -recognize many of the incidents described, and I can only hope that -reading what the padre has to say may cheer them in some lonely places, -or help them to be happy though miserable in some indifferent billets. - - JAMES GREEN. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I. A QUIET NIGHT ON THE WESTERN FRONT 11 - II. NOTRE DAME DE DÉLIVRANCE 29 - III. NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND 43 - IV. THE BOMBER 67 - V. ROMANCE AND REALITY 79 - VI. THE GOD OF BATTLES 97 - VII. THE CHIMNEY-POTS OF LONDON 121 - VIII. HORSEFERRY ROAD 135 - - - - - I - A QUIET NIGHT ON THE WESTERN FRONT - - - We marched along, the sun was high; - We marched along—the halt was nigh; - We marched along, a little parched, - It seemed we marched—and marched—and marched; - We sang a song, a little dry, - We sang a song, a halt was nigh. - The whistle blew, ah! welcomed cry-- - 'Halt!'--welcomed rest from wearied road, - With opened tunic, laid-down load; - Ah! welcomed rest with opened vest, - 'Twere worth that strain to rest again! - - H. H. V. CROSS, - - London Rifle Brigade. - 'A Route March in Northern France, 1916.' - - - - - I - - A QUIET NIGHT ON THE WESTERN FRONT - - -We are getting near IT at last. We have started our march through the -quaint Flemish villages, past canals where long strings of barges, -painted grey, and bearing the marks of the wonderful Army Service Corps -of the British Army, are being towed steadily forward. - -Occasionally, we march through good French towns, with their fine -churches and cathedrals. We hate the pavé. It is hard for marching; but -we recognize that it is a great advantage to possess such hard roads to -bear the enormous War traffic of great guns and heavy motor-lorries, -proceeding constantly to the front. Our band cheers us up. We are proud -of it. The tunes we like best are, 'Advance, Australia Fair,' 'Australia -will be There,' and 'Bonnie Dundee.' - -The women and children and a few old men come out to cheer and clap, -and, occasionally, we see some woman in black turn aside to weep. Is she -thinking of some brave husband or son who marched to the front just as -gaily as we are doing, and who did not come back? - -But what rouses the enthusiasm of those stricken people is the -'Marseillaise.' When our band strikes up the martial strains of that -most wonderful melody, the old men square their shoulders and the boys -march bravely alongside us, and the whole roadside seems to be vibrant -with the fighting spirit. - -I remember one little fellow with a crutch who, though a confirmed -cripple, hobbled in front of our band for miles. It was a sight which -made us forget that we were footsore and hungry. Away, behind us, are -the memories of the long train journey from Ismailia to Alexandria. Only -a vague recollection remains of our small fleet of transports sailing -the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean. We do sometimes think of the -reception we got as we steamed into Marseilles, with its statue of Notre -Dame guarding the seas from her eminence on the hill above. Then the -long troop trains and longer journey across La Belle France. A beautiful -country, 'worth fighting for,' is the verdict of many a stalwart -Australian from 'out back,' and from perhaps some little Bush township, -with but a church, a blacksmith's shop, and an hotel. Further out, of -course, there was a race-course, and divided by miles there were the -stations and farms, but it was a land of magnificent distances. Here, -however, there is intensive cultivation, and towns close to each other. -A pleasant land of beautiful trees and rivers, and grass of greenness -new to us. But we are getting closer to the desolation of war, closer to -the valley of decision. - -By and by we rest in a small village, and it is Sunday. The church bells -are ringing, and as I have made elaborate arrangements for church -parades, I am looking forward to a good padre's day. - -The brigadier, however, cancels everything. 'Sorry, padre, the men are -going to be "gassed" this morning, but not by you.' They are, and they -look very uncanny manœuvring there in the fields with gas-helmets on. No -one is harmed by the gas, and they learn that it is possible to live and -move under gas. But I am sure they would have preferred my gas for once. - -I am billeted with a very nice family here; and as the daughter is quite -charming, I have many visits from the younger officers. I did not know I -was so popular with them. Mademoiselle has learnt to speak English quite -well. - -'Don't you like Australians best of all?' said Lieutenant Gallant, with -a languishing look to mademoiselle. - -'We have many good soldiers here; English (they do not say much); -Scotch—very good men; they speak more, and ask if there is any place -where they can buy whisky. I like them all, and I do like Australians -best.' The gallant lieutenant beams with joy; but she continues archly, -'Because I always like those best who come last.' - -Now the battalion is formed up to march. My batman says to mademoiselle: - -'You are very sorry we are going, aren't you?' - -'But, yes,' and one could see it was real sorrow. - -'I know why,' I ventured to say. 'It is Sunday, and to-day you would -have worn your beautiful dress.' - -'Ah, _oui_,' she says sadly, 'you are very wise, and it is true. Come'; -and she leads us into the house again, opens the wardrobe, and behold -the costume from Paris, _très chic_, the lovely hat—a creation; the -high-heeled boots, they are all there. Quite innocently she tells us -that, had we stayed, she, with many another fair one, would have 'made -promenade.' - -Oh, what we have missed! and what greater pleasure they have missed who -would have 'made promenade' to the big church and along the quaint -streets of that beautiful village. We have seen them working in the -fields, on the railway, in the signal-boxes; but the brave women of this -village would have liked us to see another side of their life when in -their Parisian costumes they promenaded the streets with the grace which -seems natural to every Frenchwoman. - -We have had the deep sound of the big guns in our ears for days now, and -we are getting so near that we have seen fights in the air. Our band -instruments have been packed away, and we are in our last billet before -'going in.' - -It is afternoon, the day following. The whole brigade is on the move in -readiness to fight. The men march in file under the avenues of -poplar-trees. The points where the various companies enter the sector -have all been detailed, and officers who have been down to the sector -before act as guides. At a cross-road the colonel on his horse watches -the men break off for their different directions, and receives reports -from time to time; nevertheless, in the darkness, the transport which I -am temporarily with goes too far, and we have to halt for instructions. - -By this time our guns are booming out. We don't know whether there is -some 'stunt' on, or whether they are merely firing to cover our -'changing over.' Some thousands of men are 'coming out' and 'going in.' -It is a difficult operation. The noise of shell-fire is great, and now -we can see the festoons of flares going up in the Hun lines. The -lieutenant has inquired, and he says we are right and must go on. I -don't believe it. I have been down the road and I saw a parapet. I wish -I had not come with the transport. They are so visible on the white -road. At any time we may be discovered and a machine-gun turned on to -us. The horses are getting restive. The doctor has kindly lent me his -horse, and it is jumping about. I seem so high up and exposed there in -the saddle, and yet I cannot hold the beast when I dismount. - -The wagons, too, make such a distinct noise as they rumble over the -metal road. I agree with one of the men whom I hear declaring to a chum -that 'the whole bally thing is "no bon."' The men inquire, when a fresh -gun-shock is heard, 'Is that ours or theirs?' With a brave optimism, I -assure them that all the guns in action are ours. They take me for a -veteran, and say, 'It's all right; the padre says they are all ours.' -Most of the men who have been in action before add to their authority by -agreeing with me. But I have a shrewd suspicion that, like me, they -_think_ they are all ours, and I know they _hope_ they are all ours. -With a splendid audacity and tone of finality, reminiscent of my -cricket-umpiring days, I continue coolly to announce to every inquirer, -'Yes, of course that's one of ours.' At last a shell breaks on the road -with a vicious 'whiz-bang.' No one is hurt, thank God, but it was close, -and the horses are playing up. Amid the silence which follows, one of -our Australians cries out: 'Now, then, padre, what about that? Is that -one of ours?' Such a question, and at such a time, demands a moment's -thought. But I answer quite confidently, 'Yes, that's ours—now.' -Everybody laughs, but it relieves the tension. It is relieved more by -the fact that the lieutenant, realizing that we _have_ gone too far, has -given the order to 'About turn,' and we are getting the horses and -wagons behind the bend of the road. - -More inquiries. I've lost my faith in the transport. The doctor's groom -has come for the restless 'Rosinante,' and I'm free. If I am to get to -the Battalion Head Quarters, I must proceed 'on my own.' But first I -will turn into this little shelter, a forsaken dug-out covered with -stout beams and sand-bags. - -Two of us light up our pipes, but a profane sentry draws near. 'Now, -then, you blighters, put out those pipes. You mustn't show the Huns a -light. Don't you know you're in a very dangerous place?' - -It's all dangerous, but we didn't know that this place was specially -dangerous. I must make some inquiries of my own. I would have to leave -the transport some time. Why not now? I get into a long communication -sap. Like many another on the Western Front it is called Watling Street. -But it gives me a cue. I remember now that it leads into Convent Avenue, -and that, I heard them say, leads into Plug Street, and that is the road -to the Battalion Head Quarters. - -I pull my tin-hat firmly down, and when the banks are low I crouch, for -the machine-gun bullets are whistling overhead, and all the choir and -orchestra of the guns on both sides are in full voice now. The Concert -of Europe has, by a metallic crescendo, reached its fortissimo. - -The full diapason is out, but, as always in war, the _vox humana_ is -silent. There are little islands (traverses) in the communication -trench, and suddenly emerging from the sap near one of these, I nearly -bump into a sturdy machine-gunner I know well. He is a member of my -Church, a sweet singer in my choir when he is at home. And this is the -night for the choir practice, too. I see it now as in a vision. The -choir is gathered round the great organ, and the conductor raps out his -admonitions with the baton. They are practising one of my favourite -anthems, 'Send out Thy Light.' - -'You must duck your head here, padre; it is a bad place, and you are not -supposed to loiter.' - -But I must wait. I am asking myself, 'Are these guns sending out the -Light and Truth?' 'Yes, they are,' I say to myself. It is a quick mental -process, but I am satisfied with the conclusion. - -We crouch down together and talk of the old church. He gives me more -information, and I press on again. I am talking to myself, a bad sign, -but the meeting and the memory has stirred up emotions not to be -stilled. - -'We must have two anthems next Sunday,' I say to the conductor as though -he were present. 'First, "Send out Thy Light," and second, "The Radiant -Morn."' - -I wonder if, after this fury, there will be a radiant morn for Europe; -not one that has passed away. - - - When wilt Thou save the people? - O God of mercy, when? - Not kings alone, but nations! - Not thrones and crowns, but men! - Flowers of Thy heart, O God, are they; - Let them not pass like weeds away, - Their heritage a sunless day. - God save the people! - - -A few more turns of the sap, and then I come to three trenches meeting, -and it is a dangerous spot, for shells are dropping close. But the -sentry, with bayonet fixed, is on guard. - -'A hot place here.' - -'Yes, padre, you can plop one any time here. I keep to the left side as -much as possible under the bank.' - -'You're wise; and what are you here for?' - -'Men of the "Fifty-fifth" are to be directed down this sap to the front -line, and men of the "Fifty-fourth" go down that, and by this you can -find your way to the Battalion Head Quarters.' - -'Eureka! I've found it. _Bon soir_,' and '_bonne chance_, sonny'; my -present troubles are over. - -Arriving at the Battalion Head Quarters, I find it to be a farm-house, -ruined beyond recognition as such. Kindly nature has covered it with a -screen of verdure, rendering it almost invisible. The cook is there and -his assistant. My kit has not come down to trolley-line yet, but the -major, who has been 'in' some days, shows me my dug-out, a mere hole. - -Hours after the officers begin to turn up after various adventures. They -seem surprised to see me in first. 'Our padre is the limit,' says the -colonel. 'Chuck him into the centre of Darkest Africa, and he would -strike out for home.' They glare at me with vengeful jealousy, but they -have to confess I got supper on the way with the help of the cook. - -Hot coffee melts them. It is professional jealousy. I tell them we ought -to have a few non-combatants to settle this war. We're good pals after -all, and I know they would not care for a padre who got lost; worse -still, they wouldn't want one who didn't _go in_ with them at all. - -There's nothing like sticking up to these fine young fellows now and -again. Mutual admiration, tempered by strong opinions on irrelevant -questions. The colonel is jubilant because our battalion is right in now -without a casualty. Others, both going in and getting out, have, -unfortunately, not been so lucky. - -Bed made at last. Fritz is still letting off fireworks. - -Now to get to my dug-out. I walk quietly to the left behind a wall of -sand-bags, then going through an opening, I run smartly for the hole, -for machine-gun bullets are splitting the air. I have a bag in front of -my dug-out, and a sheet of corrugated iron to keep in the light. All -night long the guns boom, but you sleep all the same. - -When we get our papers up a day afterwards, we read of this particular -night a neutral paragraph, headed, 'A Quiet Night on the Western Front.' - - - - - II - - NOTRE DAME DE DÉLIVRANCE - - - From city homes—from country homes we came; - From mother's love and father's gift we came, - A wind most terrible blew o'er earth's seas; - It waved a smouldering ash, and blazed up war; - The smoke and heat of that great Hell drew us, - And from our lives we came to live, to live. - - From sluggish routine, sluggish wrong we came. - From heedless walks, from ageing rust we came - --we called it life. - 'Twas not! We came to live. - Out of the profound, profound we'll come, out, up; - Out of the deep we'll come, not from the shallows. - - H. H. V. CROSS, - - London Rifle Brigade. - 'A Young Soldier's De Profundis.' - - - - - II - - NOTRE DAME DE DÉLIVRANCE - - -At the gate of a ruined farm in our sector in Flanders is a little -chapel to 'Our Lady of Deliverance.' It is seventy years old. The -brickwork at one corner is broken down by shell-fire, but the ancient -picture above the altar, and the altar also, are intact. - -What was the idea of the ancient proprietor in building this chapel at -his gate? for most of the wayside sanctuaries hereabout are dedicated to -our Saviour. It was a large farm-house, evidently the property of some -wealthy farmer. It must have survived the Franco-German War of 1870; but -it has not survived this, for the huge grange is a mass of ruins. -Perhaps the shrine is a recognition of deliverance during the first war. -Although it stands amid ruin to-day, the chapel is prophetic of a -deliverance which is in process of being worked out. - -Near it there is a battery of field-guns, and in rear of it a battery of -'heavies'; in fact, all around there are guns, guns, and more guns! - -They were hurling an avalanche of shells into the Hun lines when I -passed on a Sunday afternoon to conduct a service at a post in the -second line. What a horror of sound! - -The Huns began to reply, and they sent nothing over but high explosives. -'Crump, crump, crump,' went the shells as they exploded, raising clouds -of dust and smoke, but fortunately missing all our batteries. To be -comparatively safe it was necessary for me to go by a way which avoided -all the targets the German gunners were aiming at. As though despairing -of getting our guns the Germans began to belabour our trenches with -minenwerfers, and soon the crash of mortars began to mingle with the -noise of our howitzers, field-guns, and machine-guns. - -Thank God it did not last long. In ten minutes' intense bombardment in a -large sector like this hundreds of projectiles are launched in the air. -But we had the last word in this duel, and when it died down we were not -done. A flight of our aeroplanes droned overhead. They were going over -for the usual afternoon 'strafe.' There is some danger to pedestrians -from fragments of anti-aeroplane shells, for the Germans ceaselessly -bombard our 'planes, usually without any luck. They go right over the -German lines, probably carrying bombs for some depot or ammunition dump. -When they have passed, a different, a solitary aeroplane appears. The -'flight' was of battle-planes. This one is for spotting purposes, and a -single battery begins to fire in its direction. - -The intense bombardment therefore gives place to a deliberate slow -firing of shell after shell in obedience to the observer above. They are -trying to get some special object, and 'registering' their shots for -future guidance. - -At night-time this little sanctuary of Our Lady of Deliverance becomes -the centre of a scene which might be taken from some drama of the -underworld. Huge ammunition motor-lorries dash past with a reverberation -which makes the ruined walls tremble. They are delivering stores of -shell (largely made by the women of England) for the daily consumption -of the guns. Our Lady of Deliverance has many disciples among both -English and French women in these days; daughters of deliverance we -might call them. - -Then very often at night-time the gun positions are changed, and by -immense efforts great howitzers are hauled into new pits. The Army -Service Corps must deliver its goods also by the light of the moon, and -from the front glide past the motor-ambulances with wounded and sick. -They are protected by a mesh of expanded steel, for they go right into -the zone of fire. - -In this way deliverance is worked out for unhappy Flanders. Amid -thunderous roar of cannon, the rising and falling of star-shells, -rockets, and flares, of all colours and meanings, and the ceaseless -rattle of machine-guns, Our Lady of Deliverance is thrusting forth the -flail of retribution and the banner of freedom. - -It is no sacrilege to ascribe our slow and sure pressure on the enemy to -higher and divine powers, even if we acknowledge, for our sins, that the -backward sweep of the awful flail smites us also. This would be the last -thought to the inhabitants of these war-stricken areas. To begin with, -they are a deeply religious people, and their religion gives them hope -and faith for the future. The Germans have destroyed their church but -not their faith. They have removed the altar from the ruins of their -once beautiful church to a neighbouring farm-house, and there they pray -to Notre Dame de Délivrance. - -The same spirit is seen in the neighbouring towns and villages. In such -churches as are left standing you usually see the Union Jack and the -Tricolour at each side of the chancel, and always the statue of St. -Jeanne D'Arc is prominent, decorated, sometimes illuminated, and ever -the object of many devotions. It is this spirit which possesses the -women of France. Yet religion here to-day manifests itself in masculine -types, and even the Maid of Orleans is portrayed in the garb of a -soldier and with a drawn sword. - -It is the effigy of Christ which is usually seen in wayside sanctuaries, -and they are not usually dedicated to Notre Dame. This is natural enough -in such a virile country as Northern France. The women, however, are -doing their share in working out the deliverance. Near this very -sanctuary you may see women and girls on the top of the haystacks -building them up. A soldier on leave is usually seen tossing the stooks -up, and boys drive the big Flemish horses in the lumbering old fashioned -wains, but all the rest is the work of the women, even to harrowing the -fields. The harvest is being got in right up to the guns, and the -soldiers are not allowed to harm crops or traverse fields. The heavy -traffic on roads by guns and army transport has necessitated a good deal -of reconstruction. The boys and the old men are doing it. How the women -can stay on and attend to the little shops in the villages at the front -is a mystery to us, for these shops and houses are being steadily -demolished by gunfire. - -During one of our heavy bombardments recently I went into a little shop -to make a small purchase. The building alongside had been shelled the -previous week and had to be abandoned. The girl behind the counter was -obviously nervous, and she said to me in broken English, 'Too much -bombardment I do not like.' '_Tout Anglais_,' I replied. Immediately she -brightened up wonderfully. '_Très bon pour les Allemands_,' she said, -and went about her work singing. - -A curious note amid this quaint Flemish environment of red brick and -tiles, interspersed with trees and grass of a greenness unknown to -Australia, is produced by the London motor-buses. They rush past with a -roar, filled with Tommies singing, 'Keep the home-fires burning.' - -From one end of the line to the other every man has his job. There are -snipers, machine-gunners, trench-mortar men, bombers, signallers, -pigeon-men. This last suggests the pigeon service. Men who _know_ -pigeons are chosen for this work, and they like it. In the stress and -strain of battle 'wireless' and 'wire' may break down, so pigeons are -trained by a daily service of duplicate messages. They have their -regular flights, and there is a constant service of cages being brought -up to the lines by motor-bike, and flights of pigeons returning to their -lots at stated times. We see the German birds flying back too, so that -man, beast, and bird have all been drawn into this great war. They get -very wise too, and the older pigeons fly low along the hedges and by the -avenues of poplar-trees to avoid gunfire. The pigeon-man follows the -commander into battle as well as the telephonist. - -But most useful and enthusiastic of all are the observers. 'O. Pip' -observers' post is a place the enemy is always seeking to discover and -'knock out.' But they are cleverly hidden. The other day, however, one -of our men fell by his enthusiasm. He was directing gunfire on an enemy -battery, and by and by he got it. When the Hun gun position was hit he -forgot for a moment how precarious a foothold he had in his eyrie in the -spreading branches of a tree. 'We've got it!' he cried, standing up and -waving his hands. He fell out of his perch and broke his leg. He is now -rejoicing in a hospital. We must not forget the wonderful work of the -miners. They drive tunnels and construct weird 'bomb-proofs' and other -works, thus contributing their share to the coming deliverance in which -everybody at the Front firmly believes. - -Yes, that little chapel is a parable and a prophecy. Itself intact amid -the ruins, it reminds us that although we ourselves are imperfect -instruments, our cause is good, and the day is surely coming when these -farm-houses and churches will be rebuilt in this beautiful countryside -and prosperity and peace will rule. Every gun-shot expresses our faith -and what we suffer in the price we pay for freedom and security which -shall be ours and for many long years our children's. - -In the quiet days they brought their offering of flowers to this shrine. -To-day we bring our howitzers drawn by huge traction engines, our -field-guns, our mortars, our machine-guns, our rifles, and these are our -offerings. - -More: from distant lands many thousands of miles across the ocean _men_ -have come. Nay, they have been _sent_. They have been given up by their -women, for they are husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers. These men, -greater than they know themselves to be, are the living offerings at -this shrine, given to the cause of Notre Dame de Délivrance. - - - - - III - - NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND - - - There's a zone, - Wild and lone, - None claim, none own, - That goes by the name of No Man's Land; - Its frontiers are bastioned, and wired, and mined, - The rank grass shudders and shakes in the wind, - And never a roof nor a tree you find - In No Man's Land. - - - They that gave - Lives so brave - Have found a grave - In the haggard fields of No Man's Land. - By the foeman's reddened parapet - They lie with never a head-stone set, - But their dauntless souls march forward yet - In No Man's Land. - - H. D'A. B., - - Major, 55th Division, B.E.F., France. - - - - - III - - NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND - - -'No Man's Land' is that bit of ground six hundred yards, and sometimes -only thirty yards, between our trenches and those of the enemy. Over -this disputed area we 'strafe' each other night and day. There are often -water-holes, even swamps, in No Man's Land, and both sides have a habit -of draining trenches into it. Wild flowers and even garden flowers grow -in this area, for it contains ruined farm-houses and orchards. Poppies -red as blood, lilies white as snow, roses, and blue cornflowers are -often seen there waving in the breeze, sometimes swaying before the hail -of bullets from machine-guns. - -The birds sing oblivious of war here, but sometimes you see pigeons -trying to fly across. I say trying, because our men always endeavour and -sometimes succeed in shooting them. Why? Because probably they are -carrying spies' messages to the Huns which may mean death to us. We do -not want the enemy to know how we are distributing our batteries in the -rear, so we try to stop enemy aeroplanes or pigeons crossing either way. - -As soon as daylight appears you will usually hear the droning of a swarm -of great bees humming their way across No Man's Land. They are British -aeroplanes, often flown by young men from eighteen years of age and -upwards. They never refuse a fight, and the best proof of their -efficiency is seen in the fact that fortunes are wasted by the Germans -every day in anti-aeroplane fire, in the vain hope of stopping them. -They often cross in ordered ranks, and go through wonderful evolutions -on their way—circling over each other like catherine-wheels, and looping -the loop as if in the joy of battle and contempt of the enemy. - -Our airmen are the pride of the infantry. If you want to be cheered up, -all you have to do is to look up, and watch these adventurers of the -air. Many a stirring fight have we witnessed in the air over that -unowned terrain called No Man's Land. One evening we watched a fearless -observer making his regular circles amid such intense anti-aeroplane -fire that we trembled for him. By-and-by he began to fall, and we -watched his descent with our hearts in our mouths. When we saw that he -was going to land just in our lines, we raced madly to the spot. Some of -the officers, revolver in hand, thinking they might need to fend off the -enemy, were so eager that they forgot their _tin-hats_ which were really -more necessary. To make sure of him the Boches simply plastered the spot -where he had landed with shell-fire. Arriving, we saw him desperately -dragging the engine, which was intact, under a parapet. Then he took -refuge, and we congratulated him, saying he was 'very lucky.' - -'Lucky, do you call it?' he responded. 