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Transcriber's Note: Many typographical errors were corrected inthis text. See expanded notes at the bottom for a complete list.

FOREWORD

The reader of this booklet is not expected to agree with everything init. The rhymes express only the impressions made on the writer at thetime by the varied incidents and conditions arising out of the greatwar, and some of them did not apply when circumstances changed.

They have been printed as written, however, and, if they serve no otherpurpose, may at least help us to recall some things that too soon havenearly passed out of our minds.

The outbreak of hostilities, the invasion of Belgium, the Old Land init and the rush of the British born to enlist, the early indifference ofthe majority of Canadians, the unemployment and distress of the winterof 1914-15, the heartlessness of Germany, Canada stirred by the valor ofher first battalions, recruiting general throughout the country, theslackness of the United States, financial and political profiteering inall countries, smaller European nations playing for position, Italyjoining the Allies, the debacle of Russia, the awful casualty lists, thereturn of disabled soldiers, the ceaseless war work of our women, theUnited States at last declaring war on Germany, the final line up anddefeat of the Hun, and the horror and apparent uselessness of it all;some reflection of all these may be found by the reader in these simplerhymes.

5

MODERN DIPLOMACY, OR HOW THE WAR STARTED

August, 1914

Said Austria,—"You murderous Serb,
You the peace of all Europe disturb;
Get down on your knees,
And apologize, please,
Or I'll kick you right off my front curb."

Said Serbia,—"Don't venture too far,
Or I'll call in my uncle, the Czar;
He won't see me licked,
Nor insulted, nor kicked,
So you better leave things as they are."

Said the Kaiser,—"That Serb's a disgrace.
We must teach him to stay in his place,
If Russia says boo,
I'm in the game, too,
And right quickly we'll settle the case."

The Czar said,—"My cousin the Kaiser,
Was always a good advertiser;
He's determined to fight,
And insists he is right,
But soon he'll be older and wiser."

"For forty-four summers," said France,
"I have waited and watched for a chance
To wrest Alsace-Lorraine
From the Germans again,
And now is the time to advance."

Said Belgium,—"When armies immense
Pour over my boundary fence,
I'll awake from my nap,
And put up a scrap
They'll remember a hundred years hence."

Said John Bull,—"This 'ere Kaiser's a slob,
And 'is word isn't worth 'arf a bob,
(If I lets Belgium suffer,
I'm a blank bloomin' duffer)
So 'ere goes for a crack at 'is nob."

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