FASCINATING LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11756, 21 July 1916, Page 5

FASCINATING LIFE.

WITH THE ANZACS IN FRAITOE. "HAPPY AS LARRY." Some highly interesting incidents of the fascinating life heing led by the Anzaes in Franco are related by Corporal D. D. M'Donald in the course of a letter to his mother*, Mrs M. M'Donald, of 80, Pine Street, Wellington. Corporal M'Donald, who left New Zealand with the Eighth Reinforcements, writes: " The biscuits and cake jou sent me I got in the trenches, and they did taste good. I was on night duty, and iifc had rained all day. The trench was full of water up to the knees, yet I am in tip-top health, never felt better, arid as happy as Larry in doing my little bit. I was crossing over the courtyard towards the chateau where I am billeted one night last week, when something whizzed past my nose, another just over my shoulder. My heart began to thump loudly, and I crept close to the side of the barn; thud, and a little piece of lead flattened itself against the bricks beside mo- Too bo't here, thinks I, and I made a bolt for the door at the far end of the chateau, and reached it "breathless. Stumbling up the stairs I fell over something. Again any heart increased its rate of beating as I put my hand down to feel the obstacle; it was tho poor old house cat! The shells were screeching the bombs dropping in tho orchard. There is a gas attack on every available occasion, and many casualties are caused through soldiers not getting their helmets on in time. We are always warned, and sometimess the warning comes at dead of night or early morning, when one is almost too tired to move. Unless we hurry inito our helmets t it means death. Talk about cats having nine lives. I think the one here has nine hundred, for the other night when gas floated about, and we wore all looking silly in our gas helmets, there was pussy calmly walking round as unconcerned as a shop-walker at a summer sale! " You should havo seen the aeroplane that circled over us this morning. Tho air sentry was looking at it through his glasses, and while he vras making up his mind whether it was a German Taube or not a bomb landed twenty yards from him. Now he's got to pay for the pair of field glasses he dropped. Stiff, isn't it? Wo havo a favourite song hero, entitled, 'Conic into the Garden, Maud,' and there's no mistake about her coming. She sings all the way over from the enemy's guns, and burst* in upon us with a bi/t of a screech. Anyway, one must return compliments—that's part of Army discipline, exceedingly important—so when ' Maud ' visits us in the garden or chateau we are compelled out of courtesy to return the compliment, and ' Lizzie' has to go over into their lines. There's a little tea-room round the corner where you can get a grand cup of tea, and the charm of it is that it is served by a young French ' mamsello' who can' speulf fluent English. She will come and sit bv you aud have a cup of tea and chat with you, and, my word, that cup of tea docs take some time to drink! It's a great life, aud in the midat of all our" danger wo remember ' God's in His heaven, all's right with the world, 1 and keep smiling whatever turns up. ... " There is a certain fascination in the firing line. If you don't hear the ■ ziss, wissh, bang' of the shrapnel and shells you start wondering what is the matter- Silence is tho uncanny thing up here. Tim guns are going strong just now. Tho Germans are trying to get our transport. I hope they don't, for we won't get a„iy bacon for breakfast if a shell UniX on our waggon. Tin* machine guns are snapping away with such a wicked sound, far worse than the crack of a high explosive shell. We always sleep partly dressed, ready for any 'emergency, and every alternate morning 1 am up alli four o'clock to make up reports, etc. Ihings arc fairlv quiet this morning. The sun is shining brightly and the birds in the trees are makinc joyous song. It's the merrv month or May one reads about. The aeroplanes begin to buzz round. Thev spv out the positions in the day time, then shell them at. night. We have eight days mi tho trenches and eight days m the rest billets."