clever and
resourceful, but the audience was one that it was thrilling to sit
amongst. In the cinema the stage was well appointed and lighted with
electric lights; the costumes of the men, especially those who took
the part of ladies, were good and well made. The music, vocal and
instrumental, was all that could be desired. But the audience,
composed of hundreds of strong, keen, young men who had endured hard
things, and perhaps, in a few hours after the show, would be once
again facing death in the front trenches, was a sight never to be
forgotten. Could any performer ask for a more sympathetic hearing? Not
a joke was lost upon the men, not a gesture was unobserved; and when
some song with a well-known chorus was started, through the murky
atmosphere of cigarette smoke would rise a volume of harmony which
would fairly shake the building. I have often stood at the back and
listened to a splendid burst of song, which to me had an added charm
from the deep unconscious pathos of it all. Some of those men that
were joining in the rollicking ragtime tune were dying men. Some of
the eyes kindling with laughter at the broad farce of the play, within
a few hours would be gazing upon the mysteries behind the screen of
mortal life. The pathetic chorus of "A Long, Long Trail" always moved
me, and I wondered how many of those brave young hearts in the crowded
hall, now on "the long, long trail," would ever see again the land of
their dreams. I took good care not to let the men know that I was ever
moved by such sentimentalism. We were out to fight the Germans, and on
that one object we had to concentrate all our thoughts to the
obliteration of private emotions.

CHAPTER XIV. (p. 154)

MY SEARCH IS REWARDED.

We had now reached the middle of November, and the 4th Division was
expected to come north very soon. My only chance of finding my son's
body lay in my making a journey to Albert before his battalion moved
away. I woke up one morning and determined that I would start that
day. I told Ross to get my trench clothes and long boots ready, for I
was going to Albert. At luncheon my friends asked me how I proposed to
travel, for Albert was nearly fifty miles away. I told them that the
Lord would provide, and sallied off down the road with my knapsack,
thoroughly confident that I should be able to achieve my purpose. An
ambulance picked me up and took me to the Four Wind