f them--and he told them a
little of what was before them: "If wounded, 'Blighty'; if killed, the
Resurrection." Then "over the top." He was last seen alive rallying
his men, who had wavered for a moment under the heavy machine gun and
rifle fire. He carried the waverers along with him, and was found that
night close to the trench, the winning of which had cost him his life,
with his platoon sergeant and a few of his men by his side.

What wonder that his cousin and best friend, when asked a short time
previously what he was like, had replied, "He is the most beautiful
thing that ever happened."

AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

(BEING EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS TO HIS SISTER)

"I am very much wondering whether you will receive 'A Diary' in four
parts. It is very much founded on fact, though altered in parts. You
will probably be surprised at a certain change in tone, but remember
that my previous articles were written in England, while this was
written on the spot.... The Diary was not my diary, though it was
so very nearly what mine might have been that it is difficult to
say what is fiction and what is actuality in it. With regard to the
'conversation' during the bombardment, it represents in its totality
what I believe the ordinary soldier feels. He loathes the war, and the
grandiloquent speeches of politicians irritate him by their failure to
realize how loathesome war is. At the same time he knows he has got to
go through with it, and only longs for the chance to hurry up. In the
'Diary,' again, I quite deliberately emphasized the depression of the
man who thought he was being left out, and the mental effect of the
clearing-up process because I thought that it would be a good thing
for people to realize this side, and also partly because I felt that
in previous articles I had glossed over it too much.... If I get a
chance of publishing another book I shall certainly include them."

_Note_.--Not only "A Diary" and "Imaginary Conversations," but
every paper in the present collection, with the exception of
"The Wisdom," "The Potentate," and "A Passing in June," were
written in France in 1916, and many of them actually in the
trenches. The rough sketch for "A Passing in June" was written
in France in 1915, but was completed when the author was in
hospital at home.

"The Potentate" was written for the original volume of _A
Student in Arms_, but was not published on account of its
li