3 NOVEMBER 1917, Page 14

We have beard it said that when some few days

later the 2nd Woreesters were withdrawn from the Ins to rent, there was a re- markable illustration of the intensityof LordFrench's appreciation of what had been accomplished. We do not know whether the story is true, but as it is creditable to every one concerned, and as (whether true or not) it suggests in a very human way the full significance of what happened on October 31st, 1914, we shall risk the indiscretion of telling it. It is said that Lord Freneh felt that he must express his personal thanks to the 2nd Woroesters, but that when he saw the shattered and exhausted fragments of the battalion in front of him his emotion was so deep that he could not trust himself to speak. He deputed a subordinate to convey to them the message he had prepared, but this officer also found that emotion held him inarticulate. Silence and the language of looks had to be the only message, and perhaps it was the best. We hops the story is true.