IN FLANDERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 1014, 16 November 1917, Page 8

IN FLANDERS.

(S'.(jury San.)

Pan. reports stittc- that. German prisoners complain of tho fact that their commando r-j do not • take, risks, ami I hat they do luff lead the troops. They did not believe that the officers were, actuated by tear, but were acting in accordance with orders from higher authorities not to expose themselves owing to the great shortage of officers. Scene: A trench in Flanders. Enter Fritz, a common Hun, and Von Dug-out, a, lieutenant. Frilz: The qualities which most befit a Uuu are kamaraderie. and fright fulness, Tims hath our army gained its glorious name; lint when that Hun is of commissioned rank He addeih caution to those qualities'. So, when the shock of buttle shake., the line, Though footsloggers and lesser men may die. The officer may save his valued hide. Von Dug'jut: Ttoch 1 thou are platitudinous, good Fritz; Go, teach thine- ancient grandum to suck And tell thy tale unto tho Kiel Marinos; Tis plain that my life’s value, set by thine, Is as a golden crown against a peanut. For I am noble, and noblesse oblige, Obligetlt me to shelter ’gainst the storm Which the occui'selh English pour upon U3. But soft, what have wo lioie ! (Enter a shell, J The Bhc-jl: Bine ! Fritz, (gazing upon the body of Von Dugout) ; A eli, mighty Du gout, dost thou lie so low. Machine-gun bursts tell out mere private’s i lives, But eight-inch shells the lives of officers. I'll tf. the cursed English, with ray hands High u’er my head in sign of amity.