in his back by a bomb; he considers
himself disgraced; he says it will be kind of foolish in years to come to
show his grandchildren twenty-five or thirty needles and tell them that
they were the cause of his wounds.

The Tommies play mouth organs a great deal and it is much easier to march
to the sound of one, even

'Ere we are; 'ere we are,
'Ere we are agin.
We beat 'em on the Marne,
We beat 'em on the Aisne,
We gave 'em 'ELL at Neuve Chapelle,
And 'ere we are agin--

sounds well with the addition of a little music.

Anything is used for trench work; often if we waited for the proper
materials we should be uncomfortable, so it is one of the qualifications
of a good soldier to find things. Sometimes we steal material belonging to
other units, then stick around until the owners come back and help them
look for them; however, it is always advisable to steal materials from
juniors in rank; if they find it out, and are senior, then you are in for
a one-sided strafe.

One of the other battery subalterns found a deserted carpenter's shop and
he let his men loose to dismantle it. They took the parts of steel
machines and used them for the construction of a dugout. One man said,
"It's like coming home drunk and smashing up the grand piano with an axe."
They must have attracted the attention of the ever-alert Boche, for no
sooner had they moved out than the place was shelled to the ground.
Everything I now look at with an eye to its value for trench construction;
thus, telegraph poles, doors, iron girders, and rails are more valuable to
us out here than a Rolls Royce.

[Illustration]

The "Crump."

-------------------------------------

Slang or trench language is used universally. My own general talks about
"Wipers," the Tommy's pronunciation of Ypres, and I have seen a reference
to "Granny" (the fifteen-inch howitzer) in orders "mother" is the name
given to the twelve-inch howitzer. The trench language is changing so
quickly that I think the staff in the rear are unable to keep up to date,
because they have recently issued an order to the effect that slang must
not be used in official correspondence. Now instead of reporting that a
"dud Minnie" arrived over back of "mud lane," it is necessary to put, "I
have the honor to report that a projectile from a German Minnenwerfer
landed in rear of Trench