Chapter C: Fox-Smith

_Reprinted by special permission of
London "Punch"_

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF RT. HON. A. J. BALFOUR IN TORONTO

(_May, 1917_)

I come into Canada to a great free country, composed not only of friends, but of countrymen. We think the same thoughts, we live in the same civilization, we belong to the same Empire, and if anything could have cemented more closely the bonds of Empire, if anything could have made us feel that we were indeed of one flesh and one blood, with one common history behind us, if anything could have cemented these feelings, it is the consciousness that now for two years and a half we have been engaged in this great struggle, in which, I thank God, all North America is now at one. We have been engaged in this great struggle through these two years and a half, fighting together, when necessary making all our sacrifices in common, working together toward a common and victorious end, which I doubt not will crown our efforts.

May I, as a countryman of yours, though not a citizen of Toronto, may I say how profoundly the whole Empire feels the magnitude of the effort you have made, and how we value it for itself and for an example to all posterity, an evidence to the whole world of what the British Empire really means, not only for the whole of that civilized body of nations of which we form no inconsiderable part.

These are proud thoughts; they will some day be proud memories. We are associated together in a struggle never equalled yet in the history of the world, and I rejoice to think that in that struggle on which posterity will look back as the greatest effort made for freedom and civilization, the British Empire in every one of its constituent parts, and surely not least in this great Dominion, in this proud Province, and in this city not least, has shown what the unity of the Empire really means, and how vain were the anticipations of those who thought that we were constituted but a fair-weather Empire, to be dissolved into thin atoms at the first storm that should burst upon it.

We have, on the contrary, shown that the more storms beat on the fabric of our Empire the more firmly it held together, and were so far from shaking it in any single part. Events that have recently occurred, that are occurring, and that will occur in the future, will join every part of it together for ever in memories which will remain with us, the actors in this great drama, until we die, and which we shall be able to hand to our children and our grandchildren as long as civilization exists.

THE SPIRES OF OXFORD

(_Seen from the train_)

I saw the spires of Oxford
As I was passing by,
The gray spires of Oxford
Against a pearl-gray sky.
My heart was with the Oxford men
Who went abroad to die.

The years go fast in Oxford,
The golden years and gay,
The hoary Colleges look down
On careless boys at play.
But when the bugle sounded war
They put their games away.

They left the peaceful river,
The cricket-field, the quad,
The shaven lawns of Oxford
To seek a bloody sod--
They gave their merry youth away
For country and for God.

God rest you, happy gentlemen,
Who laid your good lives down,
Who took the khaki and the gun
Instead of cap and gown.
God bring you to a fairer place
Than even Oxford town.

W. M. LETTS
_By permission of the Author
From "Spires of Oxford"--
E. P. Dutton & Co., New
York_

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF MONSIEUR VIVIANI IN OTTAWA

(_May 12, 1917_)

It must not be forgotten that in the month of February, 1915, at Ypres, in the north of France, near the Belgian frontier, in a country devastated by floods, after the terrific assault of the German soldiers by means of asphyxiating gases--Germany, the country that has caused science to swerve from its true ends, and, instead of pouring its benefits upon mankind, has visited humanity with manifold evils and crimes--that same Germany had to meet your Canadian soldiers. On that terrific day, your sons, rising in their might, saved the situation.

And throughout many battles, throughout numerous and recent victories, the soldiers of Canada stood up heroically against the foe. Even at this moment, we have before our eyes your boys, so alert, so athletic, so brave, the first to storm, victoriously carrying their flag to those heights of Vimy which were reputed to be impregnable.

Hail to all these soldiers; let us bow our heads reverently before those who fight, those who suffer, and those who have laid down their lives for their country. They had a clear perception of what their action meant; when they left this country they were well aware that it was not only Great Britain that they were called upon to defend, that it was not only France that they were going to protect against the attacks of invaders:--their clear vision upturned toward Heaven, detected the higher object; they were well aware that it was the sacred cause of humanity, of democracy, and of justice, that they were defending.

THE NAME OF FRANCE

Give us a name to fill the mind
With the shining thoughts that lead mankind,
The glory of learning, the glory of art,--
A name that tells of a splendid part
In the long, long toil and the strenuous fight
Of the human race to win its way
From the feudal darkness into the day
Of Freedom, Brotherhood, Equal Right,--
A name like a star, a name of light.
I give you _France_!

Give us a name to stir the blood
With a warmer glow and a swifter flood,--
A name like the sound of a trumpet, clear,
And silver-sweet, and iron-strong,
That calls three million men to their feet,
Ready to march, and steady to meet
The foes who threaten that name with wrong,--
A name that rings like a battle-song.
I give you _France_!

Give us a name to move the heart
With the strength that noble griefs impart,
A name that speaks of the blood outpoured
To save mankind from the sway of the sword,--
A name that calls on the world to share
In the burden of sacrificial strife
Where the cause at stake is the world's free life
And the rule of the people everywhere,--
A name like a vow, a name like a prayer.
I give you _France_!

HENRY VAN DYKE
_From "The Red Flower"--Copyright
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
By permission of the Author_

EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH OF MARSHAL JOFFRE IN MONTREAL

(_May 12, 1917_)

I thank you, with all my heart, for the warmth of the reception you have given me, and I can assure you that the acclamations with which you have greeted me will be heard in France. I know the services rendered by Canada in France. Your soldiers have fought beside our soldiers, and many have died in the fight we are waging. They have always shown indomitable courage, and in them Canada has done her duty.

. . . . . . . . . .

Your Canadian soldiers have won the admiration of France. I have seen your men in action, they are courageous; they are indomitable and marvellous; they despise death; and their bravery is only equalled by that of the soldiers of France.

I thank you for the demonstration you have given me, and I am happy that I have been able, during my stay on this continent, to come up to this great city of Montreal for a few hours, to meet a people who show us so warmly that we in France have a place in their affections. All I can say is, and I say it with all my heart, "Vive le Canada!"

