SCOTLAND TO MESOPOTAMIA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 207, 8 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

SCOTLAND TO MESOPOTAMIA.

FROM

(This art'ele was written by aiNew Zealand Scot course of a voyage from Scotland to Mesopotamia. The writer • has twice fought in Fiance, has been twice wounded, and now makes his third period of service in the Far East. Gaps in tho narrative and abrupt change of subject indicate points at which the Censor intervened ) Our native hills wept the morning we came away, and when at the last moment the order came, "Parade in greatcoats," everyone glared at his carefully-filled pack, and burst out strafing. Might one not just as well be a Sassenach if he is to hide his klit under .1 greatcoat—that uncouth, unlovable garment, at really for nothing but strangling a fellow on the march or swelling out his pack to the exclusion of useful gear! Every draft that leaves our camp is invariably "the finest body of men that has ever left there," a dogma which might very well be true, since the pro. cess of training recruit's and preparing tho baptised for their second dip goes on improving every day. Gone now the halycon days when one might parade indefinitely in bed and dodge fatigues with impunity, and as a result of the newer and more Spartan way our large draft achieved the brisk march to the station not flurried, perspiring, and gasping for drinks of water, but with the easy nonchaJance of those who have just had a pleasant morning walk. And another question that obtruded itself during the long quiet journey hrough the two Kingdoms was—Where are al! those wild souls who a year ago made our passage hideous with howls and shamed us with thejr open profanity?" Well, many of us are still to the fore, btu you'd never recogn : se us. Our short plunge into the cleansing fire purged so much of the dross away that some of the purer metal shines through in places. It is not time we said less of the curse of war, and opened our eyes to its blessings?

HOME SHORES FADE AWAY. Wider grew the space between, ana the last murmur died from the shore The sun was setting, a warm blush was over everything; and when we reached the open sea the waves came curling about ous like soft, living flames. Surely that last glimpse of beautiful England would be a talsman against the lure of all other lands* On coming aboard we had been divided into messes of sixteen to every table, and quite eariy two blankets and a hammock were drawn for every man The hammocks were to be swung on .string hopks over the table. This task was treated with great levity. But not by me. "A faliln'out o" bed, mum,'' would sound even less heroic than the average authentic recital of wounded heroes in reply to the inevitable, "Poor dear soldier, and how did you get your wound?" Therefore, when I found myself swinging in a sort of half-hoop from the ceiling, my prayers were short and to the point; being but a hope that the ropes might hold till morning 1 remember nothing further till towards the small hours, when one end gave way and dropped me gently on what "looked like a bundle of blankets on the table beneath. From this bundle emerged two boots contaimng felt which went on to kick, while a voice began to squawk irritably. I had not known the feet, but the voice surely was the voice of Cunningham. Cunningham is a comical man who keeps h'mself in such a continual boil-over with imaginary troubles that he has never any fuel for an extra flare-up in honour of a genuine grievance. So his feet wasted their irrelevance on the desert air between the two tables, and were drawn back under the blanket. Then when the voice had grown small and still, I found room beside him, used h : m for a pillow, and slept til! reveille. During the morning I heard Cunningham fulminating most lovably against some hard-neckexl and unknown blighter who had trie'd to rob lrm of his blankets in the night Tt seemed a rather apochryphal version but I left it unrevised.

SLEEPING ON DECK. Next night I took my blankets on deck and shared them with a— — corporal, who had reached that stage of sea-s'ekness when death seems preferable to movement in any form. In spite of a strong breeze we slept sound. 1,- t : ll near dawn Jwarned us that a small sea had wandered aboard and was running about the decks trying to escape again. In a trice we were on our feet.. The hem of one blanket was wet. We found higher ground and resumed our sleep. It was a very smal wave. No one else semed to stir, and when the light got better a few forlorn little islands of white blanket dotted the wet deck, and as each island woke to life it was not really a psalm jt thanksgiving that ascended unto heaven. Next night it was a shower that surprsed us, and a procession of blanketsufficient!v weird could be seen moving below. The corporal advocated a wait-and-see policy, and the shower be ing short and light this Asipiithian card took the trick.

