Were ever bellicose.

"'Twas you, the critics say, who led
The loud War Party's cry
For blood and iron." "Oh!" he said,
"Oh what a dreadful lie!

"'War Party'? Well, I'm Father's pet,
And, if such things had been,
He must have let me know, and yet
I can't think what you mean."

"But your BERNHARDI," I replied,
"He preached the Great War Game."
"'BERNHARDI'! who was he?" he cried,
"I never heard his name!

"Dear Father must be told of him;
Father, who loathes all war,
Is looking rather grey and grim,
But that should make him roar!"

So, with a smile that knew no art,
He left me well content
Thus to have communed, heart to heart,
With one so innocent.

And still I marvelled, having scanned
Those eyes so full of Truth,
"Oh _why_ do men misunderstand
This bright and blameless youth?"

O. S.

* * * * *

NEWS FROM THE BACK OF THE FRONT.

_Northern France._

As you will see from our address, here we are among the War
Correspondents. But there is a mistake somewhere; either there are not
enough Germans to go round, or else they--Headquarters, you know--simply
hate the idea of throwing the flower of the British Army into the full
glare of the shrapnel. Anyhow, we haven't actually been engaged yet,
though our Private Smithson has collected three bits of shrapnel and a
German rifle; and we have all heard artillery fire (off). Which makes us
think that these rumours of war aren't just a scare got up to help
recruiting.

Some doubt exists among us as to our precise function out here. Here we
are (as I may have mentioned) a magnificent battalion of young giants,
complete with rifles--every man has at least one and Private Smithson
has two--webbing equipment, cummerbunds, mufflers, cameras, sleeping
caps (average, six per man) and even boots; and yet they can't decide
exactly what to do with us. Mind you, we are absolute devils for a
fight; we have already been reserve troops to five different divisions
and thought nothing of it. We are not quite sure whether we get five
medals for this or one medal with five bars. Not that we really care;
such considerations do not affect us. As Edward--the mascot of the
section--observed to me the other day, "I don't care two beans about
medals; I want to go home."

But you ask what do we actually do? Let no man believe that we are out
here on a holiday. On the contra