"Hurrah, hurrah, we'll get you, Kaiser Bill;
Hurrah, hurrah, your cup of joy we'll spill;
The day that you have toasted will be hell let loose when we
All go marching through Germany."
Moving west from Fleurbaix to Ypres they sang to the air of "Good-Bye, My Bluebell," as they marched:—
"Good-bye, old Germany, farewell to you,
You'll have no Kaiser when the war is through.
You'll have no army, no shot and shell,
Good-bye, old Germany—and go to——"
There they switched—to please the padre—and chorused gleefully:—
"You're in the army now,
You're in the army now,
You son of a gun, you'll never be done,
You're in the army now."
What happened to the first Canadian division at Ypres during the two weeks following the first gas attack made by the Germans (April 15-22) is an old, and glorious story in the annals of Canadian bravery. The Highland brigade went into the blood-drenched salient to the lilt of:—
"Sing a song of bonny Scotland."
They sang little during the slaughter-pregnant, fight-full days and nights which followed; but at the first halt following their departure from that section of the line (May 5-15), one brave heart sang:—
(Air—Sing Me to Sleep.)
"Far, far from Ypres, I want to be,
Where German snipers cannot get me;
Think of me crouching, where the shells shriek,
Praying for sergeant to sing me to sleep."