True Stories of the Great War, Volume 6 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 6 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
The gramophone is playing an air from _La Tosca_ to which the guns beat
out a bass accompaniment. I close my eyes and picture the many times
I have heard the (probably) German orchestras of Broadway Joy Palaces
play that same music. How incongruous that I should be listening to
it here and under these circumstances! It must have been listened to
so often by gay crowds in the beauty places of the world. A romantic
picture grows up in my mind of a blue night, the laughter of youth
in evening dress, lamps twinkling through trees, far off the velvety
shadow of water and mountains, and as a voice to it all, that air
from _La Tosca_. I can believe that the silent people near by raise
themselves up in their snow-beds to listen, each one recalling some
ecstatic moment before the dream of life was shattered.
There's a picture in the Pantheon at Paris, I remember; I believe
it's called _To Glory_. One sees all the armies of the ages charging
out of the middle distance with Death riding at their head. The only
glory that I have discovered in this war is in men's hearts--it's not
external. Were one to paint the spirit of this war he would depict a
mud landscape, blasted trees, an iron sky; wading through the slush and
shell-holes would come a file of bowed figures, more like outcasts from
the Embankment than soldiers. They're loaded down like pack animals,
their shoulders are rounded, they're wearied to death, but they go
on and go on. There's no "To Glory" about what we're doing out here;
there's no flash of swords or splendor of uniforms. There are only
very tired men determined to carry on. The war will be won by tired
men who could never again pass an insurance test, a mob of broken
counter-jumpers, ragged ex-plumbers and quite unheroic persons. We're
civilians in khaki, but because of the ideals for which we fight we've
managed to acquire soldiers' hearts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account