THOUGHTS OF THE DYING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1342, 31 December 1914, Page 4

THOUGHTS OF THE DYING.

A remarkable story of his sensations when lying out on the battlefield and expecting death every moment is told by a corporal of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. "I have heard many stories of how men felt at pjint of death," he said, "but I can’t say that I have felt the way men are supposed to feel under such circumstances.

"After one of the fights on the Marne I lay out all night, and 1 was so badly wounded that I was faintly conscious of what was going on around me, and expected death every minute.

"The first thought that came into my mind as I realised the nearness of the end was anxiety about the score against me at a public house, and a hope that the landlord wouldn’t make my wife pay it. Then I wished to think of my wife and the children. What would become of them ? Would the country see that they did not suffer in any way ? Would they have to go to the workhouse and be stigmatised as paupers ? Would the boy grow up and be a soldier like his father, and find himself in the plight I was in ? Would the girl be a soldier's wife and go through the agony her mother must be going through now ? Would the chap who was sweet on my wife before her marriage come forward when I was dead and marry her and look after the children ? Would they ever get news of my death ? At this stage I lost consciousness, and when I recovered was in the 9th General Hospital. I was told that it was only by a miracle that I was saved as I was almost gone when picked up.’’