han the whitewash on the wall!"

When out of the firing-line we washed and mended our clothing and scraped
a week's accumulation of mud from our uniforms. Before breakfast we were
inflicted with the old punishment, Swedish drill. "Gott strafe Sweden!"
Tommy would say as he puffed and perspired under a hot August sun, but he
was really glad that he had no choice but to submit. In the trenches
there was little opportunity for vigorous exercise, and our arms and legs
became stiff with the long inactivity. Throughout the mornings we were
busy with a multitude of duties. Arms and equipment were cleaned and
inspected, machine guns thoroughly overhauled, gas helmets sprayed; and
there was frequent instruction in bomb-throwing and bayonet-fighting in
preparation for the day to which every soldier looks forward with some
misgiving, but with increasing confidence--the day when the enemy shall
be driven out of France.

Classes in grenade-fighting were under the supervision of officers of the
Royal Engineers. In the early days of the war there was but one grenade
in use, and that a crude affair made by the soldiers themselves. An empty
jam tin was filled with explosive and scrap iron, and tightly bound with
wire. A fuse was attached and the bomb was ready for use. But England
early anticipated the importance which grenade-fighting was to play in
trench warfare. Her experts in explosives were set to work, and by the
time we were ready for active service, ten or a dozen varieties of bombs
were in use, all of them made in the munition factories in England. The
"hairbrush," the "lemon bomb," the "cricket ball," and the "policeman's
truncheon" were the most important of these, all of them so-called
because of their resemblance to the articles for which they were named.
The first three were exploded by a time-fuse set for from three to five
seconds. The fourth was a percussion bomb, which had long cloth streamers
fastened to the handle to insure greater accuracy in throwing. The men
became remarkably accurate at a distance of thirty to forty yards. Old
cricketers were especially good, for the bomb must be thrown overhand,
with a full-arm movement.

Instruction in bayonet-fighting was made as realistic as possible. Upon a
given signal, we rushed forward, jumping in and out of successive lines
of trenches, where dummy figures--clad in the uniforms of German foot
soldiers, to give zest to the game--took our blades both front and rear
with