FOR THE MEN AT THE FRONT

Lord God of Hosts, whose mighty hand
Dominion holds on sea and land,
In Peace and War Thy Will we see
Shaping the larger liberty.
Nations may rise and nations fall,
Thy Changeless Purpose rules them all.

When Death flies swift on wave or field,
Be Thou a sure defence and shield!
Console and succour those who fall,
And help and hearten each and all!
O, hear a people's prayers for those
Who fearless face their country's foes!

For those who weak and broken lie,
In weariness and agony--
Great Healer, to their beds of pain
Come, touch, and make them whole again!
O, hear a people's prayers, and bless
Thy servants in their hour of stress!

For those to whom the call shall come
We pray Thy tender welcome home.
The toil, the bitterness, all past,
We trust them to Thy Love at last.
O, hear a people's prayers for all
Who, nobly striving, nobly fall!

To every stricken heart and home,
O, come! In tenderest pity, come!
To anxious souls who wait in fear,
Be Thou most wonderfully near!
And hear a people's prayers, for faith
To quicken life and conquer death!

For those who minister and heal,
And spend themselves, their skill, their zeal--
Renew their hearts with Christ-like faith,
And guard them from disease and death.
And in Thine own good time, Lord, send
Thy Peace on earth till Time shall end!

JOHN OXENHAM
_By permission of the Author_

WHAT HAS BRITAIN DONE?

What has Britain done?
Kept the faith and fought the fight
For the everlasting right:
Chivalrously couched her lance
In defence of Belgium, France--
This has Britain done.

What has Britain done?
Given every seventh son,
Met the challenge of the Hun:
Placed her men on every field,
Proud to die, too proud to yield--
This has Britain done.

What has Britain done?
Answers every far-flung breeze
Blown across the seven seas:
"Watch and ward secure she keeps,
With vigilance that never sleeps"--
This has Britain done.

What has Britain done?
On every front, her flag unfurled,
Fought a world-war round the world:
Then, when all is said and done,
Ask her Allies, ask the Hun,
"What has Britain done?"

What has Britain done?
For her slain Britannia weeps--
She might boast who silence keeps.
But, when all is done and said,
Call the roll and count her dead,
And know what she has done.

REV. F. B. HODGINS
_By permission of the Author_

EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF RT. HON. DAVID LLOYD GEORGE

(_Delivered at Queen's Hall on the Third Anniversary of the Declaration of War, August 4, 1917_)

While the Army is fighting so valiantly, let the nation behind it be patient, be strong, and, above all, united. The strain is great on nations and on individuals, and when men get over-strained tempers get ragged, and small grievances are exaggerated, and small misunderstandings and mistakes swell into mountains. Long wars, like long voyages and long journeys, are very trying to the temper, and wise men keep watch on it and make allowances for it. There are some who are more concerned about ending the war than about winning it; and plans which lead to victory, if they prolong the conflict, have their disapproval, and the people who are responsible for such plans have their condemnation. Let us keep our eye steadily on the winning of the war. May I say let us keep both eyes? Some have a cast in their eye, and while one eye is fixed truly on victory, the other is wandering around to other issues or staring stonily at some pet or partisan project of their own. Beware of becoming cross-eyed! Keep both eyes on victory. Look neither to the right nor to the left. That is the way we shall win. If any one promotes national distrust or disunion at this hour, he is helping the enemy and hurting his native land. And it makes no difference whether he is for or against the war. As a matter of fact, the hurt is deeper if he is for the war, because whatever the pure pacifist says is discounted, and, as far as the war is concerned, discredited.

Let there be one thought in every head. If you sow distrust, discontent, disunion in the nation we shall reap defeat. If, on the other hand, we sow the seeds of patience, confidence, and unity, we shall garner in victory and its fruits. The last ridges of a climb are always the most trying to the nerves and to the heart, but the real test of great endurance and courage is the last few hundreds or scores of feet in a climb upwards. The climber who turns back when he is almost there never becomes a great mountaineer, and the nation that turns back and falters before it reaches its purpose never becomes a great people. You have all had experience in climbing, no doubt--perhaps in Wales. Any mountaineer can start; any sort of mountaineer can go part of the way; and very often the poorer the mountaineer, the greater is his ardour when he does start; but fatigue and danger wear out all but the stoutest hearts, and even the most stout-hearted sometimes fail when they come to the last slippery precipice. But if they do turn back and afterwards look up and see how near they had got to the top, how they curse the faint-heartedness which bade them give up when they were so near the goal!

WHAT HAS ENGLAND DONE?

(This is the reply of an American poet to a question often
heard in the United States.)

Strange, that in this great hour, when Righteousness
Has won her war upon Hypocrisy,
That some there be who, lost in littleness,
And mindful of an ancient grudge, can ask:
"Now, what has England done to win this war?"
We think we see her smile that English smile,
And shrug a lazy shoulder and--just smile.
It were so little worth her while to pause
In her stupendous task to make reply.

What has she done? When with her great, gray ships,
Lithe, lean destroyers, grim, invincible,
She swept the prowling Prussian from the seas;
And, heedless of the slinking submarine,
The hidden mine, the Hun-made treacheries,
Her transports plied the waters ceaselessly!
You ask what she has done? Have you forgot
That 'neath the burning suns of Palestine
She fought and bled, nor wearied of the fight
Till from that land where walked the Nazarene
She drove the foul and pestilential Turk?

Ah, what has England done? No need to ask!
Upon the fields of Flanders and of France
A million crosses mark a million graves;
Upon each cross a well-loved English name.
And, ah, her women! On that peaceful isle,
Where in the hawthorn hedges thrushes sang,
And meadow-larks made gay the scented air,
Now blackened chimneys rear their grimy heads,
Smoke-belching, and the frightened birds have fled
Before the thunder of the whirring wheels.
Behind unlovely walls, amid the din,
Seven times a million noble women toil--
With tender, unaccustomed fingers toil,
Nor dream that they have played a hero's part.

