CONCERTS AT THE FRONT.* DisTericE casts the glamour of romance
over the wande ring singers of the Middle Ages, but if the truth were known ill
would probably be found that their work was as arduous and as full of petty miseries as that of their descendants ol the War years. In one respect the moderns have the better of them, for their job was not undertaken out of self-interest and they had the certainty of the great good they were doing to carry them through the most fatiguing round of performances. Their self-imposed duties were indeed of the severest, and it is easy to agree with Miss Ashwell that men medically unfit and over military age found it a greater strain than they could bear for long. Often three concerts were given in the day, which is a trying ordeal under the best of circum- stances, but when the places of performance are separated by war-time roads or tracks, when transport is simply the best that can be spared from more urgent purposes, when dressing-rooms are indescribable or non-existent, and the poor actors themselves have snatched fitful sleep in the most primitive of accommodation, it becomes even heroical to present that smiling mask to the weary men hungry for music and entertainment. At one time in his tour a modern troubadour had played "24,800 songs and pieces, making an average of about 50 a day," and directed and organized his party into the bargain.
Extracts from letters and diaries describe the work done in Malta, Egypt and Palestine under conditions of greater diffi- culty, if possible, than those of France. Miss Ashwell's personal experience was confined to the French front, and she records with vigour her experiences, moving or amusing, among the widely varied audiences with whom she came in contact. It is not the least important chapter in the history of the War, and we have no doubt that when wars are suffi-
ciently „well organized each army will have its Entertainment Corps—probably under control of the R.A.M.C. (therapeutic psychology section).
There is another chapter which is not likely ever to be written because the materials were so soon scattered and left no record. In the later years of the War the divisions and smaller units formed entertainment parties of their own, which were able to function in circumstances prohibitive to civilians. These were frequently admirable, and the refer- ence in this book to a single one of them which was apparently remarkable for its coarseness is unfair if it suggests that the general tone of these was licentious. Most of them would have been voted goody-goody in the West End.
Danger was added to hardship for many of the Lena Ashwell parties, and some performed quite close to the front
line, though women were naturally not allowed with these. But we remember with pleasure a concert given by a mixed party at St. Pol in late March,1918. At that time the Germans were bombing the railway station by day, testing, with very fair success, a long-range gun on the church in the square, and brightening our evenings with air-raids on the dumps surrounding the hospital. For the courage which faced these dangers and the skill which organized it no praise could be extravagant.
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