Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-06-14

As for volunteering, far be it from
them-"a man would be crazy to go
back" Yet the week | landed here TAT
base for convalescents several Casual
ties who were taken off draft, to be
replaced by men who had not been
over put up an awful howl One day
call was made for twenty-five Casual
ties" who would be willing to go back;
over a hundred volunteered, and those
who were picked were accused of hav-
ing a pull.
Then an order came that no more
casualties were to go back for a while,
and the order was freely quoted as the
unjust manner in which the army is
run"
A man, if he has volunteered to go
back, will deny it most Indignantly, even
when confronted with undeniable
proofs. wonder why it is; | don't
think anybody can explain it. The
boys are "ied up" there is no doubt
about that The mud, the wet, the
cold, monotonous food, shell fire, and
all that sort of thing, are enough to
break any mans heart The greatest
ambition OF any Canadian Tommy is
to get a nice little "Blighty of
those kind like small piece of shrapnel
in the foot or in the knee, a nice wound
clean through the shoulder-one of
those that don't hurt much, and takes
a long time to heal. Think of it! two
or three months sleeping in a soft bed
with a pretty nurse to bring you all
sorts of good things-lots of good eats.
A hospital is looked upon as a place
where a man gets "eats" every day
of the kind that most people have only
on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New
Years. Then, after that, ten days
pass; ten days of unadulterated liberty
with plenty of money. Ten days of as
sociating with white people" once
more and living as human being once
again; then, perhaps, if one is lucky,
a nice bomb proof" at the base or in the
pay or records Office, That's the high
est ambition of the man in the front
line, that is, if you believe what he says.
Well, he realizes this ambition-a nice
Blighty, or perhaps it was a bad one
but anyway he made it and lived There
was the nice soft bed, pajamas and
sheets, The grub-well it wasn't so
bad-anyway he wasn't hungry There
was a little nurse-"Gee, she was a
peach! Then ten days pass, then back
to the base for a bomb proc" and
along comes chap that was his pal
down in the Somme or UP in front of
Vimy or at Passchendaele. He made
Blighty in the June 3rd scrap, you
know.
They fight it all over again. "Remem-
bre that night we were bringing up ra-
tons and got lost and wandered into
Heinzie's front line?"
"Bet your life I'll never forget it.
What became of old Shorty Foster? He
was along that night"
Hes still there-got three stripes
now, the same old Shorty, though. Re-
member the night we went up to Her
sin wasn't that a lark of timer" And
so on through night after night.
Before long the dull routine of the
base begins to pail. Shining brass and
doing parades doesn't conform to his
ideas of what should be- He begins to
think of those long trips in quiet part
of the line, where he didn't shave for
twenty days; he remembers that "ov-
er there there was certain officer who
instead of giving commands of Form
fours-right, quick, march," says, Let's
go" He remembers another officer
whom he knows as Windy" instead of
"Sir." He does not forget that shell
fire that puts the fear of God into the
bravest man; but that doesn't happen
every day, The uppermost thought is
of that good fellowship and freedom
from petty discipline that exists cover
there" There is also a thrill about a
"big scrap" that no man has yet been
able to describe. Yet the misery, the
cold, the mud, the wet, and the shell
fire are all there; but the man whose
blood was red enough to go out there
of his own free will-that man, away
down in his heart, wants to go back
and yet he will deny it to the last min
J ute 1t is false modesty, or what?