us a long
speech on that. Then he went on: "The next thing is cleanliness. I
suppose you have been taught as I was that 'cleanliness is next to
godliness'; but in the Army you will find that it works pretty much the
other way--godliness is next to cleanliness." This is all I remember
of the old soldier's speech, and afterwards, believe me, I found that
he was right; in the trenches cleanliness is quite as difficult as
godliness.
Well, early next morning we took the train for Winnipeg, and there was
a big crowd to see us off, for most of the boys who had joined up had
their homes in Moose Jaw. I didn't know any one, and I was not paying
much attention to the crowd when a funny thing happened. I was feeling
a bit lonely seeing all the other boys being made a fuss over, when
suddenly a nice-looking young girl loomed up in front of me, and a
joyful voice said, "Why, Harry, here you are; I have been looking all
over for you." Now, my name was not Harry, but when she lifted her
face to be kissed, why I tried to do as the real Harry would have done.
Perhaps I did not succeed, for somehow she realized her mistake and she
did not seem half as well pleased over it as I was. Finally the train
pulled out amid the cheers of the crowd, and the boys who were leaving
home and friends looked just a wee bit quiet and sad, but soon they
recovered their spirits, and we had a jolly time playing cards and
getting acquainted. They were all strangers to me, and we were
destined to go through experiences that drew us closer together than
brothers, but I didn't know it then, so I sat there and tried to
imagine what they were like, and the opinions I formed were far from
right in the light of events that followed. I have learned now how
foolish it is to judge a man by his appearance. It was only a
twelve-hour trip to Winnipeg, and when we got there we found a band to
meet us. We were marched through the streets, and though we stuck out
our chests and tried to remember all that had been told us about
marching, I fear we made a poor impression. We still wore our ordinary
clothes and only the badges on our arms marked us as would-be soldiers.
After about an hour's march we were taken to a large frame barrack
known as the Horse Show Building. This place had been built for a
skating rink and was never intended as a dwelling-place for men. In
the winter the water poured from the frost-lined roof, and for a long
time we had no floor.
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