That is fine, is it not? Only the French genius is capable of just such a splendid blend of naïveté, emotion, and the best kind of theatricalism. And at these words at last the Good God smiles, and behind Him Heaven opens for the Poilu to enter.
There is a little more--for it seems that Heaven is full of Poilus with blue caps, and golden helmets, and wings that remove the possibility of getting wet feet or weary feet any more for ever and ever. And our Poilu joins these others, who look happy and are happy, and sings with them "Glory to God in the highest," while the angels, not perhaps wholly without irony, answer, "Peace on earth and goodwill to men."
With the exception of a few pages, the longest essay in this book--that which gives it its title--is now published for the first time. The papers grouped under the headings "Diversions" and "On Bellona's Hem" which follow have already appeared in print, in _Punch_ and _The Sphere_, but in their present form have been always revised and often extended.
PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD., EDINBURGH
+------------------------------------------------------------+ | Transcriber's note: | | | | Page 156: energitic _sic._ | | | +------------------------------------------------------------+
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Boswell of Baghdad, by E. V. Lucas