'Why, they have ruined my -machine.' - -Why, so they had! - -There was a legend with us in one sector not far from Armentières of an -airman whom we called 'the mad major.' I don't know whether he was one, -or two, or three. Like the gun we called 'Beechy Bill' at Gallipoli, -perhaps there were several of him. All we knew was that we would see an -airman flying gamely among the puffballs of the breaking anti-aeroplane -shells of the enemy, and sometimes he seemed to get into trouble, and we -used to cry out, 'They have got him!' He would fall like a stone, -recover, fall again, and then when we looked for the awful end he would -skim low over the German trenches plying his machine-gun like one -o'clock. Good luck to the mad major! There was a method in his madness, -although we never knew what he was going to do next. Nor did the Hun. In -spite of danger and orders, we used to crouch behind the parapets -watching our airmen, and it was a tonic to us. - -Of course at any time, and for long periods all the time, shells, from -spitting rifle batteries to 60-lb. projectiles from big guns in the -rear, are screaming and hissing over No Man's Land; and wherever you are -'you never know your luck.' Moral: Do not despise your tin-hat. It may -be uncomfortable, but it would be more uncomfortable to 'stop one' even -if it were but a fragment. - -New monsters called Tanks have taken to moving across the debateable -territory called No Man's Land, spitting out flaming death as they go. -In short, all the accumulating frightfulness which we are learning to -use is being used to say to the Hun in tongues of fire and steel, 'This -is not your land; begone, and take up once more your watch on the -Rhine!' - -But you wonder why we do not annex No Man's Land, and advance. The -strategy of staying here till the right moment comes is wise and humane. -There are fine towns and villages containing non-combatants on the other -side of No Man's Land. It would be but to mock their hopes to advance -unless we could sweep on everywhere. Nor do we wish to conquer in such a -way that every village is left in ruins. Here and there at strategic -points we may have to do that. It is not so much that we want to break -through as that we want the whole line to break. Meanwhile it is a very -hot and unhealthy place for Fritz. - -Besides that, we are beating the enemy every day on this line. It suits -us. We have organized it. Here we have trolley-lines, concrete -bomb-proof stores, and many things that take time to build. Later, when -the right time comes, we shall cross No Man's Land at many places, and -it will become France again for ever. Until that time comes we cannot do -more than present our claim to No Man's Land. We do this frequently and -'in person.' Our patrols and scouts enter it nightly, and it requires -courage and craft to do this. Through secret sally-ports, over parapets, -and where the line has been damaged by shell-fire, they steal out in the -darkness, and the German sentries keep a succession of flares and -star-shells going to detect them. What hairbreadth escapes they have, -and what escapes the Hun sentries have; for sometimes they find -themselves very near to one, and they have to get back with their -information without raising an alarm if possible. Sometimes, however, -through a mistake, in the fog or darkness they get into the German line, -and they have to fight and escape amid following bullets. At such times -our men at the parapets have carefully to cover their return with -rifle-fire, and even help them over or under our defences back again to -safety. Young intelligence officers take many risks as they crawl amid -the hollows in No Man's Land, revolver in hand, in search of -information. - -We got a few body-shields for our scouts in our battalion, and they went -out for a long time with a greater confidence. The protection they -afforded gave them a calmer frame of mind, which produced extra -efficiency. But we make more serious claims on this disputed ground by -our 'raids,' which occur in many places every night. The raid is a -survival, or perhaps a revival, of the old hand-to-hand fighting. It is -a curious anti-climax of science in war, of which there are so many -illustrations to-day. - -In spite of long-range guns of great power and high-velocity telescopic -rifles, we fight in trenches close together, and we have got back to -grenadier days. Hand-grenades, rifle-grenades, and trench-mortar bombs -as big as howitzer-shells are tossed over to the enemy lines at the same -murderous distances as those at which Wellington's and Napoleon's -veterans fired at each other in Peninsula days. - -The raid is the last illustration of our backsliding in an age of -science to the primaeval fighting instinct, unrelieved by the chivalry -of a knightly age. You may be sure there are no banners flying or -trumpets blowing, no heraldic challenge to warn the Hun that he is to be -raided. It is a form of frightfulness calculated to jar the nerves of -the most militant disciple of the gospel of blood and iron. - -We were warned that our battalion, in common with others, would be -expected to raid the enemy's lines in its turn, and volunteers were -immediately called for. There was no lack of response. Then the men had -to go through a long and careful training, as those do who are out to -win a county football cup. In the rear of the sector they dug trenches -which were a replica of those to be raided. They did this from -photographs provided by our indomitable airmen. On this ground the men -were trained physically, and in the use of the special arms they were to -carry. Relay races to give them speed, crawling attacks at night to make -them wary and acquaint them with the 'lie of the land'; and added to -this, bayonet-fighting, revolver-practice, and all this again and again, -and in all sorts of light or darkness, until at last they were smitten -with a desire to 'get it through,' and a confidence that they could 'put -it through.' So much so, that two of their number who became due for -leave declined it, as they thought it was 'up to them' to be in the raid -after training for it. - -At last the great day arrived. No one knew until almost the last moment. -When the raiders came up in two London motor-buses singing 'Australia -will be There,' we did not know them at first. They were a disgrace to -the battalion as far as clothing went, for they were clad in ragged and -dirty clothes from which all marks of identification were absent. Short -as the notice was, we had organized a 'banquet' for them, and even got a -huge three-decker bride-cake from a neighbouring village. We had a solid -meal of three courses, and you may be sure it was none the less hearty -because of the absence of intoxicants. Every one was cheerful, but there -was an undercurrent of seriousness and grim determination. The chaplain -had to propose a toast, and after he had wished them 'Good luck' and -'God bless you,' the men came up with apparent casualness to say a word -or two of intimate confidence not to be divulged in this sketch. - -Then the men were prepared. They all wore aprons containing bombs; some -had rifle and bayonet, some clubs, entrenching-tool handles with -cog-wheels at the end—commonly called chloroform sticks—some bombs and -revolvers. Every non-com. had a watch set to divisional time and an -electric torch. - -Amid a good deal of merriment they blackened each other's faces—not for -fun, but because white faces would be easily revealed under the white -light of the German flares. Then the motor-lorries came up to take them -into the sector, and with many cheerful wishes they drove away as jolly -as though they were going to a party. A motor-ambulance followed with -the regimental doctor, the chaplain, and the stretcher-bearers. Down the -long communication trenches we followed them silently over the -duck-boards, from which occasionally some would slip partially into the -water draining below. - -The arrival at the front line is marked by a 'fading away' of the troops -holding it. 'It's me for my dug-out,' I heard one man say. 'It ain't -healthy with raiders about.' This is wise, because when the raid begins -the Boches will rain shells on No Man's Land, and then put a barrage on -or about the parapets to get them on the return. Now the raiders are -sorted out and put round the three secret sally-ports through which each -party will enter the 'verboten' land. The doctor inspects the special -aid-posts to see if all arrangements are perfect. Yes, the bandages and -doctor's kit are all laid out, and the A.M. Corps men at their posts, -and I and the doc., with an A.M.C. sergeant, repair to the main aid-post -to wait. It is three-quarters of an hour yet to zero time, but before -that many of the raiders will be lying out in No Man's Land in holes and -hollows. We try to read a bit, then talk, and all the time smoke. -Smoking has a curious psychological effect. It steadies the nerves, -makes you believe you are not perturbed, but there is no doubt that the -time of waiting is always the worst. - -Every now and again we look at the watches. 'Quarter of an hour to go.' -'Yes,' says the doc. 'I expect some of them have crawled out now.' 'Ten -minutes to go.' You throw down your book. It is no good pretending to -read. For three days our gunners have been 'wire-cutting.' They have cut -the wire over a very wide front, but they always take care to cut it -where our men are going to attack. - -Zero time is 9 p.m., and exactly on the second hell breaks out. Guns in -the rear roar out in fury. Trench mortars close at hand vomit forth -their missiles of death, and even machine-guns and rifle batteries help -to swell the crescendo of battle. The ranges are well known, and the -guns do their work without harming our men, who are now crawling -forward. - -Our aid-post is a dug-out covered with steel joists and sand-bags; but -it rocks with the swish, swish, swish of the shells flying through the -air like hail. Now the Boche begins to reply, and every now and then a -'whiz-bang' bursts on the parapets. We can only hope that no high -explosive will happen to break on _our_ dug-out. Now the guns lift, and -the raiders get closer up. A frenzy of flares go up, and we are so -curious that we sneak out to see across No Man's Land. We cannot see a -man of our party, and we take that to indicate that the Huns, too, -cannot see them yet. - -Now it is 9.10, and on the instant there is a silence as terrible as was -the fearful noise. The raiders are among the Germans now. They rush from -dug-out to dug-out bombing. Meeting Huns, they fight face to face and -hand to hand. German fire breaks out on No Man's Land, and occasionally -a rifle shot. Then, 'bad luck to us,' the Hun ceases to engage our guns, -and he puts his high explosives on, and just over our parapets. And this -is the time we must get out for our work, for casualties soon come back; -indeed a message has come to say that two are back. One man who has -brought a wounded comrade and himself has suffered a fall, injuring the -knee. As we run along the duck-boards behind the parapet we bend low and -listen fearfully to the crump, crump, crump of shells exploding behind -our line. The raiders have just ten minutes for their fighting. At that -time our guns will raise another curtain of fire behind them to keep the -Huns from a counter-attack. - -They must not stay under our own fire. Now they begin to return, with -their eyes bright with the excitement of battle, covered with mud, with -a German helmet or two, with many stories of the fighting, and with -their wounded. The stretcher-bearers are out in No Man's Land seeking -others, and we have enough to do dealing with those at hand. We have got -most of them close up to the parapet, and the doctor has difficult work -to do under circumstances the reverse of helpful, for German shells are -landing in our lines pretty thickly. But when you reach this point in a -'stunt' you cease to think of danger; you are absorbed in helping. The -wounded turn to the padre as a friend and almost as a father. They -babble of their home folks, give you messages, and they hold your hand -tightly when they are in pain. You cannot stay with one longer than is -necessary, for others ask for you. 'Ask the padre to come' is something -which makes it worth your while to be with the men in battle. One man, -not at all young, gives me many loving messages to one whom I took to be -his wife. I send them all to Australia, and receive thanks from his -mother, who explains that her son was a confirmed bachelor. Another poor -chap has a slight wound; but it does not bleed, and he is so cold. We -heap blankets and new sand-bags on him and give him stimulants. But he -gets colder and colder, and just as the ambulance reaches the billets in -the village he dies of shell-shock. The wounded men are put on the -trolleys, and the stretcher-bearers begin to push them out of the -sector; and while they do so the Huns' shells fall all round. 'But who -cares?' That is the feeling you have at this stage. Now we have a -bother. Some of the raiders are not easily persuaded to start on the -homeward march up the communication trench. The special officer stands, -notebook in hand, ticking off the names of the raiders who have -returned. In spite of his assurance some want to go back to find chums -who are really not lost. Others seek excuses because they want to go -back for trophies or booty which they now remember to have seen. - -One of our company is still missing, and a wounded man tells me where he -has seen him. As a matter of fact, things have quietened down a lot now, -and we have virtual possession of No Man's Land; the Huns have hidden. -They are satisfied to sprinkle our sector with shells in the hope of -getting returning men. But our stretcher-bearers are indignant at the -idea of my attempting to get the lost man. Securing my information, they -go into No Man's Land and find him. We still have a number of less -seriously wounded men behind the parapets. Everybody is talking of the -exploits of one of them. He is an athletic fellow whom the doctor is -attending. To counterbalance the pain he is suffering I congratulate -him, and suggest that he will probably get recommended for reward. - -'No fear of that,' he says laughing. 'More likely ten days' C.B.' -(confinement to barracks). - -'Why?' I inquire. - -'Well, I shouldn't have been there at all,' he replies. - -'I can't understand that,' I say. - -'Well, sir, I'm not a raider at all; but when I heard the shots, I -couldn't resist, so I slipped over the parapet and into it.' - -It is difficult to tell exactly what success the raid has had; but the -men seem to agree that with those they accounted for and Huns they found -killed by our artillery fire altogether twenty-five of the enemy were -destroyed. We have lost three killed in action, and a number of wounded -who will recover. One prisoner has been brought back, and he seems to be -a regular walking orderly-room for the number of official documents in -his possession. It may be but a small affair; but when we remember that -there were twenty-five raids the same night, it will be recognized that -we are not sitting down tamely and submitting to the German occupation -of any part of France. - -Probably the British press will announce to-morrow, 'All calm on the -Western Front'; but we know that every night No Man's Land is the scene -of deeds of valour and self-sacrifice, proving that our men have the -fighting spirit of their fathers; and that apart from the clash of -material forces, in the great battle of spirits which is the ultimate -basis upon which a decision in war depends, we need not doubt the 'will -to victory' of our men. No Man's Land, with all its pathos and sorrow, -the grave of unknown heroes, the battle-ground on which many a brave -exploit is enacted which is unnoticed and unrecognized, is still the -pledge and prophecy of our final victory. - -Now we must trudge back to the village. We walk about two miles in saps, -and then join the ambulances waiting on the road. You begin to feel -tired at this stage! - - - - - IV - - THE BOMBER - - - 'THE CALL OF THE BUGLE.' - - The Bugles of England were blowing o'er the sea, - As they had called a thousand years—calling now for me. - They woke me from my dreaming in the dawning of the day, - The Bugles of England—and how could I stay! - - The Banners of England unfurled across the sea, - Floating out upon the wind, were beckoning to me. - Storm-rent and battle-torn, smoke-stained and grey: - The Banners of England—and how could I stay! - - O England, I heard the cry of those who died for thee, - Sounding like an organ voice across the winter sea; - They lived and died for England, and gladly went their way: - England, O England—how could I stay! - - PTE. J. D. BURNS, A.I.F. - - (Killed in action, Gallipoli.) - Son of Rev. ---- Burns, late of Bairnsdale, Victoria. - - - - - IV - - THE BOMBER - - -We had a treasure in our battalion—a sergeant who knew all about bombs. -He liked them, and knew exactly how to treat them. Of course we could -not keep such a man in the battalion. He was manifestly called to the -vocation of Instructor for Bombing Schools. - -They will never make a general of him—he is too valuable in his present -capacity. Besides, his grammar and pronunciation are not equal to such a -strain. The more lucid his explanations are, the looser is his control -of the aspirate; although that is nothing in these days, for I heard a -member of the British Parliament speaking the other day, and he---- But -that is another story! - -'Bombs is all right if you treat them properly. They will never do no -'arm to you if you don't monkey with them. They are gentle and 'armless -things to them as is wise to them,' he would say, addressing his group -of humble disciples. 'Gather round and I'll learn you about bombs.' And -what time he toyed with the vicious missile the 'class' would gather -somewhat fearfully around him. - -'When you remove this 'ere pin you release the spring which causes the -charge to explode the bomb in the time that you count five—so.' He -removes the pin and proceeds to deliberately count, 'One, two, three'; -now his disciples begin to melt away, 'four'--'Oh, you needn't worry, -five, there ain't no charge in this one. It's empty for experimental -purposes.' - -He has a wonderful command of hard, technical words, only equalled by -his disregard of the proper pronunciation of simple words. - -[Illustration: "Gather round, and I'll learn you about bombs."] - -Now with reassured courage the class gather round again, and he takes up -a 'live' bomb. - -'As you count three, you hurl the bomb, not with a jerk, but with a -smooth round arm bowling motion. So—one, two, three,' and he hurls the -bomb clear into a trench forty yards away. It explodes with a loud -detonation, smashing up the trench, and he resumes his lecture. - -'Although you 'ave removed the pin, you can still keep your bomb right, -by pressing the spring until you are ready for action, so you can 'ave a -bomb in your 'and just ready for throwing as you go up a German trench. -You've got to do it just right, so that Fritz has no time to pick up -your bomb and throw it back at you. - -'You can 'ave faith in your bombs now. It's not like them there -Gallipoli days, when we 'ad to fire jam-tin bombs made on the premises. -They was filled with Turkish bullets and all sorts of things, but they -couldn't be relied on to do the same thing every time. Did you ever 'ear -of Lieutenant Forshaw, V.C., down Cape Hellis way? He hurled jam-tin -bombs for forty-two hours at Johnny Turk. He 'ad to light them with his -cigarette. - -'Not been used to smoking cigarettes, 'im 'aving been brought up as a -schoolmaster, the smoking did 'im a lot of 'arm, for which reason the -King made 'im a V.C. Lucky fellow, I call 'im. Many's the time I've been -short of a fag.' - -At once quite a number of the sergeant's pupils present fags, and having -made a selection and put a few in his pocket for future use, the -sergeant proceeds: - -'There's another man I want to tell you about—Captain Shout, V.C., of -the 1st Battalion. 'E was throwing bombs at such close range at the -Turks that 'e had to have three lit at once for 'im, and 'e fired them -just so as they would explode among the enemy. 'E kept this up a long -time, and 'eld the enemy up, but one burst too near 'im, and after some -time, he died of 'is wounds. A great loss to the A.I.F., believe me. You -needn't worry about such-like 'appenings now; only one in two thousand -of our Mills' grenade goes wrong, and with the odd one you've got your -sporting chance. - -'Now, what about bombs that land close to you, sometimes thrown by the -enemy, and sometimes by accident, our own, when a man 'its the side of -the trench? Don't be too scared. Even then bombs is 'armless properly -treated. Get behind a traverse if there is one. If not, then you render -the live bomb 'armless. Gather round. I'll show you.' - -Sitting on a chair, he took a bomb, and, after counting three, threw it -on the ground, not a great way off. The men scatter for all they are -worth; but the sergeant, having thrown an overcoat over the bomb, calmly -resumes his seat. Crash! goes the bomb at the fifth second. The coat -rises with the bomb, the fragments drop harmlessly around, and the coat -is not much worse. - -'Now then, let that learn you to throw sand-bags, blankets, your own -overcoat or some such thing over a bomb, and ten to one no 'arm will -follow. - -'Did you ever hear of Mulga Bill at Quinn's Post? A bomb dropped in the -trench amongst them, and 'e promptly put a sand-bag from the parapet on -top of it. To make sure, 'e sat on top of the sand-bag. When it exploded -'e went up with the bag a little way. 'E came down all right and none -the worse. But 'e was _narked_--annoyed, to find his chums laughing at -'im. "What are yer laughing at?" 'e said. "I did that to save you -fellows, but I'll never do it again." - -'That's where Mulga Bill was wrong. He done right, except sitting on top -of it. That was an extra act—a sort of curtain-raiser at the wrong end -of the play. - -'Let that learn you not to put 'ard substances on a live bomb. It don't -take kindly to pressure. I'll show you. Gather round.' - -The instructor then proceeds to throw another bomb. As, counting three, -he throws the bomb down, he proceeds quickly to put a sheet of -corrugated iron on it. - -'Now,' he cries, 'run like hell!'--and he showed them the example. - -The bomb, exploding, sends fragments, throws the torn iron all around, -and the men have learnt another strange lesson in regard to the -behaviour of bombs. - -Notwithstanding the confident handling of bombs by this expert, I am -privately of opinion that men should beware of 'the familiarity which -breeds contempt' in the matter of bombs. - -There was a man in our Brigade who had just returned from a bombing -school with his head stuffed full of all sorts of knowledge about the -manufacture and use of bombs. He had a small collection of them, and one -morning in the shadow of the Calvary at the cross-roads-at Fleurbaix, -having an audience, he held forth on his new subject, illustrating his -remarks by fiddling with a small screw-driver at a bomb which he -professed to know all about. Suddenly it exploded, wounding him sadly. -'A little learning' had for the moment 'made him mad.' - -To get back to our Bombing School. After the instructor's talks, the men -in turn would hurl bombs from one trench to another, until they were no -longer 'bomb-shy.' As a matter of fact, a good bomber is just as good a -'life' in the army as any other expert. Indeed, a man may lose his life -through the absence of a bomb or the knowledge of how to use it. - -In the words of our instructor, 'The cure for the bombing craze is--"A -hair of the dog that bit you."' - -The Germans are good bombers, and when, in their counter-attack, they -come down a trench throwing bombs, the only way is to bomb them back and -out again. - -He used to say, 'The Boches began this blooming bombing business,' only -his adjectives were sometimes profane. 'What we have to do is to give -them a fair sickening of it. Bomb their Zeppelins, bomb their -submarines, bomb their dug-outs'--then, in one final outburst, he would -say, 'Bomb the Boches; and if you don't believe what I say, ask the -Chaplain.' - -If they ask me, how can I contradict him? - -Our 'bomber' often surprised us, even to alarm. But the biggest surprise -he ever gave us was when he had been granted ten days' (well deserved) -leave in 'Blighty,' he turned up again in six. Wondering, the men, who -envied him his leave, inquired why he had returned before his leave was -up. - -'I was very lonely in London,' he replied simply. 'I like to be with my -pals.' - - - - - V - - ROMANCE AND REALITY - - - Page from a world-old palimpsest - Shrined on the altar of the sea, - Whereon a Nation's new-limned crest - Glitters in glorious blazonry! - Grave that our race shall kneel anigh - For aye—Gallipoli; good-bye! - - Dying to rank as men with those - Who manned the wall while Ilium burned-- - This is the crown your story knows, - The need their rare dear madness earned! - Troy's heroes cry to ours and thee, - Gallipoli, Gallipoli! - - They watched through fierce weeks many a one - While, from his tent of rose-hued lawn - The unclenched fingers of the sun - Unloosed the westering birds of dawn; - For them those sun-birds stoop and fly - No more! Gallipoli, good-bye! - - God's acre, bare and barren woods, - Cross-guarded mounds where noon-rays burn-- - Like pale knights praying by their swords, - Set upright in the bracken-fern-- - Thy love shall keep our freemen free, - Gallipoli, Gallipoli! - - J. ALEX. ALLEN in the _Sydney Bulletin_. - - - - - V - - ROMANCE AND REALITY. - - -The Army Chaplain, drawn by Mars from his quiet round of parish work and -life, made up, as it is, of pastoral visitation, educational and -devotional meetings, and the public services of the Sabbath, is certain -to find active service a restless experience. His battles aforetime, -fierce enough sometimes, were in the arena of Synod or Conference Hall, -and his duels were of the more or less friendly sort of the Ministers' -Fraternal. Now he sees something of battles more dramatic, in which the -missiles are more than words. He moves in an atmosphere of romance -mingled with grim reality, and he begins to feel that he is living in -heroic days. He sees the world in process of reconstruction, and looks -on whilst the fabric of man's life and character is taken down and built -up again according to a new pattern. - -Our disappointment in not being allowed to proceed straight to the front -in France was somewhat mitigated by the news that we were to train and -wait beneath the shadows of the mighty Pyramids at Cairo. On the ground -where Napoleon, addressing his troops, reminded them that 'forty -centuries looked down upon them' and awaited their achievements, we -trekked through the sand, sweated through the hot days and shivered -during the cold nights, as we camped amid sand which is always either -very hot or cold. There was a hard winter's work for padres here who -desired to do something to counteract the evil attractions of Cairo for -the troops. The reality was, however, always tinctured with the romantic -glamour of Egypt and the Nile. - -There was Vieux Cairo—the ancient Forstad—with its undoubted earliest -Christian Church; the place to which we can say with almost certainty -that Joseph and Mary came with the Infant Christ. Wanderings amid the -antiquities of this ancient place full of Coptic traditions, and an -occasional mingling with the multi-coloured crowds gathering among the -Bazaars of the Monsky, somewhat relieved the tedium of evolutions amid -the eternal sand of the Libyan Desert. - -A hard three days' manœuvring was set over against the interesting fact -that we fought our sham battles at Sakkara, the City of the Dead, and -our Brigade signallers flashed or flagged their messages from the Step -Pyramid—the very oldest building in the world to-day. - -'Going down to Egypt' had the same dangerous fascination for us as for -the ancient Israelites, and padres had to be modern Isaiahs, warning the -men of the languorous seductions which Egypt in modern times, as in -ancient, holds out to men of a sturdy race. - -Then came the never-to-be-forgotten day when we marched out of our Mena -Camp, headed by our bands—away from the sand of the desert, and on -through the crowded streets of Cairo, singing, 'Advance, Australia Fair' -and 'Good-bye, Cairo.' We were going to fight, and we were glad. We had -left the back-block townships away beyond sunset for this very purpose: -to strike a blow for Old England. - -That we were going to strike a blow at the heart of the Turkish Empire -made it all the more thrilling. Whether we would succeed or not we could -not tell, but we knew that we were going to strike hard. No ancient -crusaders ever felt higher enthusiasm than did we amid the marshalling -of the armada of transports at Alexandria. Then, with Pompey's Pillar -looking down upon us, we sailed away from the city of Alexander the -Great, passed the Pharos and out to the blue Mediterranean. - -Whither bound? We hardly knew, but in those days, when padres stood upon -the higher decks and spoke to the men in their ranks below in the deep -well decks of those huge transports, the romance of it all impelled them -to call men to high endeavour and heroic faith. We had to 'do censor' on -this voyage, and we found that the men's letters were surcharged in -almost equal quantities with reality and romance. They complained that -they had to sleep on an iron deck, eat iron rations, and, to crown all, -some one said, 'We are commanded by a General called Iron Hamilton.' But -they felt the glory of it, and displayed the spirit of adventurers. - -With St. John's Patmos in sight, with its white buildings on the summit -of the hill, we steamed on for Lemnos. Lemnos, the island to which, in -Greek myth, Jove's son was hurled from heaven, in disgrace, and where -the Greek army called on its way to the Trojan War, was beautiful to us -after the hot sands of Egypt. - -We manœuvred on shore among the most beautiful wild flowers, and we -sailed in Mudros Bay around the formidable battleships of a mighty -allied fleet. - -Those were romantic days for the padre. Everything one said was -flavoured with the seriousness of last words and final exhortations. The -last Communion service, and the last service on the huge flagship of the -A.I. Force, the _Minnewaska_, is something to remember. On April 11 the -topic was 'Consecration.' 'And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify -yourselves; for to-morrow the Lord will begin to do wonders among you.' -The lesson was the story of the preparation of Joshua's army for the -crossing of the Jordan. Knowing how desperate was our enterprise, we -girded ourselves for the attack, and whatever the result of our campaign -may have been—and we shall not know that fully until the war is over—we -can claim that we obeyed the word which said, 'When ye come to the brink -of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan.' How many of our -brave fellows on the brink of the water of the last Jordan stood firm on -that bit of land we wrested from the Turk? - -The last service of all on the deck of the flagship, on April 18, 1915, -had for its message: 'Faith in God's leadership,' 'The Pillar of Cloud -by day and the Pillar of Fire by night.' It _was_ a pillar of -cloud—clouds of battle-smoke—and a pillar of fire from the thunderous -guns of our Fleet; and although it was not written in the Book of Fate -that we should take Gallipoli, we may yet believe that God was with us. - -In that address, after showing, first, that God does lead nations, and, -secondly, we are not in the war for Empire aggrandizement, but for the -preservation of God-given ideals—I turned to ask: 'Are we suitable -instruments for the fulfilment of God's will?' - -I look back with thankfulness to the fact that my last words to the men -who were going to land at Gallipoli were on 'personal salvation.' 'Some -of you may be satisfied that we are right as a nation in regard to God, -but you may have confused and troubled thoughts about your own relation -to God. You say, "I am not a church member or communicant. What about my -personal salvation?" In regard to the forgiveness of sins, there is no -magic or mystery about it. A man can be a Christian without knowing the -creeds, just as a man can be a soldier without knowing the military -text-books. The great revelation of the Bible is of God as a Father. -Think of a good father. He would forgive even a prodigal son. So will -God. But there must be repentance. If you thus come, God will accept you -and say: "Thy sins which were many are all forgiven; go in peace and sin -no more." Thus you may go forward, and fight all your battles knowing -that at last, when you ground your arms before the Throne of God, and -answer the roll-call of eternity, you will hear the Father say, "Well -done, thou hast been faithful unto death; enter into Life."' - -On a brilliant day of Mediterranean beauty our ships lifted their -anchors, and, amid resounding cheers, one after another steamed out into -the Ægean Sea, in the wake of the fabled Argonauts and on the ancient -track of the Greek army sailing for the Plains of Troy. In the darkness -battleships and transports took up their allotted positions, and in the -early dawn there began one of the greatest combined naval and military -battles which the world has ever seen. - -Even amid the tragedy of those Gallipoli days we lived under the spell -of the storied past. We were living in St. Paul's world. On a certain -bright Sunday morning we addressed some hundreds of men on 'Paul's -vision and call to Macedonia.' - -We were fairly safe, for the shells flew over us on their way to the -beach, and the hill intervening stopped the rifle-fire of the enemy. It -is a good thing to be on the right side of the hill. - -The men were always glad to hear about that indomitable fighter, Paul. -We were able to point to Kum Kale in the distance, which our battleships -had bombarded some days previously. It is the ancient Troas, from which -Paul sailed, and Troas again is the more ancient Troy. He 'made a -straight course to Samothrace.' - -This would take his little ship (something like that Greek lugger -sailing in our sight) over the place where a few days before our good -friend, H.M.S. _Triumph_, was sunk by a submarine. And there, to the -right, was Samothrace, in its snow-capped beauty, facing us. - -That was the romance. We were in the ancient world. The reality was that -we were verminous, plagued with flies and all the diseases they bring. - -After visiting the dug-outs that day, I had to bathe in the Gulf of -Saros, wash all my clothes, and, dressed in others less worrying, try to -sleep in my cave of Adullam that night. Experiences solemn and weird -were ours on that craggy shore. - -A Communion service at that same place stands out in my memory. How -freely the men came to the Table of the Lord! In the beautiful twilight -they sang hymn after hymn as relays of men took their places. It was a -setting solemn and impressive as any cathedral of man's building for -such a service. But there was a grim reality about it too, for as they -sang: - - - I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless! - Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness: - Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory? - I triumph still if Thou abide with me! - - -others, who had left the service for duty, were passing in single file -up the long communication trench armed for the fray. - -It seems a strange and romantic fact that when we returned to Egypt, -after the evacuation of Gallipoli, our main camp was at Tel-el-Kebir. -Sir Garnet Wolseley's trenches were visible on the outskirts of our -camp. But what is more interesting, is that on the march to the desert -front our force followed the line mainly of the sweet-water canal, which -is probably the route of the Israelites under the wise generalship of -Moses. - -Some units took a route through the Desert to Ismailia. There was less -romance about their experiences, and a reality which does not lend -itself to description here. Crossing the Suez Canal, we campaigned for -some months on a route which ultimately brought us to a post seventeen -miles out in the desert. What an opportunity for the padre of re-telling -the story of the wandering and fighting of the hordes of Israel under -Moses and Joshua! - -Our Arab camel convoys, on a new-made road parallel with a strategic -railway, traversed by electric locomotives—East and West together!