IN THE FIGHTING LINE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 18, 22 January 1916, Page 20

IN THE FIGHTING LINE

Bugler Tavendale, of the Auckland Battalion (4th Reinforcements) writes to his mother in Wellington a cheerful letter about the conditions at Gallipoli in November. ' But the losses had been great. " There ■ are,". he writes, "not many of my old crowd left now, and the majority of our heads have gone, including our good old colonel, who led them at the finish in, a rush. . . The first Maori Contingent are about finished now, and what is left of them are attached to our battalions." Bugler Tavendale forwards a copy of "Poems from the .Peninsula," by Signaller T. Skeyhill, Bth Battalion, A.I.F. The poems are not polished, but they hit liard. 'Here are a few lines from "My Brother Wot Stayed 'at 'Ome" :

'Es not a bad shot in ther field When 'c gits on a •bunny's tz-ack, An' there aint no bloomin' danger Cos a. bunny can't shoot back: But it's different 'ere with Mr. Turk. Lor' lumme 'c aint 'arf slick; If 'c gits 'is peepers on yer first, My oath! VII make you sick. But 'c won't risk 'is bloomin' 'id's Why 'is 'cart's a frigid, zone, And 'is feet are bloomin' icebergs— Me brother wot stayed at 'ome. . . But should ther foe' o'erpower us An' we gits overthrown,

Then 'ell know 'c 'elped ter kill me— Me brother wot stayed at 'ome.