The Soul of the Soldier: Sketches from the Western Battle-FrontTiplady, Thomas
History
The Soul of the Soldier: Sketches from the Western Battle-Front
Tiplady, Thomas
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, English
"And sometimes in the twilight gloom, apart,
The tall trees whisper, whisper heart to heart;
From my fond lips the eager answers fall,
Thinking I hear thee, thinking I hear thee call."
The men’s thoughts pass easily from the sweetheart to the mother who
bore them, and we have a third class, the Home Song. I have been
awakened in the night by men, going up to the line, singing "Keep the
Home Fires Burning." It is very thrilling to hear in the dead of night,
when every singer is within range of the enemy’s guns.
Another great favorite is,
"They built a little garden for the rose,
And they called it Dixie-land;
They built a summer breeze to keep the snows
Far away from Dixie-land;
They built the finest place I’ve known,
When they built my home sweet home;
Nothing was forgotten in the land of cotton,
From the clover to the honey-comb,
And then they took an angel from the skies
And they gave her heart to me.
She had a bit of heaven in her eyes
Just as blue as blue can be;
They put some fine spring chickens in the land,
And taught my Mammy how to use a frying pan.
They made it twice as nice as paradise,
And they called it Dixie-land."
Being Londoners, the following song called "Leave" never fails in its
appeal to our Division:
"I’m so delighted, I’m so excited,
With my folks I’m going to be united.
The train’s departing, ’twill soon be starting;
I’ll see my mother, my dad and my baby brother.
My! How I’ll meet them, My! how I’ll greet them.
What a happy happy day.
Just see that bustle, I’d better hustle,
Good-bye--so long--can’t stay--
Chorus
"I’m on my way back to dear old Shepherd’s Bush,
That’s the spot where I was born,
Can’t you hear the porter calling,
Queen’s Road, Piccadilly, Marble Arch and Bond Street?
Oh, I’ll not hesitate, I’ll reach the gate;
Through the crowd I mean to push,
Find me a seat anywhere--please anywhere,
Tram, train, tube, ’bus I don’t care--
For mother and daddy are waiting there--
In dear old Shepherd’s Bush."
On the eve of one big battle, a soldier handed me a letter in which he
gave me the addresses of his father and his sweetheart, so that I could
write to them if he fell.
"In the last battle," he said, "one of my brothers was killed and
another wounded. If I fall I shall die without regrets and with a heart
content; but it will go hard with those at home; and I want you to break
the news gently. These are terrible times for those at home." "These
are terrible times _for those at home_." That is their constant
refrain, and it finds an echo in a song often sung by them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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