Great-hearted England, we have fought the fight
Together, and our mingled blood has flowed.
Full well we know that underneath that mask
Of cool indifference there beats a heart,
Grim as your own gaunt ships when duty calls,
Yet warm and gentle as your summer skies:
A Nation's heart that beats throughout a land
Where Kings may be beloved, and Monarchy
Can teach Republics how they may be free.
Ah! What has England done? When came the call,
She counted not the cost, but gave her all!

VILDA SAUVAGE OWENS
_By permission of the Author_

IN THE MORNING

Back from battle, torn and rent,
Listing bridge and stanchions bent
By the angry sea.
By Thy guiding mercy sent,
Fruitful was the road we went--
Back from battle we.

If Thou hadst not been, O Lord, behind our feeble arm,
If Thy hand had not been there to slam the lyddite home,
When against us men uprose and sought to work us harm,
We had gone to death, O Lord, in spouting rings of foam.

Heaving sea and cloudy sky
Saw the battle flashing by,
As Thy foemen ran.
By Thy grace, that made them fly,
We have seen two hundred die
Since the fight began.

If our cause had not been Thine, for Thy eternal Right,
If the foe in place of us had fought for Thee, O Lord!
If Thou hadst not guided us and drawn us there to fight
We never should have closed with them--Thy seas are dark and broad.

Through the iron rain they fled,
Bearing home the tale of dead,
Flying from Thy sword.
After-hatch to fo'c's'le head,
We have turned their decks to red,
By Thy help, O Lord!

It was not by our feeble sword that they were overthrown,
But Thy right hand that dashed them down, the servants of the proud;
It was not arm of ours that saved, but Thine, O Lord, alone,
When down the line the guns began, and sang Thy praise aloud.

Sixty miles of running fight,
Finished at the dawning light,
Off the Zuider Zee.
Thou that helped throughout the night
Weary hand and aching sight,
Praise, O Lord, to Thee.

KLAXON
_By permission of Wm. Blackwood & Sons,
Edinburgh_

ORDER TO THE CANADIAN ARMY CORPS

(_March 27, 1918_)

Looking back with pride on the unbroken record of your glorious achievements, asking you to realize that to-day the fate of the British Empire hangs in the balance, I place my trust in the Canadian Corps, knowing that where Canadians are engaged, there can be no giving way. Under the orders of your devoted officers in the coming battle, you will advance, or fall where you stand, facing the enemy.

To those who fall, I say: "You will not die, but step into immortality. Your mothers will not lament your fate, but will be proud to have borne such sons. Your names will be revered for ever by your grateful country, and God will take you unto Himself."

Canadians, in this fateful hour, I command you and I trust you to fight as you have ever fought, with all your strength, with all your determination, with all your tranquil courage. On many a hard-fought field of battle you have overcome this enemy, and with God's help you shall achieve victory once more.

(Sgd.) A. W. CURRIE, Lieut.-Gen.
Commanding Canadian Corps

THE SOUL OF A NATION

(_March 28, 1918_)

The little things of which we lately chattered--
The dearth of taxis or the dawn of spring;
Themes we discussed as though they really mattered,
Like rationed meat or raiders on the wing;--

How thin it seems to-day, this vacant prattle,
Drowned by the thunder rolling in the West,
Voice of the great arbitrament of battle
That puts our temper to the final test.

Thither our eyes are turned, our hearts are straining,
Where those we love, whose courage laughs at fear,
Amid the storm of steel around them raining
Go to their death for all we hold most dear.

New born of this supremest hour of trial,
In quiet confidence shall be our strength,
Fixed on a faith that will not take denial
Nor doubt that we have found our soul at length.

O England, staunch of nerve and strong of sinew,
Best when you face the odds and stand at bay,
Now show a watching world what stuff is in you;
Now make your soldiers proud of you to-day!

SIR OWEN SEAMAN
_Reprinted by permission of London "Punch"_

THE LIVING LINE

(_March, 1918_)

As long as faith and freedom last,
And earth goes round the sun,
This stands--The British line held fast
And so the fight was won.

The greatest fight that ever yet
Brought all the world to dearth;
A fight of two great nations set
To battle for the earth.

And one was there with blood aflame
To make the earth his tool;
And one was there in freedom's name
That mercy still should rule.

It was a line, a living line
Of Britain's gallant youth
That fought the Prussian one to nine
And saved the world for ruth.

That bleeding line, that falling fence,
That stubborn ebbing wave,
That string of suffering human sense,
Shuddered, but never gave.

A living line of human flesh,
It quivered like a brain;
Swarm after swarm came on afresh
And crashed, but crashed in vain.

Outnumbered by the mightiest foe
That ever sought to put
The world in chains, they met the blow
And fought him foot by foot.

They fought his masses, falling back,
They poured their blood like wine,
And never once the vast attack
Smashed through that living line.

It held, it held, while all the world
Looked on with strangled breath;
It held; again, again it hurl'd
Man's memory to death.

Bleeding and sleepless, dazed and spent,
And bending like a bow,
Backward the lads of Britain went,
Their faces to the blow.

And day went by, and night came in,
And when the moon was gone
Murder burst out with fiercer din,
And still the fight went on.

Day after day, night after night,
Outnumbered nine to one,
In agony that none may write
Those young men held the Hun.

And this is their abiding praise
No future shall undo:
Not once in all those staggering days
The avalanche broke thro'.

Retreat, retreat, yea, still retreat,
But fighting one to nine,
Just knowing there was no defeat
If they but held the line.

Ah, never yet did men more true
Or souls more finely wrought
From Cressy down to Waterloo
Fight as these young men fought;

On whose great hearts the fate of all
Mankind was poised that hour
Which saw the Prussian War God fall
And Christ restored to pow'r.

The world shall tell how they stood fast,
And how the fight was won,
As long as faith and freedom last
And earth goes round the sun.

