{"product_id":"2940013418035","title":"THE GLORY OF THE TRENCHES","description":"CONTENTS\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTO YOU AT HOME. (Poem)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHOW THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIN HOSPITAL. (Poem)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE ROAD TO BLIGHTY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE LADS AWAY. (Poem)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE GROWING OF THE VISION\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE GLORY OF THE TRENCHES. (Poem)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGOD AS WE SEE HIM\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHOW THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn my book, _The Father of a Soldier_, I have already stated the\u003cbr\u003econditions under which this book of my son's was produced.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was wounded in the end of June, 1917, in the fierce struggle before\u003cbr\u003eLens. He was at once removed to a base-hospital, and later on to a\u003cbr\u003emilitary hospital in London. There was grave danger of amputation of\u003cbr\u003ethe right arm, but this was happily avoided. As soon as he could use\u003cbr\u003ehis hand he was commandeered by the Lord High Commissioner of Canada\u003cbr\u003eto write an important paper, detailing the history of the Canadian\u003cbr\u003eforces in France and Flanders. This task kept him busy until the end\u003cbr\u003eof August, when he obtained a leave of two months to come home. He\u003cbr\u003earrived in New York in September, and returned again to London in the\u003cbr\u003eend of October.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe plan of the book grew out of his conversations with us and the\u003cbr\u003ethree public addresses which he made. The idea had already been\u003cbr\u003esuggested to him by his London publisher, Mr. John Lane. He had\u003cbr\u003ewritten a few hundred words, but had no very keen sense of the value\u003cbr\u003eof the experiences he had been invited to relate. He had not even read\u003cbr\u003ehis own published letters in _Carry On_. He said he had begun to read\u003cbr\u003ethem when the book reached him in the trenches, but they made him\u003cbr\u003ehomesick, and he was also afraid that his own estimate of their value\u003cbr\u003emight not coincide with ours, or with the verdict which the public has\u003cbr\u003esince passed upon them. He regarded his own experiences, which we\u003cbr\u003efound so thrilling, in the same spirit of modest depreciation. They\u003cbr\u003ewere the commonplaces of the life which he had led, and he was\u003cbr\u003esensitive lest they should be regarded as improperly heroic. No one\u003cbr\u003ewas more astonished than he when he found great throngs eager to hear\u003cbr\u003ehim speak. The people assembled an hour before the advertised time,\u003cbr\u003ethey stormed the building as soon as the doors were open, and when\u003cbr\u003eevery inch of room was packed they found a way in by the windows and a\u003cbr\u003efire-escape. This public appreciation of his message indicated a value\u003cbr\u003ein it which he had not suspected, and led him to recognise that what\u003cbr\u003ehe had to say was worthy of more than a fugitive utterance on a public\u003cbr\u003eplatform. He at once took up the task of writing this book, with a\u003cbr\u003egenuine and delighted surprise that he had not lost his love of\u003cbr\u003eauthorship. He had but a month to devote to it, but by dint of daily\u003cbr\u003ediligence, amid many interruptions of a social nature, he finished his\u003cbr\u003etask before he left. The concluding lines were actually written on the\u003cbr\u003elast night before he sailed for England.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe discussed several titles for the book. _The Religion of Heroism_\u003cbr\u003ewas the title suggested by Mr. John Lane, but this appeared too\u003cbr\u003edidactic and restrictive. I suggested _Souls in Khaki_, but this\u003cbr\u003eadmirable title had already been appropriated. Lastly, we decided on\u003cbr\u003e_The Glory of the Trenches_, as the most expressive of his aim. He\u003cbr\u003efelt that a great deal too much had been said about the squalor,\u003cbr\u003efilth, discomfort and suffering of the trenches. He pointed out that a\u003cbr\u003every popular war-book which we were then reading had six paragraphs in\u003cbr\u003ethe first sixty pages which described in unpleasant detail the\u003cbr\u003everminous condition of the men, as if this were the chief thing to be\u003cbr\u003eremarked concerning them. He held that it was a mistake for a writer\u003cbr\u003eto lay too much stress on the horrors of war. The effect was bad\u003cbr\u003ephysiologically--it frightened the parents of soldiers; it was equally\u003cbr\u003ebad for the enlisted man himself, for it created a false impression in\u003cbr\u003ehis mind. We all knew that war was horrible, but as a rule the soldier\u003cbr\u003ethought little of this feature in his lot. It bulked large to the\u003cbr\u003ecivilian who resented inconvenience and discomfort, because he had\u003cbr\u003eonly known their opposites; but the soldier's real thoughts were\u003cbr\u003econcerned with other things. He was engaged in spiritual acts. He was\u003cbr\u003eaccomplishing spiritual purposes as truly as the martyr of faith and\u003cbr\u003ereligion. He was moved by spiritual impulses, the evocation of duty,\u003cbr\u003ethe loyal dependence of comradeship, the spirit of sacrifice, the\u003cbr\u003ecomplete surrender of the body to the will of the soul. This was the\u003cbr\u003eside of war which men needed most to recognise. They needed it not\u003cbr\u003eonly because it was the true side, but because nothing else could\u003cbr\u003ekindle and sustain the enduring flame of heroism in men's hearts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile some erred in exhibiting nothing but the brutalities of war,\u003cbr\u003eothers erred by sentimentalising war.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47166473404656,"sku":"2940013418035","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013418035_p0.jpg?v=1763580986","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013418035","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}