The Vpres Times. 6.J
We had some good old times amongst those earthworksgood things too! in our
crude, simple way. We were then, at least, plain menand we all found each other
human. That was one great lesson we learnt, for what soldier went through those days
without knowing what comradeship meant hooking back, it seems a lifetime ago that
we had that memorable week's rest in Happy Valley on the Sonime, 1916, just after
that desperate maelstrom of autumn fighting. The little world of Picardy was a vale of
wooden crosses.
It is the memory of these thingsthese old friends and placesthat should stimulate
us to keep in touch with the Great War. Is it worth the while casting our minds back
Just think Those fellows shared our fears, our disappointments, our terrors and our
discomforts. They were with us in the swampy trenches of the Lowlands of Flanders,
and again on the plains of Artois and then later amongst the hills of Picardyfighting
to wipe something off a slate." Can we really forget Many of those fellows have
wooden crosses instead of wooden crutches. Is it fair that we should forget
ïj:
The thin, long line of khaki no longer tapers across the lowlands of Flanders, the
plains of Artois, or the hills of Picardythose gallant fellows no longer whistle
Tipperary along Flanders cobbled streets or in Flanders, poppy-fields, or "stand-by"
grimly at Death's door up old Wipers' way but a thin, long line of wooden crosses
still peeps above the horizon of those regions. They point the way, like stepping-stones,
to the tragedy of that nine days' wonder." The pilgrim beholds ponders
and as he turns and gazes at the splendour of the setting sun, the echo of his thoughts
comes back from afar with the question, Was man created mad
E. M. CHANNING-RENTON.