HAROLD BEGBIE
_By permission of the Author_

AN HISTORIC ORDER

(_Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, April 12, 1918_)

Three weeks ago to-day the enemy began his terrific attacks against us on a fifty-mile front. His objects were to separate us from the French, to take the Channel Ports, and to destroy the British Army.

In spite of throwing already one hundred and six divisions into the battle, and enduring the most reckless sacrifice of human life, he has yet made little progress toward his goals.

We owe this to the determined fighting and self-sacrifice of our troops. Words fail me to express the admiration which I feel for the splendid resistance offered by all ranks of our army under the most trying circumstances.

Many among us now are tired. To those I would say that victory will belong to the side which holds out the longest. The French Army is moving rapidly and in great force to our support. There is no other course open to us but to fight it out.

Every position must be held to the last man. There must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall, and believing in the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight to the end. The safety of our homes and the freedom of mankind depend alike upon the conduct of each one of us at this critical moment.

THE GUNS IN SUSSEX

Light green of grass and richer green of bush
Slope upwards to the darkest green of fir;
How still! How deathly still! And yet the hush
Shivers and trembles with some subtle stir,
Some far-off throbbing, like a muffled drum,
Beaten in broken rhythm oversea,
To play the last funereal march of some
Who die to-day that Europe may be free.

The deep-blue heaven, curving from the green,
Spans with its shimmering arch the flowery zone;
In all God's earth there is no gentler scene,
And yet I hear that awesome monotone;
Above the circling midge's piping thrill,
And the long droning of the questing bee,
Above all sultry summer sounds it still
Mutters its ceaseless menaces to me.

And as I listen all the garden fair
Darkens to plains of misery and death,
And looking past the roses I see there
Those sordid furrows, with the rising breath
Of all things foul and black. My heart is hot
Within me as I view it, and I cry,
"Better the misery of these men's lot
Than all the peace that comes to such as I!"

And strange that in the pauses of the sound
I hear the children's laughter as they roam,
And then their mother calls, and all around
Rise up the gentle murmurs of a home.
But still I gaze afar, and at the sight
My whole soul softens to its heartfelt prayer:
"Spirit of Justice, Thou for whom they fight,
Ah, turn in mercy, to our lads out there!

"The froward peoples have deserved Thy wrath,
And on them is the Judgment as of old.
But if they wandered from the hallowed path,
Yet is their retribution manifold.
Behold all Europe writhing on the rack,
The sins of fathers grinding down the sons,
How long, O Lord!" He sends no answer back,
But still I hear the mutter of the guns.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
_By permission of the Author_

TO A SOLDIER IN HOSPITAL

Courage came to you with your boyhood's grace
Of ardent life and limb.
Each day new dangers steeled you to the test,
To ride, to climb, to swim.
Your hot blood taught you carelessness of death
With every breath.

So when you went to play another game
You could not but be brave:
An Empire's team, a rougher football field,
The end--perhaps your grave.
What matter? On the winning of a goal
You staked your soul.

Yes, you wore courage as you wore your youth
With carelessness and joy.
But in what Spartan school of discipline
Did you get patience, boy?
How did you learn to bear this long-drawn pain
And not complain?

Restless with throbbing hopes, with thwarted aims,
Impulsive as a colt,
How do you lie here month by weary month
Helpless and not revolt?
What joy can these monotonous days afford
Here in a ward?

Yet you are merry as the birds in spring,
Or feign the gaiety,
Lest those who dress and tend your wound each day
Should guess the agony.
Lest they should suffer--this the only fear
You let draw near.

Graybeard philosophy has sought in books
And argument this truth,
That man is greater than his pain, but you
Have learnt it in your youth.
You know the wisdom taught by Calvary
At twenty-three.

Death would have found you brave, but braver still
You face each lagging day,
A merry Stoic, patient, chivalrous,
Divinely kind and gay.
You bear your knowledge lightly, graduate
Of unkind Fate.

Careless philosopher, the first to laugh,
The latest to complain,
Unmindful that you teach, you taught me this
In your long fight with pain:
Since God made man so good--here stands my creed--
God's good indeed.

W. M. LETTS
_By permission of the Author
From "Hallow E'en and Other Verses"--
John Murray, London_

SPEECH DELIVERED BY LIEUT.-GEN. SIR A. W. CURRIE IN LONDON BEFORE AUGUST OFFENSIVE, 1918

Just before the Canadian entrance into the great offensive
of August, 1918, General Sir Arthur W. Currie, during a
short visit to London, delivered the following message from
the Canadian Army Corps under his command:

The situation is a serious one, and it is better for all peoples to know the fact. Germany has struck four mighty blows with success on each occasion, and it is just a question of how many of these blows we can stand. Personally, I think that the factor that can be turned in our favour is this: If we stop and fight the Boche, we will kill a sufficient number to make him silly, while America develops enough strength to turn the man power in our favour. The British soldier realizes that he is a better man than the Boche, and he believes that the German army can be beaten. Our men do not regard the Boche as a superman; and, remembering the crimes they have committed, we shall never take such delight in killing them as when we next meet them. Germany is simply a mad dog that must be killed, a cancerous growth that must be removed.

I suppose that I am the proudest man in the British Isles to-night, but I am not the happiest. I am the proudest man because I command the finest fighting force in all the Allied armies. An officer of Canadian birth, who has spent the whole of his military career with the British Army, and married an English wife, told me the other day that he was proud to be a Canadian, for everywhere he went men spoke of the deeds of the Canadian Army Corps. When the women with their children and the old men were fleeing before enemy forces on the Western Front on a not very distant occasion, and learned that the troops meeting them were Canadians, they turned round and went back home. On another occasion, when visiting a British Headquarters, I saw a Brigadier sitting by the roadside, tired, and dirty, and wan. He called out, "Who's that coming along?" When the reply was, "General Currie", he said, "Are the Canadians coming down here?" Told that they were, he threw his hat in the air and declared, "Then we are all right now".