--lent -an air of romance to this period of service. But it was counterbalanced -by a severe reality, for on occasions we marched at 7 a.m. with the -thermometer at 100 degrees. And a padre's Sunday, beginning with the -first church parade at 5 a.m. and conducting others at various posts -among the sand-dunes, was a day which left one more conscious of reality -than romance. - -An atmosphere of romantic interest hangs about our French campaign. The -scene changes, and for the white-robed hosts following Saladin or -Mehemet Ali, for the bronzed warriors who followed Cambyses, Alexander -the Great, Rameses II, for the Red and Blue arrayed against each other -under Napoleon or Abercromby, we have to exchange the chivalry and -battle represented by such names as Poictiers, Cressy, or Waterloo. In -our fleet of six transports, our division _en route_ had to _watch_ and -pray, wearing a lifebelt always. - -We steamed into a bay of Malta on a Sunday morning. This gave us another -memory of Paul, and we had to speak of his shipwreck and landing there. - -Arriving in La Belle France, we realize that it is a land of chivalry -and romance. We move under the banner of Joan of Arc, and fight on old -battle-fields. Every town has its storied past; but this is no war of -chivalry, and our battalions do not flaunt the banners of heraldry. The -reality is cold mud, dripping dug-outs, and hard fighting night and day; -and yet over all are the crossed flags of the two most romantic and -adventurous races in the world—the British and the French. - -The achievements both of Napoleon and Wellington call us, the one to the -path of glory and the other to the path of duty; and a second greater -Waterloo awaits us as victors in the struggle for the freedom of Europe. - -At this time we may still hear the ringing cry of Henry V at Harfleur in -our English ears: - - - 'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; - Or close the wall up with our English dead! - In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man - As modest stillness and humility; - But when the blast of war blows in our ears, - Then imitate the action of the tiger; - Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, - Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage; - Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; - Let it pry through the portage of the head, - Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it - As fearfully as doth a gallèd rock - O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, - Swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean. - Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; - Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit - To his full height!--On, on, you noblest English.' - - - - - VI - - THE GOD OF BATTLES - - - Lord God of Hosts, whose mighty hand - Dominion holds on sea and land, - In Peace and War Thy will we see - Shaping the larger liberty. - Nations may rise and nations fall, - Thy Changeless Purpose rules them all. - - JOHN OXENHAM. - - - - - VI - - THE GOD OF BATTLES - - -Everything is in the melting-pot. Even our ideas of religion are -changing. The development of theology is being hastened by the 'big -push,' and orthodoxy is being tested in the red crucible of war. There -is a lot of confusion, and that all the contending nations claim God is -embarrassing to _us_, but not to God. We may be sure that there is no -jostling or confusion in the Eternal mind. The Good Shepherd knows His -own and is not deceived by our claims and counter-claims. 'Gott mit uns' -is engraved upon the belt of each German soldier, and the Kaiser claims -God as the German God. He has been appealed to by the Austrian Emperor, -by the Czar; even the Sultan's soldiers advance to the charge crying, -'Allah, Allah.' We appeal to God too. It is all natural and, from the -human standpoint, right. We may be sure that the God of Battles knows -the worth of all our claims, knows how much of truth is contained in our -cause. In His name the conscientious objector declines to fight, and God -only knows where conscience ends and cowardice begins. 'The Lord is a -Man of War,' and if history shows anything it shows that God does not -despise the sword as an instrument whereby men contend for the faith, -and even the blood of men is not too precious to spill for the defence -of the ideals of freedom and right. Like the pulsator on the diamond -fields of Kimberley, war, the mill of God, throbs back and forth. We may -throw on it the heaps of earth, but as it throbs it will shake away the -clods and wash away the mire; the true diamonds will remain. - -To the superficial, war seems to be a grim contradiction of the fact -that God is the Ruler of the world. To them it seems as though this -world were governed by a demon. But really war is a terrible -confirmation of God's presence in the world and a lurid re-emphasis of -His inevitable and inexorable Law. - -The mental disease of selfishness, lust of power, and military glory was -present; it was slumbering in the heart of the nations in times of -peace. The disease (which shows itself in commercial competition too) -broke out in the violent inflammation and irruption of war. War is a -delirium, a delusion, and a degeneracy. It is made possible by the brute -strength of a soulless people on the one part and the weak -unpreparedness of an easy-going, prosperous, and pleasure-loving people -on the other part. - -Suddenly a bolt from the blue fuses all antagonisms into the mad storm -which we call 'War.' A good deal of dross will be burnt up, but the pure -gold will remain. Out of the collision of national ideals which are -right or wrong, heroism and self-sacrifice are born. Out of the -commotion of contending ideals, truth, single-eyed, in clear perspective -and circular, containing every point of view in its comprehensiveness, -will emerge. It is not to the balance of power or the inter-relation of -dynastic connexions that we must look for peace, but to the balance of -the naked truth and the essential solidarity and brotherhood of man. - -The Concert of Europe has broken down in discord, the Conductor is -rapping out with His baton the true music of humanity, and He insists -that we should all recognize the Keynote. - -The pre-millenarian sees in it all a superhuman interference with the -human will which is the prelude to a forcible application of the Divine -Will and a millennium of peace and perfection. But when we investigate, -we see that there is no mental violence in the coming of the Great War. -We are reaping what we sowed. It arises out of logical and adequate -causes. It will not end until these causes have been removed. - -Political excrescences must be sloughed off. Nations will be born or -reborn in a day. So war is working the world-fever out of our blood, -cleansing our hearts, and making us seriously face life's issues. - -To get to particulars. We hear much about man-power to-day. It is the -last word of the strategist, the first thought of the statesman, and the -secret of victory. But who bothered about man-power a few years ago? - -A Russian peasant in Petrograd, after the Revolution, said to an English -press correspondent: 'We shall have fine times in the church now. There -will not be so many long prayers for the Czar, the Imperial family, and -all the nobility, with a little prayer for the poor peasants at the tail -end.' - -Yet it is the great mass of _men_ which Russia possesses which forms the -famous 'steam-roller' upon which so many have placed their hope for the -liberation of Europe. It may be that the God of Battles has ordained -that in saving Russia, and in part Europe, the Russian people are to -save themselves. - -How was it with us? How many cubic feet of air have our men had to -breathe in the wretched and monotonous tenements in which they were -compelled to live? Houses must be built that way, I am told, because the -land is dear. Who made the land dear and men cheap? - -Men in many callings could not obtain a living wage. Some weird economic -law--'supply and demand' or other phrase—made it impossible to give the -worker more! But, suddenly, a struggle for national life is thrust upon -us, and there is money enough! - -I know it is a very complicated question, but it is _there_. We must -face it; we _are_ 'our brothers' keepers.' They are like 'sheep without -a shepherd,' unless they are cared for. It is a national obligation to -provide right conditions of life, proper education for mind and body for -the boy who is going to be the unit in the man-power of the nation. - -We must organize our national life to allow of this, for we have no -right to permit our industrial development to outpace our humanitarian -provision of the fair conditions of a full-orbed, manly life. Each -nation contending is 'up against it.' Men are precious in France, but -scarce. The birth-rate has fallen off. Why? We leave it to French -patriots to solve, and turn to our own affairs once more. - -We have suffered in this war, and victory has been delayed because we -lacked organization, and yet we prided ourselves upon being organizers. - -The victories in war are manufactured in days of peace. We were not -organized in pre-war days. Things _happened_. Under the pressure of war -we have had to organize ourselves in many ways. The railways have been -brought under central control to serve _England_ and not companies -merely. The vested interest of the Drink Traffic has had to be squeezed -into more reasonable proportions, and may have to go altogether to -secure victory. Men and women are being mobilized for national service, -and agitation for women's suffrage is silenced for the present. In the -silence it may be that we shall learn that the claim for suffrage -depends not upon _being_ but upon _doing_. National service is surely a -good claim for suffrage. Representation should not merely depend upon -taxation, but upon a wider qualification—service for the common good in -war and peace. - -We are not the only people under the pressure of war and compelled to -listen to the will of the God of Battles. - -We have seen an Anglo-Saxon nation, claimed to be the freest in the -world, struggling to grasp at the same time peace and conserve its -liberty, reluctant to grasp the sword even to protect its nationals. Led -by a far-seeing, cautious, and astute President, it made a wonderful -attempt to keep out of war; but the grim circles of battle have with -ever-widening sweep reached this huge nation of peace-lovers, and it is -learning that in citizenship quantity is not everything; quality, racial -purity, counts for something. - -Moreover, nations are not permitted, any more than individuals, by the -God of Battles to evade or shirk the great moral issues of life: - - - Once to every man and nation - Comes the moment to decide, - In the strife of truth with falsehood, - For the good or evil side. - - -The Church is being tested by war. It had not been prepared by its human -leaders for this test, though history shows clearly War, Revolution, -Crisis, and Persecution are the foster-mothers of Religion. - -But we built up the Church for peace and prosperity. Its ordinances, -ceremonials, customs, and solemn pomps; its appeal, apparel, and -ambition, all needed peace for their opportunity and prosperity for -their support. When a nation strips for war, however, it needs a -religion from which everything which is extraneous and superfluous is -eliminated. - -When the soldier, living in the world of elemental passions and away -from all the Church aids and props, free from the suggestiveness of the -church as a sacred place and all the sensuous accessories and aids to -worship, asks for religion, he wants it _neat_. He needs the -fundamental, the essential, the irreducible minimum. - -Now the Church has to work in an altogether different atmosphere. It -must not be thought that it is an atmosphere less favourable to -religion. The drama of the soul never has so fitting a setting as in the -red landscape of war, with its alternations of lively death and deadly -life. - -The very processes of soul growth and the problems of time and eternity -are, so to speak, 'filmed.' A lifetime is compressed into a campaign. - -As the individual soul has its tragic opportunities, so the Church -itself has its great chance. Never was such a setting for the divine -drama since it was first enacted. Never were the truths of religion so -clearly illustrated or the comforts of religion so pathetically needed. -The suitability of the gospel message as a response to man's needs, and -the perfection of Christ as man's Comrade and Saviour, never shine forth -so fully as in the lurid glare of war's terrible perspective. - -It is the business of the soldier's preacher to interpret this. He has -abundant mental material to hand, and he works in an atmosphere solemn, -insistent, and impressive. - -If he turns aside to talk of lesser things, he wastes his time. He must -not get between the men and God, or put the Church, or its ordinances, -or its rules, so far as they are human, between the men and God. - -If this is so when we speak of the Church in the larger sense, how much -more is it so when we speak of the Church as a denomination!--and all -Churches are denominations when we are at war. - -The minister, too, has to cut his baggage down. His spiritual equipment -is in his mind and heart. The soldier does not inquire what college his -padre comes from, or what qualifications the titles before or after his -name stand for. Whether he is a bishop, a great evangelist, or a popular -preacher means little to the man. What the man asks is, 'What sort of -chap is he? How is he sticking it? What has he got to say? Does he help -a fellow?' - -The chaplain's one object is to lead men in thought and faith to God as -God is revealed in Christ, and to get him _there quickly_. - -In regard to the Church as an institution, there is a feeling among the -men, more or less articulate, that it has humbugged them. It has -denounced the sins it does not often commit, but has been too silent -about the sins which are common to its own membership. The Church, in -time of peace, has built up a vast superstructure of respectability. The -sins of the flesh and drunkenness and swearing were not respectable; but -it has not turned the white burning light of truth against the sins of -the spirit—covetousness, selfishness, lying, fraud, greed, and -injustice. The soldier has many things to put up with, but for the time -he is freed from the soul-destroying influence of an industrial system -built upon the basis of competition. He is not afraid of losing his job, -and he need not toady to any one to secure the chance of his -bread-and-butter. Under the pressure of campaigning he begins to exalt -comradeship and self-sacrifice to the first place in the list of -virtues. Battle forges a new and strong bond of brotherhood. - -He does not possess this at first. He comes out of a world of -self-seeking, but he gradually discovers that men depend on each other. -In a word, the shells that fly, knocking the parapets about, and the -rough and tumble of campaigning knock a man's creed about fearfully. He -has to re-sort his ideas of religion and the Church, and when he puts -them together again, he finds that they fit his complex needs better -when they are built up the other way. Perhaps an arrangement of topics -which I have found to be dead topics as far as work amongst soldiers is -concerned, and others which seem to be _live_ topics, will help to show -what I mean. - - - DEAD TOPICS LIVE TOPICS. - - - Future punishment Personal salvation - - Baptismal regeneration Prayer and providence - - Apostolic succession Comradeship and Communion - - Claims of the Church Christ as Friend and Lord - - Sabbath observance Righteousness - - Observance of Holy Days and God as a Ruler - Church ordinances - - Sectarianism and all Church Here, hereafter, and the - shibboleths soul's destiny - - -The soldier is particularly interested in spiritual biography, and very -glad to hear about what God did for Paul, Peter, Moses, Joshua, and -David. There are vestiges of superstition lingering in many men, and it -is hard to see where superstition ends and faith begins. I have known -men sample all sorts of religion during the campaign, trying to find out -perhaps what different chaplains have to say about things. - -There is a species of fatalism; they value luck, and would sympathize -with the Prayer-Book phrase, 'Good luck in the name of the Lord.' - -It is strange that men should turn to the elements of religion in which -the Church is getting slack. They value prayer, and I think most of them -pray in their own way. They believe in providence, but do not expect -that prayer for them means necessarily immunity from wounds or death; -but they know quite well that whatever may be their lot they will be the -better for the prayers which ascend for them and for their own prayers. - -An Australian of the real primitive sort was moving across No Man's Land -to the attack on Fromelles, and he stopped amid the hail of bullets and -bursting shells and leaned on his rifle. A comrade rushed up and -inquired, 'What is the matter, mate; are you hit?' 'Hit, no,' he -shouted; 'if you want to know what I am doing, I'll tell you. I am -saying a prayer.' With that he seized his rifle and went forward to the -charge. - -An Australian non-com., who went right through Gallipoli and was in many -a fight, wrote to me and said that since a certain service at Mena Camp, -in Egypt, he had made prayer the habit of his life, and it helped him to -play the game. 'I have never gone over the bags without prayer first, -and specially commending myself to God, and I find it bucks me up a -lot.' - -Another, referring to an address on the text, 'Thy rod and Thy staff -comfort me,' wrote: 'The note of guidance and strengthening helped me a -great deal in the hard business of the attack on the Lone Pine, and it -was constantly with me in the Gallipoli days.' - -Whilst so many in pulpit and pew have ceased to ponder and wonder at the -mystery of the Atonement, soldiers have seen a new meaning in it. A man -in our force at Anzac said to me: 'I never could understand before; but -now, when I know I may be blown out, I reckon there isn't much chance -for me unless somebody has made up for my failure and done for me what I -have not been able to do for myself. I guess that is what it means.' - -He did not express it very well, but agreed with me when I said that -'Calvary has made up for our failure to come up to the standard of -Sinai.' - -That most difficult idea of substitution for us and representation of us -in the death on the cross is forced into men's minds by many an -illustration now. To a soldier dying at Étaples, a chaplain said, 'Do -you understand, and does it help you to know that Christ died for you?' -'Oh, yes,' he said, 'I know He died for me, just as I am dying for those -shirkers at home.' He used the word 'shirkers' without condemnation, -just as the first word which came to him, and passed away at peace and -content. - -For so long the Cross, with its extended arms, has spoken to the world -of a redemption of love. But we passed by carelessly, not choosing to -understand; so that we might well ask of the multitude: - - - All ye that pass by, - To Jesus draw nigh: - To you is it nothing that Jesus should die? - - -Now we know a little of what it means, for so many of our best have died -for us. So many real if not material crosses have been lifted on the low -hills of Flanders; so many have laid down their lives for the race, that -we are beginning to understand. - -There is nothing morbid in these thoughts of Christ dying. The Cross to -the soldier is full of sweet helpfulness, it appeals to him with -comfort. - -Everard Owen, in a poem which we are allowed to reprint from _The -Times_, called 'A Kind Hill to Souls in Jeopardy,' gives us the idea of -tender succour which men see in Calvary: - - - There is a hill in England, - Green fields and a school I know, - Where the balls fly fast in summer, - And the whispering elm-trees grow. - A little hill, a dear hill, - And the playing-fields below. - - There is a hill in Flanders - Heaped with a thousand slain, - Where the shells fly night and noontide - And the ghosts that died in vain. - A little hill, a hard hill - To the souls that died in pain. - - There is a hill in Jewry, - Three crosses pierce the sky, - On the midmost He is dying - To save all those who die, - A little hill, a kind hill - To souls in jeopardy. - - -What will the Church do with the men when the God of Battles gives the -remnant back to us? We shall have to make room for them. They will want -a simple and strong religion. Something to call forth and use the heroic -in them. They will not stay in the Church if there is 'nothing doing,' -for they are intensely practical. - -To recapitulate. The war has shown the political unimportance of the -Churches in Europe. The Will of God was not expressed clearly enough or -sufficiently by them to prevent the war. The World was stronger than the -Church and imposed its will upon the Church. - -Now that we are at war, the Churches are still divided in their witness -for righteousness. Even the Church, which, beyond all others, calls -itself Catholic, is not catholic in the sense of unity, for it speaks -with different voices in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and France. The -Church which calls itself Orthodox has failed to give the people a lead -in Russia. With us the lack of unity in the Christian Church has -weakened its testimony in the nation and marred its work in the Army. -Once more, therefore, in the history of the world, the King of -Righteousness, who is also the Prince of Peace, is recalled in human -life as the God of Battles. - -Still, He will make the wrath of men to serve Him, and He will gird the -soldier to execute His purposes, unconsciously, it may be, as He girded -and used Cyrus the Persian: 'I girded thee, though thou hast not known -Me' (Isa. xlv. 5). In spite of the failure of the Churches, He is -setting up His kingdom of Brotherhood and righteousness in the earth. - - - Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; - He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; - He hath loosed the fatal lightning of His terrible swift sword: - His truth is marching on. - - He hath sounded out the trumpet that shall never call retreat; - He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement-seat; - Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet; - Our God is marching on. - - I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps; - They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; - I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; - His day is marching on. - - In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, - With a glory in His bosom which transfigures you and me. - As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free, - While God is marching on. - - - - - VII - - THE CHIMNEY-POTS OF LONDON - - - I will not cease from mental fight - Or let the sword sleep in my hand, - Till we have built Jerusalem - In England's green and pleasant land. - - BLAKE. - - - - - VII - - THE CHIMNEY-POTS OF LONDON - - -There is some very fine architecture in London, and buildings which -reveal some of the finest workmanship in the world, for the London -craftsmen are famous. - -But all this is crowned with the craziest collection of chimney-pots. - -Sometimes the brickwork of the chimneys is built from one angle to -another above the roof; like a zigzag, and then surmounted on the same -building with chimney-pots of different designs and heights, pointing, -too, in different directions, and again capped with many weird -contrivances to make them _draw_. They are certainly _out of drawing_, -as any artist will confess. - -There are machines that whirl in the wind and by their mad circling -withdraw the smoke, and there are _cowls_ that move with the wind, -swinging in such a direction that the wind cannot blow down the chimney. -There are _hoods_, and tin monstrosities that rear their ugliness over -palaces, and there are chimneys that have been built up so much higher -than the original ending, that in their fresh start to the sky they -spoil the sky view as well as the contour of the building. There are -beautiful chimneys, which begin well, but have to be assisted to do -their work by horrible tin extensions soaring into the air. - -These hideous makeshifts disfigure the dwellings of the rich and the -poor alike with a deadly equality of utility unrelieved by any beauty. -To see it all stretching out beneath you from the Monument fills you -with disappointment at the wretched discord. I believe there are experts -in chimneys in London, men who _doctor_ them. If one could be found with -an artistic soul, who could make them beautiful, he would deserve well -of his country. - -But it would never do to take all these ugly things down, for uniformity -and even beauty may cost too much. A house full of smoke would, added to -the London fog, be intolerable. 'Handsome is as handsome does.' - -The housewife says 'Ours is a beautiful chimney. It draws so well.' When -you sit by the bright fire on a winter's night, you do not think of the -ugly chimney aloft except as a plain-featured but dear friend. - -But, for all that, these chimney-pots of London are a sad commentary on -our human nature. Our architecture and building goes wrong just where it -comes into contact with rough nature, with its treacherous tempest and -veering winds. The architect plans a beautiful Gothic mansion and -everything goes right. It is a dream, a vision of harmony, until he -comes to the chimneys—then brief and tragic experience demands a -distorted chimney or a tin contrivance, and the plan is spoiled. - -So we build our lives up to a point. It is to be a Gothic career for the -noble son. What Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Oxford, or Cambridge can do for him -is done. The Church, the Army—Society (with a big 'S') lend a hand, and -he is turned out true to sample—the right accent, the right dress, the -right manner. But, alas! when he comes into contact with the intricate -promptings of nature and the subtle temptings of the world, some strain, -inherited from the days of the Conqueror, makes him wobble. He marries -the wrong woman, or doesn't marry her at all, misses the bus, or catches -the wrong one. His career is altogether different from plan and -specification, and yet he may be quite a good sort! - -Here is another case. We set out to build a really artistic life. She, -the favoured creature, is nurtured amid culture and reared in the -atmosphere of poetry. Listening to smart conversation in epigram and -lightning-sketch style, she goes out into the world without a practical -notion; and because these things 'require money,' drifts into a -business-like marriage with an unpoetic person, who makes glue or blue. -Settles down—a Queen Anne villa with Mary Ann chimneys. - -These are mild cases. How few of us live up to our fond parents' hopes -and prayers! How many of us end far otherwise than our education, -advantages, and associations seemed to promise. We have power of choice, -we are not made uniform, and we do wobble a lot when we are turned loose -among the currents and storms of life. - -We overseas Britons are apt to expect too much of dear old London. - -At first we are foolish enough to think that this mighty capital of our -far-flung Empire should be an epitome of all our British virtues. Coming -to the fountainhead, we expect the water to be pure. We soon learn that -it is not a fountainhead of anything. It is a great bay of human life -and action into which a thousand rivers, of different quality and force, -empty themselves. - -London is a magnified expression of the life of the whole Empire. The -currents which we on the frontiers of the Empire set going all come -pulsing towards this mighty mother of cities; but with the boundless -generosity of a mother of nations, mature but still vigorous, she -receives this inflowing life and sends it back again in responsive -floods to the end of the earth. - -The jaundiced critic treads this mighty city with the blinded eyes of -ignorance, and seeing faults and sins, identifies her as 'Babylon the -Great, Mother of Harlots'; but to those who look for goodness, London -suggests the city of which it is written: 'And the nations of them which -are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do -bring their glory and honour into it.' - -Let us not hide the truth from ourselves. These chimney-pots of London, -for all their ugliness, mean a lot of kindly comfort. They draw well, -they are comfortable to live with. - -You may find the worst in London, but you will always find the best -also. - -There is a warm sympathy for sorrow, a motherly helpfulness in need, a -maternal solicitude for the welfare of the humblest, which stretches -down from the throne, and is reflected in the kindness of the poor -towards each other. No good movement will ever lack support here, and no -stauncher friend to freedom is planted four-square upon this earth than -the City of London, which so gallantly fought for its own freedom and so -jealously guards it still. - -If all these classic characters planned by fond parents had materialized -right up to the very chimney-pots, they would probably have been less -companionable and kindly. Purity of style does not always mean domestic -harmony. Go into these houses with the distorted chimneys, and you will -often find them 'all beautiful within,' carrying an atmosphere of peace -and well-being which is refreshing to the soul. Think, too, of how many -of them have been turned into hospitals for our wounded soldiers, and of -others which dispense a hospitality to the men from overseas which helps -them to forget or at least to bear their exile. - -It is unreasonable to expect the discourse and decisions of the great -mother of Parliaments to match the classic purity of the building in -which it meets. Its members are men, swayed by many winds of interest -and influence, and if they wobble a bit it is only natural. We -youngsters would settle the Irish Question and the problem of the Drink -Traffic monopoly very quickly! We would fix up the Suffrage for them and -bring everything up-to-date very soon! We would indeed—until we get the -over-sea mail and are reminded of our own lesser problems unsolved and -see our own wobbling. If we have nicer chimneys it is because our -climate is more kindly; and if life seems easier with us it is because -we are so young. We did not have so much hoary feudalism to dig up; -neither, however, have we such golden traditions and such a storied -history. Our life is free, but is it so full? - -Let us be very charitable to the homely chimney-pots of London. We have -poured out our treasure and blood for the Empire in this great war -gladly, but this one city has sent over a million of her sons to fight -and given readily scores of millions of her wealth without a murmur, and -is still giving out, giving out, without stint. It is the most heroic, -adventurous city in the world, where men use big maps, think in -millions, and build nationhood not for to-day only but for the centuries -to come. - -To speak of lesser things, where is there a more orderly, a more -good-tempered crowd than the crowd of London? Paris has its gay beauty, -Edinburgh its classic lines; but here they have dug parks out of the -quarries of bricks and mortar. The trees, squares, little green patches, -breathing-spaces, unexpected quiet nooks—all these are a surprise to us -because they have cost so much, and they represent a city of ideals -which embrace the past as well as the future. - -Later on, when we are older and wiser, you will call us to your -council-chambers. And we shall bring something with us of the freedom of -the large spaces, some vaulting ambitions from new countries where life -is a young man's adventure, some clearness of vision brought from the -solitary places. - -We shall bring Home some of the sweeping perspective of a land of -magnificent distances. Freighted, too, we shall be with that love for -England which only those can feel who have left her shores behind to -strike the long trail of Empire. But we can never bring back such gifts -to the mother county as she first dowered us with when she sent us out -to the great new lands with a love for freedom which she nourished -through the centuries with her own blood. - -Ah, London of the crazy chimney-pots! what we like about you specially -is your marvellous courage. London afraid, shrinking, timorous! Only -madmen would think it! How you wrestled with your mighty -problems!