The 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - ElectricCanadian.com

xiv 4TH CANADIAN MOUNTED RIFLESof any possible reinforcements to relieve us in our graveneeds. We really began to wonder whether our peopleat home had forgotten us, or whether in sending oneDivision and one Cavalry Brigade to the Front Canadahad made her one and only stake in this World s War.Our minds assured us that such a situation could notexist; but our wearybodies reminded us that it did exist.Standing one day at a respectful distance from anunhealthy cross-road the censor s curtain suddenly liftedand we saw a column of men approaching, tall, well-built,clean of clothes and equipment, clean of face and handssomethingquite foreign to us in our surroundings. Whowere they? Our reinforcements at last, the C. M. R.Brigades, and of them the future 4lh C. M. R. Battalion,the familiar faces of the men of Toronto, my home, andread about in this book.of whose deeds and sacrifices youThe distant skirl of the pipes brought no greater relief tothe besieged Garrison of Lucknow than did the sight ofthese men to us the Advance Guard of the greaterCanadian Forces tocome.In this manner I made my second acquaintance withthe C. M. R. my first during the South African Warover twenty-five years ago. A mysterious organization,these C. M. R., non-existent in Peace but coming to lifein War, with territorial associations stretching from theAtlantic to the Pacific and embodying men of every walkin life, voluntarily tendering their services during aNational peril and u)illing to sacrifice their all in theirCountry s service the Canadian Fascisti. And as theyarrived in South Africa years ago during thedark weeks