{"id":9604,"date":"2023-08-07T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspaperhistory.com\/?p=9604"},"modified":"2023-08-07T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T05:00:00","slug":"lines-written-by-a-young-british-columbia-foresterprivate-eric-g-mcdougall-university-corps-canada-oversea-contingentin-reply-to-brother-in-laws-advice-not-to-enlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/lines-written-by-a-young-british-columbia-foresterprivate-eric-g-mcdougall-university-corps-canada-oversea-contingentin-reply-to-brother-in-laws-advice-not-to-enlist\/","title":{"rendered":"Lines written by a young British Columbia forester\u2014Private Eric G. McDougall, University Corps, Canada Oversea Contingent\u2014in reply to brother-in-law\u2019s advice not to enlist."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/lccn\/sn83030214\/1915-08-07\/ed-1\/seq-7\/\">New York Tribune, August 7, 1915<\/a>. By Eric G. McDougall.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>You are going , you say, in the Medical Corps,<br\/>You leave wife and children behind.<br\/>They need men like you at the seat of the war,<br\/>And they\u2019re not always easy to find.<br\/>You\u2019re high in the service, you couldn\u2019t hold back,<br\/>Promotion for you won\u2019t be slow,<br\/>But when I suggest that I take the same track<br\/>You hasten to tell me, \u201cDon\u2019t go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>The points that you make in your kindly advice,<br\/>For which please accept my best thanks,<br\/>Are, I\u2019m not good enough for an officer\u2019s job,<br\/>And somewhat too good for the ranks.<br\/>My job is important, my place can\u2019t be filled,<br\/>My health isn\u2019t up to the test,<br\/>There are plenty of men to be wounded or killed,<br\/>To stick where I am would be best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>I answer: The Country is calling for men<br\/>To battle for Freedom and Right.<br\/>That isn\u2019t \u201cHot Air\u201d from an editor\u2019s pen;<br\/>We know why we\u2019re into this fight.<br\/>They all give up something from comfort to lives,<br\/>I\u2019ve no one depending on me,<br\/>Let those stop at home who have children and wives,<br\/>Just now\u2014it\u2019s worthwhile to be free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve climbed a few hills since the last time we met,<br\/>I\u2019ve hike many miles through the woods;<br\/>The Chief sent me out information to get,<br\/>And he says I\u2019ve delivered the goods.<br\/>My wind is as long as the snow peak is high,<br\/>What I shoot at I frequently hit.<br\/>I think I agree with the medical guy<br\/>Who said, \u201cPut your shirt on\u2014You\u2019re fit!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<p>My job is important; I gave it its due,<br\/>I let my two mates go ahead.<br\/>There\u2019s one who will sail in a fortnight or two,<br\/>And one, by this time, may be dead.<br\/>I wound up the contract, it looks like my turn,<br\/>My chance for returning is fair,<br\/>And from me and my comrades old England may learn<br\/>The West raises more than \u201cHot Air.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the New York Tribune, August 7, 1915. By Eric G. McDougall. You are going , you say, in the Medical Corps,You leave wife and children behind.They need men like you at the seat of the war,And they\u2019re not always easy to find.You\u2019re high in the service, you couldn\u2019t hold back,Promotion for you won\u2019t be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3],"tags":[118],"class_list":["post-9604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-york-tribune","category-newspapers","tag-eric-g-mcdougall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desperaudio.com\/newspaperpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}