MEN OF THE TREES 



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stampede at Alexander Palace, and it almost broke my 

 heart when the Vet had to shoot her, since she had 

 broken her cannon bone. 



Our commanding oflScer, Colonel Sanderman, had 

 been shot through the lung in the South African Cam- 

 paign, and his doctors at the outbreak of War had given 

 him eighteen months to live. He was now determined 

 to die leading a charge, and the whole Regiment en- 

 tered into his spirit and wanted to follow his example. 

 The spirit created by our old Colonel and my beloved 

 Major speeded up our training in a phenomenal way 

 and by the beginning of November we really thought 

 that we were ready for the Front. But alas, one morn- 

 ing, the Major had a letter from Lord Kitchener, asking 

 him to recommend as many of us as were efficient for 

 commissions, as we were better suited to be Officers. 

 At that time there had been heavy casualties in the 

 commissioned ranks, and the life of an Officer at the 

 Front was but ten days. 



We were paraded in the form of a square. The Major 

 paced up and down with the War Office letter in his 

 hand, trying hard to summon courage to break the 

 news to us. It had been his great ambition to take us to 

 France as a unit, and like the Colonel, he, too, wanted 

 to lead us in a charge. I shall never forget the tension 

 of those moments, for after pacing up and down several 

 times trying in vain to pull himself together, the Major, 

 gallant fellow that he was, the Major who could curse 

 us like a trooper if occasion necessitated, became a big, 



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