Zurich Herald, 1915-12-24, Page 3The Former Things
At the little clearing -station behind
the lines they were ' getting ready.
This must .be taken' to signify that
they were not always ready, but mere-
ly that something more than usual
was going on, or likely to go on, in
front.
The long winter's stalemate was
brokers up, and every heart beat a
little raster at the prospect of an end
being made, or at least a big break,
in the the trench warfare which had
kept them there prisoners through all
the glow and glory of the summer
The surgeon's face set in a strange
marble -like strength.
"Coming," he answered, yet stoop-
ed to finish his task of binding up the
wounds of another father's son before
he went to attend his own.
HE AW PRESENT
AR COMING
When he made his way to the cor- SOME CHAIRA,CTERISTICS OF Silt
ner where Jimmy Fancourt lay one
glance sufficed. Those who watched JOHN FRENCH.
him, with a yearning which could not
be uttered, knew by his face that there
was no hope. He signed to two Countess of Warwick Describes Brie
stretcher-bearers, and in a word told
tish Commander as a Man of
them where to put him. Then he
mounted the rickety stair after them, Iron Will.
and signed them away and closed the
door. In the London Daily Express the
Countess of Warwick gives an inter -
The boy was far spent, but imine- esting sketch of Sir John French.
diately there came to him that won -
She writes:—
derful moment of self-consciousness, My .first meeting with Field Mar-
'mt
noon. of immunity • from pain, of self
-re- shall Sir John French, commander -in
• It was a poor little place, an old vealing, which those who watch by chief of the "contemptible little
farmhouse with a big barn adjoining, ,flying beds • so often see. army," dates back to the South Afri-
but it provided space and a semb- With his own handkerchief Fan -' can War. My latest meeting with
lance at least of quiet. court wiped the stain and sweat from him was in August of last year.
So far as their resources permitted his son's face,
an there was that on On each occasion he was on the point
his own which no pen, nor yet any of leavingfor the front.
they had made it safe. William Deck-
er Fancourt, the surgeon, was smoke painter, would data set down even if In the wide space that separates
ing a cigarette, at least he had one be-hePor this boy—all he now heel upon I the Boer War from the great inter-
he
his lips as he moved swiftly e, national conflict, we met very often;
the earth—had been a ner-do-weal,
here and there among his subordin-heht was frequently our guest at Eastonrtes, giving a. short, curt direction, and though he was a great surgeons Lodge tied sometimes at Warwick
or with his own hands altering some- 'son he was only a private in the Castle, and I visited him at Govern -
thing which did not meet his approval ranks. Father and son had met there ment House, Aldershot. I have had
and relentless eye. He was a big, on the battlefields of France by many opportunities of hearing his
slack l figure of a man with a slight chance? Oh, no, for there is no such views of .the world problem that con -
stoop the shoulders, and a long, thing. By God's good guiding, so 'fronts us now, for he had seen it eom
s rge-fe about ed, somewhat heavy face,that the poem of life might lack noling nearer and nearer, and had 4labor-
note of harmony, might rise to stn- ed night and day to meet it. Other
pendous heights of beauty and of men had doubts; lie found no room for.
sacrifice, before Finis was written . any.
across' the page, I It was at Claridge's Hotel we met
Suddenly the boy moved, and his during 'he Boer War. My eldest son,
lips essayed to speak. The father bent Guy, Lord Brooke, had then arrived
anxiously down, but presently there at the ripe age of seventeen and still
was a wide opening of the eyes, a at Eton,. had sold all his personal of
radiance on the face, something un- fects, including his fur coat and jew-
speakable and divine that was wonderellery given him by family and
and joy and indefinite content. ( friends, to provide himself with the
"Yes, mumsie, I'm coming. Oh, it's ' means of getting to the front and
you, father. Where am I—at home? equipping himself when there. We
Bedtime, isn't it? Are you going to ' only learned his intentions when it
a party, mum? Isn't she lovely,' was too late to stop them, and. I do
dad?" I not think that either my husband or
Fancourt glanced back into the • myself was really anxious to keep
shadows, and his eyes were dark with him from serving his country. The
yearning for the vision which his son : only difficulty was to find him some -
could see. I thing useful to do, and Sir John offer -
But presently the radiance on the ed to take him on his staff as a gal-
soldier's face was dimmed by one lit- leper. To -day I am pleased to think
tle wave of remembrance. • that he is still serving under him,
"Oh, yes, I know; it's all up, dad. now as brigadier -general.
