The keynotes of the training were _noblesse oblige_, sportsmanship and responsibility, that form of "playing the game" which is at the root of the discipline of the British Army. While he taught the men of his platoon they taught him, in every hour of the day and many hours of the night. They learned to call him "A pretty good sort," which is very high praise indeed. And he learned to be as jealous of his men as any mother can be of her children. He learned to know them, in fair weather and in foul, for the splendid fellows they are; and in the intensely proud depths of his own inner consciousness to regard them as the finest platoon in the New Army. And then came the longed-for day of the departure for France, for the land he was to learn to love, despite all the horrors of its long fighting line, just as he learned most affectionately to admire the men and reverence the women of brave, beautiful France. In the letters that he wrote from France he had, of course, no faintest thought of the ultimate test of publication. That is one reason why his name is not now attached to documents so intimate, even apart from the sufficiently obvious military reasons. A. J. D. CONTENTS PAGE THE FIRST LETTER 1 THE FIRST MARCH 9 THE TALE OF A TUB 18 THE TRENCHES AT LAST 28 A DISSERTATION ON MUD 37 TAKING OVER ON A QUIET NIGHT 46 "WHAT IT'S LIKE" 56 THE DUG-OUT 67 A BOMBING SHOW 79 OVER THE PARAPET 89 THE NIGHT PATROL 99 IN BILLETS 111 BOMBARDMENT 121 THE DAY'S WORK 132 TOMMY DODD AND TRENCH ROUTINE 142 STALKING SNIPERS 152 AN ARTFUL STUNT 160 THE SPIRIT OF THE MEN 169 AN UNHEALTHY BIT OF LINE 179 THEY SAY---- 188 THE NEW FRONT LINE 197 A GREAT NIGHT'S WORK 210 THE COMING PUSH 220 FRONT LINE TO HOSPITAL 229 THE PUSH AND AFTER 239 BLIGHTY 250 A "Temporary Gentleman" in France THE FIRST LETTER Here we are at last, "Somewhere in France," and I suppose this will be the first letter you have ever had from your "Temporary Gentleman" which hasn't a stamp on it. It is rather nice to be able to post without stamps, and I hope the Censor will find nothing to object to in what I write. It's hard to know where to begin.