When she saw the soldiers she shrank back in
fear and confusion, whereupon one of the Highlanders, quick to see her
plight, tore off his kilt, ripped it in half, and wrapped a portion
around her. She sobbed for gratitude at this kindly thought and tried to
thank him, but before she could do so the Scot, twisting the other half
of the kilt about himself to the amusement of his comrades, was swinging
far along the road with his regiment.
This is not the only Scot who has lost his kilt in the war. One of the
Royal Engineers gives a comic picture of a Highlander who appears to
have lost nearly every article of clothing he left home in. When last
seen by this letter writer he was resplendent in a Guardsman's tunic,
the red breeches of a Frenchman, a pair of Belgian infantry boots, and
his own Glengarry! "And when he wants to look particularly smart," adds
the Engineer, "he puts on a Uhlan's cloak that he keeps handy!"
As another contribution to the humor of life in the trenches and,
incidentally, to the discussion of soldier songs, it is worth while
quoting from a letter signed "H.L.," in _The_ _Times_, this specimen
verse of the sort of lyric that delights Tommy Atkins. It is the work of
a Sergeant of the Gordon Highlanders, and as the marching song in high
favor at Aldershot, must come as a shock to the ideals of would-be army
laureates:
"Send out the Army and Navy,
Send out the rank and file,
(Have a banana!)
Send out the brave Territorials,
They easily can run a mile.
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