--problems of transport (you plant mighty railway systems in -your heart, and dig ways underground for your people), and problems of -administration greater than those of many nations! - -But your courage is still challenged. You will not fail us, Great Mother -of Cities! We look to you for a lead. You _are_ going to root out your -slum public-houses. You _are_ going to do more for the housing of your -people. And in the larger sphere of the politics of the world you are -still going to hold aloft the banner of freedom and righteousness. Send -out your life-blood of brave endeavour, and we shall feel every -heart-beat and respond to it, away under the Southern Cross, and -wherever the Union Jack flies or English is spoken. - - - - - VIII - - HORSEFERRY ROAD - - - Hail to the brave! - Who, going, come no more; - Th' imperious call broke on their slumb'ring souls, - And woke to action all their manhood strong, - And bade them go, that Right might conquer wrong. - Hail to the brave! - Who, going, come no more. - - Hail to the brave! - Who going, come again, - Though our poor vision may not see their form; - Yet in the silent hour, when thought seems deep, - We hail them near, and holy vigil keep - With all the brave, - Who going, come again. - - J. WILLIAMS BUTCHER. - - - - - VIII - - HORSEFERRY ROAD - - -When the great war is over there are some places which will live in the -minds of the Australians. Mena and the desert around the Pyramids has -become a part of the perspective of many Australian lives. It is stamped -there by many a long route march, and the training of the Australian -Forces there is a page in the annals of the history of Egypt, which -includes so much that is military, most noteworthy being the assembling, -training, and fighting of Napoleon's Army at the same place. We had our -Battle of the Pyramids, strenuous enough if only a sham battle. - -Heliopolis, with its old associations—the City of the Sun in the days of -Joseph and the place of his marriage, was the centre for our New Zealand -troops and also for many of our Australian units. Particularly will it -be remembered by the thousands of sick and wounded who came there to our -great No. 1 Australian General Hospital, which occupied the largest -hotel in the world, the Heliopolis Palace. The classic island of Lemnos, -both before our landing at Gallipoli and after our evacuation, loomed -large in our life. Salisbury Plain with its ancient towns and its -Druidical remains at Stonehenge also comes into the picture. - -But Horseferry Road has its special place in our records. Thousands of -Australians, on business bent, visit Head Quarters there, and the number -who report there on duty or leave every week never falls below four -figures. They see that it is a college, and that the officers are -working in libraries surrounded by memorial busts and bronzes of old -Masters, Tutors, and Scholars. They see hundreds of clerks working in -lecture-halls, class-rooms, or College Chapel. It will be interesting -for them to know that Horseferry Road is worthy of coming into the -historic perspective of the Australian Army. - -To begin with, it is probably the oldest road in England, certainly -older than Watling Street. The Archbishop's horse ferry began when his -Grace was more powerful than any of the several kings in England, and -brought the traffic from one side of the Thames to the other before -bridges were thought of. The Horseferry Road carried this ancient -traffic, and was laid out by use, very much the same as Parramatta Road -followed the tracks of the bullock teams along the ridge leading from -Sydney to Parramatta—and thus became in a casual way the first road in -the history of the new nation under the Southern Cross. - -The ancient Archbishop never could in his wildest dreams foreshadow the -time when hosts of British soldiers from the other side of the world -would march along his narrow horse ferry road. - -The building occupied by our Head Quarters is the Westminster Training -College for teachers, whose principal is Dr. Workman, a leading scholar -of England, and one of the first authorities on Mediaeval History. It -was first thought of taking the College for an officers' training depot, -but the War Office ultimately handed it over to the Australian -Commonwealth. - -The Australian Imperial Force but continues the war record of this great -college. Of its 800 or more pre-war students who have attested, 735 are -on active service: 47 have been killed in action, 23 wounded, 7 reported -missing, and 3 are prisoners of war. It has contributed 97 commissioned -officers and 218 non-commissioned officers to the army. The men of this -college have obtained many distinctions in the field. Lieutenant William -F. Forshaw and Lieutenant Donald Simpson Bell have won the V.C. The -first case is well known to Australians, for Lieutenant Forshaw won his -V.C. in the critical days of Gallipoli by holding up Turks for forty-one -hours by throwing bombs. Captain C. H. Hill Roberts and Captain J. W. -Wood won the Military Cross, and Lieutenant E. J. Phillips the -Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Médaille Militaire. Private Herbert -Brindle and Gunner W. L. Cooper, B.A., have won the Military Medal. - -This does not profess to be a complete record of the honours won by -Westminster Training College men, but just a list dug out of the -statistics while the war continues, to show that the Australians have -become citizens of no mean city in coming to Horseferry Road, -Westminster. - -Besides this _war work_, the Westminster College has done a great deal -for Britain in sending one of its old tutors, Dr. Lowry, to the Munition -Board. He is a great chemist, and the author of some of the surprise -packets which have been sent to Fritz in the shape of new explosives. - -In peace, as well as war, the college, which was founded over seventy -years ago at Horseferry Road, has gained honourable distinction. Hedley -Fitton, the famous etcher, was one of its old pupils. Sir James Yoxall, -author and M.P., is another old student. James Smetham, the famous -artist and letter-writer, was a tutor here. John Scott, grandfather of -the Rev. Dr. Scott Lidgett, was the first Principal, and was followed by -Dr. Rigg, the great educational expert and writer on Methodism and -Anglican theology. Besides that, it is linked to Australia by the fact -that some of its old pupils have gone to occupy honourable positions as -teachers and in some cases ministers in the Commonwealth. - -At least one of our great Australian schoolmasters, Mr. F. Chapple, -M.A., B.Sc., Principal of the largest boys' college in Australia, Prince -Alfred College, Adelaide, was a student and a member of the staff here. - -One of the strange things that war does is to bring back in khaki men -from Australia, on business to the A.I.F. Head Quarters to find that it -is their own old college. Men from Westminster Training College are -fighting in France, Palestine, Mesopotamia, on the Salonica front, and -some of them are in naval work; and while this famous Alma Mater sends -out her own sons to the frontiers of the Empire, she opens wide her -hospitable portals to receive the brawny pioneers of New Lands away -'down under.' Thus men from back-block townships in Australia are -brought into a sort of fellowship of service with the English trainers -of the old Horseferry Road Training College. - -Our men will think kindly, too, of Horseferry Road, because the War -Chest Club, just opposite the Head Quarters, was so often their home. -Here, under the hostess, Mrs. Samuel, a capable group of lady workers -have dispensed thousands of hot meals to sore-footed and war-weary -Australians on leave from France. Then there was the quiet refuge of the -Y.M.C.A. Hostel on the other side of the road, in the Wesleyan Central -Hall, where, under the lady superintendent, Mrs. Workman, and her -voluntary assistants, similar good work was done. - -To Horseferry Road the Australian came gladly, leaving it regretfully -for war again; and when the war is over it will be a kindly memory. In -close proximity to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, where -so many bonds of Empire are forged, the old Westminster Training College -will continue to do its useful part in Empire building. - - - - - * * * * * - - _Printed by Jarrold & Sons, Ltd., Norwich, England._ - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - - ● Where hyphenation occurs on a line break, the decision to - retain or remove is based on occurrences elsewhere in the - text. - ● The errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have - been corrected, and are noted here. - ● The numbers are references are to the page and line in the - original book. - ● Errors in punctuation and quotes have been silently - restored. - - - Reference correction original text - 22.26 tin-hat I pull my tin hat firmly down - 32.6 field-guns a battery of field guns - 33.18 depot bombs for some dépot - 37.16 gunfire demolished by gun-fire - 77.5 Zeppelins Bomb their Zeppelyns, - 81.20 process world in prosess of reconstruction - 83.8 Bazaars Bazars of the Monsky - 86.3 battleships battle-ships of a mighty - 86.10 Minnewaska the Minniwaska is something - 99.16 by the by Austrian Emperor - 116.1 chaplain at Étaples, a chaplaín said - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where - you are located before using this eBook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that: - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without -widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/old/67351-0.zip b/old/67351-0.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 9c7532c..0000000 --- a/old/67351-0.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67351-h.zip b/old/67351-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 8e71e6e..0000000 --- a/old/67351-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67351-h/67351-h.htm b/old/67351-h/67351-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 996bca6..0000000 --- a/old/67351-h/67351-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4094 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> - <title>News from no man's land, by James Green—A Project Gutenberg eBook</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } - h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } - h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } - h3 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } - .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; - text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; - border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; - font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } - p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } - .fss { font-size: 75%; } - .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } - .large { font-size: large; } - .lg-container-b { text-align: center; } - @media handheld { .lg-container-b { clear: both; } } - .lg-container-r { text-align: right; } - @media handheld { .lg-container-r { clear: both; } } - .linegroup { display: inline-block; text-align: left; } - @media handheld { .linegroup { display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; } } - .linegroup .group { margin: 1em auto; } - .linegroup .line { text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; } - div.linegroup > :first-child { margin-top: 0; } - .linegroup .in10 { padding-left: 8.0em; } - .linegroup .in12 { padding-left: 9.0em; } - .linegroup .in15 { padding-left: 10.5em; } - .linegroup .in2 { padding-left: 4.0em; } - .linegroup .in4 { padding-left: 5.0em; } - .linegroup .in6 { padding-left: 6.0em; } - ul.ul_1 {padding-left: 0; margin-left: 2.78%; margin-top: .5em; - margin-bottom: .5em; list-style-type: disc; } - .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } - .figcenter { clear: both; max-width: 100%; margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; } - div.figcenter p { text-align: center; text-indent: 0; } - .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } - .id001 { width:60%; } - @media handheld { .id001 { margin-left:20%; width:60%; } } - .ic001 { width:100%; } - .ig001 { width:100%; } - .table0 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; margin-left: 6%; margin-right: 6%; - width: 88%; } - .table1 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; width: 60%; } - .table2 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; width: 90%; } - .nf-center { text-align: center; } - .nf-center-c0 { text-align: left; margin: 0.5em 0; } - .nf-center-c1 { text-align: left; margin: 1em 0; } - .c000 { margin-top: 2em; } - .c001 { margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c002 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } - .c003 { margin-top: 4em; } - .c004 { margin-top: 1em; } - .c005 { margin-bottom: 1em; } - .c006 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 4em; } - .c007 { margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } - .c008 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.0em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } - .c009 { text-align: right; } - .c010 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em; } - .c011 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; } - .c012 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; } - .c013 { margin-right: 16.67%; } - .c014 { margin-right: 16.67%; text-align: right; } - .c015 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; } - .c016 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 0.8em; - margin-left: 35%; margin-right: 35%; width: 30%; margin-top: 4em; } - .c017 { margin-top: 4em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } - .c018 { vertical-align: top; text-align: center; padding-right: 1em; } - .epubonly {visibility: hidden; display: none; } - @media handheld { .epubonly { visibility: visible; display: inline; } } - .htmlonly {visibility: visible; display: inline; } - @media handheld { .htmlonly { visibility: hidden; display: none; } } - ins.correction { text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray; } - div.tnotes { padding-left:1em;padding-right:1em;background-color:#E3E4FA; - border:1px solid silver; margin:1em 5% 0 5%; text-align: justify; } - div.tnotes {page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always; } - </style> - </head> - <body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of News from No Man's Land, by James Green</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: News from No Man's Land</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: James Green</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Contributor: W. R. Birdwood</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 7, 2022 [eBook #67351]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Guus Snijders and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from scans of public domain works at The National Library of Australia.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND ***</div> - -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div>Transcriber's note:</div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c001'>The few minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the <a href='#endnote'>transcriber's note</a> at the end of this text -for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered -during its preparation.</p> - -<div class='htmlonly'> - -<p class='c001'>Corrections in spelling are indicated using an <ins class='correction' title='original spelling'>underline</ins> -highlight. Placing the cursor over the correction will produce the -original text in a small popup.</p> - -</div> -<div class='epubonly'> - -<p class='c001'>Corrections in spelling are indicated as hyperlinks, which will navigate the -reader to the corresponding entry in the corrections table in the -note at the end of the text.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> - <h1 class='c002'>NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND</h1> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span> -<img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>"Now they begin to return."<br /><br />(<i><a href='#Page_60'>See page 60.</a></i>)</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div class='c004'><span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>NEWS FROM</div> - <div>NO MAN'S LAND</div> - <div class='c004'>BY</div> - <div>JAMES GREEN</div> - <div>SENIOR CHAPLAIN THE AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCE</div> - <div class='c004'>WITH INTRODUCTION BY</div> - <div>LIEUT.-GEN. SIR W. R. BIRDWOOD,</div> - <div>K.C.S.I., K.C.M.G., C.B., C.I.E., D.S.O.</div> - <div class='c004'><span class='sc'>London</span></div> - <div>CHARLES H. KELLY</div> - <div class='c005'><span class='sc'>25-35 City Road, and 26 Paternoster Row, E.C.</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span><i>First Edition, 1917</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span> - <h2 class='c006'>INTRODUCTION</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>I am indebted to the Rev. James Green -for the privilege of writing an introduction -to his book, in which he gives a lucid and -interesting description of the life of our -gallant soldiers of the A.I.F. In his -capacity as one of our Chaplains to the -Force, all of whom have done such noble -work during the war, he has been able to -enjoy a close personal touch with our men—more -particularly perhaps at Gallipoli; -the record of his sympathetic observation -and experience will, I am sure, be heartily -welcomed by all who are interested in -the welfare of the A.I.F.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Previous publications have, I know, -chronicled the incidents of our campaign -in Egypt and on the Gallipoli Peninsula—deeds -in which the greatest courage, -determination, and self-sacrifice have been -displayed by our men from the Southern -Seas, many of whom, alas! have made -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>the supreme sacrifice in the cause of Justice -and Freedom. Chaplain Green's work will, -however, be an interesting sequel in that -he describes what one may call our second -phase of operations on the Western Front.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Here, in France, our Australian troops -have continued to show that magnificent -bravery and spirit which has enabled them -to undergo cheerfully the severest hardships, -and even to enhance their fine -reputation as soldiers, which now stands -second to none in this huge Army. No -words of mine can adequately express my -admiration and affection for them. I am -proud to think that for nearly three years -now I have been privileged to serve with -them, during which period they have made -traditions which will live for all time in -the history of Australia.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I wish all success to Chaplain Green in -the publication of his book.</p> - -<div class='c009'><span class='sc'>W. R. Birdwood.</span></div> - -<p class='c008'><span class='sc'>France</span>, <i>May 13, 1917</i>.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span> - <h2 class='c006'>FOREWORD</h2> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>For reasons known to the men of the -Australian Imperial Force, I am always -interested in meeting others who wear -the green badge on their arm. A good -soldier is always as proud of the colours he -wears on his shoulder as the colours he -wears on his breast. He knows that each -brigade and battalion possesses a soul -of its own, and he is proud to belong to -his battalion and to worthily wear its -colours. For these reasons I ask the -privilege of dedicating this book to the -officers and men of the First and the -Fourteenth Brigades. Sister brigades they -are, from the Mother State; with them I -campaigned, and for them I have a proud -affection.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Heroes of many a fight,--for those two -Brigades will stand out specially in Australian -History, the story of the Landing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>at Anzac, the Battle of the Lone Pine, -Pozières, Fromelles, Bapaume, and Bullecourt. -Some of the men drafted from the -First to the Fourteenth shared in the -perils of Gallipoli, and all are associated -with the fighting on the Western Front.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For them all, I wish that they may fight -on to the certain and glorious victory, and -have the luck to return to Australia, the -land of sunshine and opportunity—there -to help in building up the Commonwealth -in harmony with the principles of freedom -for which they are fighting.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In spite of necessary suppression, or -vagueness of names of localities, my comrades -of the Fifty-fifth Battalion, to which -I was attached, will recognize many of the -incidents described, and I can only hope -that reading what the padre has to say -may cheer them in some lonely places, -or help them to be happy though miserable -in some indifferent billets.</p> - -<div class='c009'><span class='sc'>James Green.</span></div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span> - <h2 class='c006'>CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='15%' /> -<col width='75%' /> -<col width='9%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>CHAPTER</td> - <td class='c011'> </td> - <td class='c012'>PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>I.</td> - <td class='c011'>A QUIET NIGHT ON THE WESTERN FRONT</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_11'>11</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>II.</td> - <td class='c011'>NOTRE DAME DE DÉLIVRANCE</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_29'>29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>III.</td> - <td class='c011'>NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>IV.</td> - <td class='c011'>THE BOMBER</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_67'>67</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>V.</td> - <td class='c011'>ROMANCE AND REALITY</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_79'>79</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>VI.</td> - <td class='c011'>THE GOD OF BATTLES</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_97'>97</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>VII.</td> - <td class='c011'>THE CHIMNEY-POTS OF LONDON</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_121'>121</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c010'>VIII.</td> - <td class='c011'>HORSEFERRY ROAD</td> - <td class='c012'><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c003'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>I</div> - <div>A QUIET NIGHT ON THE WESTERN FRONT</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>We marched along, the sun was high;</div> - <div class='line'>We marched along—the halt was nigh;</div> - <div class='line'>We marched along, a little parched,</div> - <div class='line'>It seemed we marched—and marched—and marched;</div> - <div class='line'>We sang a song, a little dry,</div> - <div class='line'>We sang a song, a halt was nigh.</div> - <div class='line'>The whistle blew, ah! welcomed cry--</div> - <div class='line'>'Halt!'--welcomed rest from wearied road,</div> - <div class='line'>With opened tunic, laid-down load;</div> - <div class='line'>Ah! welcomed rest with opened vest,</div> - <div class='line'>'Twere worth that strain to rest again!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'><span class='sc'>H. H. V. Cross</span>,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'><i>London Rifle Brigade.</i></div> - <div class='line in4'>'<i>A Route March in Northern France, 1916.</i>'</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span> - <h3 class='c002'>I<br /> <br />A QUIET NIGHT ON THE WESTERN FRONT</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>We are getting near <span class='fss'>IT</span> at last. We have -started our march through the quaint -Flemish villages, past canals where long -strings of barges, painted grey, and bearing -the marks of the wonderful Army Service -Corps of the British Army, are being -towed steadily forward.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Occasionally, we march through good -French towns, with their fine churches -and cathedrals. We hate the pavé. It -is hard for marching; but we recognize -that it is a great advantage to possess -such hard roads to bear the enormous -War traffic of great guns and heavy motor-lorries, -proceeding constantly to the front. -Our band cheers us up. We are proud of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>it. The tunes we like best are, 'Advance, -Australia Fair,' 'Australia will be There,' -and 'Bonnie Dundee.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>The women and children and a few old -men come out to cheer and clap, and, -occasionally, we see some woman in black -turn aside to weep. Is she thinking of -some brave husband or son who marched -to the front just as gaily as we are doing, -and who did not come back?</p> - -<p class='c008'>But what rouses the enthusiasm of those -stricken people is the 'Marseillaise.' When -our band strikes up the martial strains of -that most wonderful melody, the old men -square their shoulders and the boys march -bravely alongside us, and the whole roadside -seems to be vibrant with the fighting -spirit.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I remember one little fellow with a -crutch who, though a confirmed cripple, -hobbled in front of our band for miles. -It was a sight which made us forget that -we were footsore and hungry. Away, -behind us, are the memories of the long -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>train journey from Ismailia to Alexandria. -Only a vague recollection remains of our -small fleet of transports sailing the beautiful -waters of the Mediterranean. We do sometimes -think of the reception we got as we -steamed into Marseilles, with its statue -of Notre Dame guarding the seas from -her eminence on the hill above. Then the -long troop trains and longer journey across -<span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Belle France</span>. A beautiful country, -'worth fighting for,' is the verdict of many -a stalwart Australian from 'out back,' and -from perhaps some little Bush township, -with but a church, a blacksmith's shop, -and an hotel. Further out, of course, -there was a race-course, and divided by -miles there were the stations and farms, -but it was a land of magnificent distances. -Here, however, there is intensive cultivation, -and towns close to each other. A -pleasant land of beautiful trees and rivers, -and grass of greenness new to us. But we -are getting closer to the desolation of -war, closer to the valley of decision.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>By and by we rest in a small village, and -it is Sunday. The church bells are ringing, -and as I have made elaborate arrangements -for church parades, I am looking -forward to a good padre's day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The brigadier, however, cancels everything. -'Sorry, padre, the men are going -to be "gassed" this morning, but not by -you.' They are, and they look very uncanny -manœuvring there in the fields -with gas-helmets on. No one is harmed by -the gas, and they learn that it is possible -to live and move under gas. But I am -sure they would have preferred my gas -for once.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I am billeted with a very nice family -here; and as the daughter is quite charming, -I have many visits from the younger -officers. I did not know I was so popular -with them. <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Mademoiselle</span> has learnt to -speak English quite well.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Don't you like Australians best of -all?' said Lieutenant Gallant, with a -languishing look to <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mademoiselle</span>.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>'We have many good soldiers here; -English (they do not say much); Scotch—very -good men; they speak more, and -ask if there is any place where they can -buy whisky. I like them all, and I do -like Australians best.' The gallant lieutenant -beams with joy; but she continues -archly, 'Because I always like those -best who come last.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now the battalion is formed up to -march. My batman says to <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">mademoiselle</span>:</p> - -<p class='c008'>'You are very sorry we are going, aren't -you?'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'But, yes,' and one could see it was real -sorrow.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'I know why,' I ventured to say. 'It -is Sunday, and to-day you would have -worn your beautiful dress.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Ah, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">oui</span></i>,' she says sadly, 'you are -very wise, and it is true. Come'; and -she leads us into the house again, opens -the wardrobe, and behold the costume -from Paris, <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">très chic</span></i>, the lovely hat—a -creation; the high-heeled boots, they are -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>all there. Quite innocently she tells us -that, had we stayed, she, with many another -fair one, would have 'made promenade.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>Oh, what we have missed! and what -greater pleasure they have missed who -would have 'made promenade' to the -big church and along the quaint streets of -that beautiful village. We have seen them -working in the fields, on the railway, in -the signal-boxes; but the brave women -of this village would have liked us to see -another side of their life when in their -Parisian costumes they promenaded the -streets with the grace which seems natural -to every Frenchwoman.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We have had the deep sound of the big -guns in our ears for days now, and we are -getting so near that we have seen fights in -the air. Our band instruments have been -packed away, and we are in our last billet -before 'going in.