Republican farmer., 1919-05-23
By MISS KATHLEEN BURKE,

 GA grand-niece of Edmond Burke. the great Irish orator and Parliamental- ian)
 It was the adventure Of 1t all that appealed to me. I did not mind the danger so long as I could have the thrill. and feel that I was doing some thing really useful for the men -wh 0 were rislzing their lives daily to make Europe safe for Democracy. At Vinny Ridge, where I was under fire while the Canadians were attacking a pos itiou which the Germans deemed inn pregnable, I had no time to think of the danger.
 I was too busy attending to the wounded who were streaming back, and even when the enemy put over their barrage. which was bad enough while it lasted, I could not find time to "get the wind up' though I must admit that I felt a bit nervous. What l felt more than anything else was admiration for those wonderful men, who did not seem to mind anything They just went into the barrage as though 1t didn't matter. and had broken through the strongest of the enemy defences in less time than it takes to describe it.
 Wounds and death were as nothing to these men, mostly Canadians of Irish and Scotch descent. It was mag nificent to see them attack. and more magnificent to see the cheery style in which the wounded came back More than anything else it helped to bring home to one the grandeur of the human mind in rising above any thing.
 I have been gassed. That happen ed last year, near Valenciennes. It is a. terrible experience to go through, but at least it helps one to understand something of what hundreds of our brave men endured at the hands of the enemy. It helped to increase my ad- miration for those splendid fellows who were going through it all with out whine during those terrible days of strife. The sensations of choking that accompany gassing are terrible in the extreme, but I think it is most terrible of all when one is wounded as well as gassed.
 It was at Verdun, in the terrible battle of 1916, that I was wounded. I shall never forget that experience. The Germans really made their su- preme effort in front of Verdun, and the battles that ragged were the fierc- est of any I knew. We all felt that it was the supreme test, and I know the men braced themselves to endure to the end, because they felt that if they endured this, victory would be their reward.
 Alone in Her Agony.
 I was just behind the front line when I had my own experience of what it is to be wounded I was struck by a fragment of shrapnel. and lost all consciousness beyond the abil- ity to realize that I was still in an exposed position. I remember clearly
 trl heavy fire. and wondering how soon I would be relieved from my agony. In that period I saw something of the real grandeur of the French sol dier-his patient suffering, and the within him of the will to It was then I realized as I had never done before that France | had an unconquerable soul, proof against the rain of blood and iron. 1
 The final defeat of Germany was | made manifest in that supreme test | mans themselves realized that they | had failed lamentably when they i could not break the resistance of the | French infantry under that terrible l rain of death. I have seen much of ! the fighting since, but l do not think | there has been at any period of the | war anything quite so terrible as the l Verdun experience. The French are | wonderful, and have proved them | selves a nation of heroes. l
 Yes I saw much of the Scottish ! troops in the fighting, and of my own | the Irish. They were l magnificent I saw the glorious Fifty | First Division of Highland Territor- | ials during their terrible ordeal last | year, and never have I seen anything | to equal their heroism. I know that l they gave us complete confidence when they were in the line. for we all | felt that with such splendid men it | would be absolutely impossible for | the enemy to break through at any | point. |
 Those men never gave way to des- l pair even though the German waves broke against them again and again | and swept away the troops covering l their Hanks The unconquerable spirit | of the British soldier was never so finely shown as in this desperate and 1 came away with the certainty that, whatever happened, the British could never be beaten so 1 long as they had such men in their line to oppose the German onrush. ]!
 Of my own countrymen. the Irish, I have but this to say. They fought | as I expected them to fight. They | never gave up an inch of ground while | life remained with them. and in the | darkest days, when it seemed that 1 the Germans must break through, the | Irish remained supremcly calm and | confident of ultimate vic tory. Again and again the Germans | hurled their masses against the tren-i ches held by the Irish and the Scot tish, but the defenders proved equal to | any strain imposed on them. and vic- tory finally rested with them.
 I have flown over enemy lines un- der fire. Most probably I am the only women who has done that in this war-at any rate on the Western Front. It is a thrill from beginning to end, but there is not much time for fear One finds ones nerves all on the go while one is at 1t. and nothing | seems to count but the thrill of the | 
 When I was up. the enemy planes were circling around us trying to destroy us. and 1t was amazing to eee