"Some of us have fathers and mothers still living, and you must encourage them to bear their trouble, should it come, as lightly as may be; and do not join them in lamentations, for they will have no need of aught that would give their grief a keener edge. They will have pain enough from what has befallen them. Endeavour rather to soothe and heal their wound, reminding them that of all the boons they ever prayed for the greatest have been granted to them. For they did not pray that their sons should live for ever, but that they should be brave and of fair fame. Courage and honour are the best of all blessings, and while for a mortal man it can hardly be that everything in his own life will turn out as he would have it, their prayer for those two things has been heard. Moreover, if they bear their troubles bravely, it will be perceived that they are indeed fathers of brave sons, and that they themselves are like them.... So minded, _we_, at any rate, bid those dear to us to be; such we would have them be; and such we say we are now showing that we ourselves are, neither grieving overmuch nor fearing overmuch if we are to die in this battle. And we entreat our fathers and mothers to continue to be thus minded for the rest of their days, for we would have them know that it is not by bewailing and lamentation that they will please us best. If the dead have any knowledge of the living, they will give us no pleasure by breaking down under their trouble, or by bearing it with impatience.... For our lives will have had an end the most glorious of all that fall to the lot of man; it is therefore more fitting to do us honour than to lament us." _Stat sua cuique dies; breve et irreparabile tempus Omnibus est vitae: sed famam extendere factis, Hoc virtutis opus._ _Æn._ x. 467 [Footnote 1: Swinburne, _Super Flumina Babylonis_.] [Footnote 2: _Note by O. J. L._--A volume of poems by O. W. F. L. had been sent to Raymond by the author; and this came back with his kit, inscribed on the title page in a way which showed that it had been appreciated:-- "Received at Wisques (Machine-Gun School), near St. Omer, France--_12th July 1915_. Taken to camp near Poperinghe--_13th July_. To huts near Dickebusch--_21st July_. To first-line trenches near St. Eloi, in front of 'The Mound of Death'--_24th July_."] CHAPTER II LETTERS FROM THE FRONT I shall now, for reasons explained in the Preface, quote extracts from letters which Raymond wrote to members of his family during the time he was serving in Flanders. A short note made by me the day after he first started for the Front may serve as a preliminary statement of fact:-- _Mariemont, Edgbaston, 16 March 1915_ Raymond was recently transferred back from Edinburgh to Great Crosby near Liverpool; and once more began life in tents or temporary sheds.