But it was a glorious scrap. I was Has an Iron WM.
trying to haul somebody out—I don't I recall General French as I saw
remember who—when the light went him at ,Claridge's, firm -mouthed, curt
out. Your face..is getting dark, dad•, yin manner, 'briefly incisive. in speech,,
Is it—is. it—handing in the checks saying no more than was 'absolutely
"Yes, my boy." necessary, and looking at me with the
"All right, isn't it? . I'd rather go curious glance that bespeaks the man
like this. You're glad, aren't you, of action who dreams and Sees vi-
dad, that we met here? It was aw- gone. A strong, resolute figure, with
ful that first day I saw you. I just an iron will behind it, a human war
wanted to get up against the nearest machine in perfect order -that was
German bayonet. But I'm glad now. my first impression.
It's a clean sheet, dad, since I've been Many of my soldier friends were
out here four months and a half, and with him in South Africa, where his
I would have got promotion after to- gifts as a cavalry leader roused en -
day; nothing surer. Say you're thusiasm. Writing home from the
glad." front, they told me he had but one
"I am glad, my boy, thank God!" fault as a commanding officer—he
said the surgeon, and the soul of the could not realize that horses do not
man, the heart of the father, vibrated respond as readily as soldiers to hu -
in his voice. man emotions. He could over -drive
"Then it's all right. Say, dad, his men, and they did their utmost
praying was never much in the Fan- for him, because they had implicit
court line; but say something. All belief in their leader's direction and
the time out there among 'that hellish unbounded faith in his skill.
din I kept thinking of something He came back to England wearing
mumsie must have told me in the old all the laurels of a successful gen-
days—something about a new Heaven eral, and I met him several times in
and a new earth. Say it now." town. "The dust of praise that is
From the hidden wells of his own blown everywhere" was no more to
boyhood Fancourt dragged the half- John French than any other dust.
forgotten words:— He brushed it sharply away.
"And I saw a new Heaven and a When the Entente Cordiale was
new earth. And God shall wipe away in the air, and there was a chance
all tears from their eyes, and there that Great Britain and France would
shall be no more death, neither sor- Work side by side, he was delighted.
row nor crying, neither shall there Such an arrangement was for hien an
be any more pain, for the former ideal one, and he was, I may say, one
things are passed away." ' of the first, if not the very first, of
"A new Heaven and a new earth; our leading military men who .showed
but it's just the old one, after all, a full appreciation of its value. Un -
dad. She's come back—yes, mumsie, fortunately, though a wall -educated
I'm coming." and, in a strictly professional sense,
He raised himself with a Heavenly a deeply -read man, he had no know -
smile, and stretched out his shatter- ledge of the French language, and he
ed arms. Fancourt, knowing he could could not rest until that defect was
do naught to speed the, passing soul, remedied. So in the summer of 1908
—I th
lightened -by a pair of the keenest
blue eyes that were ever set in a hu-
man face. Nothing escaped their
penetrating, steel -like quality, and yet
those who looked longest into them
knew them to be the mirrors of a soul
very pure and tender, very high, and
near the Kingdom.
Those who knew (and out there at
the clearing station, amid the din
and cost of war, everybody knew)
felt that his curt manner, his swift,
compelling movements, and his fre-
quent silence were only excrescences
in the soul of one whom God had set
apart to do His work upon the earth.
He was not young; he would never
again see fifty, and his grey hair
would have ensured his prompt re-
jection at the War Office; but there
were other circumstances which had
pushed Decker Fancourt to the front,
and would keep him there till his
work was done or he had to pass it
on to another.
They tried to keep'him from danger,
because there was none of- like ex-
perience, of such uncanny intuition,
and such wonderful handsin the
whole brigade. But they did not al-
ways succeed. For there was in 'ad-
dition to the heart of a boy in him a
cool, invincible courage, and a spirit
of. adventure. He had never known
fear. He was always restless on the
days when they were more than us-
ually busy at the clearing station,
but only before the work began. When
the call came, and one after another
he took the cases in hand, he was so
calm, so strong, so fine, that he exact-
ed the best from everybody—even
from the. poor sufferers whom his
hands sought to help and heal.
The Angel of the Lord, who in
many guises hovers over the awful
battlefields of the present stricken
earth, was often in the little clear-
ing -house behind the lines, where he
made his presence both seen and felt.
Nobody spoke of these things; they
were part of the day's experience, to
some even an adequate recompence.
Fancourt himself was conscious
that day of .himself
new quality' in his
own mind and heart which was neither
fear, nor shrinking, nor apprehension,
*-but merely a strange certainty that
it was eta be a memorable.day for him
in a sense that he had not yet known.
To his own personal safety he gave
no thought; that was a matter of no
moment, since he had long made his
peace (dear, pregnant, old-fashioned
phrase, which sums up the whole com-
merce of a man's soul with his
Maker).
