Daily British Whig (1850), 12 Oct 1918, p. 14

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i ~~ ao _THE DAILY BRITISH WHIG, SATURDAY, OC By H. F. Gadsby w DEVIL AND THE DEEP SE Somewhere in mid Ocean---"1 sup- pose." said the Professor, edging up to me, "it is permissible for one gen- tleman to tell another that he is afraid of tofpedoes." . We shook hands u ; : on the Professor, who is a son of the Od Land--though Canadian- ized these many years--was making his customary. summer trip "Over home" spite of all the German U- boats between hell and Montreal. To have dane less would be to admit that Britaiinja did not rule the waves, which as our old friend Euclid says, is absurd... The Professor was simply not let- ting the war interfere with his habits and ways of life--that was the English of it . HE did his bit when"he snap- ped his fingers at the German subma- rine menace, incidentally staking his Jife for sixteen Jong days against the perils of the deep He was full of roud statistics of the glories of the British merchant marine which had ferried so many millions of soldiers safely and sg many million tons of munitions, not quite so safely, across the seven seas. The navy, yes- But what would the navy be without the merchant marine to feed the great maw of the war with the necessaries of life and death? What's more it is all in the day's work and there is no extra pay or war bonus for doing it. The* Professor recalled that the merchant marine had, in the -cgirse of duty, salted the sea floor with' six- teen tho wondered why there were not more medals for distinguished service flying about, The first officer did not wonder at all. "The Admiralty," he said, "won't give us gold medald; which are reserv- ed for the navy, and we think our- selves too good for silver ones. "A British Qestroyer," he added with grim Nortlscountry humor, "rammed the Irish mail packet in the Channel the other day and ser commander was decorated for ito. "But we haven't dome anything 'wrong yet--so we haven't got any medals." "The commander of this ship," the Professor. remarked; "had four days ashore, and now he bas to take her back through z devil-haunted ocean, He lookssas if he had come through the torture chamber of the Spanish Inquisition. How he stands it beats me." : We shook hands on: these senti- ments and exchangdd addresses in case his Jifeboat should be luckier than mine or the other way about. We dgreed that nobody should tra- vel for pleasure these days. He was travelling as an Englishman to flout the Hun as'I was travelling as a news- paper man to get a little copy and so we had a right to be there. But we were not so sure about some of the others, ' One thing we were sure of--that everybody on that ship was as afraid of torpedoes as we were, not only the officers 'who had had active interviews with torpedoes in many wagers, but the gallant gentlemen in khaki who had stood up te shells and bombs at the fighting front. = They were of the same mind as the Irishman who pre- ferred trainwreck to shipwreck. "Train wreck?" said Pat. "Why, there ye Tare" But shipwreck-- where are yez?" +. Frue! where are you? There is a weary waste of blue chill in the At- Jantic and many a man has survived torpedoes to curl up and die of cold WO 1 say eversbod fraid? Did | say everybody was afraid? Well, nearly evershody. Everybody, that is to say, except the cabin boy, rosy of cheek, blue of eye, and about as tall as a minite. ~~ "Have you ever been torpedoed?" I asked. "No," he chirped, "but 1 dearly hope 1 shall be." Can you beat it? On what literature has that young mind been ferdins to wax so dauntless?" . "Ol colirse," said the Professor one sunny afternoon when we were in- clined to look on the bright side of things, "this: German submarine cam; A New Blood-Food Has Been Discovered Said to Put New Life Into People For - years doctors have been searching a a gombifiation that would enable them inject blood the elements it lacked. This or two of water, two ch ted Forrosone Tablets. This is easily k's use of this wsand of its bravest, and he | paign is impersonal It's not you and me they're after It's tonnage. "At the same time," | replied, "the last thing I want to seé is a low, rak- ish periscope in the offing Fhe more offish it is, the better I like 'it. You éffer me cold comfort, Professor, when you say that the one hundred and Seventy pounds dead = weight which I contribute to the general dis- aster will be regarded merely as ex- cess tonnage." "Last night" said the Professor, "a sheep-voiced tenor got up in the lounge and bleated a thing called 'Baby Mine.' I think the captain ought to put a stop fo it. One ma mention babies when women and chil? dren are present--that's all right--but not mines. , They have no place in polite company. They are a painful re-mine-der," added the Professor; who. will have his joke. "We are beset by painful remind- ers," I chirped in. "The lifeboats swung outboard, the life belts worn everywhere except in bed, the two howitzers at our pow, the