Is it not a little perverse:- However sunny our own prospective may have been! and however dismal the anxieties of those who lov 0 us fit home, neither hear much relation to the reality for as w.c steam over these summery seas the burivng question of the hour is not whether there are minis or torpedoes about, but when pay-out will '■•?, and haw much longer we shall escape parado. And indeed :f we are blown up in tlio way. to most of the survivors the supreme calamity of the voyage will be associated not with the moment the torpedo struck but rather with that desperate hour at the outset when there was discovered to be practically no beer on board. Alas, poor Hen-en von Tirpitz and R event low! THE COMMERCIAL SPIRIT. Early on £h» voyage there were

GLIMPSES OF THE VOYAGE.

By A NEW ZEALAND SCOT

marked eruptions of the commercial spirit. Certain gallant H'ghlanders appeared on deck with a bottle ,a cup, a spoon, and a pail of water. They paraded among us in two to the cry of, "Who says a fizzer?" Whosoever said a fizzer paid a penny and swallowed a cup of water, in which a vigorous agitation of the spoon seirved to create a fizz which the innocent sprinkle of Eno's could not unaided be expected to make. Here, indeed, was the turning of an honest Scots peony a wholesome way. But there were less adnrrahle forms of enterprise, and when we heard the Crown and Anchor heroes lamenting their confiscated apparatus, we all wept rivers of tears, Knowing they had been able to net ONLY about £o per day of their comiad.es' money. Oh. certainly we wept over this attack on individual liberty I In the early morning and late in the evening thero was tea to be had. There was also bread and meat These were sold from the galley-

One morning we opened our eyes to find ourselves moving among stately hills with the m'sts of sleep st'll clinging about them, and shortly afterwards wo were swung round into a deep blue basin and brought quietly to berth. The new scene struck one like a well-de-signed 6ceao in some theatre. This effect came chiefly from the abruptness with which the hill, with its nests ot regular white stone houses, rose before us, and was enhanced when at nightfall the l'ghts ran round the quay Ike foot, lights round a stage. It was as if our ship had ben inv.ted in to watch the piece, and also to take, a part in the performance; for during our stay we wero taken out on one of the pleasa&test route marches of the war.

NO MONEY. At our halting place fruit vendors swa'rmed about us with delicious figs and oranges, but it rather spoils the picture to have to record how few had the requisite pence to secure this harav less treat. Somehow one thought of Mr. Asqu'th, and for the moment it did seem to be a Prime Minister than a common soldier, for then one could "draw their pay and intend to go uu drawing it" whatever happened. But supposing wo had all taken the sama high, strong ground, what would have been tho result? It should always be remembered that, however humble our post or pay, they wera our equivalent in life to the ten thousand a year and a house in Down.ing Street. Conceivably, wo could win the .war without i Prime Minister, but we could not very well win it without soldiers, and tha soul of the just recoils from "strong men" whose strength is to be able to draw their pay and intend to go on drawing it as usual" at a moment when our nation is bleeding at every artery. Conversely, our hearts go out in love and trust to. General Smuts, who lets his £6O a week go. Still, though we showed up meanly to the orange-sellers, the march was charming. We missed the bagpipes. In fact, wo had no music. Coming back, soma men at a corner threw us out or step by a very unpleasant noise of drums and flutes, and later when wo wer aboard they reappeared at the gangway and created a similar: disturbance.

A PICTURE FOR THE HOME FOLKS. By next day vs were again far at sea. The weather remained glorious throughout, and if those who love and think about us at home would have their wak'ng fancies true, they must seo us swarming on the decks of great, strong, clean ship, everyone with hs place in the sun (or preferably in the shade), free from immediate care, basking, bronzing, growing handsomer and clearer-eyed every day; and if in dreams they visit us at night, they will find us with our faces turned to fch.3 stars, holding sleep away just for the sheer luxury of being consious of the "routhar" of the breeze in the r'gging, the yielding swing of tjie deck, the splendour of the warm sky. and inhaling a depth and sweetness of life, of which, in the pit, the factory, the office, or tho beerhouse, we had never even dreamed. —The "Scotsman."