Satire on the downside to being either tall or short Caption: Up last draft: "I suppose you 'as to be careful 'ow you looks over the parapet about 'ere' Out since Mons: You needn't worry me lad, the rats are going to be your only trouble" Bruce Bairnsfather loved to contrast the world-weary, hardened old hand who had been "Out since Mons" with the naive raw recruit. But his joke does stress two perennial problems for trench inhabitants- the danger from snipers (for those who either dared to look over the sandbags, or were unfortunate enough to be tall), and the constant battle with the hoards of impudent rats, encouraged by unburied bodies and discarded food.