Bruce Bairnsfather

“ Those who know us—and who, nowadays, has the excuse for not knowing us, seeing how very much we have been discussed?—understand that our frivolity is apparent and not real. Because we have the gift of laughter, we are no less appreciative of grim realities than are our scowling enemies, and nobody knows that better in these days than those scowling enemies themselves. ”

“ Suddenly someone, more wide-awake than others remembers the 'Fragments.' Out it comes, and we laugh [6] uproariously over each picture. For are these not the very things we are witnessing every day, incidents full of tragic humour? The fed-up spirit you see on the faces of Bairnsfather's pictures is a sham—a mask beneath which there lies something that is essentially British."
In a communication received by Captain Bairnsfather an eminent Member of Parliament writes: "You are rising to be a factor in the situation, just as Gillray was a factor in the Napoleonic wars." ”

“ Captain Bairnsfather went to the front in no mood of a "chiel takin' notes." It was the notes that took him. Before the war, some time a regular soldier, some time an engineer, he had little other idea than to sketch for mischief, on walls and shirt cuffs, and tablecloths. Without the war he might never have put pencil to paper for publication. ”

“ Their hymns of hate and prayers for punishment have been impotent expressions of exasperation at our coolness, deliberation, [7] and inflexible determination—qualities they had deluded themselves before the war into believing would prove all a sham before the first blast of frightfulness. They told themselves that, a war once actually begun, the imperturbable pipe-smoking John Bull would be transformed into a cowering craven. More complete confusion of this false belief is nowhere to be found than in these "Fragments." ”

“ War, said his professors of kultur and his hymnsters of hate, could never be waged in the Tipperary spirit, and the nation that sent to the front soldiers who sang and laughed must be the very decadent England they had all along denounced as unworthy of world-power. ”

“ "Well, if you knows of a better 'ole, go to it." ”

“ The difference is, however, that instead of turning his satire exclusively upon the enemy, as did Gillray, Captain Bairnsfather turns his—good-humouredly always—on his fellow-warriors. This habit of ours of making fun of ourselves has come by now to be fairly well understood by even the most sensitive and serious-minded of our continental friends and neighbours. ”

“ If the enemy should read in the words "fed up" a sign that our tenacity is giving out, he reads it wrong; grim will be the disillusionment of any hopes he may build upon his misreading, and even grimmer the anger of those whom he may have deluded. ”

“ It is not for his mere editor to forecast his vogue in posterity. Naturally I hope it will be a lasting one, but I am prejudiced. Let me, however, quote a letter which reached Captain Bairnsfather from somewhere in France:
"Twenty years after peace has been declared there will be no more potent stimulus to the recollections of an old soldier than your admirable sketches of trench life. ”

“ It hardly needs nowadays to be pointed out that it is a fixed condition of the national life that wherever Britons are working together in any common object, whether in school, college, profession, or even warfare, they must never appear to be regarding their occupation too seriously. ”

“ Here is the great war reduced to grim and gruesome absurdity. It is not fun poked by a mere looker-on, it is the fun felt in the war by one who has been through it.
CAPTAIN BRUCE BAIRNSFATHER.
Captain Bruce Bairnsfather has stayed at that "farm" which is portrayed in the double page of the book; [4] he has endured that shell-swept "'ole" that is depicted on the cover; he has watched the disappearance of that "blinkin' parapet" shown on one page; has had his hair cut under fire as shown on another. ”

“ Observation.
"'Ave a squint through these 'ere, Bill; you can see one of the ——'s eatin' a sausage as clear as anythin'."
[65]
Immediate and Important!
Never has Private Smith's face felt so large and smooth as when he hands his Captain the following message at what he feels is an unsuitable moment: "The G.O.C. notices with regret the tendency of all ranks to shave the upper lip. This practice must cease forthwith." ”

“ Those Raiders at the Seat of War.
"I wish the 'ell you'd put a cork on that blinkin' pin of yours, Bert!"
[128]
Romance, 1917.
"Darling, every potato that I have is yours" (engaged) .
[129]
Modern Topography.
"Well, you see, here's the church and there's the post-office."
[130]
"There Was a Young Man of Cologne."
(I've forgotten the rest of the poem, but it's something about "a bomb" and "If only he'd known.")
[131]
In the Support Trench.
Old Bill has practically decided to get Private Shinio (the ex-comedy-juggler and hand-balancer) transferred to another platoon. ”

“ It's the Little Things that Worry.
What is so particularly annoying to Private Lovebird is, that he would not have had this bother with his dug-out if his leave had not been postponed.
[133]
That Periscope Sensation. ”

“ Give up sausage late at night and brood less upon the possible size of the British Army next spring.
[68]
The Communication Trench.
Problem—Whether to walk along the top and risk it, or do another mile of this.
[69]
Letting Himself Down.
Having omitted to remove the elastic band prior to descent, Herr Franz von Flopp feels that the trial exhibition of his new parachute is a failure.
[70]
Old Saws and New Meanings——By Bairnsfather.
There is certainly a lot of truth in that Napoleonic maxim, "An army moves on its stomach."
[71]
Nobbled.
"'Ow long are you up for, Bill?" ”