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is afternoon, the day following. The -whole brigade is on the move in readiness -to fight. The men march in file under the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>avenues of poplar-trees. The points where -the various companies enter the sector -have all been detailed, and officers who -have been down to the sector before act -as guides. At a cross-road the colonel -on his horse watches the men break off -for their different directions, and receives -reports from time to time; nevertheless, in -the darkness, the transport which I am -temporarily with goes too far, and we -have to halt for instructions.</p> - -<p class='c008'>By this time our guns are booming out. -We don't know whether there is some -'stunt' on, or whether they are merely -firing to cover our 'changing over.' Some -thousands of men are 'coming out' and -'going in.' It is a difficult operation. -The noise of shell-fire is great, and now -we can see the festoons of flares going up -in the Hun lines. The lieutenant has -inquired, and he says we are right and -must go on. I don't believe it. I have -been down the road and I saw a parapet. -I wish I had not come with the transport. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>They are so visible on the white road. -At any time we may be discovered and -a machine-gun turned on to us. The -horses are getting restive. The doctor -has kindly lent me his horse, and it is -jumping about. I seem so high up and -exposed there in the saddle, and yet I -cannot hold the beast when I dismount.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The wagons, too, make such a distinct -noise as they rumble over the metal road. -I agree with one of the men whom I hear -declaring to a chum that 'the whole -bally thing is "no bon."' The men inquire, -when a fresh gun-shock is heard, 'Is that -ours or theirs?' With a brave optimism, -I assure them that all the guns in action -are ours. They take me for a veteran, -and say, 'It's all right; the padre says -they are all ours.' Most of the men who -have been in action before add to their -authority by agreeing with me. But I -have a shrewd suspicion that, like me, they -<i>think</i> they are all ours, and I know they -<i>hope</i> they are all ours. With a splendid -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>audacity and tone of finality, reminiscent -of my cricket-umpiring days, I continue -coolly to announce to every inquirer, -'Yes, of course that's one of ours.' At -last a shell breaks on the road with a -vicious 'whiz-bang.' No one is hurt, thank -God, but it was close, and the horses are -playing up. Amid the silence which follows, -one of our Australians cries out: -'Now, then, padre, what about that? -Is that one of ours?' Such a question, -and at such a time, demands a moment's -thought. But I answer quite confidently, -'Yes, that's ours—now.' Everybody -laughs, but it relieves the tension. It is -relieved more by the fact that the lieutenant, -realizing that we <i>have</i> gone too -far, has given the order to 'About turn,' -and we are getting the horses and wagons -behind the bend of the road.</p> - -<p class='c008'>More inquiries. I've lost my faith in -the transport. The doctor's groom has -come for the restless 'Rosinante,' and I'm -free. If I am to get to the Battalion -<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>Head Quarters, I must proceed 'on my -own.' But first I will turn into this little -shelter, a forsaken dug-out covered with -stout beams and sand-bags.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Two of us light up our pipes, but a -profane sentry draws near. 'Now, then, -you blighters, put out those pipes. You -mustn't show the Huns a light. Don't -you know you're in a very dangerous -place?'</p> - -<p class='c008'>It's all dangerous, but we didn't know -that this place was specially dangerous. -I must make some inquiries of my own. -I would have to leave the transport some -time. Why not now? I get into a long -communication sap. Like many another -on the Western Front it is called Watling -Street. But it gives me a cue. I remember -now that it leads into Convent Avenue, -and that, I heard them say, leads into -Plug Street, and that is the road to the -Battalion Head Quarters.</p> - -<p class='c008'>I pull my <a id='corr22.26'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='tin hat'>tin-hat</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_22.26'>tin-hat</a></span> firmly down, and when -the banks are low I crouch, for the machine-gun -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>bullets are whistling overhead, and -all the choir and orchestra of the guns on -both sides are in full voice now. The -Concert of Europe has, by a metallic -crescendo, reached its fortissimo.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The full diapason is out, but, as always -in war, the <i><span lang="la" xml:lang="la">vox humana</span></i> is silent. There -are little islands (traverses) in the communication -trench, and suddenly emerging -from the sap near one of these, I nearly -bump into a sturdy machine-gunner I -know well. He is a member of my Church, -a sweet singer in my choir when he is -at home. And this is the night for the -choir practice, too. I see it now as in a -vision. The choir is gathered round the -great organ, and the conductor raps out -his admonitions with the baton. They -are practising one of my favourite anthems, -'Send out Thy Light.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'You must duck your head here, padre; -it is a bad place, and you are not supposed -to loiter.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>But I must wait. I am asking myself, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>'Are these guns sending out the Light -and Truth?' 'Yes, they are,' I say to -myself. It is a quick mental process, but -I am satisfied with the conclusion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We crouch down together and talk of -the old church. He gives me more information, -and I press on again. I am -talking to myself, a bad sign, but the -meeting and the memory has stirred up -emotions not to be stilled.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'We must have two anthems next Sunday,' -I say to the conductor as though -he were present. 'First, "Send out Thy -Light," and second, "The Radiant Morn."'</p> - -<p class='c008'>I wonder if, after this fury, there will -be a radiant morn for Europe; not one -that has passed away.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>When wilt Thou save the people?</div> - <div class='line in2'>O God of mercy, when?</div> - <div class='line'>Not kings alone, but nations!</div> - <div class='line in2'>Not thrones and crowns, but men!</div> - <div class='line'>Flowers of Thy heart, O God, are they;</div> - <div class='line'>Let them not pass like weeds away,</div> - <div class='line'>Their heritage a sunless day.</div> - <div class='line in10'>God save the people!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>A few more turns of the sap, and then -I come to three trenches meeting, and it -is a dangerous spot, for shells are dropping -close. But the sentry, with bayonet fixed, -is on guard.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'A hot place here.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Yes, padre, you can plop one any -time here. I keep to the left side as much -as possible under the bank.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'You're wise; and what are you here -for?'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Men of the "Fifty-fifth" are to be directed -down this sap to the front line, and men -of the "Fifty-fourth" go down that, and by -this you can find your way to the Battalion -Head Quarters.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Eureka! I've found it. <i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bon soir</span></i>,' -and '<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bonne chance</span></i>, sonny'; my present -troubles are over.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Arriving at the Battalion Head Quarters, -I find it to be a farm-house, ruined beyond -recognition as such. Kindly nature has -covered it with a screen of verdure, rendering -it almost invisible. The cook is there -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>and his assistant. My kit has not come -down to trolley-line yet, but the major, -who has been 'in' some days, shows me -my dug-out, a mere hole.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Hours after the officers begin to turn -up after various adventures. They seem -surprised to see me in first. 'Our padre -is the limit,' says the colonel. 'Chuck -him into the centre of Darkest Africa, and -he would strike out for home.' They glare -at me with vengeful jealousy, but they -have to confess I got supper on the way -with the help of the cook.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Hot coffee melts them. It is professional -jealousy. I tell them we ought to -have a few non-combatants to settle this -war. We're good pals after all, and I -know they would not care for a padre -who got lost; worse still, they wouldn't -want one who didn't <i>go in</i> with them at -all.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There's nothing like sticking up to these -fine young fellows now and again. Mutual -admiration, tempered by strong opinions -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>on irrelevant questions. The colonel is -jubilant because our battalion is right in -now without a casualty. Others, both -going in and getting out, have, unfortunately, -not been so lucky.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Bed made at last. Fritz is still letting -off fireworks.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now to get to my dug-out. I walk -quietly to the left behind a wall of sand-bags, -then going through an opening, I -run smartly for the hole, for machine-gun -bullets are splitting the air. I have -a bag in front of my dug-out, and a sheet -of corrugated iron to keep in the light. -All night long the guns boom, but you sleep -all the same.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When we get our papers up a day afterwards, -we read of this particular night a -neutral paragraph, headed, 'A Quiet Night -on the Western Front.'</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span> - <h2 class='c006'>II<br /> <br />NOTRE DAME DE DÉLIVRANCE</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>From city homes—from country homes we came;</div> - <div class='line'>From mother's love and father's gift we came,</div> - <div class='line'>A wind most terrible blew o'er earth's seas;</div> - <div class='line'>It waved a smouldering ash, and blazed up war;</div> - <div class='line'>The smoke and heat of that great Hell drew us,</div> - <div class='line'>And from our lives we came to live, to live.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>From sluggish routine, sluggish wrong we came.</div> - <div class='line'>From heedless walks, from ageing rust we came</div> - <div class='line in4'>--we called it life.</div> - <div class='line'>'Twas not! We came to live.</div> - <div class='line'>Out of the profound, profound we'll come, out, up;</div> - <div class='line'>Out of the deep we'll come, not from the shallows.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'><span class='sc'>H. H. V. Cross</span>,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in10'><i>London Rifle Brigade</i>.</div> - <div class='line in4'>'<i>A Young Soldier's De Profundis.</i>'</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span> - <h3 class='c002'>II<br /> <br />NOTRE DAME DE DÉLIVRANCE</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>At the gate of a ruined farm in our sector -in Flanders is a little chapel to 'Our Lady -of Deliverance.' It is seventy years old. -The brickwork at one corner is broken -down by shell-fire, but the ancient picture -above the altar, and the altar also, are -intact.</p> - -<p class='c008'>What was the idea of the ancient proprietor -in building this chapel at his gate? -for most of the wayside sanctuaries hereabout -are dedicated to our Saviour. It was -a large farm-house, evidently the property -of some wealthy farmer. It must have -survived the Franco-German War of 1870; -but it has not survived this, for the huge -grange is a mass of ruins. Perhaps the -shrine is a recognition of deliverance during -<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>the first war. Although it stands amid -ruin to-day, the chapel is prophetic of a -deliverance which is in process of being -worked out.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Near it there is a battery of <a id='corr32.6'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='field guns'>field-guns</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_32.6'>field-guns</a></span>, -and in rear of it a battery of 'heavies'; -in fact, all around there are guns, guns, -and more guns!</p> - -<p class='c008'>They were hurling an avalanche of shells -into the Hun lines when I passed on a -Sunday afternoon to conduct a service at -a post in the second line. What a horror -of sound!</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Huns began to reply, and they sent -nothing over but high explosives. 'Crump, -crump, crump,' went the shells as they -exploded, raising clouds of dust and smoke, -but fortunately missing all our batteries. -To be comparatively safe it was necessary -for me to go by a way which avoided all -the targets the German gunners were -aiming at. As though despairing of getting -our guns the Germans began to belabour -our trenches with <span lang="de" xml:lang="de">minenwerfers</span>, and soon -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>the crash of mortars began to mingle with -the noise of our howitzers, field-guns, and -machine-guns.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Thank God it did not last long. In ten -minutes' intense bombardment in a large -sector like this hundreds of projectiles are -launched in the air. But we had the last -word in this duel, and when it died down -we were not done. A flight of our aeroplanes -droned overhead. They were going -over for the usual afternoon 'strafe.' -There is some danger to pedestrians from -fragments of anti-aeroplane shells, for the -Germans ceaselessly bombard our 'planes, -usually without any luck. They go right -over the German lines, probably carrying -bombs for some <a id='corr33.18'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='dépot'>depot</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_33.18'>depot</a></span> or ammunition -dump. When they have passed, a different, -a solitary aeroplane appears. The 'flight' -was of battle-planes. This one is for -spotting purposes, and a single battery -begins to fire in its direction.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The intense bombardment therefore gives -place to a deliberate slow firing of shell -<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>after shell in obedience to the observer -above. They are trying to get some -special object, and 'registering' their shots -for future guidance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At night-time this little sanctuary of -Our Lady of Deliverance becomes the -centre of a scene which might be taken -from some drama of the underworld. Huge -ammunition motor-lorries dash past with -a reverberation which makes the ruined -walls tremble. They are delivering stores -of shell (largely made by the women of -England) for the daily consumption of -the guns. Our Lady of Deliverance has -many disciples among both English and -French women in these days; daughters -of deliverance we might call them.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then very often at night-time the gun -positions are changed, and by immense -efforts great howitzers are hauled into new -pits. The Army Service Corps must -deliver its goods also by the light of the -moon, and from the front glide past the -motor-ambulances with wounded and sick. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>They are protected by a mesh of expanded -steel, for they go right into the zone of -fire.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In this way deliverance is worked out -for unhappy Flanders. Amid thunderous -roar of cannon, the rising and falling of -star-shells, rockets, and flares, of all -colours and meanings, and the ceaseless -rattle of machine-guns, Our Lady of -Deliverance is thrusting forth the flail of -retribution and the banner of freedom.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is no sacrilege to ascribe our slow and -sure pressure on the enemy to higher and -divine powers, even if we acknowledge, for -our sins, that the backward sweep of the -awful flail smites us also. This would be -the last thought to the inhabitants of these -war-stricken areas. To begin with, they -are a deeply religious people, and their -religion gives them hope and faith for -the future. The Germans have destroyed -their church but not their faith. They have -removed the altar from the ruins of their -once beautiful church to a neighbouring -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>farm-house, and there they pray to Notre -Dame de Délivrance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The same spirit is seen in the neighbouring -towns and villages. In such -churches as are left standing you usually -see the Union Jack and the Tricolour at -each side of the chancel, and always the -statue of St. Jeanne D'Arc is prominent, -decorated, sometimes illuminated, and ever -the object of many devotions. It is this -spirit which possesses the women of France. -Yet religion here to-day manifests itself -in masculine types, and even the Maid -of Orleans is portrayed in the garb of a -soldier and with a drawn sword.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is the effigy of Christ which is usually -seen in wayside sanctuaries, and they are -not usually dedicated to Notre Dame. -This is natural enough in such a virile -country as Northern France. The women, -however, are doing their share in working -out the deliverance. Near this very sanctuary -you may see women and girls on -the top of the haystacks building them -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>up. A soldier on leave is usually seen -tossing the stooks up, and boys drive the -big Flemish horses in the lumbering old fashioned -wains, but all the rest is the -work of the women, even to harrowing the -fields. The harvest is being got in right -up to the guns, and the soldiers are not -allowed to harm crops or traverse fields. -The heavy traffic on roads by guns and -army transport has necessitated a good -deal of reconstruction. The boys and the -old men are doing it. How the women -can stay on and attend to the little shops -in the villages at the front is a mystery -to us, for these shops and houses are being -steadily demolished by <a id='corr37.16'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='gun-fire'>gunfire</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_37.16'>gunfire</a></span>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>During one of our heavy bombardments -recently I went into a little shop to make -a small purchase. The building alongside -had been shelled the previous week and -had to be abandoned. The girl behind -the counter was obviously nervous, and -she said to me in broken English, 'Too -much bombardment I do not like.' -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>'<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Tout Anglais</span></i>,' I replied. Immediately she -brightened up wonderfully. '<i><span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Très bon -pour les Allemands</span></i>,' she said, and went -about her work singing.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A curious note amid this quaint Flemish -environment of red brick and tiles, interspersed -with trees and grass of a greenness -unknown to Australia, is produced by -the London motor-buses. They rush past -with a roar, filled with Tommies singing, -'Keep the home-fires burning.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>From one end of the line to the other -every man has his job. There are snipers, -machine-gunners, trench-mortar men, bombers, -signallers, pigeon-men. This last -suggests the pigeon service. Men who <i>know</i> -pigeons are chosen for this work, and they -like it. In the stress and strain of battle -'wireless' and 'wire' may break down, so -pigeons are trained by a daily service of -duplicate messages. They have their regular -flights, and there is a constant service -of cages being brought up to the lines by -motor-bike, and flights of pigeons returning -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>to their lots at stated times. We see the -German birds flying back too, so that -man, beast, and bird have all been drawn -into this great war. They get very wise -too, and the older pigeons fly low along -the hedges and by the avenues of poplar-trees -to avoid gunfire. The pigeon-man -follows the commander into battle as well -as the telephonist.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But most useful and enthusiastic of all -are the observers. 'O. Pip' observers' -post is a place the enemy is always seeking -to discover and 'knock out.' But they -are cleverly hidden. The other day, however, -one of our men fell by his enthusiasm. -He was directing gunfire on an enemy -battery, and by and by he got it. When -the Hun gun position was hit he forgot -for a moment how precarious a foothold -he had in his eyrie in the spreading branches -of a tree. 'We've got it!' he cried, -standing up and waving his hands. He -fell out of his perch and broke his leg. -He is now rejoicing in a hospital. We -<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>must not forget the wonderful work of -the miners. They drive tunnels and construct -weird 'bomb-proofs' and other -works, thus contributing their share to the -coming deliverance in which everybody at -the Front firmly believes.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Yes, that little chapel is a parable and -a prophecy. Itself intact amid the ruins, -it reminds us that although we ourselves -are imperfect instruments, our cause is -good, and the day is surely coming when -these farm-houses and churches will be -rebuilt in this beautiful countryside and -prosperity and peace will rule. Every -gun-shot expresses our faith and what we -suffer in the price we pay for freedom and -security which shall be ours and for many -long years our children's.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the quiet days they brought their -offering of flowers to this shrine. To-day -we bring our howitzers drawn by huge -traction engines, our field-guns, our mortars, -our machine-guns, our rifles, and these -are our offerings.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>More: from distant lands many thousands -of miles across the ocean <i>men</i> have -come. Nay, they have been <i>sent</i>. They -have been given up by their women, for -they are husbands, fathers, sons, and -brothers. These men, greater than they -know themselves to be, are the living -offerings at this shrine, given to the cause -of <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Notre Dame de Délivrance</span>.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span> - <h2 class='c006'>III<br /> <br />NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span> There's a zone,</div> - <div>Wild and lone,</div> - <div>None claim, none own,</div> - <div>That goes by the name of No Man's Land;</div> - <div>Its frontiers are bastioned, and wired, and mined,</div> - <div>The rank grass shudders and shakes in the wind,</div> - <div>And never a roof nor a tree you find</div> - <div>In No Man's Land.</div> - <div class='c000'>They that gave</div> - <div>Lives so brave</div> - <div>Have found a grave</div> - <div>In the haggard fields of No Man's Land.</div> - <div>By the foeman's reddened parapet</div> - <div>They lie with never a head-stone set,</div> - <div>But their dauntless souls march forward yet</div> - <div>In No Man's Land.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-r c013'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in15'>H. D'A. B.,</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><i>Major, 55th Division, B.E.F., France</i>.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span> - <h3 class='c002'>III<br /> <br />NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>'No Man's Land' is that bit of ground -six hundred yards, and sometimes only -thirty yards, between our trenches and -those of the enemy. Over this disputed -area we 'strafe' each other night and -day. There are often water-holes, even -swamps, in No Man's Land, and both sides -have a habit of draining trenches into it. -Wild flowers and even garden flowers -grow in this area, for it contains ruined -farm-houses and orchards. Poppies red as -blood, lilies white as snow, roses, and blue -cornflowers are often seen there waving in -the breeze, sometimes swaying before the -hail of bullets from machine-guns.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The birds sing oblivious of war here, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>but sometimes you see pigeons trying to -fly across. I say trying, because our men -always endeavour and sometimes succeed -in shooting them. Why? Because probably -they are carrying spies' messages to -the Huns which may mean death to us. -We do not want the enemy to know how -we are distributing our batteries in the -rear, so we try to stop enemy aeroplanes or -pigeons crossing either way.</p> - -<p class='c008'>As soon as daylight appears you will -usually hear the droning of a swarm of -great bees humming their way across No -Man's Land. They are British aeroplanes, -often flown by young men from eighteen -years of age and upwards. They never -refuse a fight, and the best proof of their -efficiency is seen in the fact that fortunes -are wasted by the Germans every day -in anti-aeroplane fire, in the vain hope of -stopping them. They often cross in -ordered ranks, and go through wonderful -evolutions on their way—circling over each -other like catherine-wheels, and looping -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>the loop as if in the joy of battle and -contempt of the enemy.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our airmen are the pride of the infantry. -If you want to be cheered up, all you have -to do is to look up, and watch these adventurers -of the air. Many a stirring fight -have we witnessed in the air over that -unowned terrain called No Man's Land. -One evening we watched a fearless observer -making his regular circles amid such intense -anti-aeroplane fire that we trembled -for him. By-and-by he began to fall, and -we watched his descent with our hearts in -our mouths. When we saw that he was -going to land just in our lines, we raced -madly to the spot. Some of the officers, -revolver in hand, thinking they might -need to fend off the enemy, were so eager -that they forgot their <i>tin-hats</i> which were -really more necessary. To make sure of -him the Boches simply plastered the spot -where he had landed with shell-fire. Arriving, -we saw him desperately dragging the -engine, which was intact, under a parapet. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>Then he took refuge, and we congratulated -him, saying he was 'very lucky.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Lucky, do you call it?' he responded. -'Why, they have ruined my machine.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>Why, so they had!</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was a legend with us in one sector -not far from Armentières of an airman -whom we called 'the mad major.' I don't -know whether he was one, or two, or three. -Like the gun we called 'Beechy Bill' at -Gallipoli, perhaps there were several of -him. All we knew was that we would see -an airman flying gamely among the puffballs -of the breaking anti-aeroplane shells -of the enemy, and sometimes he seemed -to get into trouble, and we used to cry out, -'They have got him!' He would fall -like a stone, recover, fall again, and then -when we looked for the awful end he would -skim low over the German trenches plying -his machine-gun like one o'clock. Good -luck to the mad major! There was a -method in his madness, although we never -knew what he was going to do next. Nor -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>did the Hun. In spite of danger and -orders, we used to crouch behind the -parapets watching our airmen, and it was -a tonic to us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Of course at any time, and for long -periods all the time, shells, from spitting -rifle batteries to 60-lb. projectiles from -big guns in the rear, are screaming and -hissing over No Man's Land; and wherever -you are 'you never know your luck.' -Moral: Do not despise your tin-hat. It -may be uncomfortable, but it would be -more uncomfortable to 'stop one' even if -it were but a fragment.</p> - -<p class='c008'>New monsters called Tanks have taken -to moving across the debateable territory -called No Man's Land, spitting out flaming -death as they go. In short, all the accumulating -frightfulness which we are learning -to use is being used to say to the Hun in -tongues of fire and steel, 'This is not your -land; begone, and take up once more -your watch on the Rhine!'</p> - -<p class='c008'>But you wonder why we do not annex -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>No Man's Land, and advance. The -strategy of staying here till the right -moment comes is wise and humane. There -are fine towns and villages containing -non-combatants on the other side of No -Man's Land. It would be but to mock -their hopes to advance unless we could -sweep on everywhere. Nor do we wish -to conquer in such a way that every -village is left in ruins. Here and there -at strategic points we may have to do -that. It is not so much that we want -to break through as that we want the -whole line to break. Meanwhile it is -a very hot and unhealthy place for -Fritz.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Besides that, we are beating the enemy -every day on this line. It suits us. We -have organized it. Here we have trolley-lines, -concrete bomb-proof stores, and many -things that take time to build. Later, -when the right time comes, we shall cross -No Man's Land at many places, and it -will become France again for ever. Until -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>that time comes we cannot do more than -present our claim to No Man's Land. We -do this frequently and 'in person.' Our -patrols and scouts enter it nightly, and it -requires courage and craft to do this. -Through secret sally-ports, over parapets, -and where the line has been damaged by -shell-fire, they steal out in the darkness, -and the German sentries keep a succession -of flares and star-shells going to detect -them. What hairbreadth escapes they -have, and what escapes the Hun sentries -have; for sometimes they find themselves -very near to one, and they have -to get back with their information without -raising an alarm if possible. Sometimes, -however, through a mistake, in the fog -or darkness they get into the German -line, and they have to fight and escape -amid following bullets. At such times our -men at the parapets have carefully to -cover their return with rifle-fire, and even -help them over or under our defences back -again to safety. Young intelligence officers -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>take many risks as they crawl amid the -hollows in No Man's Land, revolver in -hand, in search of information.