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[Page 21]
good news of the Austrian debacle. Let's hope the Italians make it complete. There's a great deal of air-activity and shelling. Yesterday I was only Just out of the nearby village when the Hun gave it a heavy dose of shells, and they bomb here every night.
St. Gratien. 26/6/18.
This morning I started a picture of the transport lines under the trees and a tent in which some of the men live. It makes about as interesting a little tableau as one could wish to see and right from the jump I was interested in it. Time flew and before I had nearly covered the canvas the light had completely changed. But change or no change I just had to go on and by the time I had it covered the picture was an altogether different one. However my main object was accomplished and if to-morrow the paint isn't tacky I will try to finish it. I had an enthusiastic mob of friendly and appreciative onlookers, all drivers, and as the horses went on to the canvas they would say "Hi, "Buck! there's your Black he's putting in", "Look Red! there's the sandbags you and Curly built up". One obliging digger, inordinately slow of speech, offered to clean harness in front of the tent. And clean it he did - I had a model for the whole day. All the jibes and roastings he got didn't rattle him in the least. Everyone who came up said the same thing "Don't put him in the picture sar' major (they're hazy about ranks) - he'd spoil any picture".
Onlooker, "What did you do in the great war, Daddy?
Model, "Go to the museum where this here picture's going to hang and you'll blooming well see"
"Put some shrapnel bursting over his head"
"It's a pity some don't burst and kill him"
"There's frank's saddle hangin' inside the humpy"
"When that's finished, you can take it from me it'll be a dam fine picture. One o' these days I'll take me tabby to th' museum and say to her; "five years ago, kid, that wuz me, somewhere in France, doin' me bit fer Aussie" - and so on.
In the afternoon I made sketches of horses that will come in handy and on the whole I covered a good bit of ground. The town