Jan. 5, 1917. 
KILLED BY BOMB 
Drerau.s oF DEATH oF SERc?T. MAc- 
DonaLp, Torp IN LETTER TO 
StsteER, A MANCHESTER GIRL. 
Miss Florence MacDonald of the 
household of Alfred S. Jewett of 
Manchester recently, recerved from a 
friend in England, Bessie M. Dick- 
inson, a letter giving particulars of 
the death of Miss’ MacDonald’s 
lrother who was a sergeant in the 
English army in France. Sergt. Mac- 
Donald, who belonged to a Canadian 
regiment, was fatally wounded in the 
terrific fighting in the Somme sector. 
He was one of three volunteers, one 
a commissioned officer, to lead in a 
charge on German trenches. Ex- 
cerpts from the letter follow: 
“T am sure you must all feel his 
loss very, very much, your mother, 
naturally, most of all, for he seems 
to have impressed everyone with 
whom he came in contact as 4 
thoroughly splendid man, so what he 
inust have been to his folks can hard- 
ly be estimated. In such cases it is 
useless to offer consolation, for noth- 
ing can ever make up for your loss, 
but there is, perhaps, a little comfort 
in the knowledge that he met his 
death like the hero he was. 
“T had intended, anyway, to write 
again to Mrs. MacDonald to tell her 
cne or two tiny little scraps I have 
managed to learn about his last few 
days from other 1st C. M. R.’s who 
have been here in our hospitals. 
They were. very little scraps, indeed, 
they could tell, for some knew him 
only by reputation and others not at 
all, but by good luck I managed to 
come across one of. his old bombers 
and also the one survivor of the last 
scouting expedition. From them [ 
learned that they left Ypres on Sept. 
7, had three days’ march, after they 
reached the Somme, and went into 
the trenches on the 12th. On the 
14th volunteers were asked for to go 
over the parapet next morning. Your 
brother, an officer and Johnson, a 
lad of 19, who had only been three 
days with them, offered. Mr. Mac- 
Donald was not well that evening and 
the officer saw him taking medicine 
and said he must stay back next day 
as he would have no sick men over 
the parapet. However, your brother 
said he would go all the same. All 
stayed up joking until 3 a.m. Then, 
after.an hour’s sleep, they got up and 
at 6.10 a. m. on Sept: 15 they went 
ever the parapet—just those three, 
and two regiments behind them. 
They went right into the German 
trenches one-quarter of a mile from 
our front line. When they got there 
they found some Germans who threw 
a bomb at the officer and killed him. 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
A New Year Wish. 
EDWARD A, HORTON. 
Christmas memories, such as cast 
Joy and beauty o'er the past; 
Loyal friendships, firmer wrought 
By the tests that Time has brought; 
Love of country, just and free, 
Blessing all from sea to sea; 
Vision clear and thoughts of- cheer 
As companions this New Year. 
A bit of that bomb, or else a bullet, 
glanced off and wounded Sergt. Mac- 
Donald’s right hand. Later on he 
was hit in the left shoulder and fin- 
ally had a bad wound in the back, 
which. went right in and injured him 
internally. He was taken to a hospi- 
tal, but I do not know how soon, ex- 
cept that I think he reached Rouen 
on the roth, as that was the date of 
the last card with his own writing on 
it (just his name), and there he 
struggled’ splendidly against his 
wound, but was too weak to be 
operated upon, and finally, as you 
know, died on the morning of the 
25th. Some of these later details | 
obtained from Trooper Tom Connor 
of the 19th Hussars, who was in the 
same ward with him and wrote me a 
note ‘at his dictation, not more than 
two days before the end, to say he 
was wounded, but was doing well and 
hoped to be soon in England and 
would let me know where he landed. 
“T forgot to say the place where 
the last attack was made was near 
Thiepval and Mouquet Farm. Both 
Stewart (the bomber) and Johnson 
(the scout) wroté to France to try to 
learn more details, but Stewart re- 
ceived no reply at all and Johnson’s 
letter only just stated the date on 
which Mr. MacDonald was wounded 
and said how much the writer (a 
scout officer, called Weir, who had 
been one of the old Third) thought 
of him. 
“They said he was a splendid scout, 
very fond of his work and just de- 
lighting in prowling about with 
blackened face to do his business of 
scouting and wire-cutting. His men 
edmired him greatly for being so 
brave, daring and kind, and from 
someone else I heard that he was al- 
ways standing up for the weak and 
fehting any who tried to harm them. 
Still another man (also. a bomber) 
told me last August that he was sure 
of a lieutenancy and his very last. let- 
ter was discussing that point and 
saying he was sure he wouldn’t get 
it and that all he wanted was the end 
of the war and home——-not promo- 
tron.” 
The poorest use of time is to spend 
it counting the minutes. 
7 
MANCHESTER WOMAN’S CLUB 
“ MESSAGE OF OBERAMMERGAU,” SUB- 
ject oF INsprRING ADDRESS BY 
FRAULEIN MAYER. 
A rare privilege was. enjoyed .by 
members of the Manchester Woman’s 
club and their guests on Tuesday 
efternoon at the last open meeting of 
the year wheit Fraulein Marie Mayer 
eave the spirit of “The Message of 
Oberammergau” before an audience 
which crowded the Congl. chapel. 
Miss Mayer’s address was a straight- 
forward personal narrative of the 
folk of Oberammergau, their work, 
pastimes and the great Passion Play 
about which their lives hinge. She 
is the first participant in the play at 
Oberammergau to appear before the 
American public. Her address began 
with a charming description of the 
life of the villagers. 
“In Oberammergau, a little village 
of 1700, a community of wood carvers 
and mechanics, we find all united in 
one common object in following out 
the ideal of their forefathers laid 
caown 300 years ago. When the day’s 
labor is done they gather by their 
firesides and, bringing out the fiddles 
or guitars, furnish their own program 
of entertainment and perhaps tell 
stories. Their piety is earnest and 
sincere; it is not a mere expression 
of the lips, but is lived in their every 
day lives, a simple life lived. very 
close to nature; and they enjoy their 
simple pleasures. They have no sen- 
sational amusements. I don’t know 
if they would enjoy Charlie Chaplin 
in the movies or not; their chief pleas- 
ure comes from’ communion with na- 
ture and I can remember when‘as the 
merest child my father used to take 
me out into the woods and teach me 
the names of the flowers.and the trees 
and the language of the birds. All 
the children are brought up close to 
nature and are happy and healthy in 
their unrestrained out of door life. 
After a breakfast of rye bread and 
milk they go'to the church to strength- 
en their soul and then to school to 
strengthen their minds. 
“The overruling spirit of Oberam- 
mergau and the whole life of its péo- 
ple, mental, moral and physical 1s 
bent on the presentation of the great) 
Passion’ play. Everyone’s whole 
heart and soul is in the work. The. 
very nature of the men’s work, that’ 
of wood carving, tends to create a 
love of.art,-and every child from ten: 
years of age is’ taught the trade. 
Much time is also given to cultivating 
the dramatic art and little plays of a 
religious. or historical nature are 
given frequently; all work together 
in harmony and unison. 
(Continued to page 11) 
