we are stronger, and we have more sight than they have."

One of the opponents discovered the secret, and thus expressed himself:
"I know what it is; it's the--what they themselves call 'pep'; it's the
vim they put into the game; it's the enthusiasm they have for all sorts
of sport. I was billeted close to some of them on the Somme; they were
always the same whether in or out of the line."

He hit the nail on the head. The Canadians had the vim, the dogged
determination; they would not submit to defeat, even in sport.

My mention of lack of sight among the men might seem superfluous to
those who have not pulled on a tug-of-war team. The advantage of sight
lies in the fact that a man to use his strength to the best advantage
must make a straight pull. If any member of the team is pulling at an
angle, those behind him are wasting their own pull while minimizing his.
For success, all must pull together, and the rope must be kept straight
and taut.

Theatricals did much to add pleasure to our lives. We not only enjoyed
those of outside performers, but we put on several plays, and the boys
took their parts well, and a prompter was very little in evidence. The
sighted are at a loss to understand how a drama, comedy, or sketch can
be enjoyed by the sightless. But the spoken word acts on the inward
eye, and the entire stage is revealed as vividly to the brain as if it
were carried there by sight. One of the annoying things to a sightless
person is to have some sighted friend sit by him at a play, describing
costumes and scenery. The blind have no need of such aids.

Chief among our sources of amusement was the Rag-time Band, which did
much to enliven our idle hours. Any who have been lucky enough to hear
this band have had a rare treat. It was composed entirely of men who had
been "over," and had lost their sight. But this loss of sight had not
lessened their love of music or their power of musical expression, as
many of the boys who were in hospital in London can testify. High-class
singers, theatrical parties, in fact, all the leading theatrical
performers and many minor ones, paid their tribute to the boys by
entertaining them with song and sketch; but no performance had quite the
same popularity as the rag-time discoursed by the "blind boys." And the
remarkable thing about the band is that it is doubtful if any member
had ever, before going to St. Dunstan's, played a more elaborate
instrument than a Jew's-harp or a mout