Norwich bulletin., 1917-10-30
STORIES OF THE WAR
Out On the Front.

At the end of 1915. a kindly, we'll intenttoned young person, who tooE the sad business of war very seriously
 mission. and decided to hold a watch right service. His hut was filled to
 overcrowding. Something went wrong with the lighting arrangements, and lie was reduced to a solitary candle by way of illumination. Standing on the platform q am summarizing his own accounD with that glimmer on the table beside him. he could only see the first few rows of faces, but knew there watching him from the darkness be- yond. All this gave an added touch tc solemntty to the gathering; he was deeply impressed. and spoke of serious things more seriously perhaps than
 he had ever spoken before. After one
 CT two fitting hymns had been sung.
 at midnight he was moved to lay his
 watch on the table and say earnestly Let us now have five minutes of silent prayer together"
 The silence that fell upon that hut
 touched him almost instantly with 8
 scrt of fear. Then. of a sudden, he
 from somewhere in the darkness---a strangled sob. little smothered cries.
 Tt sent chill through me-" he said
 and I realized in Q flash that I had
 done a, cruel thing. I thanked God gone and I could ask the soldier at
 piano to play something and break the ;. tension which was too much for us
 My other story, is of an incident that happened only a few days before that a. place a little farther behind the lire. An Irish soldier was there re- covering in a convalescent camp. He suffering badly from shell shock. which. for a time, made a nervous wreck of him. Late in the autumn there was talk O: arranging entertain ments for Christmas, and this many, Dublin comedian, volunteered to get up a proper Christmas pantonaime. He extemporfsed a stage in Y. M. c. A. hut painted the scenery. wrote the pantomime, which was full of friv- oious wsr allusIons, and ws.s not only his own stk ge- e-nanager, but himse!f acted a lea6tag part in the extrava- ganza.
 the seats were crammed with wound ed soldiers and soldiers from other parts of the vast camp, either newly returned from the trenches or short hut was echoing with continuous roars of laughter-tw;ee that Irishman was missed by those who were helping him 1E the management. and each time he was found sitting alone in the dark outside shaking as if in an ague. On the second occasion he was crying like Q child-cryins wretchedly that his nervous weakness could so master him. But he wouldn't hear of being excused and letting a substitute finish his part for him. He resolutely pulled himself together, and when his cue came he was ready in the wings to go on again and do his share of the fun making with the jolliest irresponsible gusto. and not a man among fhe hap py, laughing audience had his pleasure
 narred by so much as a suspicion of what had been happening behind the scenes.
 Whenever I think of him the thought of that 1rishman warns the heart of me. Wasn't there more of kindness Of unseIsfishness of hero- ism. even of seriousness. in his way Of taking the WAT than if he had treated it as a subject for undiluted gravity? But I won't point the moral of these two stories; everybody can point it for himse1f.-Ccr. London Chronicle