young boy only
eighteen years of age. Sitting beside him on the front seat, I told
him how much I admired his nerve and coolness. He turned to me quite
simply and said that he was not afraid. He just put himself in God's
hands and didn't worry. When he came afterwards to Headquarters and
drove our side-car he never minded where he went or how far towards
the front he took it. I do not know where he is in Canada, but I know
that Canada will be the better for having such a boy as one of her
citizens.

When I arrived at Railway Dugouts, I found that there was great activity
on all sides, but my message about our naval victory had a most
stimulating effect and I had the courage to wake up no less than three
generals to tell them the good news. They said they didn't care how
often they were awakened for news like that. I then got a runner, and
was making my way up to the men in the front line when the Germans put
on an attack. The trench that I was in became very hot, and, as I had
my arm in a sling and could not walk very comfortably or do much in
the way of dodging, the runner and I thought it would be wiser to
return, especially as we could not expect the men, then so fully
occupied, to listen to our message of cheer. We made our way back as
best we could to Railway Dugouts, and telephoned the news to the
various battalion headquarters. The telegram was never confirmed, and
I was accused of having made it up myself. It certainly had a
wholesome effect upon our men at a critical and anxious moment.

We had a hard time in retaking the lost ground. Gallant were the charges
which were made in broad daylight in the face of heavy machine-gun
fire. In preparation for the attack, our men had to lie under the
cover of broken hedges for twenty-four hours, living only on the iron
rations which they carried with them. I went up one morning when one
of our battalions had just come out after a hard fight. The men were
in a shallow trench, ankle deep in mud and water. As they had lost
very heavily, the Colonel put me in charge of a burial party. We
buried a number of bodies but were stopped at last at the entrance of
Armagh Wood, which the Germans were at the time heavily shelling, and
we had to postpone the performance of our sad duty till things were
quieter.

Still in spite of reverses, the spirits of our men never declined. (p. 132)
They were full of rebound, and quickly recovered themselves. As one
looks back to that period of