A woman said laughingly to me, “If you kill the Kaiser you shall have my daughter.” I replied that I could do that all right, and that she could have a hair of his moustache: Private R. Coombe.
Laughter!
Although the war has its stern, hard, realistic side, there is also a humorous side, especially so with our Tommies. They turn almost everything into a joke; in fact, I think that is the secret of their wonderful sang-froid: Quartermaster-Sergt. Ridewood, 2nd Welsh Regiment.
A Great Game
What a dirty-looking lot we were—holes in our clothes and beards. Every time we passed a clothes-line the fellows took the clothes off it. They had lassies’ nightdresses and chemises, and anything, so long as it made a shirt. What a game it was! A Private of the 5th Lancers.
“Fine Feeds”
We are having good sport out here. I have got as good a heart now as I had when I left home. I tell you, there is nothing better than having a few shells and bullets buzzing round you as long as you don’t stop one. We are having some fine feeds out here—ducks, chickens, rabbits, and bags of fruit: Trooper Maddocks, 5th Cavalry Brigade.
No Tango in Paris
The Germans painted on the walls, “We will make the English do the Tango in Paris on September 13.” But we have had a say in that, and I am certain there are a few thousands less Germans now than there were since they wrote that message: Pte. W. Blackburn, 2nd Coldstream Guards.