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I got to know quite a few of the people living within walking drist- ance of the barracks. They always greeted me cheerin with “How do. soldier”. and would talk about all kinds of subjects. The people that I met when walking out, strangers It is a very difficult task to look pleased when you are undergoing the torture of an auger going in at one ear and coming out at the other, However, his suspicions were not aroused that I was doing anything else other than experiencing the greatest pleasure from his efforts. A word as to the pipes. The bag was not as big- as that of the Scott- ish ‘bagipipes. The pipes were not as long. The bag rested on the player’s left knee and he was sitting down whilst playing. The old Irish piper. He is picâ€" tured in my mind even to this- day. I can see him sitting outside the door of his little cabin, built of mud and turf, with the old, and well sea- soned, dhudeen hanging from his lips. A jolly old chap. Brimmimg Over with tales of his boyhood days. “A111,” he would say, “What with the gals and the fights we had a good timeâ€"hut that’s all over now.” He squeezed a few more bars of “Old Dog Tray” out of his bagpipes and watched my face to see what effect it was having on my auditory nerve. ‘ Most of them smoke, and in the evening time, when the weather was fine, they would be seen sitting out- side their littLe cabins placidly en- joying the fragrant Weed and seem- ingly without a care. But what a life. Its sameness must have been appalling to many of them, and yet, in a way, these poor people were happy. A little present of tobacco made me many friends, and the heart of many a dear old Irish lady have'I made glad with such a gift. I (became acquainted with some‘ of them, old folks mostly, who seemed to be having a hard struggle to make both ends meet. They depended upon the potato crop for a living in mest cases, and if this failed, which it sometimes did, things went rather hard with them. Personally, I found Ireland a plea- sant place. A few miles from the barracks, in the vicinity of Kildare. is to be found some very beautiful rustic scenery. The country folks were quite friendly to a soldier (un- less he was on eviction duty) which was another matter. I found that I had more time to myself now, so I used to go for long walks, being careful to avoid places “out of bounds”, places to which we were forbidden to go. Some chanced it, ‘but invariably they got caught and were punished for dis- obedience. Getting to Know the Irish There was still lots to learn. Guards, picquets, patrols, all kinds of fatigues, fire drills, manoeuvres, grave digging, and so on. Yes, We had to dig graves for any of our comrades who died. A cor- poral and six men would be detailed from the company to which he had belonged, to go to the military ceme- tery and prepare the last resting place for the body of their depart- ed ‘chum. THURSDAY, JANUARY Zfid, 1941. Richmond Hill Reminiscences of Army Life Huntsville /ATTRACTIVE RETURN FARES between TORONTO am London . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Vancouver . . . . . . . . . $68 CHAPTER 9 A. HISLOP Telephone 177 By “Steelback” $5.25 $68.70 $7.10 we were calledl the “Don’t wake ’ems” for a long time afterwards, but it. like other nicknames that had been biesmowed upon usâ€"such as “The PrierSes"â€"â€"nobody could find any solution to this. The Bailiffs was another. We acquired the lat- ter name owing to small parties be- Another incident occurred during the absence of the colonel of which we learned later. From what we were told it would appear that a battalion of reserves was needed to strengthen the front lin‘ and an um- pire was sent, in all haste, to bring up the much needed support. He came up to our battalion, but seeing us slumbering so peacefully, he turned to one of the officers reâ€" marking “No, don’t wake ’um. rode away and secured the necessary sup- port elsewhere. We heard nothing further of the incident officially, but no orders to the contrary, the maâ€" jority slept, and during our period of unconsciousness two things hap- pened that we wouldn’t have missed for worlds, so to speak. It appear- ed, from what we learned later, that our newly. appointed commanding officer, Ibein-g anxious as to the pro- gress of the battle, wandered forth on his faithful steed “Billy” to see for himself. His curiosity took him too far, and he was captured by two of the enemy vedettes. “Billy” had never been known to go faster than a trot, but on this occasion he gave a display of energy that surprised even- the colonel. Suffice it to say that the colonel broke away from his captors, and “Billy’s” burst of speed carried them 'both to safety, and those who witnessed his ap- proach were surprised at the adhES- ive qualities displayed by the Colonel. Enjoy Sithseei'rij ‘ All fhe Way 4y Mofog Cpagh“ 0n the road to Wicklow. It turned out as we had expectedâ€"we were both tired and hot. Luckily, from our point of view, we formed part of the reserve. and were ordered to pile arms and lie down, a hardship that we endured with: stoica'l indiff- erence. The balmy atmosphere was very seductive, and that, combined with the soft carpety grass, had a tendency to induce slumber. Having CHAPTER 10 Some Humorous Incidencies Definite orders were issued that a general field, day w0u1d be held, The day arrived. We paraded very early in the morning as we had a long way to go. The morning was fine and gave promise of a warm day, so that we anticipated feeling tired by the time we had reached; the place assigned to us, which, was A “General Order” having come through that the Lieut.