Page:Mr. Punch's history of the Great War, Graves, 1919.djvu/40

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

Mr. Punch's History of the Great War


Prime Minister asks for an addition of a million men to the Regular Army. But the country has not yet fully awakened to the realities of war. Football clubs are concerned with the "jostling of the ordinary patrons" by men in uniform. "Business as usual" is interpreted as "pleasure as usual" in some quarters. Rumour is busy with stories of mysterious prisoners in the Tower, with tales of huge guns which are to shell us from Calais when the Germans get there; with reports (from neutral sources) of the speedy advent of scores of Zeppelins and hundreds of aeroplanes over London. But though

Old England's dark o' nights and short
Of 'buses: still she's much the sort
Of place we always used to know.

Mr. Punch's history of the Great War p40.png

T.B.D.

Officer's Steward: "Will you take your bath, sir, before or after haction?"

It is otherwise with Belgium, with its shattered homes and wrecked towns. The great Russian legend is still going strong, in spite of the statements of the Under-Secretary for War, and, after all, why should the Germans do all the story telling? By the way, a "German Truth Society" has been founded. It is pleasant to know that it is realised over there at last that there is a difference between Truth and German Truth. The British Navy, we learn from the Kölnische

14