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We got a few body-shields for our scouts -in our battalion, and they went out for a -long time with a greater confidence. The -protection they afforded gave them a -calmer frame of mind, which produced -extra efficiency. But we make more -serious claims on this disputed ground by -our 'raids,' which occur in many places -every night. The raid is a survival, or -perhaps a revival, of the old hand-to-hand -fighting. It is a curious anti-climax of -science in war, of which there are so many -illustrations to-day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In spite of long-range guns of great -power and high-velocity telescopic rifles, -we fight in trenches close together, and we -have got back to grenadier days. Hand-grenades, -rifle-grenades, and trench-mortar -bombs as big as howitzer-shells are tossed -over to the enemy lines at the same murderous -distances as those at which -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>Wellington's and Napoleon's veterans fired at -each other in Peninsula days.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The raid is the last illustration of our -backsliding in an age of science to the -primaeval fighting instinct, unrelieved by -the chivalry of a knightly age. You may -be sure there are no banners flying or -trumpets blowing, no heraldic challenge -to warn the Hun that he is to be raided. -It is a form of frightfulness calculated to -jar the nerves of the most militant disciple -of the gospel of blood and iron.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were warned that our battalion, in -common with others, would be expected -to raid the enemy's lines in its turn, and -volunteers were immediately called for. -There was no lack of response. Then the -men had to go through a long and careful -training, as those do who are out to win a -county football cup. In the rear of the -sector they dug trenches which were a -replica of those to be raided. They did -this from photographs provided by our -indomitable airmen. On this ground the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>men were trained physically, and in the -use of the special arms they were to carry. -Relay races to give them speed, crawling -attacks at night to make them wary and -acquaint them with the 'lie of the land'; -and added to this, bayonet-fighting, -revolver-practice, and all this again and -again, and in all sorts of light or darkness, -until at last they were smitten with a -desire to 'get it through,' and a confidence -that they could 'put it through.' -So much so, that two of their number who -became due for leave declined it, as they -thought it was 'up to them' to be in the -raid after training for it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At last the great day arrived. No one -knew until almost the last moment. When -the raiders came up in two London motor-buses -singing 'Australia will be There,' -we did not know them at first. They were -a disgrace to the battalion as far as clothing -went, for they were clad in ragged and -dirty clothes from which all marks of -identification were absent. Short as the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>notice was, we had organized a 'banquet' -for them, and even got a huge three-decker -bride-cake from a neighbouring -village. We had a solid meal of three -courses, and you may be sure it was none -the less hearty because of the absence of -intoxicants. Every one was cheerful, but -there was an undercurrent of seriousness -and grim determination. The chaplain -had to propose a toast, and after he -had wished them 'Good luck' and 'God -bless you,' the men came up with apparent -casualness to say a word or two of intimate -confidence not to be divulged in this -sketch.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Then the men were prepared. They all -wore aprons containing bombs; some had -rifle and bayonet, some clubs, entrenching-tool -handles with cog-wheels at the end—commonly -called chloroform sticks—some -bombs and revolvers. Every non-com. -had a watch set to divisional time and an -electric torch.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Amid a good deal of merriment they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>blackened each other's faces—not for -fun, but because white faces would be -easily revealed under the white light of -the German flares. Then the motor-lorries -came up to take them into the -sector, and with many cheerful wishes they -drove away as jolly as though they were -going to a party. A motor-ambulance -followed with the regimental doctor, the -chaplain, and the stretcher-bearers. Down -the long communication trenches we followed -them silently over the duck-boards, -from which occasionally some would slip -partially into the water draining below.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The arrival at the front line is marked -by a 'fading away' of the troops holding -it. 'It's me for my dug-out,' I heard one -man say. 'It ain't healthy with raiders -about.' This is wise, because when the -raid begins the Boches will rain shells -on No Man's Land, and then put a barrage -on or about the parapets to get them -on the return. Now the raiders are sorted -out and put round the three secret sally-ports -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>through which each party will enter -the 'verboten' land. The doctor inspects -the special aid-posts to see if all arrangements -are perfect. Yes, the bandages and -doctor's kit are all laid out, and the A.M. -Corps men at their posts, and I and the -doc., with an A.M.C. sergeant, repair to -the main aid-post to wait. It is three-quarters -of an hour yet to zero time, but -before that many of the raiders will be -lying out in No Man's Land in holes and -hollows. We try to read a bit, then talk, -and all the time smoke. Smoking has a -curious psychological effect. It steadies -the nerves, makes you believe you are -not perturbed, but there is no doubt that -the time of waiting is always the worst.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Every now and again we look at the -watches. 'Quarter of an hour to go.' -'Yes,' says the doc. 'I expect some of -them have crawled out now.' 'Ten -minutes to go.' You throw down your -book. It is no good pretending to read. -For three days our gunners have been -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>'wire-cutting.' They have cut the wire -over a very wide front, but they always -take care to cut it where our men are -going to attack.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Zero time is 9 p.m., and exactly on the -second hell breaks out. Guns in the rear -roar out in fury. Trench mortars close at -hand vomit forth their missiles of death, -and even machine-guns and rifle batteries -help to swell the crescendo of battle. The -ranges are well known, and the guns do -their work without harming our men, -who are now crawling forward.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our aid-post is a dug-out covered with -steel joists and sand-bags; but it rocks -with the swish, swish, swish of the shells -flying through the air like hail. Now the -Boche begins to reply, and every now and -then a 'whiz-bang' bursts on the parapets. -We can only hope that no high explosive -will happen to break on <i>our</i> dug-out. Now -the guns lift, and the raiders get closer up. -A frenzy of flares go up, and we are so -curious that we sneak out to see across -<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>No Man's Land. We cannot see a man of -our party, and we take that to indicate -that the Huns, too, cannot see them yet.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now it is 9.10, and on the instant there -is a silence as terrible as was the fearful -noise. The raiders are among the Germans -now. They rush from dug-out to dug-out -bombing. Meeting Huns, they fight face -to face and hand to hand. German fire -breaks out on No Man's Land, and occasionally -a rifle shot. Then, 'bad luck to -us,' the Hun ceases to engage our guns, -and he puts his high explosives on, and -just over our parapets. And this is the -time we must get out for our work, for -casualties soon come back; indeed a -message has come to say that two are -back. One man who has brought a -wounded comrade and himself has suffered -a fall, injuring the knee. As we run along -the duck-boards behind the parapet we -bend low and listen fearfully to the crump, -crump, crump of shells exploding behind -our line. The raiders have just ten -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>minutes for their fighting. At that time -our guns will raise another curtain of fire -behind them to keep the Huns from a -counter-attack.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They must not stay under our own fire. -Now they begin to return, with their -eyes bright with the excitement of battle, -covered with mud, with a German helmet -or two, with many stories of the fighting, -and with their wounded. The stretcher-bearers -are out in No Man's Land seeking -others, and we have enough to do dealing -with those at hand. We have got most of -them close up to the parapet, and the -doctor has difficult work to do under circumstances -the reverse of helpful, for -German shells are landing in our lines -pretty thickly. But when you reach this -point in a 'stunt' you cease to think of -danger; you are absorbed in helping. -The wounded turn to the padre as a friend -and almost as a father. They babble of -their home folks, give you messages, and -they hold your hand tightly when they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>are in pain. You cannot stay with one -longer than is necessary, for others ask -for you. 'Ask the padre to come' is -something which makes it worth your while -to be with the men in battle. One man, not -at all young, gives me many loving messages -to one whom I took to be his wife. -I send them all to Australia, and receive -thanks from his mother, who explains that -her son was a confirmed bachelor. Another -poor chap has a slight wound; but it -does not bleed, and he is so cold. We -heap blankets and new sand-bags on him -and give him stimulants. But he gets -colder and colder, and just as the ambulance -reaches the billets in the village he dies -of shell-shock. The wounded men are -put on the trolleys, and the stretcher-bearers -begin to push them out of the -sector; and while they do so the Huns' -shells fall all round. 'But who cares?' -That is the feeling you have at this stage. -Now we have a bother. Some of the -raiders are not easily persuaded to start on -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>the homeward march up the communication -trench. The special officer stands, notebook -in hand, ticking off the names of -the raiders who have returned. In spite -of his assurance some want to go back to -find chums who are really not lost. Others -seek excuses because they want to go back -for trophies or booty which they now -remember to have seen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>One of our company is still missing, and -a wounded man tells me where he has seen -him. As a matter of fact, things have -quietened down a lot now, and we have -virtual possession of No Man's Land; the -Huns have hidden. They are satisfied -to sprinkle our sector with shells in the -hope of getting returning men. But our -stretcher-bearers are indignant at the idea -of my attempting to get the lost man. -Securing my information, they go into No -Man's Land and find him. We still have -a number of less seriously wounded men -behind the parapets. Everybody is talking -of the exploits of one of them. He is an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>athletic fellow whom the doctor is attending. -To counterbalance the pain he is -suffering I congratulate him, and suggest -that he will probably get recommended for -reward.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'No fear of that,' he says laughing. -'More likely ten days' C.B.' (confinement to -barracks).</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Why?' I inquire.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Well, I shouldn't have been there at -all,' he replies.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'I can't understand that,' I say.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Well, sir, I'm not a raider at all; but -when I heard the shots, I couldn't resist, -so I slipped over the parapet and into -it.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is difficult to tell exactly what success -the raid has had; but the men seem to -agree that with those they accounted for -and Huns they found killed by our artillery -fire altogether twenty-five of the enemy -were destroyed. We have lost three killed -in action, and a number of wounded -who will recover. One prisoner has been -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>brought back, and he seems to be a regular -walking orderly-room for the number of -official documents in his possession. It -may be but a small affair; but when we -remember that there were twenty-five raids -the same night, it will be recognized that -we are not sitting down tamely and submitting -to the German occupation of any -part of France.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Probably the British press will announce -to-morrow, 'All calm on the Western -Front'; but we know that every night -No Man's Land is the scene of deeds of -valour and self-sacrifice, proving that our -men have the fighting spirit of their -fathers; and that apart from the clash -of material forces, in the great battle of -spirits which is the ultimate basis upon -which a decision in war depends, we need -not doubt the 'will to victory' of our -men. No Man's Land, with all its pathos -and sorrow, the grave of unknown heroes, -the battle-ground on which many a brave -exploit is enacted which is unnoticed and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>unrecognized, is still the pledge and -prophecy of our final victory.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now we must trudge back to the village. -We walk about two miles in saps, and then -join the ambulances waiting on the road. -You begin to feel tired at this stage!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span> - <h2 class='c006'>IV<br /> <br />THE BOMBER</h2> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>'THE CALL OF THE BUGLE.'</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The Bugles of England were blowing o'er the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>As they had called a thousand years—calling now for me.</div> - <div class='line'>They woke me from my dreaming in the dawning of the day,</div> - <div class='line'>The Bugles of England—and how could I stay!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>The Banners of England unfurled across the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Floating out upon the wind, were beckoning to me.</div> - <div class='line'>Storm-rent and battle-torn, smoke-stained and grey:</div> - <div class='line'>The Banners of England—and how could I stay!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>O England, I heard the cry of those who died for thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Sounding like an organ voice across the winter sea;</div> - <div class='line'>They lived and died for England, and gladly went their way:</div> - <div class='line'>England, O England—how could I stay!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='c014'> <span class='sc'>Pte. J. D. Burns</span>, A.I.F. </div> -<div class='c014'></div> -<div class='c014'> (<i>Killed in action, Gallipoli.</i>) </div> -<div class='c014'><i>Son of Rev. ---- Burns, late of Bairnsdale, Victoria.</i></div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span> - <h3 class='c002'>IV<br /> <br />THE BOMBER</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>We had a treasure in our battalion—a -sergeant who knew all about bombs. He -liked them, and knew exactly how to -treat them. Of course we could not -keep such a man in the battalion. He was -manifestly called to the vocation of Instructor -for Bombing Schools.</p> - -<p class='c008'>They will never make a general of him—he -is too valuable in his present capacity. -Besides, his grammar and pronunciation -are not equal to such a strain. The more -lucid his explanations are, the looser is -his control of the aspirate; although that -is nothing in these days, for I heard a -member of the British Parliament speaking -the other day, and he---- But that is -another story!</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>'Bombs is all right if you treat them -properly. They will never do no 'arm -to you if you don't monkey with them. -They are gentle and 'armless things to -them as is wise to them,' he would say, -addressing his group of humble disciples. -'Gather round and I'll learn you about -bombs.' And what time he toyed with -the vicious missile the 'class' would -gather somewhat fearfully around him.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'When you remove this 'ere pin you -release the spring which causes the charge -to explode the bomb in the time that you -count five—so.' He removes the pin and -proceeds to deliberately count, 'One, two, -three'; now his disciples begin to melt -away, 'four'--'Oh, you needn't worry, -five, there ain't no charge in this one. -It's empty for experimental purposes.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>He has a wonderful command of hard, -technical words, only equalled by his -disregard of the proper pronunciation of -simple words.</p> - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/i071.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic001'> -<p>"Gather round, and I'll learn you about bombs."</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Now with reassured courage the class -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>gather round again, and he takes up a -'live' bomb.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'As you count three, you hurl the -bomb, not with a jerk, but with a smooth -round arm bowling motion. So—one, two, -three,' and he hurls the bomb clear into -a trench forty yards away. It explodes -with a loud detonation, smashing up the -trench, and he resumes his lecture.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Although you 'ave removed the pin, -you can still keep your bomb right, by -pressing the spring until you are ready for -action, so you can 'ave a bomb in your -'and just ready for throwing as you go -up a German trench. You've got to do -it just right, so that Fritz has no time to -pick up your bomb and throw it back at -you.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'You can 'ave faith in your bombs now. -It's not like them there Gallipoli days, -when we 'ad to fire jam-tin bombs made -on the premises. They was filled with -Turkish bullets and all sorts of things, -but they couldn't be relied on to do the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>same thing every time. Did you ever 'ear -of Lieutenant Forshaw, V.C., down Cape -Hellis way? He hurled jam-tin bombs -for forty-two hours at Johnny Turk. He -'ad to light them with his cigarette.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Not been used to smoking cigarettes, -'im 'aving been brought up as a schoolmaster, -the smoking did 'im a lot of 'arm, -for which reason the King made 'im a -V.C. Lucky fellow, I call 'im. Many's -the time I've been short of a fag.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>At once quite a number of the sergeant's -pupils present fags, and having -made a selection and put a few in his -pocket for future use, the sergeant proceeds:</p> - -<p class='c008'>'There's another man I want to tell you -about—Captain Shout, V.C., of the 1st Battalion. -'E was throwing bombs at such -close range at the Turks that 'e had to -have three lit at once for 'im, and 'e fired -them just so as they would explode among -the enemy. 'E kept this up a long time, -and 'eld the enemy up, but one burst too -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>near 'im, and after some time, he died of -'is wounds. A great loss to the A.I.F., -believe me. You needn't worry about -such-like 'appenings now; only one in -two thousand of our Mills' grenade goes -wrong, and with the odd one you've got -your sporting chance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Now, what about bombs that land -close to you, sometimes thrown by the -enemy, and sometimes by accident, our -own, when a man 'its the side of the -trench? Don't be too scared. Even -then bombs is 'armless properly treated. -Get behind a traverse if there is one. -If not, then you render the live bomb -'armless. Gather round. I'll show you.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sitting on a chair, he took a bomb, and, -after counting three, threw it on the ground, -not a great way off. The men scatter for -all they are worth; but the sergeant, -having thrown an overcoat over the bomb, -calmly resumes his seat. Crash! goes -the bomb at the fifth second. The coat -rises with the bomb, the fragments drop -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>harmlessly around, and the coat is not -much worse.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Now then, let that learn you to throw -sand-bags, blankets, your own overcoat -or some such thing over a bomb, and ten -to one no 'arm will follow.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Did you ever hear of Mulga Bill at -Quinn's Post? A bomb dropped in the -trench amongst them, and 'e promptly -put a sand-bag from the parapet on top -of it. To make sure, 'e sat on top of -the sand-bag. When it exploded 'e went -up with the bag a little way. 'E came -down all right and none the worse. But -'e was <i>narked</i>--annoyed, to find his chums -laughing at 'im. "What are yer laughing -at?" 'e said. "I did that to save -you fellows, but I'll never do it again."</p> - -<p class='c008'>'That's where Mulga Bill was wrong. -He done right, except sitting on top of -it. That was an extra act—a sort of -curtain-raiser at the wrong end of the -play.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Let that learn you not to put 'ard -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>substances on a live bomb. It don't take -kindly to pressure. I'll show you. -Gather round.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>The instructor then proceeds to throw -another bomb. As, counting three, he -throws the bomb down, he proceeds quickly -to put a sheet of corrugated iron on it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Now,' he cries, 'run like hell!'--and -he showed them the example.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The bomb, exploding, sends fragments, -throws the torn iron all around, and the -men have learnt another strange lesson in -regard to the behaviour of bombs.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Notwithstanding the confident handling -of bombs by this expert, I am privately of -opinion that men should beware of 'the -familiarity which breeds contempt' in the -matter of bombs.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was a man in our Brigade who had -just returned from a bombing school with -his head stuffed full of all sorts of knowledge -about the manufacture and use of -bombs. He had a small collection of -them, and one morning in the shadow of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>the Calvary at the cross-roads-at Fleurbaix, -having an audience, he held forth on his -new subject, illustrating his remarks by -fiddling with a small screw-driver at a -bomb which he professed to know all -about. Suddenly it exploded, wounding -him sadly. 'A little learning' had for -the moment 'made him mad.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>To get back to our Bombing School. -After the instructor's talks, the men in -turn would hurl bombs from one trench to -another, until they were no longer 'bomb-shy.' -As a matter of fact, a good bomber -is just as good a 'life' in the army as any -other expert. Indeed, a man may lose -his life through the absence of a bomb or -the knowledge of how to use it.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In the words of our instructor, 'The -cure for the bombing craze is--"A hair -of the dog that bit you."'</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Germans are good bombers, and -when, in their counter-attack, they come -down a trench throwing bombs, the only -way is to bomb them back and out again.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>He used to say, 'The Boches began this -blooming bombing business,' only his adjectives -were sometimes profane. 'What we -have to do is to give them a fair sickening -of it. Bomb their <a id='corr77.5'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Zeppelyns'>Zeppelins</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_77.5'>Zeppelins</a></span>, bomb their -submarines, bomb their dug-outs'--then, -in one final outburst, he would say, 'Bomb -the Boches; and if you don't believe what -I say, ask the Chaplain.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>If they ask me, how can I contradict -him?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our 'bomber' often surprised us, even -to alarm. But the biggest surprise he -ever gave us was when he had been granted -ten days' (well deserved) leave in -'Blighty,' he turned up again in six. -Wondering, the men, who envied him his -leave, inquired why he had returned before -his leave was up.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'I was very lonely in London,' he -replied simply. 'I like to be with my -pals.'</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span> - <h2 class='c006'>V<br /> <br />ROMANCE AND REALITY</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>Page from a world-old palimpsest</div> - <div class='line in2'>Shrined on the altar of the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>Whereon a Nation's new-limned crest</div> - <div class='line in2'>Glitters in glorious blazonry!</div> - <div class='line'>Grave that our race shall kneel anigh</div> - <div class='line'>For aye—Gallipoli; good-bye!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Dying to rank as men with those</div> - <div class='line in2'>Who manned the wall while Ilium burned--</div> - <div class='line'>This is the crown your story knows,</div> - <div class='line in2'>The need their rare dear madness earned!</div> - <div class='line'>Troy's heroes cry to ours and thee,</div> - <div class='line'>Gallipoli, Gallipoli!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>They watched through fierce weeks many a one</div> - <div class='line in2'>While, from his tent of rose-hued lawn</div> - <div class='line'>The unclenched fingers of the sun</div> - <div class='line in2'>Unloosed the westering birds of dawn;</div> - <div class='line'>For them those sun-birds stoop and fly</div> - <div class='line'>No more! Gallipoli, good-bye!</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>God's acre, bare and barren woods,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Cross-guarded mounds where noon-rays burn--</div> - <div class='line'>Like pale knights praying by their swords,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Set upright in the bracken-fern--</div> - <div class='line'>Thy love shall keep our freemen free,</div> - <div class='line'>Gallipoli, Gallipoli!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='c014'><span class='sc'>J. Alex. Allen</span> in the <i>Sydney Bulletin</i>.</div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span> - <h3 class='c002'>V<br /> <br />ROMANCE AND REALITY.</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The Army Chaplain, drawn by Mars from -his quiet round of parish work and life, -made up, as it is, of pastoral visitation, -educational and devotional meetings, and -the public services of the Sabbath, is -certain to find active service a restless -experience. His battles aforetime, fierce -enough sometimes, were in the arena of -Synod or Conference Hall, and his duels -were of the more or less friendly sort of -the Ministers' Fraternal. Now he sees -something of battles more dramatic, in -which the missiles are more than words. -He moves in an atmosphere of romance -mingled with grim reality, and he begins to -feel that he is living in heroic days. He -sees the world in <a id='corr81.20'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='prosess'>process</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_81.20'>process</a></span> of reconstruction, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>and looks on whilst the fabric of man's -life and character is taken down and built -up again according to a new pattern.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our disappointment in not being allowed -to proceed straight to the front in France -was somewhat mitigated by the news that -we were to train and wait beneath the -shadows of the mighty Pyramids at Cairo. -On the ground where Napoleon, addressing -his troops, reminded them that 'forty -centuries looked down upon them' and -awaited their achievements, we trekked -through the sand, sweated through the -hot days and shivered during the cold -nights, as we camped amid sand which is -always either very hot or cold. There was -a hard winter's work for padres here who -desired to do something to counteract -the evil attractions of Cairo for the troops. -The reality was, however, always tinctured -with the romantic glamour of Egypt and -the Nile.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There was Vieux Cairo—the ancient -Forstad—with its undoubted earliest Christian -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>Church; the place to which we can -say with almost certainty that Joseph -and Mary came with the Infant Christ. -Wanderings amid the antiquities of this -ancient place full of Coptic traditions, and -an occasional mingling with the multi-coloured -crowds gathering among the -<a id='corr83.8'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Bazars'>Bazaars</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_83.8'>Bazaars</a></span> of the Monsky, somewhat relieved -the tedium of evolutions amid the eternal -sand of the Libyan Desert.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A hard three days' manœuvring was -set over against the interesting fact that -we fought our sham battles at Sakkara, -the City of the Dead, and our Brigade -signallers flashed or flagged their messages -from the Step Pyramid—the very oldest -building in the world to-day.</p> - -<p class='c008'>'Going down to Egypt' had the same -dangerous fascination for us as for the -ancient Israelites, and padres had to be -modern Isaiahs, warning the men of the -languorous seductions which Egypt in -modern times, as in ancient, holds out to -men of a sturdy race.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>Then came the never-to-be-forgotten day -when we marched out of our Mena Camp, -headed by our bands—away from the -sand of the desert, and on through the -crowded streets of Cairo, singing, 'Advance, -Australia Fair' and 'Good-bye, Cairo.' We -were going to fight, and we were glad. -We had left the back-block townships -away beyond sunset for this very purpose: -to strike a blow for Old England.</p> - -<p class='c008'>That we were going to strike a blow at -the heart of the Turkish Empire made it -all the more thrilling. Whether we would -succeed or not we could not tell, but we -knew that we were going to strike hard. -No ancient crusaders ever felt higher -enthusiasm than did we amid the marshalling -of the armada of transports at Alexandria. -Then, with Pompey's Pillar looking -down upon us, we sailed away from -the city of Alexander the Great, passed -the Pharos and out to the blue Mediterranean.