When we came to England first, we were not regarded as the finest fighting soldiers. We had many things said about us unjustly; and suggestions were put about that it was improbable we should ever become good soldiers. Everywhere to-day, at General Headquarters and all other places, it is recognized that Canadian soldiers are fit to take their place beside the veteran soldiers of the British Army, with whom we are proud to serve.

I know that it has been said that Canadians and other Overseas troops are placed in the hottest parts of the war area. The greatest fighting of the war has been this year, and we have not taken any particular part in it. The Boche has not attacked the Canadian Front. He knows that he has never yet met the troops from Canada without suffering severely. The turn of the Canadian Corps must come. The temper of the Canadian soldier is that there is no position he is asked to take that he will not take; and I know that the Boche will not take any part of our line, except over the dead bodies of your Canadian fellow-citizens. That is why I am not the happiest man in the British Isles to-night. The Canadian Corps is going to die. It is simply a question of who can stand killing the longer.

I have never seen the Corps in finer fighting fettle than it is to-day. The Canadians are now more efficient than ever; and we could not be in that position unless we were backed up by General Sir Richard Turner and his staff in England. There is a feeling of co-operation now that never existed before; and the better the liaison we have between France, England, and Canada, the better it is for the fighting forces.

And so we stand in a great cause, on the eve of great events. We have to preserve the British Empire. It would be a terrible calamity if anything should happen that would make the peoples of the British Empire hesitate at such a juncture. The British Empire must be saved.

THE AIR MEN

(This poem was written before 1914, but it so well portrays
the conditions which prevailed in the last year of the Great
War that it is here reproduced.)

We brought great ships to birth,
We builded towns and towers--
Lords of the sea and earth,
Soon shall the sky be ours.

Soon shall our navies drift
Like swallows down the wind,
Shall wheel and swoop and lift,
Leaving the clouds behind.

The stars our keels shall know.
The eagle, as it flies,
Shall scream to see us go
Swift moving through the skies.

High o'er the mountain-steep
Our wingèd fleets shall sail.
The serried squadrons sweep,
White-pinioned down the gale.

We are the lords of the land,
We built us towns and towers.
The sea has felt our hand--
Soon shall the sky be ours.

NORAH HOLLAND
_From "Spun-yarn and Spindrift"--By
permission of the Author and of
J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., Toronto_

EXTRACTS FROM SPEECH

(_September, 1918_)

Canada's war record is made, though not completed. Nothing she can do in the future will detract from her great past in this world struggle. She has shown herself a true daughter of Great Britain. She has spared neither sons nor treasure to help her Alma Mater to save the world.

. . . . . . . . . .

Well done, Canadians, you are a great people, and you may proudly stand among the nations who are saving the world.

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT

KING GEORGE'S MESSAGE TO THE NAVY

(_November 11, 1918_)

THE NAVY
To the Right Hon. Sir Eric Geddes, G.B.E., K.C.B.,
M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty

Now that the last and most formidable of our enemies has acknowledged the triumph of the Allied arms on behalf of right and justice, I wish to express my praise and thankfulness to the officers, men, and women of the Royal Navy and Marines, with their comrades of the Fleet auxiliaries and mercantile marine, who for more than four years have kept open the sea, protected our shores, and given us safety.

Ever since that fateful Fourth of August, 1914, I have remained steadfast in my confidence that, whether fortune frowned or smiled, the Royal Navy would once more prove the sure shield of the British Empire in the hour of trial.

Never in its history has the Royal Navy, with God's help, done greater things for us, nor better sustained its old glories and the chivalry of the seas.

With full and grateful hearts the peoples of the British Empire salute the White, the Red, and the Blue Ensigns, and those who have given their lives for the Flag.

I am proud to have served in the Navy. I am prouder still to be its head on this memorable day.

GEORGE R.I.

SKY SIGNS

When all the guns are sponged and cleaned, and fuses go to store,
When all the wireless stations cry--"COME HOME, YOU SHIPS OF WAR"--
"COME HOME AGAIN AND LEAVE PATROL, NO MATTER WHERE YOU BE".
We'll see the lights of England shine,
Flashing again on the steaming line,
As out of the dark the long gray hulls come rolling in from sea.

THE LONG-FORGOTTEN LIGHTS WILL SHINE, AND GILD THE CLOUDS AHEAD,
OVER THE DARK HORIZON-LINE, ACROSS THE DREAMING DEAD
THAT WENT TO SEA WITH THE DARK BEHIND AND THE SPIN OF A COIN BEFORE.
Mark the gleam of Orfordness,
Showing a road we used to guess,
From the Shetland Isles to Dover Cliffs--the shaded lane of war.

UP THE CHANNEL WITH GLEAMING PORTS WILL HOMING SQUADRONS GO,
AND SEE THE ENGLISH COAST ALIGHT WITH HEADLANDS ALL AGLOW
WITH THIRTY THOUSAND CANDLE-POWER FLUNG UP FROM FAR GRIS-NEZ.
Portland Bill and the Needles' Light,
Tompions back in the guns to-night--
For English lights are meeting French across the Soldiers' Way.

WHEN WE COME BACK TO ENGLAND THEN, WITH ALL THE WARRING DONE,
AND PAINT AND POLISH COME UP THE SIDE TO RULE ON TUBE AND GUN,
WE'LL KNOW BEFORE THE ANCHOR'S DOWN, THE TIDINGS WON'T BE NEW.
Lizard along to the Isle of Wight,
Every lamp was burning bright,
Northern Lights or Trinity House--we had the news from you!

