DOG THAT WAS GASSED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16408, 9 December 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

DOG THAT WAS GASSED.

STRANGE EFFECT. Describing the commandant of a French battalion who has had two years •of incessant war without a day's leave, Mr. E. Aslimead Bartlett says:—He wears a pair of corduroy breeches,. such as any ploughman wears in East Anglia. Round his legs are blue putties. On his head, in lieu of the blue casque, is an old black Scottish tam-o'-shanter. He is followed by a black retriever. Now, this dog is a mystery. His master is the embodiment of chearfulness and confidence, and his men share his spirit, bat the dog looks the picture of misery and sullen hatred as he slinks after his master round the battered trenches under an incessant rain of shells, bullets, and grenades. He does not seem to enjoy life at all. The commandant explained the mystery. " Cet pauvre chien," he begins, "loved war up to a few days ago. Then, unfortunately, lie swallowed several mouthfuls of the Huns' gas.' He can't understand what's happened to him. You see him now, the innocent victim of another atrocity." Whatever way you turn (says Mr. Ashmead Bartlett) something horrible and terrifying seems to be taking place. But the shells and ill 9 constant explosions shake you most. The bullets sound like a. few harmless bees trying to collect honey. Every now and then you see something which resembles a Rugby football with wings go sailing gracefully upwards, and then, turning slowly in the air, fall vertically -.011. the enemy's lines. It drops exactly as if someone were attempting a drop kick. When this bewinged football falls there is a deafening explosion, and the enemy's trenches and wire are blown [in all directions. These nice little playthings are the aerial torpedoes, which correspond to the enemy'a minenwerfer^