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Whither bound? We hardly knew, but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>in those days, when padres stood upon -the higher decks and spoke to the men in -their ranks below in the deep well decks -of those huge transports, the romance of -it all impelled them to call men to high -endeavour and heroic faith. We had to -'do censor' on this voyage, and we found -that the men's letters were surcharged in -almost equal quantities with reality and -romance. They complained that they had -to sleep on an iron deck, eat iron rations, -and, to crown all, some one said, 'We are -commanded by a General called Iron -Hamilton.' But they felt the glory of it, -and displayed the spirit of adventurers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>With St. John's Patmos in sight, with -its white buildings on the summit of the -hill, we steamed on for Lemnos. Lemnos, -the island to which, in Greek myth, Jove's -son was hurled from heaven, in disgrace, -and where the Greek army called on its -way to the Trojan War, was beautiful to -us after the hot sands of Egypt.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We manœuvred on shore among the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>most beautiful wild flowers, and we sailed -in Mudros Bay around the formidable -<a id='corr86.3'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='battle-ships'>battleships</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_86.3'>battleships</a></span> of a mighty allied fleet.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Those were romantic days for the padre. -Everything one said was flavoured with -the seriousness of last words and final -exhortations. The last Communion service, -and the last service on the huge -flagship of the A.I. Force, the <i><a id='corr86.10'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='Minniwaska'>Minnewaska</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_86.10'>Minnewaska</a></span></i>, -is something to remember. On -April 11 the topic was 'Consecration.' -'And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify -yourselves; for to-morrow the Lord will -begin to do wonders among you.' The -lesson was the story of the preparation -of Joshua's army for the crossing of the -Jordan. Knowing how desperate was our -enterprise, we girded ourselves for the -attack, and whatever the result of our -campaign may have been—and we shall -not know that fully until the war is over—we -can claim that we obeyed the word -which said, 'When ye come to the brink -of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>in Jordan.' How many of our brave -fellows on the brink of the water of the -last Jordan stood firm on that bit of land -we wrested from the Turk?</p> - -<p class='c008'>The last service of all on the deck of -the flagship, on April 18, 1915, had for its -message: 'Faith in God's leadership,' -'The Pillar of Cloud by day and the -Pillar of Fire by night.' It <i>was</i> a pillar -of cloud—clouds of battle-smoke—and a -pillar of fire from the thunderous guns of -our Fleet; and although it was not -written in the Book of Fate that we -should take Gallipoli, we may yet believe -that God was with us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In that address, after showing, first, -that God does lead nations, and, secondly, -we are not in the war for Empire aggrandizement, -but for the preservation of God-given -ideals—I turned to ask: 'Are we -suitable instruments for the fulfilment of -God's will?'</p> - -<p class='c008'>I look back with thankfulness to the -fact that my last words to the men who -<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>were going to land at Gallipoli were on -'personal salvation.' 'Some of you may -be satisfied that we are right as a nation -in regard to God, but you may have confused -and troubled thoughts about your -own relation to God. You say, "I am not -a church member or communicant. What -about my personal salvation?" In regard -to the forgiveness of sins, there is no -magic or mystery about it. A man can -be a Christian without knowing the creeds, -just as a man can be a soldier without -knowing the military text-books. The -great revelation of the Bible is of God as -a Father. Think of a good father. He -would forgive even a prodigal son. So -will God. But there must be repentance. -If you thus come, God will accept you -and say: "Thy sins which were many -are all forgiven; go in peace and sin no -more." Thus you may go forward, and -fight all your battles knowing that at -last, when you ground your arms before -the Throne of God, and answer the roll-call -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>of eternity, you will hear the Father -say, "Well done, thou hast been faithful -unto death; enter into Life."'</p> - -<p class='c008'>On a brilliant day of Mediterranean -beauty our ships lifted their anchors, -and, amid resounding cheers, one after -another steamed out into the Ægean Sea, -in the wake of the fabled Argonauts and -on the ancient track of the Greek army -sailing for the Plains of Troy. In the -darkness battleships and transports took -up their allotted positions, and in the early -dawn there began one of the greatest -combined naval and military battles which -the world has ever seen.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Even amid the tragedy of those Gallipoli -days we lived under the spell of the storied -past. We were living in St. Paul's world. -On a certain bright Sunday morning we -addressed some hundreds of men on 'Paul's -vision and call to Macedonia.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>We were fairly safe, for the shells flew -over us on their way to the beach, and the -hill intervening stopped the rifle-fire of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>the enemy. It is a good thing to be on -the right side of the hill.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The men were always glad to hear about -that indomitable fighter, Paul. We were -able to point to Kum Kale in the distance, -which our battleships had bombarded some -days previously. It is the ancient Troas, -from which Paul sailed, and Troas again -is the more ancient Troy. He 'made a -straight course to Samothrace.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>This would take his little ship (something -like that Greek lugger sailing in our sight) -over the place where a few days before -our good friend, H.M.S. <i>Triumph</i>, was -sunk by a submarine. And there, to the -right, was Samothrace, in its snow-capped -beauty, facing us.</p> - -<p class='c008'>That was the romance. We were in -the ancient world. The reality was that -we were verminous, plagued with flies and -all the diseases they bring.</p> - -<p class='c008'>After visiting the dug-outs that day, -I had to bathe in the Gulf of Saros, wash all -my clothes, and, dressed in others less -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>worrying, try to sleep in my cave of -Adullam that night. Experiences solemn -and weird were ours on that craggy shore.</p> - -<p class='c008'>A Communion service at that same place -stands out in my memory. How freely -the men came to the Table of the Lord! -In the beautiful twilight they sang hymn -after hymn as relays of men took their -places. It was a setting solemn and -impressive as any cathedral of man's -building for such a service. But there -was a grim reality about it too, for as -they sang:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless!</div> - <div class='line'>Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness:</div> - <div class='line'>Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?</div> - <div class='line'>I triumph still if Thou abide with me!</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>others, who had left the service for duty, -were passing in single file up the long communication -trench armed for the fray.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It seems a strange and romantic fact -that when we returned to Egypt, after the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>evacuation of Gallipoli, our main camp -was at Tel-el-Kebir. Sir Garnet Wolseley's -trenches were visible on the outskirts of -our camp. But what is more interesting, -is that on the march to the desert front -our force followed the line mainly of the -sweet-water canal, which is probably the -route of the Israelites under the wise -generalship of Moses.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Some units took a route through the -Desert to Ismailia. There was less -romance about their experiences, and a -reality which does not lend itself to description -here. Crossing the Suez Canal, -we campaigned for some months on a -route which ultimately brought us to a -post seventeen miles out in the desert. -What an opportunity for the padre of -re-telling the story of the wandering and -fighting of the hordes of Israel under Moses -and Joshua!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our Arab camel convoys, on a new-made -road parallel with a strategic railway, -traversed by electric locomotives—East and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>West together!--lent an air of romance to -this period of service. But it was counterbalanced -by a severe reality, for on -occasions we marched at 7 a.m. with the -thermometer at 100 degrees. And a -padre's Sunday, beginning with the first -church parade at 5 a.m. and conducting -others at various posts among the sand-dunes, -was a day which left one more -conscious of reality than romance.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An atmosphere of romantic interest -hangs about our French campaign. The -scene changes, and for the white-robed -hosts following Saladin or Mehemet Ali, -for the bronzed warriors who followed -Cambyses, Alexander the Great, Rameses II, -for the Red and Blue arrayed against each -other under Napoleon or Abercromby, -we have to exchange the chivalry and -battle represented by such names as -Poictiers, Cressy, or Waterloo. In our -fleet of six transports, our division <i>en -route</i> had to <i>watch</i> and pray, wearing a -lifebelt always.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>We steamed into a bay of Malta on a -Sunday morning. This gave us another -memory of Paul, and we had to speak of -his shipwreck and landing there.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Arriving in <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">La Belle France</span>, we realize -that it is a land of chivalry and romance. -We move under the banner of Joan of -Arc, and fight on old battle-fields. Every -town has its storied past; but this is no -war of chivalry, and our battalions do not -flaunt the banners of heraldry. The -reality is cold mud, dripping dug-outs, -and hard fighting night and day; -and yet over all are the crossed flags of -the two most romantic and adventurous -races in the world—the British and -the French.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The achievements both of Napoleon -and Wellington call us, the one to the -path of glory and the other to the path of -duty; and a second greater Waterloo awaits -us as victors in the struggle for the freedom -of Europe.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At this time we may still hear the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>ringing cry of Henry V at Harfleur in our -English ears:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>'Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;</div> - <div class='line'>Or close the wall up with our English dead!</div> - <div class='line'>In peace, there's nothing so becomes a man</div> - <div class='line'>As modest stillness and humility;</div> - <div class='line'>But when the blast of war blows in our ears,</div> - <div class='line'>Then imitate the action of the tiger;</div> - <div class='line'>Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,</div> - <div class='line'>Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage;</div> - <div class='line'>Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;</div> - <div class='line'>Let it pry through the portage of the head,</div> - <div class='line'>Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it</div> - <div class='line'>As fearfully as doth a gallèd rock</div> - <div class='line'>O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,</div> - <div class='line'>Swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean.</div> - <div class='line'>Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide;</div> - <div class='line'>Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit</div> - <div class='line'>To his full height!--On, on, you noblest English.'</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VI<br /> <br />THE GOD OF BATTLES</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>Lord God of Hosts, whose mighty hand</div> - <div class='line'>Dominion holds on sea and land,</div> - <div class='line'>In Peace and War Thy will we see</div> - <div class='line'>Shaping the larger liberty.</div> - <div class='line'>Nations may rise and nations fall,</div> - <div class='line'>Thy Changeless Purpose rules them all.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='c014'><span class='sc'>John Oxenham.</span></div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span> - <h3 class='c002'>VI<br /> <br />THE GOD OF BATTLES</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Everything is in the melting-pot. Even -our ideas of religion are changing. The -development of theology is being hastened -by the 'big push,' and orthodoxy is being -tested in the red crucible of war. There is -a lot of confusion, and that all the contending -nations claim God is embarrassing -to <i>us</i>, but not to God. We may be sure -that there is no jostling or confusion in -the Eternal mind. The Good Shepherd -knows His own and is not deceived by -our claims and counter-claims. 'Gott mit -uns' is engraved upon the belt of each -German soldier, and the Kaiser claims God -as the German God. He has been appealed -to <a id='corr99.16'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='by Austrian'>by the</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_99.16'>by the</a></span> Austrian Emperor, by the Czar; even -the Sultan's soldiers advance to the charge -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>crying, 'Allah, Allah.' We appeal to God -too. It is all natural and, from the human -standpoint, right. We may be sure that -the God of Battles knows the worth of all -our claims, knows how much of truth is -contained in our cause. In His name -the conscientious objector declines to fight, -and God only knows where conscience -ends and cowardice begins. 'The Lord is -a Man of War,' and if history shows anything -it shows that God does not despise -the sword as an instrument whereby men -contend for the faith, and even the blood -of men is not too precious to spill for the -defence of the ideals of freedom and right. -Like the pulsator on the diamond fields of -Kimberley, war, the mill of God, throbs -back and forth. We may throw on it the -heaps of earth, but as it throbs it will -shake away the clods and wash away the -mire; the true diamonds will remain.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To the superficial, war seems to be a -grim contradiction of the fact that God -is the Ruler of the world. To them it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>seems as though this world were governed -by a demon. But really war is a terrible -confirmation of God's presence in the world -and a lurid re-emphasis of His inevitable -and inexorable Law.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The mental disease of selfishness, lust -of power, and military glory was present; -it was slumbering in the heart of the -nations in times of peace. The disease -(which shows itself in commercial competition -too) broke out in the violent inflammation -and irruption of war. War is a -delirium, a delusion, and a degeneracy. -It is made possible by the brute strength -of a soulless people on the one part and -the weak unpreparedness of an easy-going, -prosperous, and pleasure-loving people on -the other part.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Suddenly a bolt from the blue fuses all -antagonisms into the mad storm which we -call 'War.' A good deal of dross will be -burnt up, but the pure gold will remain. -Out of the collision of national ideals which -are right or wrong, heroism and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>self-sacrifice are born. Out of the commotion -of contending ideals, truth, single-eyed, -in clear perspective and circular, -containing every point of view in its comprehensiveness, -will emerge. It is not to -the balance of power or the inter-relation -of dynastic connexions that we must look -for peace, but to the balance of the naked -truth and the essential solidarity and -brotherhood of man.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Concert of Europe has broken down -in discord, the Conductor is rapping out -with His baton the true music of humanity, -and He insists that we should all recognize -the Keynote.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The pre-millenarian sees in it all a -superhuman interference with the human -will which is the prelude to a forcible -application of the Divine Will and a millennium -of peace and perfection. But when -we investigate, we see that there is no -mental violence in the coming of the Great -War. We are reaping what we sowed. It -arises out of logical and adequate causes. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>It will not end until these causes have been -removed.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Political excrescences must be sloughed -off. Nations will be born or reborn in a -day. So war is working the world-fever -out of our blood, cleansing our hearts, and -making us seriously face life's issues.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To get to particulars. We hear much -about man-power to-day. It is the last -word of the strategist, the first thought of -the statesman, and the secret of victory. -But who bothered about man-power a few -years ago?</p> - -<p class='c008'>A Russian peasant in Petrograd, after -the Revolution, said to an English press -correspondent: 'We shall have fine times -in the church now. There will not be so -many long prayers for the Czar, the -Imperial family, and all the nobility, with -a little prayer for the poor peasants at -the tail end.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>Yet it is the great mass of <i>men</i> which -Russia possesses which forms the famous -'steam-roller' upon which so many have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>placed their hope for the liberation of -Europe. It may be that the God of Battles -has ordained that in saving Russia, and -in part Europe, the Russian people are to -save themselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>How was it with us? How many cubic -feet of air have our men had to breathe -in the wretched and monotonous tenements -in which they were compelled to live? -Houses must be built that way, I am told, -because the land is dear. Who made the -land dear and men cheap?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Men in many callings could not obtain -a living wage. Some weird economic -law--'supply and demand' or other phrase—made -it impossible to give the worker -more! But, suddenly, a struggle for -national life is thrust upon us, and there -is money enough!</p> - -<p class='c008'>I know it is a very complicated question, -but it is <i>there</i>. We must face it; we <i>are</i> -'our brothers' keepers.' They are like -'sheep without a shepherd,' unless they -are cared for. It is a national obligation -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>to provide right conditions of life, proper -education for mind and body for the boy -who is going to be the unit in the man-power -of the nation.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We must organize our national life to -allow of this, for we have no right to permit -our industrial development to outpace our -humanitarian provision of the fair conditions -of a full-orbed, manly life. Each -nation contending is 'up against it.' Men -are precious in France, but scarce. The -birth-rate has fallen off. Why? We -leave it to French patriots to solve, and -turn to our own affairs once more.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We have suffered in this war, and -victory has been delayed because we lacked -organization, and yet we prided ourselves -upon being organizers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The victories in war are manufactured -in days of peace. We were not organized -in pre-war days. Things <i>happened</i>. Under -the pressure of war we have had to organize -ourselves in many ways. The railways -have been brought under central control -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>to serve <i>England</i> and not companies merely. -The vested interest of the Drink Traffic has -had to be squeezed into more reasonable -proportions, and may have to go altogether -to secure victory. Men and women are -being mobilized for national service, and -agitation for women's suffrage is silenced -for the present. In the silence it may be -that we shall learn that the claim for -suffrage depends not upon <i>being</i> but upon -<i>doing</i>. National service is surely a good -claim for suffrage. Representation should -not merely depend upon taxation, but upon -a wider qualification—service for the common -good in war and peace.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We are not the only people under the -pressure of war and compelled to listen to -the will of the God of Battles.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We have seen an Anglo-Saxon nation, -claimed to be the freest in the world, -struggling to grasp at the same time -peace and conserve its liberty, reluctant -to grasp the sword even to protect its -nationals. Led by a far-seeing, cautious, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>and astute President, it made a wonderful -attempt to keep out of war; but -the grim circles of battle have with ever-widening -sweep reached this huge nation -of peace-lovers, and it is learning that in -citizenship quantity is not everything; -quality, racial purity, counts for something.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Moreover, nations are not permitted, -any more than individuals, by the God of -Battles to evade or shirk the great moral -issues of life:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Once to every man and nation</div> - <div class='line in2'>Comes the moment to decide,</div> - <div class='line'>In the strife of truth with falsehood,</div> - <div class='line in2'>For the good or evil side.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>The Church is being tested by war. It -had not been prepared by its human -leaders for this test, though history shows -clearly War, Revolution, Crisis, and Persecution -are the foster-mothers of Religion.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But we built up the Church for peace -and prosperity. Its ordinances, ceremonials, -customs, and solemn pomps; its -appeal, apparel, and ambition, all needed -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>peace for their opportunity and prosperity -for their support. When a nation strips -for war, however, it needs a religion from -which everything which is extraneous and -superfluous is eliminated.</p> - -<p class='c008'>When the soldier, living in the world of -elemental passions and away from all the -Church aids and props, free from the -suggestiveness of the church as a sacred -place and all the sensuous accessories and -aids to worship, asks for religion, he wants -it <i>neat</i>. He needs the fundamental, the -essential, the irreducible minimum.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now the Church has to work in an altogether -different atmosphere. It must not -be thought that it is an atmosphere less -favourable to religion. The drama of the -soul never has so fitting a setting as in -the red landscape of war, with its alternations -of lively death and deadly life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The very processes of soul growth and -the problems of time and eternity are, -so to speak, 'filmed.' A lifetime is compressed -into a campaign.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>As the individual soul has its tragic -opportunities, so the Church itself has its -great chance. Never was such a setting -for the divine drama since it was first -enacted. Never were the truths of -religion so clearly illustrated or the comforts -of religion so pathetically needed. -The suitability of the gospel message as a -response to man's needs, and the perfection -of Christ as man's Comrade and Saviour, -never shine forth so fully as in the lurid -glare of war's terrible perspective.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is the business of the soldier's preacher -to interpret this. He has abundant mental -material to hand, and he works in an -atmosphere solemn, insistent, and impressive.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If he turns aside to talk of lesser things, -he wastes his time. He must not get -between the men and God, or put the -Church, or its ordinances, or its rules, so -far as they are human, between the men -and God.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If this is so when we speak of the Church -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>in the larger sense, how much more is it -so when we speak of the Church as a -denomination!--and all Churches are denominations -when we are at war.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The minister, too, has to cut his baggage -down. His spiritual equipment is in his -mind and heart. The soldier does not -inquire what college his padre comes from, -or what qualifications the titles before -or after his name stand for. Whether he is -a bishop, a great evangelist, or a popular -preacher means little to the man. What -the man asks is, 'What sort of chap is he? -How is he sticking it? What has he got -to say? Does he help a fellow?'</p> - -<p class='c008'>The chaplain's one object is to lead men -in thought and faith to God as God is -revealed in Christ, and to get him <i>there -quickly</i>.</p> - -<p class='c008'>In regard to the Church as an institution, -there is a feeling among the men, -more or less articulate, that it has humbugged -them. It has denounced the sins -it does not often commit, but has been too -<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>silent about the sins which are common -to its own membership. The Church, in -time of peace, has built up a vast superstructure -of respectability. The sins of -the flesh and drunkenness and swearing -were not respectable; but it has not -turned the white burning light of truth -against the sins of the spirit—covetousness, -selfishness, lying, fraud, greed, and injustice. -The soldier has many things to -put up with, but for the time he is freed -from the soul-destroying influence of an -industrial system built upon the basis of -competition. He is not afraid of losing -his job, and he need not toady to any one -to secure the chance of his bread-and-butter. -Under the pressure of campaigning -he begins to exalt comradeship and -self-sacrifice to the first place in the list -of virtues. Battle forges a new and strong -bond of brotherhood.</p> - -<p class='c008'>He does not possess this at first. He -comes out of a world of self-seeking, but -he gradually discovers that men depend -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>on each other. In a word, the shells that -fly, knocking the parapets about, and the -rough and tumble of campaigning knock -a man's creed about fearfully. He has to -<i>re</i>-sort his ideas of religion and the Church, -and when he puts them together again, -he finds that they fit his complex needs -better when they are built up the other -way. Perhaps an arrangement of topics -which I have found to be dead topics as -far as work amongst soldiers is concerned, -and others which seem to be <i>live</i> topics, -will help to show what I mean.</p> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='50%' /> -<col width='50%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <th class='c011'><span class='sc'>Dead Topics</span></th> - <th class='c015'><span class='sc'>Live Topics.</span></th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c015' colspan='2'> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>Future punishment</td> - <td class='c015'>Personal salvation</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>Baptismal regeneration</td> - <td class='c015'>Prayer and providence</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>Apostolic succession</td> - <td class='c015'>Comradeship and Communion</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>Claims of the Church</td> - <td class='c015'>Christ as Friend and Lord</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>Sabbath observance</td> - <td class='c015'>Righteousness</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>Observance of Holy Days and Church ordinances</td> - <td class='c015'>God as a Ruler</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c011'>Sectarianism and all Church shibboleths</td> - <td class='c015'>Here, hereafter, and the soul's destiny</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>The soldier is particularly interested -in spiritual biography, and very glad to -hear about what God did for Paul, Peter, -Moses, Joshua, and David. There are -vestiges of superstition lingering in many -men, and it is hard to see where superstition -ends and faith begins. I have known -men sample all sorts of religion during -the campaign, trying to find out perhaps -what different chaplains have to say about -things.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is a species of fatalism; they value -luck, and would sympathize with the -Prayer-Book phrase, 'Good luck in the -name of the Lord.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is strange that men should turn -to the elements of religion in which the -Church is getting slack. They value -prayer, and I think most of them pray -in their own way. They believe in providence, -but do not expect that prayer for -them means necessarily immunity from -wounds or death; but they know quite -well that whatever may be their lot they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>will be the better for the prayers which -ascend for them and for their own prayers.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An Australian of the real primitive sort -was moving across No Man's Land to the -attack on Fromelles, and he stopped amid -the hail of bullets and bursting shells and -leaned on his rifle. A comrade rushed up -and inquired, 'What is the matter, mate; -are you hit?' 'Hit, no,' he shouted; 'if -you want to know what I am doing, I'll -tell you. I am saying a prayer.' With -that he seized his rifle and went forward -to the charge.</p> - -<p class='c008'>An Australian non-com., who went right -through Gallipoli and was in many a fight, -wrote to me and said that since a certain -service at Mena Camp, in Egypt, he had -made prayer the habit of his life, and it -helped him to play the game. 'I have -never gone over the bags without prayer -first, and specially commending myself to -God, and I find it bucks me up a lot.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>Another, referring to an address on the -text, 'Thy rod and Thy staff comfort -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>me,' wrote: 'The note of guidance and -strengthening helped me a great deal in -the hard business of the attack on the -Lone Pine, and it was constantly with me -in the Gallipoli days.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>Whilst so many in pulpit and pew have -ceased to ponder and wonder at the -mystery of the Atonement, soldiers have -seen a new meaning in it. A man in our -force at Anzac said to me: 'I never could -understand before; but now, when I -know I may be blown out, I reckon there -isn't much chance for me unless somebody -has made up for my failure and done for -me what I have not been able to do for -myself. I guess that is what it means.