A Soldier's Letter.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 27 September 1917, Page 3

A Soldier's Letter.

PRIVATE W. 13ARRATT, LEVIN, WRITES. Privato Walter Barratt, well-known in Levin, has boen sending his friends a few thoughts. After being disabled he was sent from one hospital to another until he found himself at the oa.se at iloulogiie. Jtiere ne was operated upon, and when he heard that Uo was to go to England, he hailed tile uewt> vviLji joy. rxv; next rounu minsea at jjrocucnnursti ooiierai iiospitai, wliere lie received every attention, l'dum Lao roar ol armiery at the trout uo tno qunot oi; cue £>ouui ol Jiaiglaiid was a uciigntiui cluuige, ana .besides Hie extreme cleanliness oi. the place ana Ute caretui attention one receives, was oeyond all praise. Erom D rock enhurst he was transferred to ittorncnurcii v/uiivuiescent .Jtiospital, near London, and he was looking forward to having a real good time, visiting .-kiirl L-nni n<T B.lfrhf,R

cnurcn v/uiivuieseent .Jtiospital, near London, and he was looking forward to having a real good time, visiting friends and seeing the sights.

loung JUarxatt says: "1 do not regret enlisting and enduring hardships, .Living iin a little country town all one's life cramps the mind. It is like the old horse at the mill, going round and round, and experiencing no change. The soldier gains fresh experiences,, nnds new duties, makes all sorts of acquaintances and see that the world

..-. a very large place after all. parting witn nome and friends

nnds himself on a vast ocean; and when

lie gets leave on shore in a new country among strange people of a dilferent lunguiige and liabits, lite mind expands and the little village he left almost fades Irom memory. And in the midst of all the changing scenes and su-auge companions ne oegins to uosert luiuseii. tie learns now to hold ills own and ii he gets cneeii lie returns it j if lie niias aiiywimg or his missing ne uoes nou mum a rough and tumble to get it back." iiie writer thinks the return to New Zealand or so many thousands, after tlie rough experience of a soldier's lite, wul imuje a decided eliange in the social and religious life. Instead of being pliant under the old systems ho wiiil liicii over tlie traces and reason out his convictions in a rough and ready way, and with an earnestness that will not be burked. "I have met some most intellectual men in my travels," lie says, "who can talk upon advanced topics with a logic that silences tliose whose minds hav.e not been opened to tho important questions of the day. In the trenches and elsewhere these are discussed by brainy fellows, ana so the boys learn mucii where little is, as a rule, expected."

Private Bairatt gays candidly, "1 have had my share of trench life and 1 am not longing for any more of it. How one comes through one danger after another is a mysttry. , We go over a parapet together, laughing, joking, smoking, and everyone is keen on clearing Eritz out of his trenches. Our guns opened up a barrage, which is a curtain of fire thrown over us, and we go forward under it. -Meanwhile Fritz is sending over some spitefull shells our way. Thejx> is an awful racket going on, and when out barrage lifts we rush luis trenches with such yells (and profane one too), that it is hell let loose. We are all mad together and we fight like fiends. We damn and blast our enemies las we rush upon them, and no quarter is given. When tlie horribkj orgy is over, and we re-assembe, we learn that some of our comrades have gono west, others have .been carried back to b, j treated for wounds, and servv'i oles too. .We look upon one another and relate our individual experiences, and have ,g|eiiuine sjorrows that so many of our side aa - e no longer with us. If we have managed to take a t'ew prisoners we find beueath our devilish exterior a feeling of pity for the poor beggars. They are broken up and look very siok upon it. Well, wo give them a drink if they want n, and let them see we are not barabaiians. They have homes and wives and cliildren in tho distance 'like us, so ouir better natures make u§ feed kindly towards them."

Young Barratt, in a letter toi his mother, gives an illustration of how a raid is carried out. Twenty Aucklanders were sent over the parapet to carry this one out. Barratt, with several others, were kept in reserve. '"'From our trench," ho says. "wo saw tlio shells bursting and as ours •fell among the enemy wje shouted 'Give them hell," and such like exhortations, interspersed with language that was neither French or Chinese. Two of us sat down on the bo&rd upon which we stand to look over the parapet, and we kept veo-y, very close to the sandbags. Shells were bursting around us and a few fell about five yards away, behind us. The (ground shook with tlio concussion, and we knew that if one dropped among us there would be a funeral of a kind. Still, we sat and smoked, and talked, just as calmly as if otlt in a shower of rain. I thought my time had come, but I did not like the thought that I was to bo dispatched to Kingdom Come with a bit of Knipp's form, dry metal. Yet we are told the

papers call us heroes if we go out under such circs."

Tlio writer was enjoying himself in hospital when ho wrote, but ho was wondering whether ho would be

sent: look to Prune,o or elsewhere. Having liad experience in Levin and G.P.0., Wellington, he intended to apply for a place ill a post office in England,. Hje sends greetings to liis friends in Weraroa and Levin.