Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-06-24
HOW It AFFECTS ONE
TO GO OVER TOP
Myriad of Sensations While
Waiting in Trenches
for Charge.
BRAIN is IN ICY CLUTCH
Described in the Vernacular by
Canadian Sergeant in Over
seas Battalion.

LONDON, June 23.-Did YOU ever
have the combined sensations OF wait
ing in the attic to be whipped watch
ing the girl you're in love 9th 20 off
with another fellow and standing in
the dock while the jury decides your
fate?
II you have. you know what it is
to be in the trenches. waiting for
charge.
The sensations mentioned are de-
scribed by a Canadian sergeant in one
of the overseas battalions. writing to
"A London paper He says:
There's crawley. Eoosey. hunger
sick, maggoty feeling in the stomach
of you: a save-the- women nd children
and G Cd help-me grip at the heart. The
raw OF breaking down clutches and
nurnbs the brain like the icy hand of
the grim angel.
Have you ever been three hours
alone in an attic waiting for your
father TO come home and give YOU the
licking of your life? Did you ever see
the only girl you could ever love
going 10 the thcatcr with another fell
low? Did you ever sit COR is II stand')
in the dock dumbly waiting for the
jury to say whether YOU did or you
didn't? Eth? Well. just roll these de-
liEh,ful sensations all into. one. plaster
a few shovelfuls of sticky. clammy mud
around your legs and hands mot for
getting to save a little for your rife);
then finish off neatly with dash of
ice and sleet from the North Fc!e and
roll into an Assembly trench" in front
OF your own front line in NO Mans
Land This is probably the feeling YOU
Will have while waiting TO go over.
4 few centuries pass. You notice
such trivial things as that your put
tees are getting frayed All! we'll. all
the easier TO get new pair when you
go on leave. Leave? God save US
You moor. miserable microbe, you're
just awaiting your execution.
SOME BLASTED FOOL
Is TRYING TO SMILE
Ages roll by Some blasted fool is
irving TO smi!e-the same CHASTITY con-
,or,ion of the facial muscles you would
EXPECT when caught By a physically
s,-,nd antiprohibtion coalheaver in the
arms OF his wife.
More gloom, more wintry blasts.
more deeper depths
swish, swish. swish. Rapidly. say
in half a second.
There she goes" whispers an oid
hand in YOUR ear shes opened up
some one from somewhere makes
sign. and in about second you are
actually over the top, in No Mans
Land. face set toward-well. whatever
il happens to be. You are surprised
to find that your blood still circulates
that YOU can leap, crawl. stagger on
ward-forward And in what seems
TO be minute OF time you arc close
IN to his" front line. You are Slad
he's putting up scrap. You mop
quickly into shell hole and peep eau
tiously over the top. You are sud
denly conscious that your comrades on
your right and left are doing the same
There is no need TO worry. though II
is merely the GauGing OF the stride
for the last leap. Just minute.
You are conscious of some one by
your side for the first time. Why is
he rolling his head around in that
idiotic manner. as though overcome by
sleep? He is grinning. All there is
hole through his neck. 1t is the grin
of death. BY love. It's Jimmy. You
are not shocked nor grieved-just sur
prised. The shock and grief VIII come
later.
1ou Hnd Souiseii iioN'hS again VIZ
wait having occupied a minute or 500.
and that every one else is moving along
the line Also Fritz is moving, and
that as fast as fear and the first law
of nature will carry him. Then begins
the big hunt. But that is another
story
The official reports will grandilo-
uuently state that we advanced on
front Of" etc. The special war cor
respondent will submit that "our boys
magnificently Stormed" But if YOU
want il in the vernacular OF the army.
you merely went "over the top