Show I I What Whal It Means 10 ToGo Go Over Top The article Is from the pen or Of Victor Grayton Grayon formerly So So- member r of parliament published In Inthe Inthe the Over Oversea eai Mall I y By Private Victor Grayson Formerly Socialist M M. M P. P for Colne Valley I hut w were rc your our exact when you OU went over or the top a against I the tho enemy This question wn wal put to me by n nI I military doctor who ho combined a for tor psychology with a skill in the healing heal henl I ing of ot wounds The question Interested I me me and to a Ion long practiced habit of t Introspection cUon I was able to supply nn answer to It Tho answer was to totally to- to bU tally an anything thing the psychologist hud expected hut but it wag a faithful re report Ie port of ot the uppermost If It not the 0 only 1 thought In In my mind at that supreme mom moment nt Coins over the top is roua- roua h bly the most mORt solemn and thrilling of ot the mo modern ern soldiers soldier's many grim experiences It Is h the culminating point of or a n unstained period of oC emotional stress atress Ever thing In hl his previous lolis military training has hag been but an m arduous preparation for that moment i And the contents of ot his mind at such sucha a t period must be considered as n sort ort of ot sacred deposition The warning of ot Stand to is ominously omi whispered In that brief space there thero is little time for nn any hut pure subconscious sentimental thou thoughts The enem enemy Is In front and the tho good Soldier never nC underestimates tho power powel of hl his enemy's pos possible tesi resistance A fleeting thought ma may bo devoted to the lo lo cd d ones who are l elo waiting or watching behind tho soldier must sec seo to It that the tho holt bolt of ot his works easily In its grooves groo that his sights are clean that the pins of ot hi Hand grenades are an In proper order that order that he heIs heIs Is rend ready In every detail tot for tho exl exigencies en- en cies cles of ot the impending trial His destiny des tiny hangs on the hazard of a n. moments moment's throw of ot tho dice of fate fato Half HaIr an inch above the parapet death Is frantically bargaining or him The command comes t Id advance and he scrambles out and over At the ed edge e of ot the ba bags some of at his comrades stop AtOp and silently fall Call hack back He must watch the creeping curtain of ot his own sides side's barrage Je while the shrapnel moans and shrieks overhead and the bullets of or snipers and machine guns spit and sputter around him and at his tc feet t. t The Tho protective e cur curtain of ot his own artmer lifts JIlts and the enemy trenches find and ts appear ar In front What ate are the thoughts of or this man asks the tho p psychologist Before Detoro we ad advanced advanced ad- ad at wo had spent a a. night of ot unspeakable discomfort in tn a n. field fied Int Intermittent showers of ot rain had drenched us to the skin and tho tha boche was so near to us that e e dared not rough cough nor nOI light a longed I for tor cigarette When tho order came to Stand to to I J found that my valise upon which I 1 had been sitting had been submerged ed edIn in the mud With Ith an effort I pulled it out and strapped It on my back Sith Sitha a cra crash h the crack of doom our barrage bar rage began and we started forward As the began to n e I could o the tho tangled wire of ot the enemy tines lines tumbled d in shattered heaps and 1 I realized that m my Increasing lone lone- lineRs was waR being paused caused by hy hidden en from some concrete structures on n m my I I left lett The noise of artillery artiller was waR deaf deafening ening tho mud and the logged water shell hell holes made mado advance a work of art and the bullets past on er e every side I I should have been bOen very excited and I Imy my mind should have ha risen to the occa occasion sion slon by molding an epigram of or occa-I occa pa patriotic patriotic pa- pa purpose and British defiance I Iam am nm sorry to disappoint the psychologist but the exact words which ran through mj my mind as I dodged locI ed the bullets and I I th shells shell were Im ver very luck lucky to have ha one rissole and two slices of ot bacon I I in all my valise Its It's not a a. bad war after |