tmas would find me
still in France. Should I be listening to carols and guns at the Front,
or would the message of the bells peal from a church in an adjacent
street at home, and announce the coming of another Christmas to me and
mine?

CHAPTER III

I GET INTO A WARM CORNER

Boxing Day--But No Pantomime--Life in the Trenches--A Sniper
at Work--Sinking a Mine Shaft--The Cheery Influence of an
Irish Padre--A Cemetery Behind the Lines--Pathetic
Inscriptions and Mementoes on Dead Heroes' Graves--I Get
Into a Pretty Warm Corner--And Have Some Difficulty in
Getting Out Again--But All's Well that Ends Well.

Boxing Day! But nothing out of the ordinary happened. I filmed the Royal
Welsh Fusiliers en route for the trenches. As usual, the weather was
impossible, and the troops came up in motor-buses. At the sound of a
whistle, they formed up in line and stopped, and the men scrambled out
and stood to attention by the roadside. They were going to the front
line. They gave me a parting cheer, and a smile that they knew would be
seen by the people in England--perchance by their own parents.

I went along the famous La Bassee Road--the most fiercely contested
stretch in that part of the country. It was literally lined with
shell-destroyed houses, large and small; chateaux and hovels. All had
been levelled to the ground by the Huns. I filmed various scenes of the
Coldstreams, the Irish and the Grenadier Guards. At the furthermost
point of the road to which cars are allowed shells started to fall
rather heavily, so, not wishing to argue the point with them, I took
cover. When the "strafing" ceased I filmed other interesting scenes, and
then returned to my headquarters.

The next day was very interesting, and rather exciting. I was to go to
the front trenches and get some scenes of the men at work under actual
conditions. Proceeding by the Road, I reached the Croix Rouge crossing,
which was heavily "strafed" the previous day. Hiding the car under cover
of a partly demolished house, and strapping the camera on my back, my
orderly carrying the tripod, I started out to walk the remaining
distance. I had not gone far when a sentry advised me not to proceed
further on the road, but to take to the trench lining it, as the
thoroughfare from this point was in full view of the German artillery
observers. Not wishing to be shelled unnecessarily, I did as he
suggested. "And don't forget to keep your he