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Post by braided-rug on Jan 24, 2008 10:18:38 GMT 10
And then came 1914 and The War. We were not surprised when young Ernie hastened to enlist; but we were rather surprised that he passed, considering his deformity, when many young men without any outward blemish were rejected. No soldier ever wore his uniform with greater pride; and he was a Corporal before he left Blackboy Camp. His name was in the first list of killed at the Landing; and another youth from our place told us that he saw the Bishop's body thrown, with dozens of others, over the barb-wire entanglements to let their mates get over. "He was a good mate", the young man told us. I thought of the songs floating on the air in the lonely, dark, silent Bush - "Don't tell Mother if I'm with the slain", and I wondered if in some queer not-understandable way he had a foreboding. The poor Bishop.
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