KLAXON
_By permission of Wm. Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh_

ORDER TO THE CANADIANS AFTER THE CAPTURE OF MONS

(_November, 1918_)

Some of you have already commenced, while others are about to march on the Rhine, liberating Belgium in your advance. In a few days you will enter Germany and hold certain parts, in order to secure the fulfilment of the terms of the armistice preliminary to the peace treaty. The rulers of Germany, humiliated and demoralized, have fled. That unscrupulous nation, who in 1914 set at naught every treaty and violated every moral obligation, who has since perpetrated the most ferocious atrocities on land as well as on sea, is beaten, famished, and at our mercy. Justice has come. Retribution commences. During four long years, conscious of the righteousness of your cause, you have fought many battles and endured cruel hardships, and now your mighty efforts are rewarded. Your fallen comrades are avenged. You have demonstrated on the battle-field your superior courage and unfaltering energy. By the will of God you have won, won, won, marching triumphantly through Belgium. You will be received everywhere as liberators, but the kindness and generosity of the population must not cause any relaxation of your discipline or alertness. Your task is not yet completed, and you must remain what you are--a close-knitted army in grim, deadly earnest. German agents scattered throughout the country must not be able to report to their German masters any weakness or evidence of disintegration of your fighting power. It is essential that on the march and at the halt discipline must be of the highest standard. Every possible protection should be taken at all times to guard against hostile acts by organized bodies, and to lessen the possibilities, always present, of isolated murders or desperate guerilla acts by factions of the enemy. Above all, it is of capital importance to establish in Germany the sense of your overwhelming moral and physical standing, so as to complete by the presence of your potential strength the victories you have won on the battle-field. All external signs of discipline must be insisted upon, and the example in this, as in all instances, must come from the leaders.

Clothing and equipment must be, if possible, spotless, well kept, and well put on. Badges and distinguishing marks must be complete, while the transport should be as clean as the circumstances will allow. In short, you must continue to be, and appear to be, that powerful-hitting force which has won the fear and respect of your foes and the admiration of the world.

It is not necessary to say that the population and private property will be respected. You will always remember that you fought for justice, right, and decency, and that you cannot afford to fall short of these essentials, even in the country against which you have every right to feel bitter.

Rest assured that the crimes of Germany will receive adequate punishment. Attempts will be made, by insidious propaganda, to undermine the source of your strength; but you, the soldier citizens of the finest and most advanced democracy in the world, will treat such attempts with the contempt they deserve. You know that self-imposed, stern discipline has made you the hardest, most successful, and cleanest fighters of this war. Beginning by the immortal stand at the second battle of Ypres, you befittingly closed by the capture of Mons your fighting record, in which every battle you fought is a resplendent page of glory. I trust you, and the people at home trust you, while the memory of your dead comrades demands of you to bring back that glorious record, pure and unsullied, to Canada.

ARTHUR W. CURRIE,
Lieut.-Gen. Commanding Canadian Corps

TRIBUTE

They need no dirge, for Springtime fills
All things with tribute unto them;
The music of the daffodils
Shall be a soldier's requiem
Among a thousand hills.

Blow, golden trumpets, mournfully,
For all the golden youth that's fled,
For all the shattered dreams that lie
Where God has laid the quiet dead
Under an alien sky.

But blow triumphant music, too,
Across the world from sea to sea,
Because the heart of youth was true,
Because our England proved to be
Even greater than we knew.

MILDRED HUXLEY
_By permission of the Author_

ON THE NAVY

(_December, 1918_)

Our safety from invasion, our daily bread, every means whereby we maintain our existence as an independent people, our unity as an Empire, or federation of commonwealths and dependencies--all these float from hour to hour upon our naval defence.

. . . . . . . . . .

If that defence is neglected, weakened, or fettered, we should be in continual danger of subjugation or starvation. We should be forced to live in continued anxiety. If that naval defence were overthrown or outmatched by any other Navy or probably by a combination of navies, we should hold, not merely our possessions, but our lives and liberties only on sufferance.

Where else in the whole world can such conditions be paralleled? We have the right to demand from all other nations, friends and foes alike, full recognition of these facts. We are also entitled to point out that this naval strength that we require, and which we are determined to preserve, has never been used in modern history in a selfish and aggressive manner, and that it has, on four separate occasions, in four separate centuries--against Philip the Second of Spain, Louis the Fourteenth, Napoleon, and the Kaiser--successfully defended civilization from military tyranny, and particularly, preserved the independence of the Low Countries.

In this greatest of all wars, the British Navy shielded mighty America from all menace of serious danger; and, when she resolved to act, it was the British Navy that transported and escorted the greater proportion of her armies to the rescue and deliverance of France.

Our record in a hundred years of unquestioned naval sway since Trafalgar, proves the sobriety of our policy and the righteousness of our intentions. Almost the only ports in the world open freely to the commerce of all nations were those of our Island. Its possessions and our coaling-stations were used freely and fully by ships of all nations. We suppressed the slave trade. We put down piracy. We put it down again the other day. Even our coastwise traffic, so jealously guarded by every Power in the world, was thrown open to all comers on even terms, by that ancient people in whose keeping the world has been wisely ready to intrust the freedom of the seas.

. . . . . . . . . .

We are sincere advocates of a league of nations. Every influence Britain can bring to bear will be used to make such a league a powerful reality. This fine conception of President Wilson has been warmly welcomed by British democracies all over the world. We shall strive faithfully and loyally to carry it into being, and keep it in active benefit and existence. But we must state quite frankly that a league of nations cannot be for us a substitute for the British Navy in any period that we can foresee.

RT. HON. WINSTON CHURCHILL

THE DEBT UNPAYABLE

What have I given,
Bold sailor on the sea,
In earth or heaven,
That you should die for me?

What can I give,
O soldier, leal and brave,
Long as I live,
To pay the life you gave?

What tithe or part
Can I return to thee,
O stricken heart,
That thou shouldst break for me?

The wind of Death
For you has slain life's flowers,
It withereth
(God grant) all weeds in ours.

F. W. BOURDILLON
_By permission of the Author_

KING GEORGE IN PARIS

(_November 28, 1918_)

In proposing the health of President Poincaré, the King said:

It is difficult for me adequately to express the great pleasure that I feel in being your guest here to-night in this fair city of Paris, and in the midst of the great nation with which during past years I and my people have mingled our sorrows and our joys, and are now triumphantly crowned by overwhelming victory over the common enemy.

