FRONT LINES
| BY THE SAME AUTHOR | |
| BETWEEN THE LINES, | Net, $1.50 |
| ACTION FRONT, | Net, $1.50 |
| DOING THEIR BIT, | Net, $1.25 |
| GRAPES OF WRATH, | Net, $1.50 |
| E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY NEW YORK | |
FRONT LINES
BY BOYD CABLE
AUTHOR OF
“BETWEEN THE LINES,” “ACTION FRONT,” “GRAPES OF WRATH”
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE
Copyright, 1918,
BY E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
——
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America
THESE LINES, WRITTEN AT AND TELLING
ABOUT THE FRONT, ARE DEDICATED—WITH
THE FERVENT WISH THAT THOSE THERE
MAY SOON SEE THE LAST OF IT—TO THE
FRONT, BY
THE AUTHOR
FOREWORD
These tales have been written over a periodrunning from the later stages of the Sommeto the present time. For the book I have twoambitions—the first, that to my Service readersit may bring a few hours of interest andentertainment, may prove some sort of a pictureand a record of what they themselveshave been through; the second, that it maystrike and impress and stir those people athome who even now clearly require awakeningto all that war means.
I know that a great many war workershave been, and still are, bearing cheerfullyand willingly the long strain of war work,and I very gladly and thankfully offer mytestimony to what I have seen of this goodspirit. But it would be idle to deny, since theproofs have been too plain, that many warworkers are not doing their best and utmost,are not playing the game as they might do[viii]and ought to do, and it is to these in particularI hope this book may speak.
Surely by now every worker might appreciatethe fact that whatever good cause theymay have for “war weariness” they are atleast infinitely better off than any man in thefiring line; surely they can understand howbitter men here feel when they hear and readof all these manifestations of labour “discontent”and “unrest.” We know well howdependent we are on the efforts of the workersat home, and there are times when weare forced to the belief that some workers alsoknow it and trade on it for their own benefit,are either woefully ignorant still of what thefailure of their fullest effort means to us, or,worse, are indifferent to the sufferings andendurings of their men on active service, areunp