The Brown Brethren

THE BROWN BRETHREN
PATRICK MacGILL
COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO MY FRIEND J. N. D.

THE BROWN BRETHREN
CHAPTER I AT THE CAFÉ BELLE VUE
Strict on parade! When I'm on it I'm ready To shove blokes about if they do not keep steady! Comin' the acid! Stow it there! or it Won't do with me and then you'll be for it! Swingin' the lead! Them, the dowsiest rankers That ne'er 'ad C.B. or a dose of the jankers, Swing it on Snoggers! I'd like them to do it And good God Awmighty then, I'll put them froo it!
Off it, I'm off. Then I'll brush up my putties, Try and look posh and get off wiv my butties, A drink at the Café, a joke wiv the wenches, Last joke per'aps, for we're due for the trenches. Then stick to wiv pride as our mateys have stuck it When kissin' the wenches or kickin' the bucket.
( From A Service Song. )
The night had fallen and the Café Belle Vue was crowded with soldiers in khaki. The day's work was at an end, and the men had left their billets to come out and spend a few hours in the wine-shop of Jean Lacroix. A whole division was quartered in the district; it had come back from the firing-line and was enjoying a brief period of rest prior to its departure for the trenches again.