SLING.

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 3277, 27 June 1917, Page 1

SLING.

x'here's an isolated, desolated spot id liko to mention, •.Micro ail you hear is "-Stand at ease," "*._uick March," "i.iopc Arms," "Attention.'' it's miles away from anywhere, b_ gad it is a rum 'un, A chap lived there for lifty years ana never saw a woman. i'hero's only two lamps in the place, so tell it io your mother i'lie postman carries one, and tht policeman has the other; And it you want a jolly night, anu •do not oare a jot. i'ou take a rido upon the car, tho car they haven't got. jLots of tiny little huts are dotted Here and there, For those who iiave to live iiiside, I've oifered many a prayer. it's "slutch" up to the eyebrows, by gad it is some puddle, .Sandow wouldn't stand a blooming dog's chance iv the struggle. Soldiers live inside the huts, they fall my heart with sorrow, With tear-dimmed eyes they say to me, "It's Sling to-morrow;' 5 Inside the huts there's rats as big as any nanny goat, . Last" night a soldier saw ono trying on his overcoat. For breakfast every morning, it's like Old Mother Hubbard, You double round the hut three times and jump up at the cupboard; Sometimes they give you bacon, but when they give you cheese. It forin s platoon upon your plate, .orders arms and stands at ease. Every night you sleep on boards, just like a lot of cattle, And when you turn from left to right, your bones begin to rattle; And when the bugle blasts at morn, it drives yon off your noodle, You knock the icebergs off your feet. and damn and blast the bugle. AVeek in. week out, from morn till night, with full nack and a rifle, Like Jack and Jill, you climb the hills, of course that's just a trifle. -Hope arms, fix bayonets, then present, they fairly put you through it. And as yoii stagger to your Hut, the Sergeant says "Jump to it." There's another kind of drill, especial Ilv for the lazy, f. think thoy call it Swedish, and il nearly drives you crazy. From eighteen up to forty-five, ene'one they nut 'cm tlirough it, You'd have to be a stag or else a* antelope to do it. With tunic, boots and putties off, yov nuicklv get the.'habit, . You gallon up and down the lulls pis like a blooming rabbit Head backward bent, arms upward stretch, heels raise, then rank' change places. Later on they'll make you put voir knee cap where your face is. This Swedish drill it docs you good. it makes your bones so tender, You cm coil vo.urself up like a snake mid crawl beneath Iho fender; M'k nothing' el«e but Swedish drill. from nine o'clock till seven. \-.\,] when'wo die it's ton to one it ?• ou the hands down in heaven. When this war is over and we've captured -Kaiser Billy, To shoot him would be merciful and -.ibsiolute.lv silly. Just send him down to Sling amongst tbe mud and clay. And let the Clown Prince wr-lch him slowly fade away. FINIS. All tho soldiers thoy would cheer from Land's End to Piccadilly, AY hen they heard of the terrible death of Kaiser Billy, AVhen they heard of the death oi Kaiser Billy. —P. Y. Everill.