he linesmen, without as much as saying "by your
leave" to the Germans, promptly fitted wires to the cables, and for
many weeks they had a most serviceable electric installation at the
Battalion Headquarters, officers' dug-outs, and dressing-stations,
with power "milked" from the enemy.

That is the Irish kind of "divilment," and it is "divilment" that the
Devil himself would disown, for it tends to spoil the knavish designs
he has in hand when he uses the Germans as his fitting instruments.
The London Irish, as a matter of fact, are noted for their religious
devotion and practices. I read in the _Spectator_ an interesting
correspondence round the question whether the Anglican chaplains were
of any earthly good at the Front. Nothing was said, I noticed, about
their heavenly uses. But a woman sent a remarkable letter she had
received from her son in the trenches. "There is another man who has
great influence out here," he wrote. "He is a priest attached to an
Irish regiment. He insists upon charging every time with the men, and
no one dare protest. He is absolutely the idol of the regiment." This
is Father Lane-Fox, the chaplain of the London Irish, who joined in
the famous charge of the battalion at Loos, absolving those who were
shot as they fell, and arriving in the German trenches with the
foremost. And many of the men will tell you that they are "the lucky
Irish," because of the comfort and reassurance they derive from the
prayers and self-sacrificing services of their chaplain. The battalion
are also able to warm their hearts and fire their blood with the
strains of the ancient Irish war-pipes. This old barbaric music has
magic in it. It transforms the Gael. It reawakens in the deeps of
their being, even in this twentieth century, impressions, moods,
feelings, inherited from a wild, untamed ancestry for thousands of
years, and thus gives them, more than strong wine, that strength of
arm and that endurance of soul which make them invincible.

So the London Irish were ready when the great day came. Three
Divisions of the 4th Army Corps took part in the battle of Loos. The
London Irish were in a Division exclusively composed of Brigades of
London Territorials, and they had the honour of being selected to lead
that Division in the attack. As the result of the battle a double
length of trenches were carried along a line of four miles, and to a
depth, at its greatest, of four miles. The whole of this area,
amounting to