The Robesonian., 1918-08-26

that train, as 1t is going back. RatlOnS
will be issued to you for your return
journey to your respective stations.
Beastly rotten, I know" Then he left.
A dead silence resulted. Then men
started to curse, threw their rifles on
the floor of the car; others said moth
ing, seemed to be stupefed, while some
had the tears running down their
cheeks. It was bitter disappointment
Ito ALL
How we blinded at the engineer Of
that train; it was all his fault ESQ we
reasoned) why hadn't he speeded up
little or been on time, then we would
have gotten off before the order ar
Efved7 Now it was no Blighty for us.
That return journey was misery to
Us; just can't describe 1t.
When we got back to rest billets, we
found that our brigade was In the
trenches (another agreeable surprise) |
and that an attack was contemplated. !
Seventeen of the forty-one will never
get another chance to go on leave;
they were killed In the attack. Just
twenty Of us were sent on a trench
raid, only two Of us returning, but I
will tell this story later on.
|; said it was big happy family, and
SO it is, but as in all happy families,
there are servants, so in the British
army there are also servants, officers
/ servants, or 20. S." as they are termed
In the American army the common
name for them Is "dog robbers" From
a controversy in the English papers,
Winston Churchill made the state
ment, as far as I can remember, that
the officers servants in the British
/ forces totaled nearly two hundred
thousand. He claimed that this re-
moved two hundred thousand excep-
ltionally good and well-trained fighters
from the actual firing line, claiming
that the officers, when selecting man
for servants duty, generally picked the
man who had been out the longest and
knew the ropes
But from my observation find that
! large percentage of the servants do
i go over the top, but behind the lines
they very seldom engage in digging
This work is as necessary as actually
engaging in an attack, therefore think
it would be safe to say that the all
round work of the two hundred thou
sand is about equal to fifty thousand
men who are on straight military du-
ties. In numerous instances, officers
servants hold the rank of lance-cOrpO-
rails and they assume the same duties
and authority Of butler, the one
stripe giving him precedence over the
other servants.
There are lots of amusing stories
told of 20. S."
One day one Of our majors went into
the servants billet and commenced
''blinding" at them, saying that his
horse had no straw and that he per-
sonally knew that straw had been is
sued for this purpose. He called the
lance-corporal to account. The cor
poral answered, "Blime me, sir. the
! straw was issued, but there wasn't
enough left over from the servants
; beds; in fact, we had to use some OF
the 'ay to 'elp out, sir.''
1t is needless to say that the serv
ants dispensed with their soft beds
that particular night.
!, Nevertheless it is not the fault Of
the individual officer, it is just the sur
vfval of quaint old English custom
You know an Englishman cannot b,
changed in a day.
;, But the average English officer Is
). good sport. He will sit ON a fire ste]
:. and listen respectfully to Privat
. Jones' theory of the way the wa
should be conducted. This war i
= gradually crumbling the once insu,
h mountable wall of caste.
% You would be convinced of this
IS you could see King George 20 anon
h his men on an inspecting tour unde
n. ire, or pause before q little woode
le cross in some shell-tossed field wit
I'd tears in his eyes as he reads the ir
scription. And little later perhap
n, bend over wounded man on a stretch
I'd er, patting him on the head.
a More than once in q hospital hav
ke seen titled Red Cross nurse fetchin
so and carrying for a wounded soldie
We perhaps the one who in civil life d.
re livered the coal at her back door. T,
IN day she does not shrink from lightir
Of his fag or even washing his grim
re body.
Tommy admires Albert of Belgium b
to cause he is not pusher Of men: |
his leads them. With him it's not q ca.
ere Of take that TRENCH" it is "come
Ids and we will take IT.