But this new feeling of detachment
did not quicken his pulse nor give
hint a fluttering heartbeat, nor—most
potent of all—make his strong, fine
hands unsteady as he bent to his
Christlike, yet woeful work. It was
rather a sense of tense waiting for
some climax not reached. He even
since the Angel of the Lord was al- ink this was the year—he set -
ready in the room, looked round with fled in the little village of La Boulle,
hungry, compelling eyes.. near Rouen, and lived for three
"Me tool Lucy, me too!" months in absolute retirement, mas-
tering the language. He would not
claim to have acquired the Parisian
accent, but he can at least speak
fluently.
We were motoring through France
that summer, and stayed in the little
hotel he had chosen for his headquar-
ters. He was extremely anxious to
take me on a motor tour over the
scene of Napoleon's last campaign, an
ambition of long standing only now
possible of fulfilment.
Studied German Methods.
Taking for his motto "Vas est ab
hoste doceri," "It is allowable to learn
even from an enemy," ho adapted
what he thought was best from the
German methods, and it is well
known that he and his close friend,
'Sir Douglas ITaig, in making the Brie-
tisk Army the perfect, machine that
And then he saw the vasaon. The
once, as the sound of bursting shell door being open a little way the light
shone forth, and he saw the face of
his wife, the mother of his boy, the
angel of his dreams, the star on which
his heart was set.
Impossible? Oh, not Already for
those who have awakened there is a
new Heaven and a new earth, and the
cane nearer, stepped outside a mo-
ment to ask those on the watch whe-
ther there was any prospect of the
clearing house coming immediately.
into the worst danger zone. Appar-
ently there was none, and he came
back and went on' again, bending low
to his task, unconscious of the ache former things have passed away.
at his back* it was his heart. swallowed up se Evelyn Orchard in British Weekly.
the ache. at But on these
•
things it is not wise to dwell. ,I - -
It was about eight o'clock in the
bvening, and darkness had fallen, and Black Cats Overrun Island. •
there was some little cessation in the "Tho Island of Black Cats" is a
long day's fighting" when Fancourt's name applied to Chatham Island in
moment came. the Pacific Ocean, about 780 miles
Someone touched his arra, a round- west of the coast of Ecuador. It is
faced second -lieutenant of the R.A. overrun with black cats; indeed, cats
M.C., who was one of his right hands. of no other color are seen there. These
"Well, my ,boy, what le it?" animals live in the crevices of the it is, bore well in nand the lessons to
The lad's lips quivered, lava foundation near the coast, and be gathered from the German ana�
"Oh,sir. I'm afraid it's Jii rn subsist by catching fish and crabs, in- noeuvres.
`.„i „ fir., •, u „ ..,... ''.,.. "ore rat and Pike. 1 -Te objected strongly to the
9.t,rsv , � r. is brinli�in_ liiiri iii. �exrl �? ,� �.w .... -
I3rgadieyGefleaJ
l' wee the most
banal thing fere
the great est
transportation
cora) ratlon in the
worid to reac�b
out and pica&
Frank Stephen
laetghen off the
ti oatmeal land
`ape When the
st,arehouters o t
Oa. (a:wadies Pa.
chic ftallaIt; Cwnpaoy at Its#
recent, aaaanal
triaeticg, held to
Alaotreal. voted
"Yee' to the-tiddt•
tion of this "cone
tag' young Cana.
dta.n to rte Dims
torate, the buss+
'n'ss world the
wide world over
rodded lis ap•
pro, that
ie was lit,
the square post
for the square
bole, toe right
man, branded and
labelled "C. P. R,”
Beek from the
trenches of
France and
Flanders, the
smell of the pow•
der still on him,
las ear -drums still
Quivering w le b
the shock of the
burstinghbrapnel,
Brig ad ler-General
lieiglien—for
such is his title—makes a picturesque entry into the larger field, Weil
Las he served his bleeding country The best evidence of this could prob-
ably be obtained from the few surviving Germans who engaged the thou
Colonel Meighen's Fourteenth Battalion at St. Julien. Called home to
lend his experienced advice to the Militia authorities of Canada, the
honors of war gained only by duty well done have overtaken the young
'regimental commander.
But military prowess is not essential to the make up of the Canadian
Paife Railway Director, and men do not graduate in the service of their
country in an industrial way by leading gallant Canadian soldiers to
sirtory In Europe. In the veins of this man runs the blood of Mount
Stephen. The first President of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company,
Lord Mount Stephen, was General Meighen's uncle. Robert Meighen,
father of the new Director, was a railway associate of Mount Stephen, and
himself a Director of the road. 1-Iere, then, is the Meighen pedigree: it la
a piece off the C. P. R.'s family tree.
