Obvious printer's errors have been corrected. All other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has been retained.
Text enclosed by equal signs was in bold face in the original (=bold=).
The original book did not have a Table of Contents, and one has been created for the convenience of the reader.
A YEOMAN'S LETTERS
by
P. T. ROSS
* * * * *
SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
=_DAILY TELEGRAPH._=--'... Nothing better of this kind has yet appeared than "A Yeoman's Letters," by P. T. Ross.... Bright, breezy, and vivid are the stories of his adventures.... Corporal Ross not only writes lively prose, but really capital verse. His "Ballad of the Bayonet" is particularly smart. He is also a clever draughtsman, and his rough but effective caricatures form not the least attractive feature of a very pleasant book.'
=_STANDARD._=--'In "A Yeoman's Letters," Mr. P. T. Ross has written the liveliest book about the War which has yet appeared. Whatever amusement can be extracted from a tragic theme will be found in his vivacious "Letters." He seems one of those high-spirited and versatile young men who notice the humorous side of everything, and can add to the jollity of a company by a story, a song, an "impromptu" poem, or a pencilled caricature.'
=_SCOTSMAN._=--'The war literature now includes books of all sorts; but there is nothing in it more racy or readable than this collection of letters, what may be called familiar letters to the general public.... In spite of its subject, there is more fun than anything else in the book.... But a deeper interest is not lacking to the book, either in its animated descriptions of serious affairs or in the substantial gravity which a discerning reader will see between the lines of voluble and entertaining talk.'
=_CHRONICLE.=_--'Our Yeoman is a droll fellow, a facetious dog, whether with pen or sketching pencil, and we laughed heartily at many of his japes and roughly-drawn sketches.'
* * * * *
[Illustration: CORPL. P. T. ROSS.]
A YEOMAN'S LETTERS
by
P. T. ROSS
(_Late Corporal 69th Sussex Company I.Y._)
Illustrated by the Author.
"And you, good Yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not."
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Yeoman's Letters by P. T. Ross
- 2: The Roughs leave us for Pretoria
- 3: The Yeomanry is a Volunteer Force
- 4: It'll be a pleasant little trip there and back
- 5: And proceeded by rail as far as Smaldeel
- 6: The occupation of johannesburg
- 7: And passing through Elsburg and the Rose Dip
- 8: And forward to Pretoria we went
- 9: It's 'ard to sye good bye to yer own native land
- 10: Footnote 1 Otherwise known as the Hatherly Distillery
- 11: And may go into Pretoria any day now
- 12: Here we are again at Pretoria
- 13: Enter gentleman in khaki shrugging himself
- 14: Pickets on the surrounding kopjes
- 15: Almost immediately we were sent off to our kopjes
- 16: When you get your British Yeomen home again
- 17: And no waggons were being allowed through the Nek
- 18: Getting the range of a kopje opposite
- 19: They had been rushed up from Kroonstad
- 20: This meant rushing up to the kopje
- 21: The 72nd and 79th Squadrons of I
- 22: They had built sangars and left them
- 23: Corrugated iron buildings there were
- 24: We returned to Bronkhorst Spruit
- 25: For pom poms and artillery were joining in
- 26: At about mid day we halted in front of Olifant's Nek
- 27: It was a fine position for a laager
- 28: Having cut out the back of the boot
- 29: I believe this place is called Vaalbank
- 30: Our present General Mickey Mahon being an instance
- 31: Off in the direction of Olifant's Nek
- 32: We reached Rustenburg at about six o'clock
- 33: Our objective this time was the Zoutpan District
- 34: Having reported the case to the sergeant major
- 35: And took the Zealanders into their first fight
- 36: On Wednesday the 22nd I had to do a footslog
- 37: We returned disconsolate and horseless
- 38: On Monday 27th our reveille was at five
- 39: 'Nother three o'clock reveille
- 40: Women in distance Niet verstand
- 41: From the crest of the kopje under suspicion
- 42: The boys were sent into the kloof
- 43: Some artillery and two pom poms
- 44: Pom pom pom pom pom went the Vickers Maxims
- 45: The barbed wire curse is great in this Eden like valley
- 46: Hence the enclosed THE BALLAD OF THE BAYONET
- 47: Our led horses were in a donga in the rear
- 48: And arranged a haversack under his head
- 49: The major reading the Burial Service
- 50: Had to do a picket on an outlying kopje
- 51: To my surprise and delight Ridley brought mails
- 52: My latest acquisition I found had vamoosed or been vamoosed
- 53: But kopjes were deceivers ever
- 54: We marched into Commando Nek this morning
- 55: Then the hutch behind us was blown down
- 56: And did the great egg trick successfully
- 57: First Officer I heah the men are gwousing about their gwub
- 58: The Infantry going on the Magaliesberg
- 59: Let him apply to Private Nobby of the Borderers
- 60: I read Nobby portions of this article
- 61: Yesterday we returned towards Hekpoort
- 62: We got our thunderstorm all right yesterday evening
- 63: Last night I was on the kopje again
- 64: And Sussex Imperial Yeomanry Squadrons
- 65: And we had a rather uncomfortable night march to Hekpoort
- 66: He died the following night at Vlakfontein
- 67: Here we outspanned and soon had our wet blankets
- 68: The column marched into Krugersdorp
- 69: Sergeant Pullar having arrived with his plate
- 70: Consisting of trenches and dams
- 71: To our surprise no snipers were captured
- 72: 30 and proceed to Rietfontein 12
- 73: We have had the khaki this and the khaki that
- 74: And if to day you are upon the veldt
- 75: The Johannesburg train came in while we were there
- 76: Nobby has just looked in again
- 77: As Rietfontein was close handy
- 78: Clements' camp was at Nooitgedacht
- 79: About the Yeomanry I have not heard any reassuring news yet
- 80: I'll haste to my fellow Yeomen
- 81: Said a Northumberland Fusilier
- 82: It is a regular Babel at times
- 83: ORDERLY to complaining new patient Well
- 84: Whereupon Mick retorted Ye don't know
- 85: For that is the name of this part of Pretoria
- 86: And Delarey and his friends are not captured
- 87: As Nobby is in H Company and his was B
- 88: But let the Yeomanry commit a similar error
- 89: A corps of new Yeomanry is being formed
- 90: Some with sick horses at Rietfontein
- 91: The gentle Hebrew protested vehemently
- 92: His right arm had been successfully amputated
- 93: And my orderly friend became a soldier
- 94: They contained a suit of pyjamas
- 95: We expect to reach Deelfontein this evening
- 96: Ambulance carts conveyed us to the Wynberg Hospital
- 97: It is hard indeed for poor Tommy
- 98: Verily the backbone of the Army is the non commissioned man
- 99: Which were to bear us to Rondebosch
- 100: And we entered the Rondebosch camp
- 101: Now finds himself on the sands of Maitland
- 102: I did it during the Patriotic Mania
- 103: My son has seen more fights than I
- 104: Which is better than a Dum Dum death
- 105: And topical cartoons a great feature
