But I do think he ought to get out
another edition of his book, and set these points straight.
He puts a little poem on his title page:
Go, little book, God send thee good passage,
And specially let this be thy prayer
Unto them all that thee will read or hear,
Where thou art wrong, after their help to call,
Thee to correct in any part or all.
That sounds fair enough. So I am going to send him these notes. But it
isn't in "parts" he is "wrong." There is a big mistake somewhere.
GOLDEN LADS
"Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust."
THE PLAY-BOYS OF BRITTANY
LES FUSILIERS MARINS
At times in my five months at the front I have been puzzled by the
sacrifice of so much young life; and most I have wondered about the
Belgians. I had seen their first army wiped out; there came a time when
I no longer met the faces I had learned to know at Termonde and Antwerp
and Alost. A new army of boys has dug itself in at the Yser, and the
same wastage by gun-fire and disease is at work on them. One wonders
with the Belgians if the price they pay for honor is not too high. There
is a sadness in the eyes of Belgian boy soldiers that is not easy to
face. Are we quite worthy of their sacrifice? Why should the son of
Ysaye die for me? Are you, comfortable reader, altogether sure that
Pierre Depage and Andre Simont are called on to spill their blood for
your good name?
Then one turns with relief to the Fusiliers Marins--the sailors with a
rifle.
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