men (p. 100)
were being relaxed. Chaplains were being looked upon more as parish
priests to their battalions. They could be visited freely by the men,
and could also have meals with the men when they saw fit. I am
convinced that it is a mistake to lay stress upon the chaplain's
office as a military one. The chaplain is not a soldier, and has no
men, as a doctor has, under his command. His office being a spiritual
one ought to be quite outside military rank. To both officers and men,
he holds a unique position, enabling him to become the friend and
companion of all. Bishop Gwynne upheld the spiritual side of the
chaplain's work, and by establishing conferences and religious
retreats for the chaplains, endeavoured to keep up the sacred
standards which army life tended so much to drag down.

The Cathedral at St. Omer is a very beautiful one, and it was most
restful to sit in it and meditate, looking down the long aisles and
arches that had stood so many centuries the political changes of
Europe. One morning when the sun was flooding the building and casting
the colours of the windows in rich patterns on the floor, I sat under
the gallery at the west end and read Shelley's great elegy. I remember
those wonderful last lines and I thought how, like an unshattered
temple, the great works of literature survive the tempests of national
strife. My mind was carried far away, beyond the anxieties and sorrows
of the present,

"To where the soul of Adonais like a star
Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are."

In the square was a large building which had been used originally as
headquarters for the Intelligence Department. Later on, this building
was taken by the Bishop and used as the Chaplains' Rest-Home. There is
an amusing story told of a despatch rider who came to the place with a
message for its original occupants, but when he inquired for the
Intelligence Department the orderly answered, "This is the Chaplains'
Rest Home, there is no Intelligence here." At St. Omer also was the
office of the Principal Chaplain who had under his charge all the
Non-Conformist Chaplains at the front. The very best relations existed
between the various religious bodies, and it was the endeavour of all
the chaplains to see that every man got the religious privileges of
his own faith.

We arrived in the Ploegsteert area at a good time for the digging and
repairing of the trenches. The clay in Belgium in fine weather (p. 101)
is