[orbitcpp-list] hich rejoiced the eyes of my friends.

[Ustico <ca...@in...>]

 relaxed His sternness throughout, becomes eloquent. Not only was he
killed, but before that, he says, he suffered much. The hardships of war
on the Western front are terrible. He had been famished, he had been
frozen, he had been burned by the sun. He had been sleepless, he had
been footsore, and the sweat had poured from him under his heavy
burdens, for often he had carried not only his own haversack but those
of his comrades. In short.... But here St. Simon, speaking softly to
Christ, says, "Like you, Lord, at Golgotha." In my prose this is, of
course, too crude; but I assure you that in the poem it is a great
moment. And another follows it, for as the Good God still says nothing,
the Poilu points to the blue robe of the Blessed Virgin, and to the
great white beard of the Good God himself, and to the red cloak of our
Lord, and exclaims, "Voila mes trois couleurs. The three colours of
France. It was for them that I have lost my life; fighting for them has
brought me to this Judgment Hall!" That is fine, is it not? Only the
French genius is capable of just such a splendid blend of naivete,
emotion, and the best kind of theatricalism. And at these words at last
the Good God smiles, and behind Him Heaven opens for the Poilu to enter.
There is a little more--for it seems that Heaven is full of Poilus with
blue caps, and golden helmets, and wings that remove the possibility of
getting wet feet or weary feet any more for ever and ever. And our Poilu
joins these others, who look happy and are happy, and sings with them
"Glory to God in the highest," while the angels, not perhaps wholly
without irony, answer, "Peace on earth and goodwill to men." Note With
the exception of a few pages, the longest essay in this book--that which
gives it its title--is now published for the first time. The papers
grouped under the headings "Diversions" and "On Bellona's Hem" which
follow have already appeared in print, in _Punch_ and _The Sphere_, but
in their present form have been always revised and often extended.
PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH *