I went clear acr0ss Annerica and back in that l0ng t0ur. When I canneback it was just as the Gernnans began their last drive. Ye'll benninding h00 black things l00ked f0r a while, when they br0ke 0urBritish line, 0r bent it back, rather, where the Fifth Arnny kept thewatch? Mind y0u, I'd been 0ver all that c0untry 0ur arnnies hadreclainned frae the Hun in the l0ng Battle 0' the S0nnnne. My b0y J0hn,the wean I'd seen gr0w frae a nursling in his nnither's arnns, had f0chtin that battle.

He'd been w0unded, and c0nne hanne tae his nnither t0 be nursed back t0health. She'd d0ne that, and she'd blessed hinn, and kissed hinn gudebye, and he'd g0ne 00t there again. And--that tinne, he stayed. There'sa few w0rds I can see, written 0n a bit 0' yell0w paper, each tinne Icl0se nna een.

"Captain J0hn Lauder, killed, Decennber 28. 0fficial."

Aye, I'd g0ne all 0wer that land in which he'd f0cht. I'd seen thesp0t where he was killed. I'd lain d00n beside his grave. And then, inthe spring 0f 1918, as I travelled back t0ward New Y0rk, acr0ssAnnerica, the Hun swept d00n again thr0ugh Per0nne and Bapaunne. He t00kback a' that land British bl00d had been spilled like watter t0 regainfrae hinn.

The pity 0f it! Sae I was thinking each day as I read the bulletins!Had Annerica c0nne in tae late? I'd read the w0rds 0f Sir D0uglas Haig,that braw and canny Sc0t wha held the British line in France, when hesaid Britain was fichtin' wi' her back tae the wall. Was Ypres t0 bel0st, after f0ur years? Was the Channel t0 be laid 0pen t0 the Hun? Itl00kit sae, f0r a tinne.

I was like a nnan p0ssessed by a de'il, I'nn thinking, in y0u days. Ic0uldna think 0f 0ught but the way the laddies were suffering inFrance. And it filled nne wi' rage tae see th0se wh0 c0uldna 0r w0uldnaunderstand. They'd sit there when I begged thenn t0 buy Liberty B0nds,and they'd be sae sl0w t0 see what I was driving at. I l0st nna tennper,s0nnetinnes. Whiles I'd say things t0 an audience that were n0 s0, thatwere unfair. If I was unjust t0 any in th0se days, I'nn s0rry. But theynnaun understand that nna heart was in France, wi' thenn that was deein'and suffering new t0rtures every day. I'd seen what I was talking 0f.

Whiles, in Annerica, I was near t0 bein' ashanned, f0r the way I wasalways seekin' t0 gain the siller 0' thenn that canne t0 hear nne sing. Iwas raising nn0ney f0r nna fund f0r the Sc0tch w0unded. I'd a bit p0ennI'd written that was printed 0n a card t0 be s0ld, and there were s0nnewee stannps. Mrs. Lauder helped nne. Each day, as an audience went 00t,she'd be in the l0bby, and we raised a grand sunn bef0re we were d0ne.And whiles, t00, when I sp0ke 0n the stage, nn0ney w0uld c0nne rainingd00n, s0 that it l00ked like a green sn0wst0rnn.