We can all remember the repeated and desperate efforts made by the German armies to reach and capture this great capital; but, thanks to the bravery of the splendid French Army and the loyal co-operation of the Allies, the aims of the enemy have been defeated; and by the skilful direction and the strategy of the distinguished Marshal Foch, the troops of the invader have been hurled across the frontier and compelled to sue for peace.

Mr. President, I congratulate you and the noble French nation upon the great victory that has been achieved, in which my generals and armies are proud to have taken part. In the life and death conflict in which our nations have been together engaged for civilization and for right against the methods of barbarism and the forces of destruction, the French and British peoples have learned in unity of purpose to appreciate each other and their respective ideals.

They have created a union of hearts and an identity of interests that, I trust, will ever grow closer, and contribute materially to the consolidation of peace and the advancement of civilization.

Lastly, let me add one word of sympathy for those heroic Frenchmen and French women who have suffered at the hands of the invader such as few have suffered, except in Belgium. And let us not forget the immortal dead, whose names will ever be enshrined in one of the most glorious pages of the history of the world.

My soldiers have fought during all these years of relentless war side by side with the soldiers of France, whose valiant deeds have added fresh lustre to their immortal traditions. The sailors of our two navies have, together, kept these as in a comradeship and mutual trust which the length of the war itself has only served more and more to foster and strengthen.

With all my heart I thank you for your friendly feelings and the terms in which you have proposed my health. Accept also my cordial thanks for your generous hospitality and for the opportunity which you have afforded me in these ever memorable days of victory to pay my respectful homage to the French nation.

BRITAIN'S DAY

(_December 7, 1918_)

(This message was cabled to the United States on the day set
apart for publicly acknowledging the achievements of the
British Empire in the Great War.)

The achievements of the British Empire for humanity are too manifold to enumerate in a short message. Entering the war to defend the rights of nations, she has unhesitatingly given her sons and her wealth. Gathered from her loyal dominions, the men of the British Empire have carried their victorious eagles over many a bloody field. Steadfast in adversity, wounded with a thousand wounds, Britain's hammer blows have never weakened or faltered. But for the tenacity of her people the war would have been lost.

To those of us who have been associated with them and who have fought beside their gallant troops, words of praise seem inadequate to express our admiration. These things our kinsmen have done, and these things have brought an inseparable union between them and ourselves. To the British people, we extend our thanks for the powerful aid her navy has given, and offer our great respect for the resolute Anglo-Saxon determination with which she has held on, and we offer our right hand of friendship that our two nations may be more firmly linked together to insure the future peace of the world.

GEN. J. J. PERSHING

GIFTS FROM THE DEAD

Ye who in Sorrow's tents abide,
Mourning your dead with hidden tears,
Bethink you what a wealth of pride
They've won you for the coming years.

Grievous the pain; but, in the day
When all the cost is counted o'er,
Would it be best that you should say:
"We lost no loved ones in the war"?

Who knows? But proud then shall ye stand
That best, most honoured boast to make:
"My lover died for his dear land",
Or, "My son fell for England's sake".

Christlike they died that we might live;
And our redeemed lives would we bring,
With aught that gratitude may give
To serve you in your sorrowing.

And never a pathway shall ye tread,
No foot of seashore, hill, or lea,
But ye may think: "The dead, _my_ dead,
Gave this, a sacred gift, to me".

P. HABBERTON LULHAM
_By permission of the Author_

THE WOMAN'S TOLL

O Mother, mourning for the son who keeps
His last dread watch by unfamiliar streams,
Or for that other, gay of heart, who sleeps
Where the great waters guard his secret dreams,
Amid your tears take comfort for a space,
They showed them worthy of their island race.

O Wife, who heard across the wintry sea
Death's trumpet shrill for him who goes no more
Riding at dawn with that brave company
Whose fellowship no morning shall restore,
In whose dark heart your bitterest hour shall bring
Scents from the scattered petals of the spring.

O Maid, with wondering eyes untouched of grief,
War's dreadful shadow spares your innocent years,
Yet shall you deem the ways of sunshine brief,
Paying long hence your toll of hidden tears
For love that perished ere the web was spun,
And children that shall never see the sun.

RUTH DUFFIN
_Joint Author, with Celia Duffin,
of "The Secret Hill"
By permission of the Author_

PILGRIMS

For oh! when the war will be over,
We'll go and we'll look for our dead;
We'll go when the bee's on the clover,
And the plume of the poppy is red;
We'll go when the year's at its gayest,
When meadows are laughing with flowers;
And there where the crosses are grayest,
We'll seek for the cross that is ours.

For they cry to us: _Friends, we are lonely,
A-weary the night and the day;
But come in the blossom-time only,
Come when our graves will be gay:
When daffodils all are a-blowing,
And larks are a-thrilling the skies,
Oh, come with the hearts of you glowing,
And the joy of the Spring in your eyes._

_But never, oh! never come sighing,
For ours was the Splendid Release;
And oh! but 'twas joy in the dying
To know we were winning you Peace.
So come when the valleys are sheening,
And fledged with the promise of grain;
And here where our graves will be greening,
Just smile and be happy again._

And so when the war will be over,
We'll seek for the Wonderful One;
And maiden will look for her lover,
And mother will look for her son;
And there will be end to our grieving,
And gladness will gleam over loss,
As--glory beyond all believing!--
We point . . . to a name on a cross.

ROBERT W. SERVICE
_From "Rhymes of a Red Cross Man"--By
permission of William Briggs, Toronto_

EPITAPHS FOR THE SLAIN

(_For a British graveyard in France_)

When you go home, tell them of us and say:
For your to-morrow, these gave their to-day.

--------

(_For those who fell in the first Battle of Ypres_)

When Might in scornful millions came arrayed,
Here a few English stood, and he was stayed.

--------

(_For a War Memorial_)

These in the glorious morning of their days
For England's sake lost all but England's praise.

--------

(_For a general grave on Vimy Ridge_)

You come from England? Is she England still?
Yes, thanks to you who died upon this hill.

