Three-quarters of a year passed between the day of this "Temporary Gentleman's" enlistment and his writing of the first of the letters now published over his pseudonym; and it may well be that all the previous years of his life put together produced no greater modification and development in the man than came to him in those nine months of training for the New Army. The training had its bookish side, for he was very thorough; but it was in the open air from dawn till dark, and ninety per cent. of it came to him in the process of training others.
The keynotes of the training were noblesse oblige, sportsmanship and responsibility, that form of "playing the game" which is at the root of the discipline of the British Army. While he taught the men of his platoon they taught him, in every hour of the day and many hours of the night. They learned to call him "A pretty good sort," which is very high praise indeed. And he learned to be as jealous of his men as any mother can be of her children. He learned to know them, in fair weather and in foul, for the splendid fellows they are; and in the intensely proud depths of his own inner consciousness to regard them as the finest platoon in the New Army.
And then came the longed-for day of the departure for France, for the land he was to learn to love, despite all the horrors of its long fighting line, just as he learned most affectionately to admire the men and reverence the women of brave, beautiful France. In the letters that he wrote from France he had, of course, no faintest thought of the ultimate test of publication. That is one reason why his name is not now attached to documents so intimate, even apart from the sufficiently obvious military reasons.
A. J. D.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| The First Letter | [1] |
| The First March | [9] |
| The Tale of a Tub | [18] |
| The Trenches at Last | [28] |
| A Dissertation on Mud | [37] |
| Taking over on a Quiet Night | [46] |
| "What It's Like" | [56] |
| The Dug-out | [67] |
| A Bombing Show | [79] |
| Over the Parapet | [89] |
| The Night Patrol | [99] |
| In Billets | [111] |
| Bombardment | [121] |
| The Day's Work | [132] |
| Tommy Dodd and Trench Routine | [142] |
| Stalking Snipers | [152] |
| An Artful Stunt | [160] |
| The Spirit of the Men | [169] |
| An Unhealthy Bit of Line | [179] |
| They Say—— | [188] |
| The New Front Line | [197] |
| A Great Night's Work | [210] |
| The Coming Push | [220] |
| Front Line to Hospital | [229] |
| The Push and After | [239] |
| Blighty | [250] |