The Late Field-Marshall Earl Haig.
34 The Ypres Times.
DRYBURQH ABBEY TUESDAY, 7TH FEBRUARY.
Bow low the head, the pibroch's mournful wailing
Floats through the air, as solemnly they come
Nay! lift it high, for he in life ne'er faltered,
In duty faithful, and 'gainst railing dumb.
The wailing dies, the last few words are spoken.
In his long home the soldier's task is done,
He takes a rest well earned, mid peace unbroken,
And here, again, the pilgrims feet will come.
Steadfast and true," what better could be spoken?
Born of a race that blenched not in the hour
Of seeming fate, mid grim or dire disaster,
But fought it through, and won the victor's power.
The ages pass and still the world rolls onward,
Much as it did when Caesar passed away,
E'er the great message came of peace to all men.
And still we wait the coming of that day.
R. B. (Newcastle-upon-Tyne.)
On the eve of the tenth
anniversary of the dark days
of March and April, 1918,
when the issue of the Great
War hung in the balance,
the leader of the greatest
British Army which the
world has ever known passed
to his rest, leaving a nation
stunned by the suddenness
of its bereavement. Bord
Haig joined the 7th Hussars
in 1885. He saw service in
the Sudan and South Africa
All the time he was ad
vancing in administrative
positions. After the Boer
War he continued to rise
steadily, so that he was a
full General in 1914. When
the war broke out he com
manded the 1st Army Corps
and was promoted Field-
Marshal in 1917. When
peace came the nation
honoured him by giving him
a peerage the King gave
him the Order of Merit. In
his well-earned rest from
active command his first
and lasting thoughts were
for the men who fought
with him. The dearest wish
of his heart was to see jus
tice, combined with gener
osity, done to officers and
men disabled by the war,
and to the dependents of
the fallen.
4
Photo] ADDRESSING HIS SCOUTS. [London News Agency