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>He did not express it very well, but -agreed with me when I said that 'Calvary -has made up for our failure to come up to -the standard of Sinai.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>That most difficult idea of substitution -for us and representation of us in the death -on the cross is forced into men's minds by -many an illustration now. To a soldier -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>dying at Étaples, a <a id='corr116.1'></a><span class='htmlonly'><ins class='correction' title='chaplaín'>chaplain</ins></span><span class='epubonly'><a href='#c_116.1'>chaplain</a></span> said, 'Do you -understand, and does it help you to know -that Christ died for you?' 'Oh, yes,' he -said, 'I know He died for me, just as I -am dying for those shirkers at home.' He -used the word 'shirkers' without condemnation, -just as the first word which -came to him, and passed away at peace -and content.</p> - -<p class='c008'>For so long the Cross, with its extended -arms, has spoken to the world of a redemption -of love. But we passed by carelessly, -not choosing to understand; so that we -might well ask of the multitude:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in12'>All ye that pass by,</div> - <div class='line in12'>To Jesus draw nigh:</div> - <div class='line'>To you is it nothing that Jesus should die?</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>Now we know a little of what it means, -for so many of our best have died for us. -So many real if not material crosses have -been lifted on the low hills of Flanders; -so many have laid down their lives for -the race, that we are beginning to understand.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>There is nothing morbid in these thoughts -of Christ dying. The Cross to the soldier -is full of sweet helpfulness, it appeals to -him with comfort.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Everard Owen, in a poem which we are -allowed to reprint from <i>The Times</i>, called -'A Kind Hill to Souls in Jeopardy,' gives -us the idea of tender succour which men -see in Calvary:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There is a hill in England,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Green fields and a school I know,</div> - <div class='line'>Where the balls fly fast in summer,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the whispering elm-trees grow.</div> - <div class='line in4'>A little hill, a dear hill,</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the playing-fields below.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There is a hill in Flanders</div> - <div class='line in2'>Heaped with a thousand slain,</div> - <div class='line'>Where the shells fly night and noontide</div> - <div class='line in2'>And the ghosts that died in vain.</div> - <div class='line in4'>A little hill, a hard hill</div> - <div class='line in2'>To the souls that died in pain.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>There is a hill in Jewry,</div> - <div class='line in2'>Three crosses pierce the sky,</div> - <div class='line'>On the midmost He is dying</div> - <div class='line in2'>To save all those who die,</div> - <div class='line in4'>A little hill, a kind hill</div> - <div class='line in2'>To souls in jeopardy.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c007'><span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>What will the Church do with the men -when the God of Battles gives the remnant -back to us? We shall have to make room -for them. They will want a simple and -strong religion. Something to call forth -and use the heroic in them. They will -not stay in the Church if there is 'nothing -doing,' for they are intensely practical.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To recapitulate. The war has shown -the political unimportance of the Churches -in Europe. The Will of God was not -expressed clearly enough or sufficiently -by them to prevent the war. The World -was stronger than the Church and imposed -its will upon the Church.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Now that we are at war, the Churches -are still divided in their witness for -righteousness. Even the Church, which, -beyond all others, calls itself Catholic, is -not catholic in the sense of unity, for it -speaks with different voices in Austria, -Belgium, Germany, and France. The -Church which calls itself Orthodox has -failed to give the people a lead in Russia. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>With us the lack of unity in the Christian -Church has weakened its testimony in the -nation and marred its work in the Army. -Once more, therefore, in the history of the -world, the King of Righteousness, who is -also the Prince of Peace, is recalled in -human life as the God of Battles.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Still, He will make the wrath of men to -serve Him, and He will gird the soldier -to execute His purposes, unconsciously, it -may be, as He girded and used Cyrus the -Persian: 'I girded thee, though thou -hast not known Me' (Isa. xlv. 5). In -spite of the failure of the Churches, He is -setting up His kingdom of Brotherhood and -righteousness in the earth.</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;</div> - <div class='line'>He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;</div> - <div class='line'>He hath loosed the fatal lightning of His terrible swift sword:</div> - <div class='line in10'>His truth is marching on.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>He hath sounded out the trumpet that shall never call retreat;</div> - <div class='line'>He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement-seat;</div> - <div class='line'>Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant, my feet;</div> - <div class='line in10'>Our God is marching on.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps;</div> - <div class='line'>They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps;</div> - <div class='line'>I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;</div> - <div class='line in10'>His day is marching on.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,</div> - <div class='line'>With a glory in His bosom which transfigures you and me.</div> - <div class='line'>As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,</div> - <div class='line in10'>While God is marching on.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VII<br /> <br />THE CHIMNEY-POTS OF LONDON</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>I will not cease from mental fight</div> - <div class='line in2'>Or let the sword sleep in my hand,</div> - <div class='line'>Till we have built Jerusalem</div> - <div class='line in2'>In England's green and pleasant land.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='c014'><span class='sc'>Blake.</span></div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span> - <h3 class='c002'>VII<br /> <br />THE CHIMNEY-POTS OF LONDON</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>There is some very fine architecture in -London, and buildings which reveal some -of the finest workmanship in the world, -for the London craftsmen are famous.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But all this is crowned with the craziest -collection of chimney-pots.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Sometimes the brickwork of the chimneys -is built from one angle to another above -the roof; like a zigzag, and then surmounted -on the same building with -chimney-pots of different designs and -heights, pointing, too, in different directions, -and again capped with many weird contrivances -to make them <i>draw</i>. They are -certainly <i>out of drawing</i>, as any artist will -confess.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There are machines that whirl in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>wind and by their mad circling withdraw -the smoke, and there are <i>cowls</i> that move -with the wind, swinging in such a direction -that the wind cannot blow down the -chimney. There are <i>hoods</i>, and tin monstrosities -that rear their ugliness over -palaces, and there are chimneys that have -been built up so much higher than the -original ending, that in their fresh start -to the sky they spoil the sky view as well -as the contour of the building. There are -beautiful chimneys, which begin well, but -have to be assisted to do their work by -horrible tin extensions soaring into the air.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These hideous makeshifts disfigure the -dwellings of the rich and the poor alike -with a deadly equality of utility unrelieved -by any beauty. To see it all -stretching out beneath you from the -Monument fills you with disappointment -at the wretched discord. I believe there -are experts in chimneys in London, men -who <i>doctor</i> them. If one could be found -with an artistic soul, who could make them -<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>beautiful, he would deserve well of his -country.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But it would never do to take all these -ugly things down, for uniformity and even -beauty may cost too much. A house full -of smoke would, added to the London fog, -be intolerable. 'Handsome is as handsome -does.'</p> - -<p class='c008'>The housewife says 'Ours is a beautiful -chimney. It draws so well.' When you -sit by the bright fire on a winter's night, -you do not think of the ugly chimney -aloft except as a plain-featured but dear -friend.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But, for all that, these chimney-pots of -London are a sad commentary on our -human nature. Our architecture and -building goes wrong just where it comes -into contact with rough nature, with its -treacherous tempest and veering winds. -The architect plans a beautiful Gothic -mansion and everything goes right. It is -a dream, a vision of harmony, until he -comes to the chimneys—then brief and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>tragic experience demands a distorted -chimney or a tin contrivance, and the plan -is spoiled.</p> - -<p class='c008'>So we build our lives up to a point. It -is to be a Gothic career for the noble son. -What Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Oxford, or -Cambridge can do for him is done. The -Church, the Army—Society (with a big -'S') lend a hand, and he is turned out -true to sample—the right accent, the right -dress, the right manner. But, alas! when -he comes into contact with the intricate -promptings of nature and the subtle temptings -of the world, some strain, inherited -from the days of the Conqueror, makes him -wobble. He marries the wrong woman, -or doesn't marry her at all, misses the bus, -or catches the wrong one. His career is -altogether different from plan and specification, -and yet he may be quite a good sort!</p> - -<p class='c008'>Here is another case. We set out to -build a really artistic life. She, the -favoured creature, is nurtured amid culture -and reared in the atmosphere of poetry. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>Listening to smart conversation in epigram -and lightning-sketch style, she goes -out into the world without a practical -notion; and because these things 'require -money,' drifts into a business-like marriage -with an unpoetic person, who makes glue -or blue. Settles down—a Queen Anne -villa with Mary Ann chimneys.</p> - -<p class='c008'>These are mild cases. How few of us -live up to our fond parents' hopes and -prayers! How many of us end far otherwise -than our education, advantages, and -associations seemed to promise. We have -power of choice, we are not made uniform, -and we do wobble a lot when we are -turned loose among the currents and storms -of life.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We overseas Britons are apt to expect -too much of dear old London.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At first we are foolish enough to think -that this mighty capital of our far-flung -Empire should be an epitome of all our -British virtues. Coming to the fountainhead, -we expect the water to be pure. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>We soon learn that it is not a fountainhead -of anything. It is a great bay of -human life and action into which a thousand -rivers, of different quality and force, -empty themselves.</p> - -<p class='c008'>London is a magnified expression of the -life of the whole Empire. The currents -which we on the frontiers of the Empire -set going all come pulsing towards this -mighty mother of cities; but with the -boundless generosity of a mother of nations, -mature but still vigorous, she receives this -inflowing life and sends it back again in -responsive floods to the end of the earth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The jaundiced critic treads this mighty -city with the blinded eyes of ignorance, -and seeing faults and sins, identifies her as -'Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots'; -but to those who look for goodness, London -suggests the city of which it is written: -'And the nations of them which are saved -shall walk in the light of it; and the -kings of the earth do bring their glory and -honour into it.'</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>Let us not hide the truth from ourselves. -These chimney-pots of London, for all their -ugliness, mean a lot of kindly comfort. -They draw well, they are comfortable to -live with.</p> - -<p class='c008'>You may find the worst in London, -but you will always find the best also.</p> - -<p class='c008'>There is a warm sympathy for sorrow, -a motherly helpfulness in need, a maternal -solicitude for the welfare of the humblest, -which stretches down from the throne, and -is reflected in the kindness of the poor -towards each other. No good movement -will ever lack support here, and no -stauncher friend to freedom is planted -four-square upon this earth than the -City of London, which so gallantly fought -for its own freedom and so jealously guards -it still.</p> - -<p class='c008'>If all these classic characters planned -by fond parents had materialized right up -to the very chimney-pots, they would -probably have been less companionable -and kindly. Purity of style does not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>always mean domestic harmony. Go into -these houses with the distorted chimneys, -and you will often find them 'all beautiful -within,' carrying an atmosphere of -peace and well-being which is refreshing -to the soul. Think, too, of how many of -them have been turned into hospitals for -our wounded soldiers, and of others which -dispense a hospitality to the men from overseas -which helps them to forget or at least -to bear their exile.</p> - -<p class='c008'>It is unreasonable to expect the discourse -and decisions of the great mother of Parliaments -to match the classic purity of the -building in which it meets. Its members -are men, swayed by many winds of interest -and influence, and if they wobble a bit -it is only natural. We youngsters would -settle the Irish Question and the problem -of the Drink Traffic monopoly very -quickly! We would fix up the Suffrage -for them and bring everything up-to-date -very soon! We would indeed—until we -get the over-sea mail and are reminded of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>our own lesser problems unsolved and see -our own wobbling. If we have nicer -chimneys it is because our climate is more -kindly; and if life seems easier with us it -is because we are so young. We did not -have so much hoary feudalism to dig up; -neither, however, have we such golden -traditions and such a storied history. Our -life is free, but is it so full?</p> - -<p class='c008'>Let us be very charitable to the homely -chimney-pots of London. We have poured -out our treasure and blood for the Empire -in this great war gladly, but this one city -has sent over a million of her sons to fight -and given readily scores of millions of her -wealth without a murmur, and is still -giving out, giving out, without stint. It -is the most heroic, adventurous city in the -world, where men use big maps, think in -millions, and build nationhood not for -to-day only but for the centuries to come.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To speak of lesser things, where is there -a more orderly, a more good-tempered -crowd than the crowd of London? Paris -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>has its gay beauty, Edinburgh its classic -lines; but here they have dug parks out -of the quarries of bricks and mortar. The -trees, squares, little green patches, breathing-spaces, -unexpected quiet nooks—all these -are a surprise to us because they have -cost so much, and they represent a city -of ideals which embrace the past as well -as the future.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Later on, when we are older and wiser, -you will call us to your council-chambers. -And we shall bring something with us of -the freedom of the large spaces, some -vaulting ambitions from new countries -where life is a young man's adventure, -some clearness of vision brought from the -solitary places.</p> - -<p class='c008'>We shall bring Home some of the -sweeping perspective of a land of magnificent -distances. Freighted, too, we shall -be with that love for England which only -those can feel who have left her shores -behind to strike the long trail of Empire. -But we can never bring back such gifts -<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>to the mother county as she first dowered -us with when she sent us out to the great -new lands with a love for freedom which -she nourished through the centuries with -her own blood.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Ah, London of the crazy chimney-pots! -what we like about you specially is your -marvellous courage. London afraid, -shrinking, timorous! Only madmen would -think it! How you wrestled with your -mighty problems!--problems of transport -(you plant mighty railway systems in your -heart, and dig ways underground for your -people), and problems of administration -greater than those of many nations!</p> - -<p class='c008'>But your courage is still challenged. -You will not fail us, Great Mother of Cities! -We look to you for a lead. You <i>are</i> going -to root out your slum public-houses. You -<i>are</i> going to do more for the housing of -your people. And in the larger sphere -of the politics of the world you are still -going to hold aloft the banner of freedom -and righteousness. Send out your life-blood -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>of brave endeavour, and we shall -feel every heart-beat and respond to it, -away under the Southern Cross, and -wherever the Union Jack flies or English -is spoken.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span> - <h2 class='c006'>VIII<br /> <br />HORSEFERRY ROAD</h2> -</div> - -<div class='lg-container-b c000'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in6'><span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>Hail to the brave!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Who, going, come no more;</div> - <div class='line'>Th' imperious call broke on their slumb'ring souls,</div> - <div class='line'>And woke to action all their manhood strong,</div> - <div class='line'>And bade them go, that Right might conquer wrong.</div> - <div class='line in6'>Hail to the brave!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Who, going, come no more.</div> - </div> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line in6'>Hail to the brave!</div> - <div class='line in6'>Who going, come again,</div> - <div class='line'>Though our poor vision may not see their form;</div> - <div class='line'>Yet in the silent hour, when thought seems deep,</div> - <div class='line'>We hail them near, and holy vigil keep</div> - <div class='line in6'>With all the brave,</div> - <div class='line in6'>Who going, come again.</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='c014'><span class='sc'>J. Williams Butcher.</span></div> - -<div> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span> - <h3 class='c002'>VIII<br /> <br />HORSEFERRY ROAD</h3> -</div> - -<p class='c007'>When the great war is over there are -some places which will live in the minds -of the Australians. Mena and the desert -around the Pyramids has become a part -of the perspective of many Australian -lives. It is stamped there by many a -long route march, and the training of the -Australian Forces there is a page in the -annals of the history of Egypt, which -includes so much that is military, most -noteworthy being the assembling, training, -and fighting of Napoleon's Army at the -same place. We had our Battle of the -Pyramids, strenuous enough if only a -sham battle.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Heliopolis, with its old associations—the -City of the Sun in the days of Joseph -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>and the place of his marriage, was the -centre for our New Zealand troops and also -for many of our Australian units. Particularly -will it be remembered by the -thousands of sick and wounded who came -there to our great No. 1 Australian General -Hospital, which occupied the largest hotel -in the world, the Heliopolis Palace. The -classic island of Lemnos, both before our -landing at Gallipoli and after our evacuation, -loomed large in our life. Salisbury -Plain with its ancient towns and its -Druidical remains at Stonehenge also comes -into the picture.</p> - -<p class='c008'>But Horseferry Road has its special place -in our records. Thousands of Australians, -on business bent, visit Head Quarters there, -and the number who report there on duty -or leave every week never falls below four -figures. They see that it is a college, and -that the officers are working in libraries -surrounded by memorial busts and bronzes -of old Masters, Tutors, and Scholars. They -see hundreds of clerks working in lecture-halls, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>class-rooms, or College Chapel. It -will be interesting for them to know that -Horseferry Road is worthy of coming into -the historic perspective of the Australian -Army.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To begin with, it is probably the oldest -road in England, certainly older than -Watling Street. The Archbishop's horse -ferry began when his Grace was more -powerful than any of the several kings in -England, and brought the traffic from -one side of the Thames to the other before -bridges were thought of. The Horseferry -Road carried this ancient traffic, and was -laid out by use, very much the same as -Parramatta Road followed the tracks of -the bullock teams along the ridge leading -from Sydney to Parramatta—and thus -became in a casual way the first road in -the history of the new nation under the -Southern Cross.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The ancient Archbishop never could in -his wildest dreams foreshadow the time -when hosts of British soldiers from the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>other side of the world would march along -his narrow horse ferry road.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The building occupied by our Head -Quarters is the Westminster Training College -for teachers, whose principal is Dr. -Workman, a leading scholar of England, -and one of the first authorities on Mediaeval -History. It was first thought of taking the -College for an officers' training depot, but -the War Office ultimately handed it over -to the Australian Commonwealth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>The Australian Imperial Force but continues -the war record of this great college. -Of its 800 or more pre-war students who -have attested, 735 are on active service: 47 -have been killed in action, 23 wounded, 7 -reported missing, and 3 are prisoners of -war. It has contributed 97 commissioned -officers and 218 non-commissioned officers to -the army. The men of this college have -obtained many distinctions in the field. -Lieutenant William F. Forshaw and Lieutenant -Donald Simpson Bell have won the -V.C. The first case is well known to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>Australians, for Lieutenant Forshaw won -his V.C. in the critical days of Gallipoli -by holding up Turks for forty-one hours -by throwing bombs. Captain C. H. Hill -Roberts and Captain J. W. Wood won -the Military Cross, and Lieutenant E. J. -Phillips the Distinguished Conduct Medal -and the <span lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Médaille Militaire</span>. Private Herbert -Brindle and Gunner W. L. Cooper, B.A., -have won the Military Medal.</p> - -<p class='c008'>This does not profess to be a complete -record of the honours won by Westminster -Training College men, but just a list dug -out of the statistics while the war continues, -to show that the Australians have -become citizens of no mean city in coming -to Horseferry Road, Westminster.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Besides this <i>war work</i>, the Westminster -College has done a great deal for Britain -in sending one of its old tutors, Dr. Lowry, -to the Munition Board. He is a great -chemist, and the author of some of the -surprise packets which have been sent to -Fritz in the shape of new explosives.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>In peace, as well as war, the college, -which was founded over seventy years ago -at Horseferry Road, has gained honourable -distinction. Hedley Fitton, the -famous etcher, was one of its old pupils. -Sir James Yoxall, author and M.P., is -another old student. James Smetham, -the famous artist and letter-writer, was a -tutor here. John Scott, grandfather of -the Rev. Dr. Scott Lidgett, was the first -Principal, and was followed by Dr. Rigg, -the great educational expert and writer -on Methodism and Anglican theology. -Besides that, it is linked to Australia -by the fact that some of its old pupils -have gone to occupy honourable positions -as teachers and in some cases ministers -in the Commonwealth.</p> - -<p class='c008'>At least one of our great Australian -schoolmasters, Mr. F. Chapple, M.A., B.Sc., -Principal of the largest boys' college in -Australia, Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, -was a student and a member of the staff -here.</p> - -<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>One of the strange things that war does -is to bring back in khaki men from Australia, -on business to the A.I.F. Head -Quarters to find that it is their own old -college. Men from Westminster Training -College are fighting in France, Palestine, -Mesopotamia, on the Salonica front, and -some of them are in naval work; and -while this famous Alma Mater sends out -her own sons to the frontiers of the Empire, -she opens wide her hospitable portals to -receive the brawny pioneers of New Lands -away 'down under.' Thus men from back-block -townships in Australia are brought -into a sort of fellowship of service with the -English trainers of the old Horseferry -Road Training College.</p> - -<p class='c008'>Our men will think kindly, too, of Horseferry -Road, because the War Chest Club, -just opposite the Head Quarters, was so -often their home. Here, under the hostess, -Mrs. Samuel, a capable group of lady -workers have dispensed thousands of hot -meals to sore-footed and war-weary -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>Australians on leave from France. Then there -was the quiet refuge of the Y.M.C.A. -Hostel on the other side of the road, in -the Wesleyan Central Hall, where, under -the lady superintendent, Mrs. Workman, -and her voluntary assistants, similar good -work was done.</p> - -<p class='c008'>To Horseferry Road the Australian came -gladly, leaving it regretfully for war again; -and when the war is over it will be a kindly -memory. In close proximity to Westminster -Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, -where so many bonds of Empire are -forged, the old Westminster Training College -will continue to do its useful part in -Empire building.</p> - -<hr class='c016' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><i>Printed by Jarrold & Sons, Ltd., Norwich, England.</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c017'><a id='endnote'></a></p> -<div class='tnotes'> - -<div class='nf-center-c0'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note:</span></div> - </div> -</div> - - <ul class='ul_1'> - <li>Where hyphenation occurs on a line break, the decision to retain or remove is based - on occurrences elsewhere in the text. - - </li> - <li>The errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted - here. - - </li> - <li>The numbers are references are to the page and line in the original book. - - </li> - <li>Errors in punctuation and quotes have been silently restored. - </li> - </ul> - -<table class='table2' summary=''> -<colgroup> -<col width='16%' /> -<col width='27%' /> -<col width='56%' /> -</colgroup> - <tr> - <th class='c018'>Reference</th> - <th class='c011'>correction</th> - <th class='c015'>original text</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_22.26'></a><a href='#corr22.26'>22.26</a></td> - <td class='c011'>tin-hat</td> - <td class='c015'>I pull my tin hat firmly down</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_32.6'></a><a href='#corr32.6'>32.6</a> </td> - <td class='c011'>field-guns</td> - <td class='c015'>a battery of field guns</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_33.18'></a><a href='#corr33.18'>33.18</a></td> - <td class='c011'>depot</td> - <td class='c015'>bombs for some dépot</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_37.16'></a><a href='#corr37.16'>37.16</a></td> - <td class='c011'>gunfire</td> - <td class='c015'>demolished by gun-fire</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_77.5'></a><a href='#corr77.5'>77.5</a> </td> - <td class='c011'>Zeppelins</td> - <td class='c015'>Bomb their Zeppelyns,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_81.20'></a><a href='#corr81.20'>81.20</a></td> - <td class='c011'>process</td> - <td class='c015'>world in prosess of reconstruction</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_83.8'></a><a href='#corr83.8'>83.8</a> </td> - <td class='c011'>Bazaars</td> - <td class='c015'>Bazars of the Monsky</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_86.3'></a><a href='#corr86.3'>86.3</a> </td> - <td class='c011'>battleships</td> - <td class='c015'>battle-ships of a mighty</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_86.10'></a><a href='#corr86.10'>86.10</a></td> - <td class='c011'>Minnewaska</td> - <td class='c015'>the Minniwaska is something</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_99.16'></a><a href='#corr99.16'>99.16</a></td> - <td class='c011'>by the</td> - <td class='c015'>by Austrian Emperor</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c018'><a id='c_116.1'></a><a href='#corr116.1'>116.1</a> </td> - <td class='c011'>chaplain</td> - <td class='c015'>at Étaples, a chaplaín said</td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> -</table> - -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEWS FROM NO MAN'S LAND ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> - </body> - <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57c on 2022-02-04 13:47:11 GMT --> -</html> diff --git a/old/67351-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/67351-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3d34e8b..0000000 --- a/old/67351-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67351-h/images/i002.jpg b/old/67351-h/images/i002.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index b177286..0000000 --- a/old/67351-h/images/i002.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/67351-h/images/i071.jpg b/old/67351-h/images/i071.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 3cc35f3..0000000 --- a/old/67351-h/images/i071.jpg +++ /dev/null |
