It was curious to see that this was not done in the
conventional, theatrical way, but with a grim stoicism which was not
unimpressive. He was not in any kind of panic and was working hard in
his fields. He meant merely to convey in gesture some expression like
"those damned cutthroats of Germans." I left the Scherpenberg Hill with
great regret. It was a wonderful "specular mount." As one stood by the
side of the windmill and gazed over the battle-ground, one seemed to get
war in its true perspective, something not quite as horrible or
sensational as one gathers from special correspondents at the front, and
yet something full of a deadly earnestness, intensity, and most
impressive fatefulness. Though one forgot it at moments, there was
always present to one's mind "the rough edge of battle" of which Milton
spoke, out yonder in the trenches. The battlefield seen from a distance
and in a position of complete safety is like going over a hospital and
seeing the flowers in the wards, the perfect sanitary arrangements and
the general air of orderly comfort, and ignoring the operating-theatre
with all its grim tragedies. In a battle of this kind the first-line
trench is the operating theatre, hidden away from the people who have no
business in it.
Pages:
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493