PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

North Otago Times, 2 December 1911, Page 1 (Supplement)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

—t —— ;■■ '' ; A VETERAN'S TALE. '■'•, A few; nrghts before-the battle ol the greatest 'fright t ever had, although, I have .been through, 75 battles, and skirmishes, A comrade.and,l were going from Hlangwanl Hill to Green Hill to Join General Buller's staff.' 'The nfgnfeWas very darki It was raining hard» We lobl our "way, "but)' coining across some tents which, bad been abandoned by, the Boers' that .morning, .we 'entered one and; my comrade.foolishly struck a match. He had no sooner done so when crash came a tolley of bullets through the tent, bringing tho canvas down on top of us, Crash came another volley from the opposite direction, and then a furioua firing commenced from right and left and continued for oyer an hour, while we lay under, the, tent not daring to move and too stunned even to speak.

We lay there till daybreak, and when we crawled out wo discovered why we had not been touched, by the bullets, The tent lay in a hollow in the ground, the top only being visible. Of' course, this accounted for the' light being seen through the top, We made our way to our outposts, who were only 300 yards away and then found that we had been fired at both by our outposts and the Boers, each side thinking the others were in the tents.

Needless to, say we did not- give ourselves away by mentioning the part we had taken in the affair or it would have been a serious matter for us; nor did we enlighten 'our comrades till long after the war was over. RAFFLING A KISS. .. Although Twas one of the victims, I remember being greatly amused b7 / a practical joke perpetrated"at : a bazaar in aid of an important charity. '■■•' ;: "" ; During the afternoon a pair, of lady's shoes were placed on a stand in front of a certain room, A placard announced' that the owner of these shoes had, in the'interests' of the bazaar, offered to kiss, every male person who within the neit halfhour purchased one of the necessary tickets, price one shilling each, '

The tickets were sold by'a number of pretty girls, and, in the hope that It was one of these who would do the kissing, the young fellows bought two and three tickets each! Ere the half-hour was up two hundred tickets had been sold, ' ' We ail impatiently awaited admission into the room. I was among the first to enter, and it was some time before I quite realised ho,w we had been victimised. ,The only 1 one in the room save the osculating candidates was an old, merry-looking joker, Ho was fat, had a rubicund proboscis, and his breath reeked with tobacco. But he blandly assured us he Was the' owner of the boots. Ha showed us a receipt which proved that he had. that day purchased theshoes from a well-known local firm. But, he proudly said, there was no intention to defraud; Ho was quite willing to let us have our money's worth; jtie was quite willing to let us all kiss him. We unanimously declined,

WAR IN PEACE TIME. . The cavalry had commenced with fine weather, and we were in a flutter of excitement, (of down to a man we enjoyed the long rides and> dashes through the country and over the Downs, and we were more pleased when they were over fresh country and in etrnnge towns. When we left camp, horses and men were in fine form, We had as enemy a mounted brigade. Soon after leaving camp it became a race for the best positions on the Wiltshire. Downs, and our position chosen was a hill with a fine plateau on the ,top, and many gave a sigh of 'relief as we mounted the crest,

But what had happened? What had our scouts been doing? Our enemy had come up on the other side, and wo were faco to face on the plateau. Who gave the -order to charge no ono knew. No doubt the temptation was too great. Yelling with the dust of battle the two forces rushed at each other. Crash I Never was there such a muddle in time of peace, and it was some time before trumpets could be heard. It is said the war cries oftho ex* cited troops could be heard miles awny. Many horses were lamed and troopers bruised, and those on the hill that day will not forget the young trooper killed in the crash of that wild charge, and It was a crest* fallen body of men who attended the funeral In the local churchyard,

A BRAVE EXPIATION. I ljad been attending a congress at a Scottish town and together with about 2,000 delegates and friends had a day's Bail around the Kyles of Buto, two fine steamers having been specially chartered for the occasion.

On the return journey, just as our steamer was ncaring the landing stage) a man, evidently in a great hurry, accidentally knocked against a little girl who was standing at the edge of tho stage. She overbalanced and fell into the water, which was about 10 to 12 feet below.

Although the steamer was only a very few yards from the stage- and approaching broadside on, the man, without a moment's hesitation, plunged in alter her, rlßing to the surface with her in his arms,

Seeing bis danger, he just managed to get between the huge bulks of the timber that stand upright a few feet apart. Then the side of the Bhlp touched the stage. The thickness of the timbers and the fact that he was near the front of the steamer, saved : them from being crushed to death.

A rope was lowered, and the two were quickly rescued from their perilous position,

The man soon disappeared as II he .were ashamed of being the cause of the accident.

Rising Actor (to playwright): "You' touch up plays,'l understand; Intro-' duce new business, and that sort of thing." ' • '"■■■'■ Playwright: "Oh! yes." . Rising Actor: "Very' well. Im go-, lng into the Back Country next week , with Hamlet, and I waut-you to re-; write the play so as to' bring in two buckjumpers and a kangaroo I've! got." •

It Is the petty everyday things, M 1 life that chip the lacker Alehouse Courlaader. '