The farmer and mechanic., 1915-11-02
1ndon correspondence.

which officers and men are permitted
to come from trenches IN Flanders for
brief holidays in England. It has been
found that or days release from
war is the system by which officers
and men are permitted to come from
the trenches in Flanders for brief holi-
days in England. 1t has been found
that four or five days release from
the terrific nerve strain OF the pres
ent system of fighting with its tre-
mendous and continuous noise Is IN
valuable and does much to maintain
the morale of the men.
Yet if one goes to the Victoria Sta
ton in London, when officers and en-
listed men board the train every night
to go back to the front, one may WON
der if the agony Of parting does not
outweigh all the advantages OF the
short stay at home. Fer TO those
who go and those who stay behind
the wrench is far harder than the
first at the beginning Of the war.
Then there was novelty and excite
ment The soldiers left amid a crowd
of cheering comrades: the women
hoped they would soon return. Now
both know exactly what is before
them; Ter the man. the trenches, the
sniping and perhaps the gas: for the
woman, the days without news. the
and perhaps the fatal telegram. They
have no illusions. They know the
worst, but they face it.
In the scene itself on its setting
there is nothing unusual. The station
with the great curved roof and garish
advertisements, the platforms with the
roadway for taxis between are IA
mihar enough, and the soldiers and
their friends hustle along. looking for
Ic oh iv11s |,ac =
tie order as holiday crowd of ex-
cursionists. One must look closely to
understand it all and learn its horror
and herois1n. Those men are going
deliberately and calmly to face hard
ship and peril. and their womenfolk
and children. as they bid them fare
| we'll are hiding dull despair with a
smile
Most fortunate. indeed, are those
| with none to see them go. With rifles
| slsIng over their shoulders and packs
| on their backs, little groups of en-.
| listed men stride Sturdily along thu
| platform. It might be a shooting eX-
/ pedition on the moors for which they
are bound, and they greet their com
| rades in the train with the air o.
| school boys after a ho1iday-glad tha
| they cannot stay at home to be amit
| familiar faces again.
/ The other groups, the little gath
| erings of relatives and friends, cluster
| ing around O. khaki-clad figure, tel
the tale of misery. Strangely diver
they are drawn from all classes ant
all parts Of the British Empire, ex
pressing their feelings each in it's owl
| way, but all have one thought in com
| mon. The scrub-woman Of Whit
chapel, the Ang1o-Indian general from
| Pail Mall, the young wife from th
prairies Of the Canadian Northwest
| have met for a moment because SOM
one they love is going and he ma,
| never come back.
The Commonplace and The Heroic
The comm Onplace mixes with tn
heroic. Last moments are precious
but some must be given to travelling
arrangements. Men jostle each Othe
as they push along the platform, tn
porters are bombarded with questions
and wife and mother stand aside a
an officer arranges for a seat in tn
dining car.
and the hour of farewell draws nea,
A staff officer with beribboned breas
, strolls slowly with his wife. fIardl
a word they utter, but they are sti
, near each other.
You'll be back in three months :?
. suddenly she says
Hardly that, 1 think he answer
' | silently.
II lad, barely 19, has come wit
, his mother and her friends In tn
2 party is a Salvation Army Captain,
5 and the boys seems a little owe,
2 ! Whellned It's hard enough to go bl
4 | harder still with that group of rec
eyed women to see him off His mai
ural shyness grows deeper as the
D cluster round and talk the futilitit
| Of farewell
''Oh, here YOU are. I've been leol
J, | ing for you everywhere" a shri
= voice rises above the din. You know
g Colonel, / simply had to see Fredd;
:. off He looks SO we'll in his uniform
e I know he'll kill lots Of Germa MS
O A woman. dressed in the extre.r
g Of the fashion, pushes her way throue
k the crowd. The young officer sniIt
e feebly his father draws himself u
Y and his mother shrinks into hersal
u Evidently the woman is 1tnwalcon
t. but she prattles on about wounds
n her friends and the p.,1p3ipc ,f -