-Governor of Ireland was shortly to make an inâ€"' speotion of the division, of which we .Were a part. great activity was shown towards brushing things up. The first item in our battalion was the retirement of the Colonel. He had reached the age limit. His re- moval caused many regrets. He was very mild and even-tempered man. I had heard that in his youthful days he was of a fiery nature but at the time of his retirement his fiery nature had died down, and it was for the benefit of the regiment, really, that he was retired. Disci- pline was getting very lax, and it was entirely owing to the forceful characters of the adjutant and the sergeantâ€"major that it survived. The senior major, a very eccentric man, took over the command. He will ap- pear on several occasions in thiSl narrative, and I am sure that you will agree that he was eccentric al- right. I to me, always greeted me in their own courtly way. How different; 1n the cities. INESLI The Captain said that he didn’t know what they were. The Colonel then said to the colour sergeantâ€" Please explain. The colour sergeant told him what they were, and what they were used for. The Colonel then asked the man why he hadn’t got his boots in his kit. The corporal explained his diffi~ culty. The inside of the valise was measured, and then the size of the corporal’s boots. It proved that the valise was too shallow ‘by over three inches. The Colonel, turning away said, “This man to parade every Wednesday at this hour in marching order, and to show his kit.” In a few minutes he was back again and said “This man need not show his boots.” He did this for one month. The Captain, who apparently had- n’t noticed anything amiss, looked down at the lasts, and then turned towards the colour sergeant and pointing to the corporal’s kit asked “What are those things; colour ser- geant?” Nome-Captain, the Colonel said, I’m asking you. 1 The first to notice the lasts was 3the Colonel. No pun intended. He stood some distance away, and it so happened that the sun was shiningF and was reflected by the polished iron on the bottom of the lasts. It was the glitter of this which at- tracted the attention and he came over to see what it was. The Cap- tain, on the approach of the Colonel. called the company to attention. The Colonel told the Captain to stand the company at ease. He stood look- ing- down, very intently, at the cor~ poral’s kit. Presently he turned to the Captain saying “What are those things Captain?” pointing to the lasts. would have to show kit. Imagine the dismay of the corpora] on hear- ing this. However, there was no help for it. He took his place on the extreme left, and laid down his kit. and it was the first time for over two years. “Corporals and Lance Corporals, in the ranks. This meant that they The hero ? of this. story had a cushey job. He hadm't been on par- ade for a long time. He was a tall man and wore a size 12 boot. These were made for him by the regimen- tal shoemaker as no boots of this size were issued. Seeing from the orders that N.C.0.’s were not men- tioned, he, naturally enough, as- sumed that he wouldn’t have to show kit, so not bothering to borrow a smaller pair of boots to help fill ug his valise, be borrowed a pair of wooden lasts from the shoemaker. These lasts were size 8‘s, the botâ€" toms being covered with iron. from heel to toe, and constant use had made the iron smooth and bright. The corporal got ready for march- ing order and went on parade. When the “Fall in” sounded he took up his position with the other N.C.0.’s in the third. or supernumerary rank. The Captain, after he had ‘inSpect- ed the company, gave the order, at that time‘ or pack as it was callâ€" ed.‘ will explain the embarrassment of a corporal of my company at this inspection, The valise in use at this time was shaped something like a lady’s hand- bag‘, the kind that open at the tap and have a handle. Take away the handle. and fix a flap to cover the opening. This is as near as I can describe it. In this would be put socks, towel, holdall complete, trou- sers, brushes, and down each side the boots. would be put. To get them in at all the tops would be turned in and the boots would be pushed in heels first. Any man wearing a size 9 boot had the greatest diffiâ€" culty in packing his valise, as the cape, partly rolled, would rest on the toes of his boots. The remain- der of the cape would lie underneath the flap of the valisle when closed. It will be seen 'by this that if longer boots were used it would -be imposs- i‘ble to close the valise properly.‘ Kit inspection Our new colonel decided to have 1a kit inspectionâ€"his first since tak- {ing over the command, so he followâ€" iing order appeared in the battalion orders:â€" The Battalion will parade at 11 a.m. tomorrow in heavy marchâ€" ing order for inspection 'by the Officer Commanding. All avail- able men to attend. Kits will be shown. It will be noticed that in this or- der no references is made regarding non-commissioned officers. Usually, in the battalion, on a parade where every available man had to be pre’ sent, it would state in battalion or-l ders that corporals and lance corpâ€" orals would be in the ranks too. .This omission led to an amusing inâ€" cident. « A description of the valise worn ing' detailed to assist the bailiff when he was evicting some poor un fortunate that couldn’t pay the rent. Nasty job that. THE LIBERAL, RICHMOND HILL. ONTARIO .OGA‘QQ, VOQ§QQ .0003... v9 @‘ WWWMOOWOOO «W Efi Ammo. W 60? CO? 79030.: 70.9.0000. VOOOA .G0¢. 9§ r MONWOWWMWWMWOWWMW[ @ “ MW”WWMWO”OOW Bureaucratic government can come into exist- ence so very easily in these days of turmoil, we must be always on guard. To lengthen the term of mun- icipal councils under the proposed legislation could easily become an open invitation to bring bureaucracy into the realm of municipal office. The Two Term Legislation, with its vicious pro- vision for the appointment, not election of men to fill vacancies, is a threat to one of our most demo- cratic privileges â€"â€"- the right of annually saying Who will spend the ratepayers money for the coming year; (This space donated by The Liberal in the interests of Continued Good Municipal . Government) Under the present system, if the people Who pay the taxes are satisfied with the performance of a municipal council they have the privilege of avoiding ‘an election by giving the council an acclamation. The most democratic system, is the present one of annual Municipal Elections. TAKE NO CHANCE ON A TWO YEAR TERM â€"- VOTE NO Under the two term legislation, should a vac- ancy occur in council in 1942, the new member or members are appointed by the remaining members of council, not elected by the people. The present system of annual Municipal Elec- tions has in the main given Ontario municipalities 'good Municipal Government. A safeguard for con- tinued good municipal government is to retain the right of annual Municipal Elections. One year may not be long enough for a good council-- But it is too long for a poor council- Retain The Right of Annual Municipal Elections “Are you in favour, as a Wartime measure, under the Government Extension Act, 1940 of the mun- icipal council elected for 1941 holding office for two years?” YES PA GE SEVEN .9609 6:0. ‘09 600. >06 '00 O. ‘69 .99? ...‘