And France comes to meet us, to cheer us and greet us,
      As we race past the fields to the woods brightly green,
    Whose young leaves half rustle with a great show of bustle
      When we halt at the fairest of spots ever seen.[1]

    Where the old kings of history, now shrouded in myst’ry,
      Once hunted the boar, or the feather, or fur. 
    But we feel this is over as we wade thro’ the clover,
      No tyrant again in this great wood shall stir.

    For France now demands it; however she stands it,
      However those brave ones in thousands can smile,
    Requires some explaining, so cease all complaining,
      And come on and battle and make it worth while.

    Yes! on to the thunder, tho’ it’s a blunder,
      On to the swish and the whine and the roar;
    With the memoried face of one you called ‘treasure,’
      Above and around and ever before.

    Oh! thou in that homeland so wistfully waiting,
      Watching and wearing your worries or woe,
    So proudly triumphant, consider such women;
      Work for them, pray for them, smile as you go.

    For into the furnace they’ve thrown all their ‘treasures,’
      Knowing that out of the vibrating whole,
    Quiveringly molten, pulsating, gleaming,
      Europe shall find her immaculate soul—­

    Soul of the suff’ring, bleeding and dying,
      Soul of a freedom unselfish and clean,
    Loving the light of a love all around us,
      Scorning the actions of men who are mean.

    Oh! men who were kingly, mated to martyrs
      (Silently, cheerfully, plodding along),
    Send all ye can of such great souls to help us,
      Make us and keep us triumphant and strong.

    G.P.  Cuttriss and J.W.  Hood.

FOOTNOTES: 

[1] Ploegsteert.

‘Over the top.’

[Illustration]

From the time of our arrival in France until a week or two prior to the battle of Messines, general dissatisfaction was expressed by the troops because of the seeming slow progress that was being made.  The men soon tired of the uneventful trench warfare.  They were eager to go ‘over the top.’  Defensive operations did not appeal to them; they were impatient to assume the offensive.  To put it in their own language, they had enlisted not to dig trenches or repair roads, but to fight the Hun.  Certainly the monotony was relieved by an occasional raid, for which work they earned for the Division a splendid reputation.  The area which the Division occupied was known throughout France as the ‘Nursery,’ where men, new to the modern mode of waging war, had opportunity for gaining experience and getting accustomed to shell and machine-gun fire under comparatively safe conditions.

During this period of ‘marking time’ the men were engaged both day and night on works of importance, without which an offensive would have meant sheer suicide.  The elaborate preparations that were being made denoted that a big ‘push’ was contemplated.  In connexion with this work, the pioneers and the engineers did magnificently.