THE BOYS AT THE FRONT 



The * 'Listening Post" 



The following contribution appeared in The Listening Post, a Canadian newspaper 

 published in the trenches in France. 



"Think of the Listening Post! Far out in front of the trench, nearer Berlin than 

 anyone else. All alone, but for his wire. Watchful, alert, peering through the dark, 

 analysing every sound, dissecting every vision, investigating every smell. An epicure, 

 a critic, a reporter rolled in one. A rising bank of mist that may be gas; a footfall out 

 in front that may be our own patrols or it may not. The safety of the trench depends 

 upon him, and on the safety of the trench depends — yes, what? 



"On a fine night, with a full moon, dry ground and a good view. Fine! A regular 

 picnic. All the universe and the myriad stars to remind you of your future happiness. 

 But on a wet night, a thin drizzling, slush of a night, your knees a sponge, your elbows 

 a marah, your tummy a morass, nothing to be seen, heard or smelt, but wet, damp and 

 misery. Then's time you think of your past sins. 



"Flare lights may show up your position, but it is the bullets — and machine guns 

 that actually ascertain whether a listening post is a post or merely a prostrate piece of 

 timber. 



"There is a diversity of opinion among Listening Posts, as to whether they run 

 more risk from the bullets of those in front or their friends behind. But that, like the 

 Welsh coal strike and compulsory service, is a controversial matter, and the Editor 

 says it is 'spot barred.' 



"One day I'll write a poem about a listening post, and then the world will know the 

 dull depths of the dreary, damp, despondent, despairing, dangerous drudgery of this 

 devastating duty. 



"Yet many of them like it, ask to be sent out. Go and go again. If the aeroplanes 

 are our eyes by day, the listening posts are certainly our night lights." 



A LETTER FROM FRANCE 



The following letter from a prominent Scotch Agriculturist, who knows Canada 

 well, is of more than usual interest. 



"B.E.F., France, 



January 28, 1916. 



"I was very glad to have your letter of December 12th, which reached me a few days 

 ago in an old French Chateau, of the 11th Century." 



"The response of Canada has been mangificent, but the details you give bring out 

 the facts better than any paper. At this part of the line we have a lot of Canadians 

 near us, and some Australians not so far away, both fine — I don't know which to admire 

 more. But our own chaps are grand. How they stand the mud and water, cold and 

 dirt, monotony and danger and wounds so well is a constant wonder. The indifference 

 to danger or rather to the. possibility of sudden extinction is very strange." 



'This part of the country was overrun by the Germans and the burned churches are 

 abundant evidence. Nearer the line there are of course no undamaged houses and the 

 villages are heaps of ruins quite uninhabited. These guns have such a deuced long 

 range nowadays that one must be a long way back to be clear of them. I suppose we are 

 at this moment six or seven miles from their guns but they can pip us when they like. 



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