four point seven at our stern--all these are re- minders that we live on the crumbling verge of a great tragedy How | hate my life belt! = 1 drag it about with me like a bad conscience." "Don't slang the life belt," said the Professor "It is made of the best material available--Kapok--ten times as buoyant as cork. It is cut in the latest fashion. The high ruff neck gives it a fifteenth century effect and the hump on the back makes me feel like. Richard I1I won Bosworth Field. Moreover, it is as good as an over- coat on a cold night, and from what | notice on this ship it does not inter- pose any obstacle between the V.A.D.'s and their flirtations with the young lieutenants." . "True," I murmured, "the life belt is the one best bet. Lifeboats may capsize or be smashed to pieces, but vour life belt is always with you--or ought to be. When, go to bed at night I do three things, 1 sleep in my underclothes, and I put my trust in God, and my life belt under the pillow." "Humph," said the Professor, who 15 a confirmed cynic, "are you sure that is the exact order?" "This darkened ship," 1 complained, "making night darker with its closed ports and doused lights. It gets on my nerves. I have a gone feeling at the pit of the stomach. "It must be torpid liver.' ' "No," said the Professor, "I have the same thing. The mesenteries shrivel, the duodenum whaminles. It's not torpid liver, It's torpedo liver, A good old Anglo-Saxon name for it is fear. It's a popular disease on this boat. We're carrying enough fear this voyage to sink the ship, Last night a man told me that he was 'in love with two women at home, and preserving a good average, | don't think a sin like that ought to be allow- ed aboard. It overloads us.' "Do you find," I askd, "that a door slamming wakes you up in the middle of the might, that a bigger wave than usual slapping at the keel causes your hedrt to beat faster, that heavy toot- steps on the boat deck start you fum- bling for the light, that--?" "No need to go further," chimed in the Professor, "the symptoms are the same with all of us. A periscope in every ridgy wave against the skyline, a torpedo wake in every crest of foam. It certainly does get one's goat. Once upon a time the sailor believed in the Flying Dutchman, What he dreads now is the Sneaking German, beside which the sea serpent-and the octopus are mild as gold fish," "The other night," | volunteered, "1 to be the white comb of a torpedo. It did not fade away as waves usuaily do. However, nothing came of it and I decided finally that it was the Hon. Newton Wesley Rowell swimming home in the midst of his favorite ele- ment." : "Forget politics," wasi the Profes- sor's gruff comment. "There's a war on Sometimes we fort from : times--six "of 'em in the Mediterranean. The At- lantic is pie compared to the Mediter- tanean--but it's no sweet job at that. -| This old hulk has been through a lot. Once we brought the wounded home from Gallipoli. They died all over the ship--went west a hundred a day. The place is full of ghosts. 1 hear them sometimes at night. The wind in the rigging. you know." Of course," | said, "our troubles meet us." ; "Over!" he snorted. "Just begin- ning, you mean! Destroyers! Humph!" The first officer spat violently. "They get you both - ways, When they come out to shepherd you in they a practically say to the Hun, 'Follow Jon want to find em.' And me if Y when they go back after shepherding. bu out they say to Fritz, "Here Eo re one age", 2 Fria Here heyy One fi i 1 i 3 fn Gh on mi eto | hall wartied us that we should find him | went-upon deck. ~~ 1'saw what I took | will be all over when the destroyers} e OW. te ip he shot er ed re TOBER 12, 1918. SNR i ¥ I / Why Canada must borrow . money to carry on Because Canada "has put her hand to the plow and will not turn back:-- » --our country is in the war on the side of liberty and justice and' will stay in it fill complete victory is won and the unspeakable Hun is smashed and beaten to the ground; ; : --a nation at war must make tremendous expenditures in cash to keep up her armies and supply them with munitions, food and clothing; 1} \ --Canada must finance many millions of dollars of export trade in food, munitions and supplies which Britain and our allies mus have on credit; Ni 7 --for these purposes Canada must borrow hundreds -of millions of dollars-- > . And, this money must be borrowed from the people of Canada:-- ly / Therefore, Canada will pre- sently come to her people for a new Victory Loan to carry on. ° tr + ou Ap Canadians will loan the money by again buying Victory Bonds. The national safety, the national honor and the national well-being require that each and every Canadian shall do his duty by iending to the nation every cent he can spare for this purpose. Be ready when the call comes to see your country through ir its great war work. A by Canada's Victory Lean Commfitiee - . in co-operation with the Minister of Finarce : of the Dominion of Canada. -

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