Robert Meighen was a big man in bis day and he left his imprint on
the country. His C. P. R. affiliations were extensive, and It is appropriate
that leis son should resume the connection direct. One of the father's
achievements was the founding of the Lake of the Woods Mtiling Com-
pany, and In more recent years Frank S. Meighen has been widely known
RS Its President.. In addition to the targe interest held by the Robert
Meighen estate In the great railway company, this Lake of the Woods
Milling Company, one of the largest of its kind in the world, has bean for
Beane years one of the biggest of the railway's cintomers.
Let no one imagine, however, that thin new member of a galaxy of
Canada's captains of industry, is without merit of his own., or that he is
riding into the C. P. R. board room on family prestige. At the present
tlu'e he holds the following Important offices; President of the Lake of
• the Woods Milling Company; a Director of the Bank of Toronto; President
of the New Brunswick Railway Company; a Director of the Canadian
North-West Land Company; President of the Montreal Opera Company; a
Director of the Paton Manufacturing Company. To figure thus proud -
gently to the business life of the Dominion la to prove Ms great personal
ability and mental acumen. "Level-headed" is the adjective that the big
`business men of Canada apply to Frank S. Meighen.
While filling so large a place as this, General Meighen has still found
time to play. Throughout Eastern Canada be is noted as an expert exponent
of the hazardous game of pony polo, and many a careering battle has been
won by his own skill and daring. He is tui enthusiastic sportsman in
many ,directions, as is evident In his membership in the following clubs:
The Forest and Stream., the Montreal Hunt, the Back River Polo, the
Montreal Jockey, the Toronto Hunt, and others.
General Meighen was born at Montreal, December 24, 1869. He was
educated at Montreal High School and graduated in Arts from McGill
tluiversity in 1889. He began his business life in the steamship office of
the Robert Reford Company, later entering the service of the Lake of the
Woods Milling Company, in their Montreal office. For many years he was
Treasurer of the Company, succeeding to the Presidency on the death of
hie father in 1911.
Besides the clubs mentioned General Meighen is a member of the St.
James and University Clubs of Montreal; the York Club of Toronto; the
Junior Athenaeum, of London, England; and the Point Judith Club, of
Narrangansett Pier. His public-spiritedness to indlcated in the fact that
he was Honorary Treasurer of the local committee for the Quebec Ter-
centenary Celebration In 1908, and was one of the principal promoters of
the Typhoid Emergency Hospital, in Montreal, in 1910.
For most of his life General Meighen has served to the militia of
Canada. Be was formerly adjutant of the Bth Royal I3ighlanders and
became Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the regiment In 1906" F1e volun-
teered for service in South Africa. 'When the present war broke out he
Went to the front in command of the 14th Battalion, leading his men
through several of the most famous and Important engagements of the
Wal en the west front. He was recalled in an advisory capacity, and IS'
stow engaged in organizing and ra'rultine the 8ith Overseas Battalion,
Canadian Grenadier Guards, ills promotion has taken place since, to-
lturning to Canada,
C.P.R. New Director
man close formation, holding it waste-
ful and unwise, He had. grafted
South African experience on his stock
of tactical knowledge, and if the drill-
ing of our men was terribly hard, he
and Sir Douglas have found the ripe
fruits of it in that -wonderful retreat
from Mons and in the battles round
'1''pree. For German thoroughness he
had a generous and unstinted admira-
tion. Prejudice can find no place in
his mind.
A born soldier, he is merciless to
the inefficient. He broke a high offi-
cer, who was also a personal friend,
because that officer made a bad blun-
der. Private considerations were
swept aside, as they always were with
hien. He spares nobody, least of all
himself, but his men love him almost
as much as they trust him, and he
watches over their proper comforts
with a jealous eye.
IDeep Student of War.
I do not think.Sir John reads much
save books dealing with military
questions. He does not hunt or shoot
or play polo, indeed, acknowledge the
claims of any form of sport. Ile
stands as far apartfrom the ordinary
mundane interests of life as any pro-
fessor in the cloistered' peace of an
old university town, and yet he is full
RUSSIAN B YS RASH
TO THE COLORS
TIIEY ALL SHOW THE GREATEST
RESOLUTION.
Two Million of Second Reserve Will
Join Czar's Forces in
Spring.
The streets of the Russian capital
are now swarming with the boys and
young men of the second category of
the reserves who have been called for
by the Czar to prepare themselves for
military service. This draft includes
the only sons (who ordinarily are ex-
empt from military service in Rus-
sia) born between 1892 and 1896,
writes a Petrograd correspondent.