J. M. EDMONDS
_in "The Times"_

EXTRACT FROM FIELD-MARSHAL SIR DOUGLAS HAIG'S OFFICIAL REPORT

(_January, 1919_)

(Too great an emphasis cannot be placed on the following
paragraph from Sir Douglas Haig's official report of
January, 1919, on the operations along the British front
during the last days of the Great War. That the German army
was thoroughly beaten when the armistice was declared,
is here put beyond doubt by this laconic summary of the
military situation, when the order to cease firing was
proclaimed.)

The military situation on the British front on the morning of the 11th November can be stated very shortly. In the fighting since November 1st, our troops had broken the enemy's resistance beyond possibility of recovery, and had forced on him a disorderly retreat along the whole front of the British armies. Thereafter, the enemy was capable neither of accepting nor refusing battle. The utter confusion of his troops, the state of his railways, congested with abandoned trains, the capture of huge quantities of rolling stock and material, all showed that our attack had been decisive.

PRESIDENT POINCARÉ AT THE OPENING OF THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

(_January 18, 1919_)

Gentlemen: France greets and thanks you for having chosen as the seat of your labours the city which for more than four years the enemy has made his principal military objective and which the valour of the allied armies has victoriously defended against unceasingly renewed offensives.

Permit me to see in your decision the homage of all the nations that you represent toward a country which more than any other has endured the sufferings of war, of which entire provinces have been transformed into a vast battle-field and have been systematically laid waste by the invader, and which has paid the human tribute in death. France has borne these enormous sacrifices although she had not the slightest responsibility for the frightful catastrophe which has overwhelmed the universe, and at the moment when the cycle of horror is ending, all the powers whose delegates are assembled here may acquit themselves of any share in the crime which has resulted in such an unprecedented disaster. What gives you the authority to establish a peace of justice is the fact that none of the peoples of whom you are the delegates has had any part in the injustice. Humanity can place confidence in you because you are not among those who have outraged the rights of humanity.

There is no need for further information or for special inquiries into the origin of the drama which has just shaken the world. The truth, bathed in blood, has already escaped from the Imperial archives. The premeditated character of the trap is to-day clearly proved.

In the hope of conquering, first, the hegemony of Europe, and next, the mastery of the world, the Central Empires, bound together by a secret plot, found the most abominable of pretexts for trying to crush Serbia and force their way to the East. At the same time they disowned the most solemn undertakings in order to crush Belgium and force their way into the heart of France.

These are the two unforgettable outrages which opened the way to aggression. The combined efforts of Great Britain, France, and Russia were exerted against that man-made arrogance.

Your nations entered the war successively, but came one and all to the help of threatened right. Like Germany, Great Britain had guaranteed the independence of Belgium. Germany sought to crush Belgium. Great Britain and France both swore to save her. Thus from the very beginning of hostilities there came into conflict the two ideas which for fifty months were to struggle for the domination of the world--the idea of sovereign force, which accepts neither control nor check, and the idea of justice, which depends on the sword only to prevent or repress the abuse of strength.

Faithfully supported by her dominions and colonies, Great Britain decided that she could not remain aloof from a struggle in which the fate of every country was involved. She has made, and her dominions and colonies have made with her, prodigious efforts to prevent the war from ending in a triumph for the spirit of conquest and destruction of right.

. . . . . . . . . .

The intervention of the United States was something more, something greater, than a great political and military event. It was a supreme judgment passed at the bar of history by the lofty conscience of a free people, and their chief magistrate, on the enormous responsibilities incurred in the frightful conduct which was lacerating humanity. It was not only to protect themselves from the audacious aims of German megalomania that the United States equipped fleets and created immense armies, but also, and above all, to defend an ideal of liberty over which they saw the huge shadow of the Imperial eagle encroaching further every day.

. . . . . . . . . .

While the conflict was gradually extending over the entire surface of the earth, the clanking of chains was heard here and there, and captive nationalities from the depths of their age-long jails, cried out to us for help. Yet more, they escaped to come to our aid. Poland came to life again; sent us troops. The Czecho-Slovaks won their rights to independence in Siberia, in France, in Italy. The Jugo-Slavs, the Armenians, the Syrians, and the Lebanese, the Arabs, all oppressed peoples, all the victims long helpless or resigned of great historic deeds of injustice, all the martyrs of the past, all the outraged consciences, all the strangled liberties, reviewed the clash of arms and turned toward us as their natural defenders.

War gradually attained the fulness of its first significance and became, in the fullest sense of the term, a crusade of humanity for right; and if anything can console us, in part at least, for the losses we have suffered, it is assuredly the thought that our victory is also the victory of right. This victory is complete, for the enemy only asked for the armistice to escape from an irretrievable military disaster. In the interests of justice and peace, it now rests with you to reap from this victory its full fruits.

. . . . . . . . . .

By establishing this new order of things, you will meet the aspirations of humanity, which, after the frightful conclusions of the blood-stained years, ardently wishes to free itself, protected by a union of free peoples, against every possible revival of primitive savagery. An immortal glory will attach to the names of the nations and the men who have desired to co-operate in this grand work of faith and brotherhood, and who have taken the pains to eliminate from the future peace causes of disturbance and instability.

This very day, forty-eight years ago--on the 18th of January, 1871--the German Empire was proclaimed by an army of invasion in the chateau at Versailles. It was consecrated by the fate of two French provinces. It was thus a violation from its origin and, by the fault of its founders, it was born in injustice. It has ended in oblivion.

You are assembled in order to repair the evil that has been done, and to prevent a recurrence of it. You hold in your hands the future of the world. I leave you, gentlemen, to your grave deliberations, and declare the Conference of Paris open.

NATIONAL ANTHEM

God save our gracious King,
Long live our noble King,
God save the King.
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the King.

O Lord our God, arise,
Scatter his enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On him be pleased to pour;
Long may he reign.
May he defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the King.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Great War in Verse and Prose, by Various