DIGGER YARNS.

Digger (Invercargill RSA), Issue 11, 28 May 1920, Page 14

DIGGER YARNS.

("Sydney Mail.")

ABOUT GENERAL CIRLw00d

Birdie was addressing a lot of pi 011 the Somme at a time when weren't over brilliant with us. that the boys from the land of the Scu'a er.i Cross and prickly pcar farms cheering up, he said to them, \ Aussies, you must 'buck up.' tr,,, 1 ' 1 have a very warm place m my ^ for you chaps." Then from the ranfo there sounded in a stentorian voice these words : "Yes; and the hottest part in u,, line, too, sir." One day at Gallipoli the GeneraJ ?;jj I "visiting his snipers, and found one nofej sniper resting in his dug-out. Pulling blanket to one side the General said"Well, Joe, what is your tally to-day »" ■ Jo 3 remarked "14 to which the General said, "Better get a wriggle 011; Bill ovet there got 19 to-day." Joe got excited j an-d yelled, "You tell hira from me he is a flaming liar." The General depaited laughing. Joe's mata, hearing the discus. ■ sion, came along and said : "You're on pretty good terms with the General, Joe," "\¥hat General?" Joe asked. "Birdie," was the reply. Joe, a Queenslander, could only utter, "Jumping Moses!" Birdie, unlike most GeneraLs, did not caio for the trappings usually associated with his high rank. This was especially patent on Gallipoli, where in an old khaki shirt, shorts, and an "Aussio" hat he was a familiar figure in the front line of trenches, more often than not unao1 companied by the usual string oi st&Soilicers. On account of this he wnj sometimes not recognised. "Togo," our crack shot, was "drawing a bead" on a distant Turk opposite Quinn's whea ] "Birdie" appeared. Tapping "Togo" onl the shoulder he said, "Ali, my man;snip-; ing I see. ^Lrty luck?" "Togo," taken] by surprise, fired ; then with wild di 1 gust turned his head, "Missed! Look] what ye've done, yer — ! go an' — 1" And "Birdie" v/ent.

Cigarettes were nowhere to be liad, and to the average soldier a cigaretto ii more to be sought after than riches (when riches avaii you not). One morning Gen-e'-ai Birdwood passed down ihe front line,. yarning and chatting to the boys, a cigarette (whose perfume recalled those happy and mad'days of Cairo) between his lips. ' Envious eyes watched the somk , and the smoker. At last one aubumhaired Anzac stepped forward. "Say, ' General, how's it for a cigarette ' lie 1 asked. "Righto," replied the Soul of Anzac, handing his case to the delighted soldier. "Hand them round to the boys." A few minutes later the air was filled with cigarette smoke, and, as the song sap, "*&'] heai'ts were joyful," when a surprisei and sleepy voice from a nearby dug-»'; exclaimed, "Strike me pink! Blaey, when the did you get the fags from' M you hit old "Birdie" over the napperffll go through him for his smokes? 0] what's the name of the bloke you stung? Bluoy rose to the occasion magnilicieiiflL Tuming to a pal he said, "Better wak# Darky up ; that touch of the sun yesterday has been giving him beans." The Gen passed on, but riext morning, , when on M usual rounds, he inquired solicitously, I though his eyes twinkled, "How is friend Darky to-day?" I One day at Gallipoli General was having a shave. Ihe barber very slow. General Birdwood: •FefljllB ill?" Barber: "Not too good. "Well, just keep your hand still an H more my head. " I The Fourth Brigade were in tiiel"ieJB Guedecourt in January, 1917. Off'H M the snow and hard frosts the t®aC(-' were rather tricky to walk on, -to ■ were not perfectly Ievel, by The surrounding country was p1 1 ■ ^ shell-holes, and it was a coinnjo ,■ ren-ce for a Digger to ' come into a shellhole full of iey t0 "Birdie" was coming down m'U1].se to and he happened to be very c 0^ ). ■ Digger on hTs way up 10 - . ^ when suddenly tne D'tgg01 ' 1 cj'tsiB duckboards and landed wars : -1^ |(| breaking the ice) into a Birdie in his ever-pleasan r ^ ■ "What is the matter with The Digger climbed out oi ^ ■ before answering, reP ^ thing ; but I was just t mllst ara winning this j having a h — oi a ^/'inc' ^ I