The high spirits of the youngsters e'
who are taken from school and busi-
ness to become warriors for the ern-
pire, the parents grieving afresh as
they witness their departure from
home, the sight of troop movements
and drillingon the great Mars Field
in the centre of the city—all make it
appear as though Russia were start-
ing to war again.
These young soldiers will go to
make up a fresh army of 2,000,000 for
next spring. Quietly, without com-
plaint and often with a show of con-
trolled playfulness,' they have entered
upon their stern duties. Physically
they are above the average. They.
can live on soup and bread and tea.
They are not spoiled. Obedience is
their high virtue. The consciousness
of reverses has tempered their high
enthusiasts and inspired them with
grim determination.
Terrible Price Russia Pays.
"Two million more of them!" ex-
claimed an invalided officer as he
watched the new soldiers tramp in
their endless ranks down the wintry
street. "It is a terrible price Russia
is paying to settle her score with Ger-
many; but she will pay and she will
win. Much land, much time, many
men—Russia will win!"
It is difficult for one who does not
understand Russian character to real-
ize how the Czar's subjects can, after
fifteen months of war which has left
the Teutons imbedded in the heart of
their country, contentedly send o$
2,000,000 more of their youths to.`
march into the battle line. The
Frenchmen cannot hate the Bache be-
cause he is too intelligent; the E:nge-'
lishman cannot hate him because he
fears to make himself ridiculous by
any such melodramatics; the Russian
cannot hate him because he is too in-
nately tolerant and easy going.
The Russians are solemnly dedicat-
ed to victory in this war, not because
of hate, but because there is some-
thing in ruthless German character,
something abhorrent to them in Ger-
many's imperialistic ideals which they
feel cannot be allowed to dominate
Europe. Russians of intelligence, who
are admittedly examperated by the
actual shortage of food of certain
sorts and miss many of the comforts
to which they are accustomed, "saw
red" when the Duma was summarily
dismissed and the Grand Duke, their
one great hero of this war, the great-
est figure, they thought, in any land,
was, for political reasons, dismissed
from his command.
Resolution in the Nation.
to the brim of vizualizing enthusi-
asms nbt to be overlooked by ,his
friends because they are so finely con-
trolled.
IIs lives in his profession, and
breathes the very air of it; soldiering
claims his every thought, and yet he
is in no aspect the "beau sabrour" of
the Oujda novels. If you were to drive
with him through the most exquisite
landscape, his mind's eye would at
once select the salient points of at-
tack and defence, he would grasp
every military possibility of what lay
before hien, but the surrounding
beauty would pass him by. Some-
times we have talked of war. "I hate
war as much as you do," he has said
to me more than once, "but--" There
it ends, and he is looking with far-
seeing eyes at encounters yet to be.
Much of the recent gossip in Lon•:
don has endeavored to suggest that
he has been a party to the intrigues
of others. I venture to say that no-
body who understands Sir John could
make such a ..foolish nmistake. The
personal interests and trickery of
small natures have no meaning four
him. First and last and all the time
he is a soldier, probably the one sol-
dier who could have overcome the
enormous difficulties by which he has
been faced. ............. .
Fifteen months of war find the
Russian nation more resolute to pro-
secute the war to a successful close
than ever before.
"This is a war for race, for nation,
for church, for empire," Russians de-
clare in the drawing rooms of Petro-
grad. "If the war is conducted with
energy, if the incompetence in high
places is not too egregious, if our boys
are not needlessly sacrificed to Ger-
man guns, we will endure, we will
bear with hardship, we will have the •
patience that is more invincible than
military genius, and we will win, if
this war takes twenty years."
Any Russian in the two great cap-
itals of Muscovy will agree that there
are big scores to settle with those
who govern him and with those who
have made disastrous and inexcusable
errors in the conduct of the war; but
he will declare that, as much as he de-
tests the meta who are to blame for
these things, he detests even more the
cause for which Germany fights.
"After this terrible struggle is
over," he adds confidentially, "we will 1
tend to affairs at home."
-3'
Humorous Letters.
Dr. Macnamara is very fond of tell-
ing anecdotes concerning school chil-
dren of the poorer class. In his book,
"Schoolroom Humor," he gives nany
unconsciously humorous letters from
fathers and mothers ax:cusingtheir
boy's non-attendance at school. Par-
haps the gem of the builds is the fol--
lowing from a mother to the masters
"Please, sir, Jennie was kept home to-
day. I have had twins. It shan't
occur ai ain, Yotirs