"NO ROAD TO GLORY"
by Major A. R. Thompson, late 4th Battalion, C.E.F.

"The Major was studying a paper by candle light.  As Jones entered he looked up and grinned evilly.
"Hello deb.," he said, "Brigade Headquarters want a smart young officer and twenty men, to meet another young officer of equal merit and twenty more splendid fellows, the whole to form a party to be known by the distinguished name of Brigade Wires, whose duty it will be to erect barbed wire entanglements in No-Man's-Land, for the purpose of impaling and ensnaring the curious or venturesome Hun, and to protect from surprise and attack the units of the First Brigade.  Now, Jones, this does not apply directly to you, but there are two good reasons why you might volunteer your services in so worthy an undertaking.  I wish to emphasize 'smart young officer' and 'the ensnaring of the venturesome Hun'.  You see, don't you, what opportunity for a young man?  Hang enough Fritzies on a wire and you might hang a medal on your chest."

Jones blushed.

"I'm on, Sir,"  he said, "when do I start and where do I go?"

~ Canadian Military Gazette, January 1941, VOL. LVI - No. 1.



Studio Babette ~ "From Ruthven to Passchendaele"

Sunday, November 11 at 2:00 p.m.

The Coach House, Ruthven Park

"From Ruthven to Passchendaele"

"Astonishing.  A presentation not to be missed." ~ lbwalker
Admission:  By Donation

Photo:  Studio Babette Puppet Theatre, Facebook.  Scene from Studio Babette's presentation of the Thompson family of Haldimand County and their contribution to the wars.

www.studiobabette.ca www.ruthvenpark.ca

Tomorrow:  In the Trenches with "Jones."

Cremation of Sam McGee

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

~ First stanza of popular poem, "Cremation of Sam McGee," by British poet, Robert Service (1874 - 1958)

Robert Service Commemorative Plaque in England

Reading Robert Service

Neil Paul, Thursday, November 15, 1:00 p.m.
~

Don't miss Neil Paul's reading and discussion in The Neat L'l Bookshop.  Robert Service was born in England, the first of ten children.  He wrote his first poem at age six.

God bless the cakes and bless the jam;

Bless the cheese and the cold boiled ham;

Bless the scones Aunt Jeannie makes,

And save us all from bellyaches.

Amen

Photo & Grace:  Wikipedia.

Upcoming November Events ~

Thursday, Nov. 15, 1:00 p.m.  Neil Paul Reading Robert Service.

Word Watching ~

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master ~ that's all." Lewis Carrol (1832 - 1898) Through the Looking-Glass VI.  British author, mathematician.


"Few faults of style excite the malignity of a more numerous class of readers than the use of hard words...But words are hard only to those who do not understand them, and the critic ought always to inquire whether he is incommoded by the fault of the writer or by his own."

~ Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) The Idler No. 70.  British author, lexicographer.


"The word is half his that speaks and half his that hears it." ~ Montaigne, Essays III.xiii.

"I understand a fury in your words,
But not the words."  ~ Shakespeare, Othello IV.ii

~ DICTIONARY of QUOTATIONS, Bergen Evans, Bonanza Books.

"An Evening of Mystery" ~



Authors Maureen Jennings & Brad Smith



Maureen Jennings, author of the Murdoch Mysteries, and Brad Smith, author of All Hat, Red Means Run and Crow's Landing, were special guests tonight at a River Arts Festival event, Dunnville, Ontario.

Answering questions from the audience, the authors talked at length about their writing styles and techniques ~ relating personal stories and describing their upcoming books. 



Moderator, David Richardson, Introducing Murdock Mysteries Author Maureen Jennings





www.riverartsfestival.ca

www.sceneofthecrimebook.com



Don Longmuir of ~ Scene of the Crime Books ~ & Jodi Orr



"I have never been more hopeful about our future."
~ U.S. President Barack Obama, speech November 6, 2012

Closing paragraph from The Audacity of Hope, Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream ~ 2006

"At night, the great shrine [the Lincoln Memorial] is lit but often empty.  Standing between marble columns, I read the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address.  I look out over the Reflecting Pool, imagining the crowd stilled by Dr. King's mighty cadence, and then beyond that, to the floodlit obelisk and shining Capitol dome.
And in that place, I think about America and those who built it.  This nation's founders, who somehow rose above petty ambitions and narrow calculations to imagine a nation unfurling across a continent.  And those like Lincoln and King, who ultimately laid down their lives in the service of perfecting an imperfect union.  And all the faceless, nameless men and women, slaves and soldiers and tailors and butchers, constructing lives for themselves and their children and grandchildren, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, to fill in the landscape of our collective dreams.

It is that process I wish to be a part of.

My heart is filled with love for this country."

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"

"WHAT the Declaration of Independence had proclaimed ~ the heady concept of a man's "unalienable" right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" ~ the Constitution forged into reality.  Independence had been won, and the government that followed had proved a rope of sand, when delegates from the floundering states met in Philadelphia's Independence Hall on May 25, 1787.
Remarkable men all ~ Jefferson called them an "assembly of demigods" ~ they came to amend weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that bound the Nation.  But daringly they launched a new government, working behind guard doors, the cobbled streets outside earth-covered to muffle traffic noise.  On September 17 their work was done:  a document destined to "...secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity..."

"BUT first the infant Congress ~ to meet criticisms that the Constitution lacked clear-cut guarantees of freedom of speech, religion, and other vital rights ~ drafted 12 amendments.  Ten were ratified by the states and became known as the Bill of Rights."

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."  ~
Words at the doorway of a room housing the Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. U.S.A. National Archives.

~ We, the People, United States Capitol, Historical Society, 1978.