Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1917-08-07

re-onIOEceO up 20 btfenRtu Dy Ofd1tS
from the Fifth Canadian division.
which was then forming in England.
In July, when we were being kept
on the rife ranges most Of the time,
all leave was stopped, and we were
ordered to hold ourselves In readiness
to 60 overseas. In the latter part Of
the month We started. We sailed from
Southampton to Havre on a big trans
port, escorted all the way by destroy.
ers. As we landed we got our first
sight Of the harvest Of war. A big hos
pital on the quay was filed with
wounded men. We had twenty-four
hours In what they called a "rest
camp" We slept on cobblestones In
shacks which were 80 utterly comfort
less that It would be an insult to q
Kentucky thoroughbred to call them
stables. Then we were on the way to
the Belgian town of Poperinghe, which
Is $50 miles from Havre and was at
that time the rail head Of the Ypres
salient We made the trip In box cars
which were marked In French, Eight
horses or forty men," and we had to
draw straws to decide who should lie
down.
In the Front Trenches.
We got into Poperinghe at a. NJ,
and the scouts had led US into the
front trenches at 2 the next morning.
Our position was to the left of St. Eloi
and was known as ''the island" be-
cause 1t had no support on either flank.
On the left were the User canal and
the bluff which forms its bank. On
the right were 300 yards of battered
down trenches, which had been rebuilt
twice and blown In again each time
by the German guns. For some rea.
son, which l never quite understood,
the Germans were able to drop what
seemed a tolerably large proportion Of
the output Of the Krupp works on this
particular spot whenever they wanted
to. Our high command had concluded
that 1t was untenable. and so we. on
one side Of it, and the British, on the
other, had to just keep 1t secuted and
protect our separate tanks. Another
name they had for that position was
the "bird cage" That was because
the first fellows who moved into 1t
made themselves nice and comfy and
put up wire nettings to prevent any
one from tossing bombs In on them
Thus, when the Germans stirred up
the spot with an accurate shower Of
"whiz bangs" and "coal boxes" the
same being thirteen Founders and six
inch shells, that wire netting presented
spectacle Of utter inadequacy which
hasn't been equaled in this war.
They called the position which We
were assigned to defend "the grave
yard Of Canada" That was because
of the fearful losses Of the Canadians
here In the second battle Of Ypres,
from April 21 to June 1, 1915, when
the first gas attack in the worlds his.
tory was launched by the Germans,
and, although the French on the left
and the British on the right fell back,
the Canadians stayed where they were
put.
Right here I can mention something
which will give you an idea why de-
scriptions Of this war don't describe It
During the first gas attack the Cana
dams, choking to death and falling
over each other in a fight against q
new and unheard Of terror In warfare,
found a way-the Lord only knows
who first discovered 1t and how he
happened to do ito stay through q
gas cloud and come out alive. It isn't
pretty to think of, and it's like many
other things in this war which you
can't even tell of in print, because the
simple description would violate the
nice ethics about reading matter for
the public eye which have grown up IN
long years Of peace and traditional de-
cency. But this thing which you can't
describe meant just the difference be-
tween life and death to many OF the
Canadians that first day of the gas.