Private Peat

when they do occur there is always an alleviation. In every trench, in every section, there is some one who is a joker; who is a tru

But even while carrying out duties at night many humorous things hap

ard, but at night no one knows but that Hans or Fritz may be a few feet on the other side of the parapet with ears cocked for all sounds.

means much, and a thoughtless error is unpardonable. The first man receives the communication from the officer. Through the silence w

n Parkes to send up reinforcements to the right in a hurry." That was the message as I got it. That was the message as I transmitted it to the next man. To C

a state of collapse. Luckily, the situation was not serious, or possibly we mig

wire cutters, or possibly an actual trench raid. Nights in France are not meant for slee

e read when there is anything to read, and we write letters if we have the m

great while before we fell into line and produced bombs to match theirs. At first we had the Tickler variety as previously

mention the name of the boy who volunteered in our section, but he was a big, hefty, red-haired chap. He has since been killed

g commenced, then we crowded like boys round the big fellow, who was close to the parapet, his chest stuck out, his vo

omb to travel thirty yards; rather would it arrive in three seconds, and give Hans and Fritz opportunity to pick it up comfortably and return it in time for its explosion to

started to count-one, two, and his hand began to shake; at three his hand was moving about violently; at four the bomb f

itiative took us in the other direction. It is really wonderful how fast the average man can beat it when he knows there is c

elling and strafing. We once faced a certain Saxon regiment and for nearly two weeks neither side fired a bullet. This particular Saxon regiment said to us: "We a

ings do not happen any more. And such a situation never yet happened with a Prussian or

bright, and we may open the proceedings by trying to sing German songs, and they will join in by sing

nthem, O! Canada. When they got through, they politely asked the young braves of this regiment to sing the second verse. The Canadian boys sent over a few bombs instea

ions about their commanders and impertinent ones about the affairs of their nation. One thing I can say f

umstuff." Hans would take this in a jocular way, slamming back something about Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Lloyd G

but we dare not even raise a finger because a sniper would take it off. But after a lull there is always a storm, so before many minutes a bullet would go

rapping over a back-yard fence, and as we say